I love bookmarks, too - I have a large selection (like my book collection!) cut out of leftover card, painting projects, birthday and Christmas cards. Tip: ask Santa for a corner punch for Christmas. Your bookmarks will thank you - the corners won't get caught in the gutters of books, nor will they get dog-eared and tatty. Tis a simple gadget that will make your books and bookmarks very happy. 😊
I never knew corner punches existed! That would definitely fancy up my rather crude bookmarks (that I surreptitiously use the kitchen shears to cut, by the way). You know, the failure I have in bookmarking is that I tend to bookmark too much. Certainly, I do benefit by having a flag to a significant page or paragraph or sentence, but I have to admit that sometimes I refer to a bookmarked spot and wonder why in the world I set the mark in place!
Ah yes - rather like highlighting, if everything's highlighted then nothing's highlighted, right?!
For books that I know I'll want to make notes on, or refer back to specific pages, I'll use a ruled index card (corners duly rounded, of course) for a bookmark on which I can scribble down a note or two, along with the page number.
BTW, great post today, Tom. You actually stole one of the posts I've been pulling together slowly that I've called "Subscriptions aren't the thing you're looking for." Maybe I'll write it after all, and link to your post. I do want Substack to succeed as a business, but I don't want (or need) money that might be squeezed from a newsletter to confound my intentions. Writing is already hard enough!
That Sports Illustrated article was something else. (Although if I had to write about teams like my Chicago Bears, I’d want to use AI, too. Ugh.) It’s bad enough smaller local papers are being gobbled up by larger presses and leading to bland, poorly edited, locally-irrelevant copy. When will we as consumers demand better from publishers (and of ourselves)?
Chayka is a good writer. His first book was Longing for Less, a study of minimalism and the way that the movement coursed through modern life. There are echoes of that interest in this new book. I think it's quite successful, and I've been toying with using it in next fall's seminar.
Great post, Mark!
I love bookmarks, too - I have a large selection (like my book collection!) cut out of leftover card, painting projects, birthday and Christmas cards. Tip: ask Santa for a corner punch for Christmas. Your bookmarks will thank you - the corners won't get caught in the gutters of books, nor will they get dog-eared and tatty. Tis a simple gadget that will make your books and bookmarks very happy. 😊
I never knew corner punches existed! That would definitely fancy up my rather crude bookmarks (that I surreptitiously use the kitchen shears to cut, by the way). You know, the failure I have in bookmarking is that I tend to bookmark too much. Certainly, I do benefit by having a flag to a significant page or paragraph or sentence, but I have to admit that sometimes I refer to a bookmarked spot and wonder why in the world I set the mark in place!
Ah yes - rather like highlighting, if everything's highlighted then nothing's highlighted, right?!
For books that I know I'll want to make notes on, or refer back to specific pages, I'll use a ruled index card (corners duly rounded, of course) for a bookmark on which I can scribble down a note or two, along with the page number.
I’m looking forward to that book review, and as always, you’ve given me some links to follow up on.
BTW, great post today, Tom. You actually stole one of the posts I've been pulling together slowly that I've called "Subscriptions aren't the thing you're looking for." Maybe I'll write it after all, and link to your post. I do want Substack to succeed as a business, but I don't want (or need) money that might be squeezed from a newsletter to confound my intentions. Writing is already hard enough!
I hope you do write it--it will bring a different flavor than mine, I'm sure, and we need a counterpoint to all the pro-paid voices.
That Sports Illustrated article was something else. (Although if I had to write about teams like my Chicago Bears, I’d want to use AI, too. Ugh.) It’s bad enough smaller local papers are being gobbled up by larger presses and leading to bland, poorly edited, locally-irrelevant copy. When will we as consumers demand better from publishers (and of ourselves)?
I kinda wish that real paper newspapers would come back into being. I don't think it's totally me being nostalgic, either.
It’s not. The editing and composition of a printed piece made it more thoughtful (especially with limited surface area).
The algorithms book sounds fascinating, Mark, and I'm enjoying reading the article about Sports Illustrated. Thanks for some great links
Chayka is a good writer. His first book was Longing for Less, a study of minimalism and the way that the movement coursed through modern life. There are echoes of that interest in this new book. I think it's quite successful, and I've been toying with using it in next fall's seminar.
I hadn't heard of him, so thanks for the introduction