"If Asinius Pollio was the one who 'first by founding a library made works of genius the property of the public', it was Augustus and his successors who instilled an ideology of the public ownership of knowledge. And it didn't matter if the masses couldn't read any of it." - Aeon
I could probably come up with another DCCCLXXXIX reasons why Arabic numerals eat Neptune’s you-know-what's for breakfast, but you get the idea. - The New Yorker
"The unique program connects kids from the most populous U.S. city with teens from states where book bans are roiling communities. … Teen councilmembers say they've learned a surprising lesson from out-of-state students: Books on the required reading list in many New York City schools are being banned elsewhere." - Gothamist
he remaining bidders included KKR, one of the world’s largest private-equity firms, and News Corp, the owner of HarperCollins, a competing publishing house. - The New York Times
English alone counts for almost half the internet; add other European languages plus Chinese and Japanese and it's 95%. For other languages — even those like Arabic, Bengali, and Amharic used by many millions — AI tools have relatively tiny datasets to train on. Here are some people addressing that. - Deutsche Welle
"Some authors are using A.I. as a writing and editing assistant that can help them brainstorm, organize material, develop characters or create an outline. … Many in publishing are taking action to protect their work." - The New York Times
The board voted 4-1 to fire longtime library director Terri Lesley after months of tension surrounding her refusal to weed out the library’s shelves based on a vague new policy aimed at shielding children and teens from sexual content. - The Daily Beast
The opening ceremony, rather than being in a stadium, will be a parade of boats down the river through the city, and authorities say that about 570 (60%) of the bookstalls must be temporarily moved in order to provide adequate security. The stalls' proprietors are protesting vigorously. - The Guardian
Called 8th Note Press, the proposed entity seems to sit at the intersection of a major publisher and a site like Amazon or Goodreads, but with a social media twist. - The Walrus
Lawrence’s bristling, inflamed, impertinent language provides a reminder that criticism is not just the work of the brain, but of the gut and the spleen as well. The intellectual refinement of his argument is unthinkable without the churn of instinct and feeling beneath it.
There seems to be a transgressive quality to some translated fiction. Is that appealing? “That genre of ‘messed-up’ books has just exploded on TikTok.” - The Guardian
It's a temporary injunction, but still, "the executive director of Central Arkansas Library System, Nate Coulter, said the judge's 49-page decision recognized the law as censorship, a violation of the Constitution and wrongly maligning librarians." - NPR
After the leaks, "certain incidents began occurring that resembled the fictional action. ... A fight broke out during the mixed doubles tennis tournament. ... There were rumours of marital affairs. A complaint was made that the tennis players were too 'cosy' with yacht club members." - The Guardian (UK)
Charlie Jane Anders, formerly an active Twitter user, has some thoughts. "I wish we had a more robust book-o-sphere generally. The lifeblood of book culture is word-of-mouth and celebration of other people's stuff, and that doesn't have to happen in a sewer like Twitter." - Happy Dancing
In the nineteenth century, "The tears were a form of praise. The femaleness of response, though, became a negative." Until the trauma plot, and the meme "Do you even cry, bro?" - LitHub
