Readers react to the Chicago Pile-1 experiment and its far-reaching legacy; debate deterrence and gerrymandering; correct the fossil record; and more.

Readers remember the cultural influence of historian Henry Steele Commager, PhB’23, AM’24, PhD’28; recall a flu-ridden arrival on campus; weigh in on language instruction; and more.

Readers share their experiences with the Small School Talent Search, encourage mountain climbing, debate free expression, and more.

Readers reflect on the impact of James Cronin, SM’53, PhD’55, and Frank Lillie, PhD 1894; debate climate change and free-market capitalism; remember the T-Hut; make observations about observing nature; and more.

Readers debate dean of students in the College John Ellison’s letter to the Class of 2020; discuss voter education and the merits of capitalism; share memories of historian William H. McNeill, LAB’34, AB’38, AM’39, track coach Ted Haydon, LAB’29, PhB’33, AM’54, and the beloved T-Hut; and more.

Readers debate the lessons of the Great Recession; examine the legacies of Barack Obama and Antonin Scalia; share memories of Kartemquin Films and its founders Gordon Quinn, AB’65, and Gerald Temaner, AB’57; tell us what they know (“not much”); and more.

Readers write in to confirm age is just a number; expand on Katherine Dunham’s (PhB’36) Hyde Park history; add thoughts about mortality and the right to aid in dying; diagnose income inequality; redress the Winter issue’s anagram inequality; and more.

Readers consider faculty members’ predictions for 2040, continue a discussion of population control, comment on the Magazine’s new publication schedule, and more. 

Readers discuss the University’s policy on freedom of expression; add personal recollections of chemist Harold Urey; celebrate professor Robert Morrissey, PhD’82, and the University’s Center in Paris; respond to other readers’ letters; and more.

Readers weigh in on water scarcity; add personal recollections of geologist Clair C. Patterson, PhD’51; reflect on racial and other forms of passing; recall breakfast with a Bush in 1980; compare notes with Philip Glass, AB’56, about the College in the 1950s; and more.

Readers comment on the social impact of architecture in out of the way places; the recollections of Philip Glass, AB’56, about the College he knew; memories of the late Mike Nichols, EX’53; the circa-1970s ski team’s not-at-all slippery slope to victory; racial “block busting” in the 1950s; the distinction between a telegram and a telegraph; and more.

Readers comment on heart-smart eating; 1960s integration in Hyde Park; the tension between national security and civil liberties; quantitative and qualitative data; Mike Nichols, EX’53, at an early stage in his career; how workplace structures influence the gender wage gap; College memories lost and found; the late poet Mark Strand; the indispensable role of doulas in a community program; and more.