At least among one audience, books are dying. Alarmingly, it’s the exact audience whose departure from reading might actually presage a catastrophe for the publishing industry—and for the entire concept of pleasure reading as a common pursuit. - Slate
Data suggest that something is amiss: across Europe, the average proportion of 15-29-year-olds not in work nor education or training exceeds the EU’s 9% target. Last year in France, the figure peaked at 12.5%. Yet a Europe-wide study has found that young people value work just as much as older generations. - Eurozine
Thucydides knew that we did not have full control of the analogies that shape our deliberations, especially in public life. Our analogical vocabulary is woven directly into the cultural fabric, a product of the contingencies that shape collective memory. - Aeon
That’s “the Order of the Third Bird—supposedly a secret international fellowship, going back centuries, of artists, authors, booksellers, professors, and avant-gardists. Participants in the Order would converge, flash-mob style, at museums, stare intensely at a work of art for half an hour, and vanish.” - The New Yorker
This may not shock you, but The Idea of You author Robinne Lee agrees that the movie of her book fundamentally alters the ending. (Spoilers for both at the link.) - Vulture
The teens know it. Still, “‘sometimes it’s nice to vent or blow off steam to something that’s kind of human-like,’ agreed Hawk, a 17-year-old Character.AI user from Idaho. 'But not actually a person, if that makes sense.’" - The Verge
“If you want to see the original Star Wars trilogy — as they were shown in theaters, a bit softer and grainier (and with Han Solo definitely shooting the bounty hunter Greedo first, not in self-defense, as he now does) — you’ll have to rely on some rebel fans." - The New York Times
It just takes some thought, and some very good design. “'We are social animals, and play fosters social relationships,’ says landscape architect Meghan Talarowski, executive director of Studio Ludo, who is also a certified playground safety inspector.” - Bloomberg
The challenge universities are confronting is not just the law but also their own rhetoric. Many universities at the center of the ongoing police crackdowns have long sought to portray themselves as bastions of activism and free thought. - The Atlantic
Even if we are fated to anxiety by our very nature, we needn’t be anxious about being anxious. Contra those who would abolish every form of friction or frustration, he insists that anxiety is a way of honoring who and what we are. - Washington Post
For years, we have heard a litany of reasons why our capacity to pay attention is disturbingly on the wane. Technology hounds us. Modern life, forever quicker and more scattered, drives concentration away. For just as long, concerns of this variety could be put aside. - The New Yorker
If a computer can write like a person, what does that say about the nature of our own creativity? What, if anything, sets us apart? And if AI does indeed supplant human writing, what will humans—both readers and writers—lose? - The New Republic
When it comes to how you would ideally plan your days, the research suggests that people differ, with some more drawn to clock time and some more to event time. - Psyche
