Writing Slowly

Jul 14, 2026 ∞

The Atlantic suggests that the end of reading is here. It used to be easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. But now its easier to imagine the end of literacy than the end of YouTube.

At the End of the World (1921) with Betty Compson and Milton Sills. Public domain.

Jul 14, 2026 ∞

Only in silence the word,
Only in dark the light,
Only in dying life:
Bright the hawk’s flight
On the empty sky. – Ursula K. LeGuin

You might care to check out the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. LeGuin Prize for Fiction.

A hawk is flying high in the clear blue sky.

Jul 13, 2026 ∞

Cockatoos? Five sulphur-crested cockatoos, foraging beneath the Norfolk Island pines of Botany Bay? Well, all right, if you insist.

Five white cockatoos with yellow crests are foraging on the ground covered with pine cones and grass.

#BirdsOfAustralia #WildlifePhotography #FeatheredFriends

Jul 12, 2026 ∞

Learning to tell a bright cow from a dull one

You might be wondering how anyone can grow from being an advanced learner to becoming an expert. It might seem like an impossible step to climb.

According to the traditional Japanese approach of Shu Ha Ri, a vital step in the learning process is to so absorb the rules that the student transcends them. The rules and conventions become second nature. But what does that look like in practice?

Here’s a great example from the world of veterinary medicine, where veterinary students were trained to identify whether an animal is bright (i.e healthy) or dull (i.e. sickening):

“Eventually, the students get good enough at evaluating bright vs. dull. What’s interesting is that, by then, they’ve lost the rules. What was once effortful and algorithmic is now perceptual and automatic. They can see things you and I do not.” – Oddly-Influenced

Two Highland cows are grazing on a lush green field near a Scottish loch with trees and hills in the background.

I’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.

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Jul 12, 2026 ∞

News just in from 2009:

“It’s time to get completely off RSS and switch to Twitter.” – Techcrunch.

Well that didn’t exactly age well. And now there’s an RSS resurgence in the air – from Dave Winer, of course, who made RSS immortal by giving it an audio payload and thereby inventing podcasting.

Jul 12, 2026 ∞

We’ve been having our regular family disagreement about thinning our bookshelves, which made this article timely: How and why to cull your book collection [via Kottke.org].

On reflection, our bookshelves are very much a working library, more about flow than about stock. Most books pass through.

Jul 7, 2026 ∞

Odysseus: A name that spells trouble

Since we’re currently lost somewhere in the middle of wars that seemingly have no end-point, and arguably no point, I wonder just what film director Christopher Nolan will make of The Odyssey, his blockbuster movie of which comes out mid-2026.

After I watched another recent movie version of the story, The Return, I found out about the work of psychologist Jonathan Shay with Vietnem veterans. He wrote two books linking the works of Homer – The Iliad and The Odyssey – with the modern experience of warfare and with the travails of homecoming.

Two quotes from Jonathan Shay’s work stood out particularly. First, this one about war-induced PTSD: