“But technological change is not analogous to a natural phenomenon. How technology changes the world is shaped by institutions, laws, consumer demand, regulation, management strategies, and the balance of power in different workplaces.”

The type of book you can’t help but speed through, knowing all the while you must go slow and slower.

This little book is so good (what else would one expect from Lydia Davis) and mentions several other good books that I have since picked up, which is often the best thing about books, that they can lead you from one to another.

😳 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Latin at nine and Ancient Greek at 11 years is what I keep coming back to from Martin Wolf's review of Mary Beard's book (which, yes, going to buy): www.ft.com/content/0afb...

On some whim or other…

good morning Madrid 🌱

Barnes, first page. Please tell me this is on purpose bcse…

No thanks. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/w...

Not to mention that $38.3 billion could do a lot of good elsewhere. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Highly recommend this book by Carlos Manuel Alvarez (translated by Natasha Wimmer.)

It’s really breaking to keep hearing, reading, learning about this but… read this article by @helenrumbelow.bsky.social: www.thetimes.com/article/3c43...

We’re all already taking deep breaths, so take another and have a read to this article. Alec Russell’s editorial professionalism apparently knows no bounds.

The scaffolding barriers are the perfect touch.

“How to avoid the mistakes of one’s parents, find solitude as well as human connection, survive in a violently polarized country, and deal with the absurdity and pain of life? Shepard could pose these questions in his dramas but could no more answer them than any other artist.”

If you’ve read Trust, you’ll want to listen to this interview/convo with Hernan Diaz — and Dua Lipa, whose books podcast does indeed live up to the hype. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Proving to be the perfect back-to-work-after-a-long-holiday (plus I-need-a-few-minutes-away-from-the-news) read.

The Rise and The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire — JMW Turner

“The bookshop was open. She went inside, and the wooden shelves were still there, stacked with books. Her body felt quiet. ‘Things we love still exist in Gaza,’ she thought.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Sky and sea combo.

We are so lucky to have this body of work in existence. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...

"But software doesn’t eat anything. Tech companies do, when they gain the power to use the levers of the information economy to consolidate and dominate." @around.com on "How the Web Was Lost" for @nybooks.com: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

I keep coming back to this week @ftweekend.com column from Janan Ganesh re: the cosmopolitan conservative. www.ft.com/content/9875...

Weekday mornings I don’t listen to story formats on the radio because, the news! news! news! But this BBC Witness History episode about Haitian singer, dancer, and folklorist Emerante de Pradines is so interesting… couldn’t switch away: bbc.com/audio/play/w...

Unsubscribing from one newsletter a day for the rest of my life.

This convo, it’s also about the decisions behind when and why we choose to write: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Segovia on a weekday 💙

This is what it sounds like: "Information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

“‘Writing is utter solitude,’ Kafka is said to have lamented, ‘the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.’ For students today, it may feel more like a cozy group chat with an algorithm.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/m...

church, parque del oeste

Who appointed you to decide our future? —the Q Roula Khalaf puts to this generation’s tech leaders/scientists who, as a whole, seem to be convinced that they have the truth, that they are building a better future for all of us. Mixed Signals @semafor.com: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...

This FT piece from @faniaoz-salzberger.bsky.social is worth taking the time to read. Gift link: on.ft.com/41xdSYg

What US higher education really looks like: - 43% of undergraduates attend community college - 20% of undergrads are parents, 1.4 million of whom are single mothers - 26% of students take classes exclusively online - 25% live w/their parents - 10.8 mil owe +$44,000 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...

>> The Israeli military carried out what’s called a double-tap strike: the first missile hit the hospital’s roof and killed a Reuters journalist during his livestream, followed by a second missile that hit first responders and reporters responding to the initial one. www.huffpost.com/entry/israel...

Recent economics PhDs are having new and unusual trouble entering the job market. May not seem relevant for non-academics but it is —for what it says abt the link btwn education and upward mobility, the structures supporting public research, how policy is informed, and for US competitiveness.

There’s something to be said for keeping up with basic standards. An interesting take on innovation from Janan Ganesh:

perfect empty day

So, there’s an Odyssey movie in the works.

“The last time the level of government spending was at that 8% of GDP was 1933, before the New Deal. In that year, after years of extraordinary corporate profits, the banking system had collapsed, the unemployment rate was nearly 25%, prices and productivity were plummeting, wages were cratering…”

The Guardian has a review of what’s happening in Spain, vía @mariaramirez.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The great Marilynne Robinson putting it as clearly as possible in @nybooks.com: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

The American brain drain has arrived: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

“Ten years ago…on June 16, 2015, Trump rode down the escalator at Trump Tower to a lobby filled with extras, to announce he was running for president. One reporter called his speech, in which he claimed that Mexico was sending criminals and rapists to the United States, "'eccentric.'”

Seems like the best day for a refresher.

Even before I heard the devastating, horrific news of political assassination in Minnesota, I woke up this morning thinking about Emily Dickinson's great poem "'Hope' is the thing with feathers -" Lots of people know this beautiful little poem, but fewer, I think(?) realize when it was written. /1

“…the administration is acting unilaterally to nix [Fulbright] awards for both American and foreign applicants that for decades have been selected jointly, effectively telling other countries that they don’t have final say in the spending of their own funds.”

“…to sit with discomfort, listen deeply, and to stay soft in hard times. Because if we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget that those whom we label as enemies, they too are human.” Yurong (Luanna) Jiang’s Harvard graduation speech is just what we all needed: youtu.be/GpR_xk-DWsQ?...

New tech and automation helps workers complete tasks faster, but it can also strip autonomy, lock in rigid processes, and prevent workers from improving how work gets done. So, we also get a decrease in ownership, productivity, and well-being. www.ft.com/content/4526... by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com

“One minor tension of my life is that I can’t bring myself to hate the Post. I find its politics detestable but its voice irresistible.” — Vinson Cunningham, @newyorker.com: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

I've renewed my @harpers.bsky.social subscription because of this incredible reporting and writing from @benehrenreich.bsky.social: harpers.org/archive/2025...