Category: Books


  • This Black Box of Doom is getting Heavy

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    It’s billed as “satire,” but, man, I don’t know. Maybe it was the vibe of the trip, but I picked up this book when we were recovering from Helene in Charleston. At the same time, in the same shop, I also bought Loneliness & Company. Both books addressing more or less the same problem: tech…


  • Loneliness & Company

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    Spoilers within, because there are points I want to keep track of. The premise of this book: a top-of-her-class researcher is hired to a company post-graduation to help with the development of an AI application meant to resolve the idea of “loneliness.” In the end, the project more or less fails. If technology drove up…


  • Failing Creativity – Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    “Hate” is such a strong word, but I can’t get my head around Rubin’s dumb book any other way. I’ve soured on Rubin over the years as he has shifted from less business and more “creativity,” wandering the world in his unruly, unwashed opulence. Sure, he looks the part of a creative guru, but my…


  • Notes on: Figuring by Maria Popova

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    “So much of the beauty, so much of what propels our pursuit of truth, stems from the invisible connections.” And just like that, with the thesis set, Maria Popova takes us through over five hundred pages of invisible connections between Johanns Kepler in 1617 to the launch of the Voyager space probe in 1977. Between…


  • Recently Read – August 2024

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    Two major novels of note: Heretics – Leonardo Padura Translated by Anna Kushner The back of the book alluded to Padura being “Cuba’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez” – which is quite the statement. Heretic’s is a novel of Jewish diaspora masquerading as a crime novel set across a vast span of time and locations. 17th century…

  • The Ghost of The Living

    The Ghost of The Living

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    “They say when you meet someone who looks just like you, you die.” p.Wish, The Doppleganger “No one makes themselves; we all make and unmake one another.” Naomi Klein, Doppelganger Going through Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger, something I snagged from the library purely because of the subtitle “A Trip into the Mirror World,” I was opened…

  • The Age of Information, The Aging of Information.

    The Age of Information, The Aging of Information.

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    Some thoughts on James Gleick’s The Information. “The alphabet is like a contagion – both the virus and the vector of transmission in and of itself.” Back in the “learn to code” days – a phrase shot off in mean spirit by anti-intellectuals to journalists and academics who were loosing their jobs by the thousands…


  • Planned Life

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    Words about Alex Shakar’s “Luminarium”


  • The Lost Art of Reading

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    Some notes and such from David L. Ulin’s The Lost Art of Reading


  • Spending 2024 with Infinite Jest – Notes on the first readthrough.

    • A Proposal for Superbowl Ads

      $7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc. “I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line…

    • Tasty and Nutritious

      In case anyone needed a reminder: everything on this site is created with 100% real, organic, aged and seasoned grey matter. Ten fingers type these words. On certain days, my wrists ache. The image is a stamp I’ll keep on this site. Yes, I drew it. A note: digital production can be organic. Every photo…

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    Four months, one reading. And I’m not finished yet! Time to flip this over and see what else it can tell me.