Goethe: A Life in Ideas by @matthewgbell.bsky.social gets a sharp, illuminating review from Ritchie Robertson in @litreview.bsky.social! “Deeply learned, crisply written.” Read it here: literaryreview.co.uk/darkness-light-2

literaryreview.co.uk/darkness-lig... My 'Goethe: A Life in Ideas' reviewed by Ritchie Robertson in the Literary Review

In this important and ambitious work, @matthewgbell.bsky.social offers a wide-ranging intellectual biography of Goethe, tracing the evolution of his thought and reassessing its value. Out now! Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Published today by the good folk at Princeton.

Only 8 days to wait until the publication of this baby

“Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men.”

Uh oh. Here we go.

At a stroke Reform have removed the whip from 20% of their MPs.

Currently indexing this. Sure am gonna miss it when it’s published.

I bought all the Joy Division and early New Order releases when they came out. Playing them tonight on my 1970s-style hifi. A refurbed Technics SL1200Mk2, an original Yamaha CA-2000 amp from the late ‘70s, and modern but 1970s-style JBL speakers.

“Sorry, I know you’re busy, but I’ve got this really great idea about a meal you could make me.”

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j... Glowing review of the brilliant Keon West’s new book.

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... Very excited about this, and deep thanks to the fantastic folk at Princeton for making it happen.

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... Very excited about this, and deep thanks to the fantastic folk at Princeton for making it happen.

2024 recedes into the distance. Between Land’s End and Cape Cornwall

I held a team meeting with myself this morning to discuss health and safety. A risk assessment identified super-sharp Japanese kitchen knives as the main concern. Like an idiot I’ve just sliced the end of my thumb off. 👍🔪

Christmas cakes have been fed with rum

Oh dear. Man City just lost 3-3.

Anyone got a spludger I could borrow?

The biggest problem democracy has is that there aren’t many votes in protecting democracy. Voters tend to view democracy as just part of the furniture. That’s why politicians need to advocate for democracy. Unfortunately too many of them don’t. Because … see above

History can’t ever be problem-solving in the way that technology claims to be. It can, on the other hand, have meaning for humans in ways technology doesn’t capture. Making its pursuit conditional on a market/technological understanding of utility prevents it from ever revealing most of its value.

Celeb spot of the day: Jarvis Cocker in a hi-fi/record shop in N London. A regular customer, to judge by the reaction of the shop manager.

Also, part of the reason we did bought InfoWars is because people on Bluesky told us it would be funny to buy InfoWars. And those people were right. This is the funniest thing that has ever happened.

We have a web page, though no artwork yet. press.princeton.edu/books/hardco....

Me in my matriculation photo in 1983

Big day today - my first full speech in German since Goethe Institute refresher course. Thanks to German Ambassador Miguel Berger for asking me to speak at Symposium on “making the case for German”. Languages matter and it is sad that we Brits learn so few of them. Ich liebe die deutsche Sprache

I have created a "starter pack" for intellectual history, broadly construed, composed of historians, philosophers, political theorists, literary scholars, & more! Sorry for those I missed & cannot add (limit 150), but do reply, like, & share this post so that people can find you! go.bsky.app/77uSk3m

OK, time for an extended Tw*tter detox. It'll be good not to waste my time gawping at edgelords.

@everyheron.bsky.social Little blue heron, Cano Negro, Costa Rica