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: Good timing from the NYT — I’ve been wondering about the story behind the day-improving …

: Year in Review: 2023 Continuing a 23-year tradition of rounding up cultural highlights from the past 12 months, …

: “The Lost Voice,” a new two-minute short film from Apple, directed by Taika Waititi. A richly told …

: Interrogating Privilege From Nick McDonell’s new book “Quiet Street: On American Privilege”: Such skills arose not from any …

: Fantastic, instructive book: “Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company …

: Prompted by this Jarrett Fuller post, I scooped up and quickly read “Two-Dimensional Man: A Graphic …

: “‘My Body Is a Clock’: The Private Life of Chronic Care,” a moving and arresting photo series + …

: One of the best books I’ve read this year: “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of …

: In love with just about every one of these Janet Hansen-designed book covers.

: Cormac McCarthy, RIP After learning that Cormac McCarthy had died, I went back to my squiggled-up copy of “Suttree,” …

: “A. G. Sulzberger on the Battles Within and Against the New York Times”: I was very impressed with …

: I found a good amount of Ben Smith’s briskly paced new book “Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion …

: I feel behind not having heard of the Gartner Hype Cycle, which charts the rise, fall, and …

: Our little group paused in front of “Woman in Blue Reading a Letter,” and it was so beautiful that …

: “A Korean American connects her past and future through photography”: A lovely first-person piece by …

: “What business are you in?” I recently finished and enjoyed Frank Rose’s “The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven …

: Fantastic interview on the Time Sensitive podcast with a writer I admire: “Jelani Cobb on 50 Years …

: I have a few minor quibbles with Cormac McCarthy’s recent sharp and memorable novel “Stella Maris”, …

: Thought-provoking piece by Ted Chiang: “Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?”

: We modern-day humans tend to exaggerate our differences. The results of such exaggerations are often …

: “The New New Reading Environment” — A sharp survey from the editors at n+1.

: “How Much Does ‘Nothing’ Weigh?” — A fantastic, strikingly photographed feature in …

: In Esquire, “Behind the Scenes of Barack Obama’s Reading Lists”: The question of how the most …

: Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further …

: We Will Not Be Entertained Enough From Megan Garber’s astute, unsettling cover essay in the current issue of The Atlantic, “We’re …

: From “Super-Infinite,” Katherine Rundell’s new book on John Donne that’s got all kinds of verve: He …

: “Pentagram: Living by Design,” the exquisite-looking 50-year history of the iconic design studio, …

: Favorite new TV show find of the year: “Slow Horses,” streaming on Apple TV+. Great characters and …

: At Fast Company, a look at what Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt designs would look like today. …

: Rick Rubin, talking with Tyler Cowen, gets to the heart of what we lose as streaming music fans: …

: “After Yang” was a beautiful, sensitive, and contemplative movie. Quiet, unrushed. The …

: At Brand New, a new logo and identity for Catskill Art Space designed by Athletics. Lovely.

: ChatGPT: BS FTW? Speaking of ChatGPT, the recent “Ezra Klein Show” episode with A.I. expert Gary Marcus was …

: Media keeps falling in love with technology and finding out it’s a really bad boyfriend. Super hot, …

: “A Tweet Before Dying”: Paul Ford, perceptive and funny and deep yet again, writing in …

: In the NYT, "‘Snow Fall’ at 10." I can clearly remember when this immersive …

: Speaking of year-end traditions, I enjoyed this 2022 retrospective episode of the …

: Since 2000, I’ve been publishing a kind of year in review — mainly cultural highlights from …

: Julie Blackmon and Convergences In the mid–2000s, I was completely taken by the book “Everything That Rises: A Book of …

: “The Power Broker” Book-wise, I will remember 2022 as the year I read (and listened to) Robert Caro’s massive and …

: Franklin Foer writing after today’s incredible World Cup final: “The Lionel Messi Guide to Living”. …

: Astute, probing, and personal: A recent Sally Rooney address on “Ulysses,” published on The Paris …

: Rewatched Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Mirror,” a dozen years after first seeing it. Some unforgettable …

: “The E-Mail Newsletter for the Mogul Set”: Fascinating NewYorker.com piece on Puck, the new digital …

: Elegant and welcoming: Picnic, a new piece of office furniture inviting collaboration, designed by …

: Nice detail from Emily Heyward’s “Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One”, which I …

: Learned today in the NYT that there is an active “unofficial Tumblr historian” who is no longer on …

: It took several days — and a few sections floated past me without comprehension — but what a treat …

: Everything is brand now, and everything is storytelling now…. People want to know more about these …

: Thanksgiving with the Incandenzas Revisiting an oldie from David Foster Wallace’s magnificent novel “Infinite Jest”: At …

: Knoll: Our Work’s Worth Waiting For Charming and savvy detail from Ana Araujo’s new book on the work of Florence Knoll, “No Compromise”: …

: Since Michael Bierut stepped away from co-hosting the DBBD podcast, I’ve been missing audio access …

: Nice detail from the recent WSJ profile on Jony Ive, about his move from Apple to the creative …

: In The New Yorker, Margaret Talbot explores the “melancholy grandeur” of Weyes Blood, my favorite …

: A 1975 entry from Anne Truitt’s “Daybook: The Journal of an Artist”: For years and years I was …

: Ezra Klein talks with George Saunders: Saunders just nails the sudden inner-life, world-expanding …

: What a match: Remnick on Dylan.

: So sad to learn that Mimi Parker has died. I’ve spent 1,000+ hours over two decades gratefully …

: Memorable paragraph from Glenn Adamson’s “Fewer, Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects”: …

: For the generation that has listened to music only in earbuds, intimacy is the new punk rock. Bono, …

: Agency work, without the ta-da While there may be a scenario where this approach isn’t ideal, I appreciated these quotes …

: I’m just catching up with Björk’s podcast, Sonic Symobolism. One album per episode. …

: Content in Flight I said Wow out loud while listening to this epic media move via The Rebooting Show podcast: The new …

: This passage from a NYT article about LinkedIn and oversharing reads like it could have come from a …

: “Directed by James Burrows: Five Decades of Stories from the Legendary Director of Taxi, Cheers, …

: The US Open with Sagi Haviv — A Change Of Brand: An enjoyable episode of what’s become one of my …

: A bravura passage of science history from Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”: If …

: A Beethoven mic drop, as chronicled in Stuart Isacoff’s new book, “Musical Revolutions”: The fiery …

: “Knowing Wink” Being a decade-long Monocle subscriber and a fan of exploring how agencies document their work, I …

: In his concise and incisive book What Tech Calls Thinking, Adrian Daub examines and punctures a …

: Venice I’d been told I’d be wow’d by Venice, and I was. The light, the water — everyone was right. The …

: There’s such a world in this poem: “An Ordinary Morning”, by Joy Harjo.

: Creativity, Not Chaos Really enjoyed Rethink the Business of Creativity by Ian Grais, Tom Shepansky, and Chris Staples, of …

: Enjoyed the new book “Build” by Tony Fadell, of Apple and Nest. He’s got strong, proven points of …

: "What's Good: Notes on Rap and Language” What a supremely fine and lovingly crafted book this was. Astute, admiring, and entertaining …

: “An Ode to Hotel Rooms” — Terrific studied riff by James Parker for The Atlantic, in which he …

: “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” — Jonathan Haidt’s bleak, …

: Favorite recent podcast find: The Rebooting show from Brian Morrison, who was president and EIC at …

: BxW

: Continue to be highly impressed with Puck. In such a short time, they’ve established an upper-tier, …

: Still impressed with this luxury mattress company’s choice of positioning: Let’s not …

: A Few Recent Movies I was very impressed with “The Lost Daughter,” based on the Elena Ferrante novel, streaming on …

: I was knocked out by Teju Cole’s Blind Spot in 2017. Just finished Black Paper: Writing in a Dark …

: Year in Review: 2021 Since 2000, I’ve had a year-end tradition of sharing my cultural highlights of the past 12 months. …

: Enjoyable read — indie design studio heads talking shop in “Studio Culture Now”. A few common …

: From my Christmas wish list to under the tree: Self-Reliance. That “I” is just perfection. Designed …

: Finished The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Did not hit the heights for me of My Struggle, bit …

: Smart thoughts here from Benedict Evans: “Notes on newsletters.”

: Compelling reading this holiday: A Civic Thanksgiving - by James Fallows.

: Enjoyed The Chancellor by Kati Marton. Qualities vital to Merkel’s rise and 16-year tenure: …

: How to write an engaging, smart e-newsletter opener, by the editorial team at Massive Science: For …

: Learned of comedic writer Simon Rich on Conan O’Brien’s terrific podcast and picked up his new book, …

: Nice line from Kelefa Sanneh’s “Major Labels”: Unlike many virtuosos, Eddie Van …

: “Fewer have more” This phrase and passage from Cullen Murphy’s April Atlantic essay, “No, Really, Are We Rome?”, have …

: “Invisible does not mean uninterested.” — Jim McKelvy in his smart, highly readable book “The …

: “Astronomers take the position—an incidentally ethical one—of knowing.” — Rivka Galchen …

: Enjoyed and was impressed by Jim McKelvey’s “The Innovation Stack." I expected the …

: Jeff Tweedy’s new Substack newsletter, Starship Casual, is unsuprisingly great — at turns …

: “Theodicy,” by Nick Laird. What a phenonomal poem, with a vivid, piercing close.

: Year in Review: 2020 *Sylvie, sipping through a backyard quarantine concert by a friend and SLSO musician* Year 20 of my …

: Latest rave: the new Aleksandar Hemon book, "My Parents: An Introduction / This Does Not Belong to …

: Weeknotes #02 Odds and ends from the past few weeks: What a fun treat to see Forbes spotlight …

: Weeknotes #01 Borrowing the structure of a few other online writers whose websites I enjoy (Paul Robert Lloyd and …

: Toni Morrison's Exquisite Nonfiction I just finished Toni Morrison’s The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and …

: Playing Haley Heynderickx Thanks to a chance moment listening to KDHX in the car, I’ve now had Haley Heynderickx on repeat …

: How Basecamp Communicates Thoughtful and clear series of internal communications principles from the (distributed) team at …

: Anne Enright: “The Gathering” Dimly, I had never read a word of Anne Enright’s before recently hearing her recommended by Stephen …

: “The weather is no longer small talk” Ayana Elizabeth Johnson speaks with Ezra Klein about climate change and the oceans.

: Charles and Ray, Designers From the Near Future Loved this passage from Sam Jacob’s essay “Context as Destiny: The Eameses from Californian Dreams …

: Tweedy + The Beasties Two relatively new music books I enjoyed this summer: Jeff Tweedy’s Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back:) A …

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: I was impressed and moved by Ocean Vuong’s debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Poetic, …

: Paul Ford's Latest Any new Paul Ford piece is a must-read for me. No one else I know of writes about technology with …

: Jia Tolentino: “Ecstasy” One of the finest personal essays I’ve read in years — poetic, precise, expertly set up and brought …

: Three episodes into Decomposed, a fabulous new podcast about classical music hosted by Jade Simmons. …

: George Packer on Richard Holbrooke Packer’s recent cover story for The Atlantic — “Elegy for the American Century” — is an exceptional …

: Teju Cole on Embedding Hesitation Really enjoyed this substantive recent conversation on Krista Tippett’s “On Being” podcast. At one …

: Remnick on Buddy Guy and the Blues While not personally a blues guy, I loved every paragraph of David Remnick’s terrific New Yorker …

: Recommended 🎧: The new Lomelda record, “M for Empathy”, 11 songs and just 16 minutes long. Unlike …

: Finished “What We Lose," the debut novel from Zinzi Clemmons about a young woman living …

: We binged “Russian Doll”. Absorbing and original. Killer soundtrack. Streaming on …

: Liked this this quote/pic posted by a company I really enjoy following online.

: Favorite song of the year so far: “Dylan Thomas” on the Bridgers/Oberst combo record (Spotify).

: Crib crasher

: Finished and really enjoyed the BBC’s recent four-part “Howards End” adaptation. …

: Dana Goodyear: “Blurred Lines” — Fantastically interesting and smartly plotted New Yorker profile of …

: Enjoyed this Kara Swisher interview with executive recruiter James Citrin, who’s working at …

: Basecamp's Public Post-Mortem In an episode of the company’s “Rework” podcast, Basecamp staff look back on their five-hour outrage …

: Terry Theise on "a Fine Kind of Melancholy" From the wine importer’s crisply written and life-philosophy-framing book Reading Between the Wines, …

: Craig Mod on the Future of Books Thoughtful piece at Wired from someone who’s been thinking and writing about this subject for quite …

: Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Essential Role of Great Editors At the close of Coates’ recent interview with Chris Hayes, the host asks him if he’s working on a …

: “Will Oldham: Unmasked” — For GQ, Alex Pappademas gets unusual access to one of my …

: New Knausgaard Interview @ NewYorker.com From a substantive new interview with Joshua Rothman: I had felt for many, many years that the form …

: "Succession" Finished season one. Stopped midway through, for its sourness, then continued through the finale. …

: Late thanks to EQ for having me on as a guest on the Bourbon Friday Show. Enjoyed talking about …

: “Maybe the ocean is nothing / except the sound of being born.” — From Ben Purkert’s poem “News”

: “A Black Rear Extension Was Added To A 1960’s Brick House In Sydney“ — Stellar and surprising.

: Forest Young on The Design of Business, The Business is Design — Terrific interview with this Wolff …

: “How I Built This” on Betterment — I’ve been impressed with this offering in recent years and …

: In The Atlantic, Nathaniel Rich on “William Vollmann’s Brutal Book About Climate Change”. Sounds …

: Link of the day: the International Institute of St. Louis. Grateful it exists. Proud to support it.

: Finished season one of “Succession." Stopped midway through, for its sourness, then …

: “A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or …

: “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change” Nathanial Rich’s whole-issue article in the NYT Magazine. I read it in one punch-in-the-gut gulp on …

: Our house suddenly feels warmer with the recent arrival of this 1963 Wurlitzer Spinet. Props to the …

: Wearing Mama’s black jacket for warmth, Leo turned curator, leading the way.

: Connected

: Paul Ford on Microsoft Buying GitHub From the piece: That’s how code happens in 2018. The process used to be the sort of thing people …

: Four Recent Pieces on Parenthood On this Father's Day, here are four terrific recent pieces I've been lucky to come across — two very …

: Leadership St. Louis 2018-19 I'm honored and grateful to have been selected to be part of the 2018-19 class of Leadership St. …

: More Great Listening: Batuman & Sow The Longform Podcast's new episode with Elif Batuman is fantastic. I've enjoyed her writing for a …

: Lucky Podcast: "The Choice" I don't think I've ever been more moved by an audio story than I was listening to this two-part …

: Michael Chabon on Being a Writer + Parent In an essay for GQ, he provides a decades-later response to an esteemed literary figure’s …

: Mona Hatoum’s “Hair Necklace,” shown in a slide from her packed-house talk today @pulitzerarts.

: Aleksandar Hemon on “Katastrofa”: A superb and insightful essay on language and family. 

: Cultural Notes: February 2018 Continuing for month two of this recent effort to note the cultural intake of the prior month:  …

: Cultural Notes: January 2018 With a nod to Kottke's monthly "Media Diet" posts, I'm experimenting this year with short monthly …

: Abbott Miller on the "Content-Based Studio" From the intelligent and beautifully made monograph Abbott Miller: Design and Content, which I …

: Year in Review: 2017 Continuing a 17-year tradition, I’m happy to share my Annual Favorites list for the year 2017: …

: SLAM’s impressive German collection has this effect on a lot of visitors

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: Discussing Gass on St. Louis Public Radio I was honored to join Lorin Cuoco last week on Don Marsh’s “St. Louis on the Air” …

: On Meeting & Knowing William Gass I wrote this piece, “Words of William H. Gass touched readers around the globe," for the …

: William H. Gass, Rest in Peace A great fortune of my life has been to know this once-in-a-generation writer and be transformed by …

: Family fun in KC. Thanks for joining us, @fourletter — and for the 📷!

: Tim Carmody on Bill Callahan With this terrific Kottke.org guest post — “Bill Callahan, the only sad man worth …

: George Saunders on Monocle 24: A does-the-heart-and-mind-good interview with Georgina Godwin.

: When Lapham Played Beethoven for Monk Thanks to a surprise purchase by my wife, I’ve been enjoying the new issue of Lapham’s …

: Karl Ove Knausgaard Walks Central Park For The New Yorker Radio Hour, Joshua Rothman walks Central Park with one of my favorite living …

: Nick Paumgarten Profiles St. Vincent Following his exceptional profile of Father John Misty, Paumgarten goes deep with the intriguing, …

: STL Public Radio Remembers Agnes Wilcox I was very sad to learn about the sudden death of a woman I was lucky enough to know while serving …

: Teju Cole in Words & Pictures I loved every minute I spent with this beautiful, poetic, searching, confident book.

: Fascinating, entertaining profile of Father John Misty in The New Yorker.

: Lethem on Knausgaard: "My Hero" After discovering this short appreciation in a Jonathan Lethem essay collection on bookish things, I …

: Gregory Crewdson: I can still remember encountering Crewdson’s work for the first time in The New York Times …

: Demo of Low’s “Will the Night.". Among the most beautiful three minutes of music I …

: An inspiring New Yoker profile of Steidl by Rebecca Mead.

: "A Father's Final Odyssey" A special piece by Daniel Mendelsohn about Homer's epic, his father and a journey they took …

: Song Exploder Where have I been to miss this marvelous podcast for its first 101 episodes? Hrishikesh Hirway …

: Remembering Robert Silvers What a rich life to have lived, at the helm of the New York Review of Books, to have these warm, …

: Jack White's World Insightful and entertaining New Yorker profile by Alec Wilkinson. I can still vividly recall seeing …

: Exit West What a time for this deeply affecting Mohsin Hamid novel to appear. Here’s Jia Tolentino on …

: Hilton Als on “Moonlight” Finally saw this extraordinary movie, piercing and tender and unforgettable. Catching up on some …

: Upcoming Talk: "Refreshing the Forest Park Forever Brand" I'm pleased to be speaking to the St. Louis chapter of the International Association of Business …

: "Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game" I've really been missing new Knausgaard material, as I've been waiting for the next translation... …

: A Country Richer For It I have endless gratitude for and pride in the America that welcomed refugees I would be lucky enough …

: Anil Dash w/ Krista Tippett Intelligent, upbeat conversation about how Dash is working toward a more humane engagement with …

: Loved this World Book Club episode, with informed and curious readers asking Karl Ove Knausgaard …

: Jason Fried: "Restoring Sanity to the Office" I'm such a believer in how Fried and his Basecamp colleagues position themselves for productive …

: Michael Bierut on Honesty, Taste & Intelligence I loved this book: a visually rich and smartly narrated collection of case studies exploring all …

: Enjoyed this short essay by Elif Batuman: “How to Be a Stoic."

: Alan Burdick on Time From "The Secret Life of Time," published in The New Yorker: Years ago, long before I had children …

: The William H. Gass Symposium In September of this year, I was honored to be part of “The William H. Gass Symposium: International …

: Studio Gang to STL Exciting news here in St. Louis: Studio Gang-designed residential tower to go up just east of Forest …

: James Wood: “Lessons From My Mother” Lovely essay.

: Knausgaard & Zadie [youtube …

: “Fractured Lands”: An extraordinary, deeply affecting single-article issue of The New …

: Roz Chast's Deeply Poignant Memoir I’ve long chuckled at Roz Chast’s cartoons in The New Yorker. This graphic memoir, the first such …

: The Refugee Nation The official flag for The Refugee Nation, a team of ten refugees currently competing in the Rio …

: Tadao Ando: The Idea of a Center From Michael Auping’s Seven Interviews with Tadao Ando: The idea of a center is an interesting one, …

: Listenforestpark.org Fun audio project our Forest Park Forever team launched this summer.

: Max Porter's "Grief Is the Thing with Feathers" "> <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " …

: “The Monocle Guide to Cozy Homes” Really enjoyed this book, which eschews icy, spacious luxury and celebrates lived-in warmth and …

: Paul Kalanithi Writes To His Daughter From his extraordinary book, When Breath Becomes Air: When you come to one of the many moments …

: "Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl" Really enjoyed Carrie Brownstein’s impressive, observant, terrifically titled memoir. 

: Silverblatt & Knausgaard Having just finished book three of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle (I enjoyed the first two more, …

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: David Remnick on "CBS Sunday Morning" He continues to be near the top of my list of working professionals I admire. 

: Adam Gopnik: "Practicing Doubt, Redrawing Faith" Terrific “On Being” conversation. 

: "Status Update" — This American Life The first segment on high school freshman and Instagram (“’Relevance’ is a big term right …

: Ta-Nehisi Coates on Longform Two of my favorites.

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: "I Was a Refugee" Veneta Rizvic, writing in the St. Louis Business Journal.

: "Unfollow" — Conversion Via Twitter Incredible story.

: A Eulogy for Rdio I’ve been a happy subscriber and many-hours-a-day listener for years. Bummed they couldn’t make it …

: Kjartansson in Central Park Watching Ragnar Kjartansson’s “S.S. Hangover,” part of “Drifting in Daylight: Art in Central Park” …

: Year in Review: 2014 Back before Tamara and I had our son in the summer of 2013, I used to keep regular lists of my …

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: "In Prison, Preparing for Home" In my first post on Medium, I write briefly about attending a performance of Prison Performing Arts, …

: "On Becoming a Father" A lovely short essay by Alexis C. Madrigal. 

: Life News: I'm Joining Forest Park Forever This is an exciting week for me: I’m joining the staff of Forest Park Forever as the organization’s …

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: Seamus Heaney: 1939 – 2013 Sad news: The great Irish poet Seamus Heaney has died at age 74.  When I was a freshman in …

: The Unauthorized Marissa Mayer Biography 22,000 words. A very interesting read.

: Ramón Lobo Interviews David Remnick From the lengthy Q&A: Coming back to the first topic of our conversation, how can we convince …

: My Father-in-Law, Profiled “Artist’s wire trees free the mind, shape the future,” written by Doug Moore and …

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: Q&A: GE Managing Editor Tomas Kellner From this interesting interview at The Content Strategist: GE is one of the brands out there that’s …

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: "Content Over Keywords" (or, SSO over SEO) I wrote this post for the TOKY blog.

: The TOKY Friday Review Today I published the second in a new series on the TOKY Blog — notable highlights from what the …

: "The Social Media Editor is Dead" At BuzzFeed, Rob Fishman on the widening out of this once-distinct role.

: Bezos and the Six-Page Meeting Narrative A Fortune profile on Jeff Bezos reveals how Amazon’s senior-executive team presents, consumes, and …

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: On Launching The TOKY Research Library A new post I wrote on the TOKY Blog.

: Robert Silvers: Toward a "New Form of Criticism" At New York Magazine, the great journalist Mark Danner talks at length with The New York Review of …

: CoDesign on Editorially Excited to try this new online writing and editing environment, built by a few all-stars. 

: Hemon: "The Book of My Lives" I’ve written before of the penetrating, often funny essays of Aleksandar Hemon, the Bosnian …

: FT and the "Finite Read" From Folio’s “FT Relaunches Web App”: One of the biggest changes is offering readers both a static …

: Reading William Gass Lots going on at my other blog, perhaps most notably Cynthia Ozick’s review of Middle C, which …

: Karen Green: "Bough Down" BOMB offers an extraordinary excerpt from Bough Down, a volume by artist Karen Green, who is also …

: Kevin Ashton: "Creative People Say No" Enjoyed this piece, especially Ashton’s quoting of composer George Ligeti's secretary, writing to a …

: Remnick: "A Scandal at the Bolshoi Ballet" Continually impressed by David Remnick, who, between serving as the bloody EIC of The New Yorker, …

: "More commas, please" At McSweeney’s, Teddy Wayne’s “Feedback From James Joyce’s Submission of Ulysses to His …

: "William H. Gass: How I Write" Fun interview in The Daily Beast. Happily surprised to see my name pop up.

: Stirring to John Ashbery In this New Yorker podcast, the great Jane Mayer talks about food, kitchens, and using evening …

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: Jason Fried on a Reader's Motivation Customers come to learn something, research something, consider something, buy something. If they …

: The Ecosystem Known As Reading Andrew Piper, writing in Book Was There: Reading in Electronic Times: Books will always be there. …

: The Risks of Rereading I really like this bit from Katherine Boo, taken from her interview for the New York Times Book …

: Asimov: Why Wine From Eric Asimov’s How to Love Wine, which I quite enjoyed: To assert that tasting notes amount to …

: Remnick: "Scenes from the Inauguration" Not content with being The New Yorker’s EIC, David Remnick remains — even in “a few …

: Yep, Retailers Can Have Editors-in-Chief The Independent profiles Jeremy Langmead, the former editor of Wallpaper* and Esquire. For a little …

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: "How Tide Detergent Became a Drug Currency" A fascinating New York Magazine piece on an out-of-nowhere topic. Floral scents, for their part, …

: "The sirens had hoarse throats" From William H. Gass’ forthcoming novel, Middle C: Joey … rails ran across France …

: Virginia Woolf, Observing A passage of exceptional precision in The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Vol. 1: On Sunday Lytton …

: The Dish's Readers At The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf recalls his days working for Team Sullivan: At The Daily Dish, …

: TOKY's 2012 Annual Report This was a fun piece to work on.

: Year in Review: 2012 The Frank Lloyd Wright house in Ebsworth Park, which we visited in February This post is part of my …

: A recent work from my father-in-law, whose sculptures can be purchased here.

: "Stories at Home, Contributions Away" I wrote this post — about content trends in 2012 — for the TOKY blog.

: Towards the Gass Interviews.... I’m still at work editing The Ear’s Mouth Must Move: The Essential Interviews of William H. Gass. …

: Craig Mod: "Subcompact Publishing" An important and insightful essay. I hope Mod writes a part two that looks a bit more at how exactly …

: Andrew Piper on E-Reading The subtitle of this Slate piece is way too glib, but the essay from Piper — a literature professor …

: Two Minutes On Video A sliver of self promotion, as I link to a brief video portrait of me made by Greg Kiger and his …

: An Airborne "Abstractions Arrive" Have to say I like Lee Rice Epstein’s photo of the iBook, which he captioned this way on …

: "Small Presses & Self-Publishers: Enemies? Or Half-Siblings?" Interesting piece by Sean Bishop in the VQR blog. (And yes, I agree with this sentiment, and not …

: Evan Osnos: "Boss Rail" An exceptional piece of reporting in The New Yorker.

: Steven Holl on Museum Architecture From a profile of the architect in ArtNews’ 09/12 issue: There’s the neutral white box. …

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: "In Silicon Valley, Perks Now Begin at Home" Interesting piece about perks geared toward whole-life realities and peace of mind.

: Chris Mills on Kickstarter The other day, I tweeted some frustration about the news that a world-famous film director had …

: Monocle 24 Turns One A short film about the radio station’s first year. Can’t say I’ve ever connected …

: "Drunk With Power" In the New York Times Magazine, an in-depth look at Jon Rimmerman’s $30-million-a-year …

: "The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent" Interesting historical perspective from Chrystia Freeland, writing in the Times: The story of …

: Marco's "The Magazine" Really looking forward to checking out this new iOS magazine from Marco Arment. From his …

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: Kessler Continued: On Rilke, His Lips & War Following up on my previous post about this extraordinary 900-page book — I finished it last night — …

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: "50 Books/50 Covers" Winners for 2011 Some beauties in this annual competition, which is put on by Design Observer, AIGA, and Designers …

: David Carr on Atlantic Media's David G. Bradley From the NYT profile: What is the way forward for a 155-year old-magazine that once published …

: "Lessons For Building A Tablet Magazine That's Actually Worth Using" From Co.Design: The New Yorker has seen success with its relatively straightforward digital edition, …

: Zadie Smith Profiles Jay-Z Two of my favorites. At one point, Smith introduces another lyrical gem (“I got watches I ain’t seen …

: Popping Up in the New York Times Hey, there’s The New York Times covering Abstractions Arrive! The piece, written by David …

: The Pussy Riot Closing Statements Remarkable and brave. And here’s David Remnick, who spent years living in and covering Russia, …

: Reporting on NMPS 2012 At the TOKY Blog, I offer five key take-aways from attending the National Museum Publishing Seminar …

: MATCHBOOK. bikinis meet their match “Clever matches between bathing suits and books." Great idea.

: “The Gass Sentences: A Top 50” Today is William Gass’ 88th birthday. For the Big Other website, John Madera asked some …

: "First of all, we don't publish slideshows" Great email from BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti to his troops about why the site’s succeeding …

: @KimKierkegaard KimKierkegaardashian: The philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard mashed with the tweets and observations …

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: [vimeo 45784128 w=500 h=281] Reblogging myself from a new microsite for Abstractions Arrive: On a …

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: Discussing "J R" At Open Letters Monthly, Greg Gerke and Gabriel Blackwell have a long and interesting discussion …

: n+1: Euro Cup 2012 Dushko Petrovich, both wrapping up the tournament so far and previewing today’s final, offers this …

: Atul Gawande on the ACA Ruling From the surgeon/writer’s impressive Daily Comment for The New Yorker: The major social advances of …

: "Study Reveals Dolphins Lack Capacity To Mock Celebrity Culture" This gem could have been a headline-only piece, but The Onion goes the full nine: Even when …

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: "Triple Canopy Launches Sarajevo Residency" Art in America reports on this very interesting project: On June 21, Brooklyn-based online magazine …

: Len Gutkin on "J R" I love seeing meaty new pieces on William Gaddis’ J R, which has just been released by Dalkey and …

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: The Wire: An Oral History Odd that it’s in Maxim, but I would have read it anywhere.

: "The World’s First and Only Completely Honest Résumé of a Graphic Designer" A gem by Marco Kaye at McSweeney’s:  In my portfolio, you will see that unproduced package …

: David Grann: "The Yankee Comandante" An incredibly absorbing 26-page article by David Grann about William Alexander Morgan and the Cuban …

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: Craig Mod: "Hack the Cover" As ever, Mod offers smart, forward-looking thoughts on books and publishing. His central question: …

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: "Not His Riches, But Ours" A member of the Wallace-L listserv posted this Pascal quote this morning, commenting (insightfully) …

: "A Different Puff Than Yours" Barack Obama, writing in his early twenties with confidence and style to girlfriend Genevieve Cook, …

: "Dilemma Protests" From “Protesters in Moscow Try New Tactics to Avoid Arrests,” in the NYT: The evolving tactics in …

: Gary Wills: "The Myth About Marriage" The Catholic writer, in a post at the New York Review of Books blog: Those who do not want to let …

: "Postscript: Adam Yauch" Terrific piece by Sasha Frere-Jones at The New Yorker’s website. Yauch’s transition from …

: Michael Silverblatt Interviews William H. Gass The Bookworm host has previously referred to Gass as “our greatest living writer of prose in …

: Paul Ford on Facebook and Instagram At NYMag.com: First, to understand this deal it’s important to understand Facebook. Unfortunately …

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: Skepticism in Montaigne's Day A surprising and interesting passage from Sarah Bakewell’s How To Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in …

: Craig Mod on Building an App (and a Book) As thoughtful and personal as his previous pieces. 

: "Good Things About Twitter" I was actually in the early stages of writing a post about this same subject — that, contrary to …

: Dwight Garner: "The Way We Read Now" Great piece in The New York Times, with clear-eyed (and entertaining) commentary from a writer and …

: Ezra Klein: "The Unpersuaded" A fascinating New Yorker piece — subtitled “Who listens to a President?” — about the …

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: "Which Cover Would You Choose?" A behind-the-scenes post about how The New York Times Magazine chooses its covers (which are …

: "Radiohead’s Runaway Guitarist" Great profile of Jonny Greenwood in today’s New York Times Magazine. Greenwood’s …

: Joe Pollack Has Died The hard-working, well-known, and friendly St. Louis dining, theater, and movie critic died Friday …

: "Tony Judt: A Final Victory" By Jennifer Homans, Judt’s widow, and published in The New York Review of Books. Lovely and sad.

: "Instapaper Placebo" Brilliant.

: Radiolab: Escape! I can’t say enough about this episode of Radiolab: We kick things off with a true escape artist — a …

: H-Omer Design Featured on the Goodsie Blog Hey, that’s my father-in-law. Well done, Omer!

: The Ryan Lizza Diet Part of The Atlantic’s “What I Read” series, which I’m always interested in. …

: Mandy Brown: Really like this post: Iteration in public is a principle of nearly all good product design; you …

: Aleksander Hemon: "National Subjects" Another very good (and very dispiriting) non-fiction piece from the Bosnian-American writer, …

: 5 Highlights from Germany & Spain My post for the “Artful Travels” series at the TOKY Blog.

: Tim Parks Defends E-Books At the New York Review of Books blog, a refreshingly contrarian post: The e-book, by eliminating all …

: Steve Coll Remembers Anthony Shadid At newyorker.com: When he came to the Washington Post about a decade ago to serve as a …

: John Gruber on Mountain Lion Apple’s next OS — highly informed by iOS — introduced to Gruber in a private briefing by Phil …

: "The Germans Dive Deeper" <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " …

: Harper's: "What happened in Vegas" An entertaining exchange, which the magazine introduces this way: From The Lifespan of a Fact, by …

: This American Life: "Alien Experiment" Jack Hitt explores Alabama’s immigration bill, HB56. Great segment. 

: David Carr: "At BuzzFeed, the Significant and the Silly" From this NYT look at the evolving Buzzfeed: As the consumer Web has matured, readers have become …

: Evgeny Morozov: "The Death of the Cyberflâneur" An interesting piece published in today’s NYT: As the popular technology blogger Robert Scoble …

: Dahlia Lithwick: "Colbert v. the Court" A sharp summing up. It’s interesting to learn that Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion …

: Building a Mind Created in Words Two passages, among many, that struck me in William H. Gass’ wonderful new essay collection Life …

: Nicholas Carr: "Why publishers should give away ebooks" Kind of.  Readers today are forced to choose between buying a physical book or an ebook, but a …

: Franzen on Books, E-Books, and Permanence Jonathan Franzen, regretting the rise (and, it seems, existence) of e-books:   Someone …

: Emily Nussbaum on "Downton Abbey" Really liking Nussbaum’s work in her new role as The New Yorker’s TV critic: Like “Luck,” “Downton …