Commentary on technologies of reading, writing, research, and, generally, knowledge. As these technologies change and develop, what do we lose, what do we gain, what is (fundamentally or trivially) altered? And, not least, what’s fun?
By: Alan Jacobs
November 3, 2009
xkcd, of course. I still haven’t explained what I’m up to with this “feature,” but all in good time.
November 2, 2009
New adventures in the venereal game. I’m especially fond of “an opulence of succubi” and “a yearning of sasquatches.”
November 2, 2009
All I want to do here is to juxtapose two quotations. The first comes from Philip Greenspun’s blog: What has the increasing pace of technological development done to old people in our age?Let’s start by considering factual knowledge. An old person will know more than a young person, but can any person, young or old, know as much as...
October 31, 2009
A tradition, however firmly rooted, if it is never watered, though it dies hard, yet in the end it dies. And today a great number — perhaps the majority — of the men and women who handle our affairs, write our books and our newspapers, carry out research, present our plays and our films, speak from our platforms and pulpits —yes,...
October 30, 2009
This is beautiful.Pictorial Webster’s: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.Via Urge of the Letter.
October 30, 2009
I am fascinated by charts — more specifically, charts used to provide visual representations of complex ideas or sequences. They’re a variety of mind map, I guess, though they represent the mind’s considered conclusions, not its initial ramblings. Consider for example the chart above, which was apparently created by John...
October 29, 2009
I hate it when this happens. I really prefer reading one book at a time, but sometimes I get squirrelly. Fleming Rutledge, The Battle for Middle-Earth (surprisingly — to me — interesting and convincing) Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome James Gleick, Isaac Newton Neil Shubin, Your Inner Fish
October 29, 2009
Mostly history-of-ideas kinds of things. Some of these I can barely remember reading. In more-or-less historical order by subject: Eric Havelock, Preface to Plato Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy Jean LeClerq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God Johan Huizenga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages Frances Yates, The Art of Memory...
October 28, 2009
In particular, my post the other day about the Kindle user trying a book for the first time. Marco Arment on the Kindle experience of his significant other: Tiff plowed through more than 20 books on the Kindle. At one point in the middle, she read a book on paper (because it wasn’t available on the Kindle) and absolutely hated it. Her...
October 27, 2009
That’s how Alison Flood in the Guardian characterizes Philip Roth’s thoughts about the future of the novel. (The adjective is redundant, isn’t it? I mean, doesn’t “cult” — in that use of the term — imply “minority”? Also, Flood calls this Roth’s “prophesy” when she...