Independent, Reader-Supported Publishing
  • Sign OutMy Account
  • Sign In

  • Current Issue
    July 2026July 2026
    To Remain
    The Sun InterviewBy Judith HertogTo RemainRaja Shehadeh on Living through Destruction in Palestine

    I have been thinking that people all over the world these days are feeling a sense of despair because, like me, they are seeing the destruction of the world as they knew it. But it has occurred to me that the real destruction of my world happened in 1948, when the Palestinians lost Palestine.

    Distractions
    Readers WriteBy Our ReadersDistractions

    Reading at work, listening to music during labor, swatting gnats while meditating

    In This Issue
  • Archives
    • Featured Selections
    • Shop Print Issues
    • Browse by year
    • Browse topics
    • Browse Sections
    June 2026
    June 2026
    May 2026
    May 2026
    April 2026
    April 2026
    March 2026
    March 2026
    February 2026
    February 2026
    January 2026
    January 2026
    Browse 50 years of Archives
    • News and Notes
      • About The Sun
      • Newsletter Sign-Up
      • Announcements
      • Featured Selections
      • Calls for Submissions
      • Profiles
      • Our History
      • Events
    • Submit
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Readers Write
      • Essays, Fiction & Poetry
      • Photography
    • Donate
      • Donate Now
    • Shop
      • Subscribe
      • Give a Gift Subscription
      • Back Issues
      • Merch
        • T-Shirts
        • Tote Bag
        • Mug
      • Gift Merch
        • Gift T-Shirts
        • Gift Tote Bag
        • Gift Mug
      • Books
      • Gift Books
  • Search
  • RenewSubscribe
    Personal. Political.
    Provocative. Ad-free.

    Subscribe and Save up to 45%

    Renew your subscription

    GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

    SUBSCRIBE

    GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

Independent, Reader-
Supported Publishing
Subscribe and Save up to 45%
Renew your subscriptionSUBSCRIBE

GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

    • My Account
    • Sign Out
    • Sign In
  • Cart
  • Current issue
  • archivesarrow
    • Featured Selections
    • Shop Print Issues
    • Browse by year
    • Browse topics
    • Browse Sections
    • News and Notes
      • About The Sun
      • Newsletter Sign-Up
      • Announcements
      • Featured Selections
      • Calls for Submissions
      • Profiles
      • Our History
      • Events
    • Submit
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Readers Write
      • Essays, Fiction & Poetry
      • Photography
    • Donate
      • Donate Now
    • Shop
      • Subscribe
      • Give a Gift Subscription
      • Back Issues
      • Merch
        • T-Shirts
        • Tote Bag
        • Mug
      • Gift Merch
        • Gift T-Shirts
        • Gift Tote Bag
        • Gift Mug
      • Books
      • Gift Books
The Dog-Eared Page

excerpted from
The Lives Of A Cell

Notes Of A Biology Watcher
Lewis Thomas
• September 2011

We have become, in a painful, unwished-for way, nature itself. We have grown into everywhere, spreading like a new growth over the entire surface, touching and affecting every other kind of life, incorporating ourselves.

  • Ecology
  • The Natural World
  • Lewis Thomas

    More From This Contributor
  • Print
  • Print
  • Share
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
What Do You Think?

Has something we published moved you? Fired you up? Did we miss the mark? We’d love to hear about it.

SEND US A LETTER

Also In This Issue

September 2011

September 2011September 2011
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

It Takes A Village To Please My Mother

By Kathryn Kefauver Goldberg
Poetry

Good Morning, Crisis

By Eric Anderson
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

A Zen Zealot Comes Home

By Shozan Jack Haubner
Quotations

Sunbeams

Related Selections

A Time Of Unexampled Prosperity
The Dog-Eared Page

A Time Of Unexampled Prosperity

By Washington Irving
Tomatoes: Who Stole The Taste?
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

Tomatoes: Who Stole The Taste?

By Cary Fowler
The Fox Skull
Poetry

The Fox Skull

By John Bargowski
Under Fire
The Sun Interview

Under Fire

By Mark Leviton

You’re out of free articles.

Thanks for reading The Sun

Subscribers: sign in to continue reading.

Subscribe today for instant access to the latest issue and more than 50 years of archives.

Subscribe Now

Humanity, delivered monthly.

In each issue of The Sun you’ll find some of the most radically intimate and socially conscious writing being published today. In an age of media conglomerates, we’re something of an oddity: an ad-free, independent, reader-supported magazine.

    • About The Sun
    • Contact Us
    • Staff
    • FAQ
  • facebookLike us
  • InstagramTake a look
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

Copyright © 1974–2026 The Sun. All rights reserved.