Hey Michael, it's always a treat to read your missives (all the way through) when they land in my inbox. I've been having an absolutely awful period with a whole litany of stuff, far too much to go through here, starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it still seems far off. You, however give me a brief respite, so please keep it up!
Hey Steve! Really sorry to hear you've been going through the mill... it's weird and horrible how things like that seem to cluster. I hope the end of the tunnel starts coming toward you more quickly soon...
About three months ago, I killed off all but one of my social media accounts (and even that one I visit rarely and carefully) and unsubscribed from a whole stack of Substacks (Jeff’s included, for reasons that sound suspiciously familiar). I’ve been more deliberate about what I let in — what I “consume,” as the saying goes — and honestly? It’s done wonders for my mental health in ways I didn’t even know I needed.
I’ve been enjoying the quiet, and rediscovering what my own brain sounds like when it's not drowning in a constant feed. Turns out, it's got some decent things to say.
And your Substack? It’s one of the rare ones I held onto — not just because it’s good, but because it genuinely adds something to my life. That’s no small thing these days.
Thank you April :-) And yes, I've been doing the same... choosing a small number of things to be interested in, rather than letting myself be carpet-bombed by the far-too-many sources that surround us demanding attention...
I've been missing your missives! But I'm very glad you're writing. I'm running around like an idiot promoting this new book. Another signing in Sacto on Saturday and yet another on the following Friday in Hayward. I'm pooped, I tell you. POOPED. But I'm super fortunate to get all these opportunities and to have something cool to share with the world. Of course, I recently found something in the Prologue that both I and the copy editor missed, and it's making me insane. I'll try not to worry. But...
Glad to hear you're getting it out there. If we ever publish the truly prefect book, the world will end. Be grateful you haven't brought that about (yet)! ;-)
OK, you got me. I am already in Low Holborn thanks to the excellent Matt Brown. Just another thing I didn't need but can't manage without.
Incidentally, just read Only Forward for the first time. My copy is inscribed "To Joyce and John. With Best Wishes. Thank you." I don't think it was exactly them but it was so kind of you. Did you ever get to Grainger Neighbourhood?
I'm now LIVING in Grainger neighborhood ;-) I'm really pleased to hear that copy survived... and so glad you've found The Londonist — it's dependably fascinating!
I've been doing a similar thing on here with reducing the number of stacks I subscribe to, partly because some of them post *so often*. I do feel guilty for u subscribing, though, like I should be sending them a message saying "it's not you, it's me."
5am Storytalk is always such an amazing read, and there's so much engagement and discussion over there. I'll check out the others you recommended. Paula's gonna be pissed she didn't get a mention 😉
Things are going OK here, despite everything. I'm writing more, and actually starting to press the publish button again, which feels scary and good at the same time.
Keep pressing that button... And I know what you mean about wanting to apologize for unsubscribing ;-) But some of them, yes, it's carpet-bombing... I think the received wisdom is that's how you "drive engagement", but it doesn't work on me.
The Londonist looks interesting, as well as A Book Designers Notebook. Thanks for the recommendations. On book design, the prettiest book I own is Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. Layers upon layers upon layers and the further into the book you get, the more the covers make sense.
Protecting our own attention is a must and no one should feel guilty about checking out or unfollowing. Do you subscribe to any photography stacks? My Morning Muse and The Additional F-Stop are two of my favorites. The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” feels truer now than ever. And photographs can help quiet the mind.
Often your posts make me laugh and think in equal measure. All the best writers seem to have a certain wryness! I have recently removed all but substack from my phone and lately even that seems overwhelming, so thank you for the suggestions and I am definitely not about to check out the link to your wife's substack right now!
Apparently, kids in Norway don't read books in Norwegian any more. One reason that's been advanced recently is that Norwegian books look boring compared to the competition (Actually, they look boring by any standard). Which is trivially true, but not something that the intellectual elite will admit to being a problem. One should not judge a book by its cover. Except that one does.
Oh. My eldest daughter has handed in her master's thesis in computational physics, having modelled single neurons during epileptic seizures. She insists that she got her interest in science from me. She has landed a job as a science teacher at a nearby high school, and an apartment close by. Apparently, her boyfriend just has to tag along. She's been living an eight-hour car drive away while she's been studying, so this is welcome news to all of us, especially my youngest daughter, who is her biggest fan.
That's excellent news about the daughter! I didn't know you'd done the typography thing... you've had a very varied career :) National cover design is fascinating... I'm personally a fan of the very restrained covers you can still see on French books...
I'm not familiar with the French tradition, so I googled, and I understand your view here … Apparently, France has a history about books that explains the sobriety. https://www.slate.fr/story/69737/pourquoi-france-couvertures-livres-sobres. According to the article, book covers traditionally haven't been designed to sell books because of the way bookstores work in France.
But the language shift is fascinating. Before WWII, Norwegians learned French or German. I've asked my youngest daughter (11) why she uses the English word «funny» instead of any of the plethora of Norwegian words for «funny». Apparently, English is cool, Norwegian is dull. So that's used to explain why Norwegian kids buy English books.
But our culture now is saturated with English. When I IQ test kids, I have to tell them in advance that it's OK to use English words, because they learn a lot of their vocabulary from YouTube.
Plus, in Norway, we have pedagogues. Who raided school libraries of books that were actually fun (The Famous Five, The Hardy Boys, Norwegian equivalents), and encouraged replacing them with social commentary books of pedagogical value. So entire subgenres of YA fiction just aren't available in Norwegian. And of course, book covers should _also_ have some sort of artistic value …
And it's not like there are authors ready to fill the void because … I don't know, but it occurs to me that there needs to be a tradition for authors to grow into. The English-speaking world has a tradition of literary circles - like science fiction cons, but much more than that – where people grow from fans to authors. Of course, we have parallels in Norway – but those are committed to serious novels.
Academic textbooks are a case in point. Neil Carlson's _The Science of Behavior_ it a delight to read. Everything of the book is designed. Charts, tables and illustrations are placed after key concepts have been introduced, so when the reader comes to them, she has a fair chance of having the basics covered. Norwegian academic textbooks are almost always hard work.
I'm fairly certain that Norwegian is losing to English because the literary establishment here does not want to admit that they're not giving the public what the public wants. And we're talking about people who know exactly where in «Peer Gynt» the world-famous narcissist says
See what the Devil got for his pains,
Because he was foolish and forgot his audience
(It's much more fluent in Norwegian).
(OK, I rant. It's a hot day by Norwegian standards and it's a slow day at the home office.)
Ha :-) That's genuinely *fascinating*. It's so interesting to see how languages interact, and the cultural/evolutionary stresses that dictate their success in the (horrible term) marketplace of ideas and communication. And a good reminder (a timely one for me) not to forget one's audience...
When I was a kid, and if somebody distracted me when I did something terribly important, I'd say
Ikke forstyrr! (Nicht stören in German, no pronouns)
And so would everybody else at my age. What my daughter says is
Ikke distraher meg! (It's reflexive, _meg_ means _me_).
Because … that's what they say on the dubbed TV series she's been watching, and that's because they're originally in English. The dubbing is obviously often rush jobs. Idioms are often translated literally.
What she's saying is perfectly valid Norwegian but traditionally much more formal. When I was a kid, _distrahere_ was considered snobbish by kids, and was considered a sign of a large active vocabulary. Now kids know _distrahere_, but not _forstyrre_.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Language Council is working hard to encourage academics to use Norwegian more and English less, to make research more readily available in Norwegian. I've asked them (they're on social media) why they're not working with children's media. Because if they don't, their current endeavours will be moot in thirty years' time.
I do have the impression that it has something to do with prestige, but what do I know?
I think.... you might be right ;-) And that's a really good point, that the French would also do well to note. Keep an eye on what the kids are doing with language, or you're just delaying losing the battle.
Hey Michael, it's always a treat to read your missives (all the way through) when they land in my inbox. I've been having an absolutely awful period with a whole litany of stuff, far too much to go through here, starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it still seems far off. You, however give me a brief respite, so please keep it up!
Thanks as always
Hey Steve! Really sorry to hear you've been going through the mill... it's weird and horrible how things like that seem to cluster. I hope the end of the tunnel starts coming toward you more quickly soon...
Yep.
About three months ago, I killed off all but one of my social media accounts (and even that one I visit rarely and carefully) and unsubscribed from a whole stack of Substacks (Jeff’s included, for reasons that sound suspiciously familiar). I’ve been more deliberate about what I let in — what I “consume,” as the saying goes — and honestly? It’s done wonders for my mental health in ways I didn’t even know I needed.
I’ve been enjoying the quiet, and rediscovering what my own brain sounds like when it's not drowning in a constant feed. Turns out, it's got some decent things to say.
And your Substack? It’s one of the rare ones I held onto — not just because it’s good, but because it genuinely adds something to my life. That’s no small thing these days.
Thank you April :-) And yes, I've been doing the same... choosing a small number of things to be interested in, rather than letting myself be carpet-bombed by the far-too-many sources that surround us demanding attention...
I've been missing your missives! But I'm very glad you're writing. I'm running around like an idiot promoting this new book. Another signing in Sacto on Saturday and yet another on the following Friday in Hayward. I'm pooped, I tell you. POOPED. But I'm super fortunate to get all these opportunities and to have something cool to share with the world. Of course, I recently found something in the Prologue that both I and the copy editor missed, and it's making me insane. I'll try not to worry. But...
Glad to hear you're getting it out there. If we ever publish the truly prefect book, the world will end. Be grateful you haven't brought that about (yet)! ;-)
OK, you got me. I am already in Low Holborn thanks to the excellent Matt Brown. Just another thing I didn't need but can't manage without.
Incidentally, just read Only Forward for the first time. My copy is inscribed "To Joyce and John. With Best Wishes. Thank you." I don't think it was exactly them but it was so kind of you. Did you ever get to Grainger Neighbourhood?
I'm now LIVING in Grainger neighborhood ;-) I'm really pleased to hear that copy survived... and so glad you've found The Londonist — it's dependably fascinating!
I've been doing a similar thing on here with reducing the number of stacks I subscribe to, partly because some of them post *so often*. I do feel guilty for u subscribing, though, like I should be sending them a message saying "it's not you, it's me."
5am Storytalk is always such an amazing read, and there's so much engagement and discussion over there. I'll check out the others you recommended. Paula's gonna be pissed she didn't get a mention 😉
Things are going OK here, despite everything. I'm writing more, and actually starting to press the publish button again, which feels scary and good at the same time.
Keep pressing that button... And I know what you mean about wanting to apologize for unsubscribing ;-) But some of them, yes, it's carpet-bombing... I think the received wisdom is that's how you "drive engagement", but it doesn't work on me.
Me neither. That kind of bombardment feels almost...soulless to me. I'd much prefer to receive one or two meaningful or impactful articles a month.
Ha ha. Ended up sending a msg to Michael McFaul instead. Ahaha.
Ok. I figured it out.
The Londonist looks interesting, as well as A Book Designers Notebook. Thanks for the recommendations. On book design, the prettiest book I own is Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. Layers upon layers upon layers and the further into the book you get, the more the covers make sense.
That's a very striking cover!
It's a book within a book, so if you take off the front cover, it has a different cover underneath, then a third pattern inside, all with messages.
I need to find one in the wild...
Can't believe my substack didn't make your list. Honestly, what is the world coming to? ;-)
I love the Londonist and Cole's substack, will check the others out
Ha :-) I wanted to recommend a lot more but that felt like it was going against the spirit of the piece…
Protecting our own attention is a must and no one should feel guilty about checking out or unfollowing. Do you subscribe to any photography stacks? My Morning Muse and The Additional F-Stop are two of my favorites. The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” feels truer now than ever. And photographs can help quiet the mind.
Excellent idea - I'll have a look, thank you!
Second on Cole Haddon’s stack. Will check out your other recs, too.
Often your posts make me laugh and think in equal measure. All the best writers seem to have a certain wryness! I have recently removed all but substack from my phone and lately even that seems overwhelming, so thank you for the suggestions and I am definitely not about to check out the link to your wife's substack right now!
Thank you! And good - you should definitely NOT do that ;-)
Re Book Design – I may or may not have mentioned that I wrote a short textbook on typography (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23733371-typografi-og-macintosh) way back in 1992. I was basically self-taught using LaTeX (https://www.latex-project.org/) to typeset a student's magazine. Having recently discovered Usenet, finding resources was, what can I say, possible.
Apparently, kids in Norway don't read books in Norwegian any more. One reason that's been advanced recently is that Norwegian books look boring compared to the competition (Actually, they look boring by any standard). Which is trivially true, but not something that the intellectual elite will admit to being a problem. One should not judge a book by its cover. Except that one does.
Oh. My eldest daughter has handed in her master's thesis in computational physics, having modelled single neurons during epileptic seizures. She insists that she got her interest in science from me. She has landed a job as a science teacher at a nearby high school, and an apartment close by. Apparently, her boyfriend just has to tag along. She's been living an eight-hour car drive away while she's been studying, so this is welcome news to all of us, especially my youngest daughter, who is her biggest fan.
That's excellent news about the daughter! I didn't know you'd done the typography thing... you've had a very varied career :) National cover design is fascinating... I'm personally a fan of the very restrained covers you can still see on French books...
I'm not familiar with the French tradition, so I googled, and I understand your view here … Apparently, France has a history about books that explains the sobriety. https://www.slate.fr/story/69737/pourquoi-france-couvertures-livres-sobres. According to the article, book covers traditionally haven't been designed to sell books because of the way bookstores work in France.
But the language shift is fascinating. Before WWII, Norwegians learned French or German. I've asked my youngest daughter (11) why she uses the English word «funny» instead of any of the plethora of Norwegian words for «funny». Apparently, English is cool, Norwegian is dull. So that's used to explain why Norwegian kids buy English books.
But our culture now is saturated with English. When I IQ test kids, I have to tell them in advance that it's OK to use English words, because they learn a lot of their vocabulary from YouTube.
Plus, in Norway, we have pedagogues. Who raided school libraries of books that were actually fun (The Famous Five, The Hardy Boys, Norwegian equivalents), and encouraged replacing them with social commentary books of pedagogical value. So entire subgenres of YA fiction just aren't available in Norwegian. And of course, book covers should _also_ have some sort of artistic value …
And it's not like there are authors ready to fill the void because … I don't know, but it occurs to me that there needs to be a tradition for authors to grow into. The English-speaking world has a tradition of literary circles - like science fiction cons, but much more than that – where people grow from fans to authors. Of course, we have parallels in Norway – but those are committed to serious novels.
Academic textbooks are a case in point. Neil Carlson's _The Science of Behavior_ it a delight to read. Everything of the book is designed. Charts, tables and illustrations are placed after key concepts have been introduced, so when the reader comes to them, she has a fair chance of having the basics covered. Norwegian academic textbooks are almost always hard work.
I'm fairly certain that Norwegian is losing to English because the literary establishment here does not want to admit that they're not giving the public what the public wants. And we're talking about people who know exactly where in «Peer Gynt» the world-famous narcissist says
See what the Devil got for his pains,
Because he was foolish and forgot his audience
(It's much more fluent in Norwegian).
(OK, I rant. It's a hot day by Norwegian standards and it's a slow day at the home office.)
Ha :-) That's genuinely *fascinating*. It's so interesting to see how languages interact, and the cultural/evolutionary stresses that dictate their success in the (horrible term) marketplace of ideas and communication. And a good reminder (a timely one for me) not to forget one's audience...
OK, I'll ramble on. Just say when.
When I was a kid, and if somebody distracted me when I did something terribly important, I'd say
Ikke forstyrr! (Nicht stören in German, no pronouns)
And so would everybody else at my age. What my daughter says is
Ikke distraher meg! (It's reflexive, _meg_ means _me_).
Because … that's what they say on the dubbed TV series she's been watching, and that's because they're originally in English. The dubbing is obviously often rush jobs. Idioms are often translated literally.
What she's saying is perfectly valid Norwegian but traditionally much more formal. When I was a kid, _distrahere_ was considered snobbish by kids, and was considered a sign of a large active vocabulary. Now kids know _distrahere_, but not _forstyrre_.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Language Council is working hard to encourage academics to use Norwegian more and English less, to make research more readily available in Norwegian. I've asked them (they're on social media) why they're not working with children's media. Because if they don't, their current endeavours will be moot in thirty years' time.
I do have the impression that it has something to do with prestige, but what do I know?
I think.... you might be right ;-) And that's a really good point, that the French would also do well to note. Keep an eye on what the kids are doing with language, or you're just delaying losing the battle.
Though of course, Norwegian, French are English are just misspelled and grammatically incorrect Proto-Indoeuropean anyway …