‘I have lived among the Gods.’
Harkness, Sarah. Literature for the People: How The Pioneering Macmillan Brothers Built a Publishing Powerhouse. United Kingdom, Pan Macmillan, 2024.
Category: technology
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‘Few men of our time have made a better use of a fortune of which they were the architects, or have been less spoilt by prosperity.’
That from the introduction of Sarah Harkness’ tome on the Macmillan brothers. Two pages in and I’m hyped. That’s what an introduction should do, right? It should act as the book’s hypeman!
Book introductions are underrated.
Harkness, Sarah. Literature for the People: How The Pioneering Macmillan Brothers Built a Publishing Powerhouse. United Kingdom, Pan Macmillan, 2024.
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The best way forward with AI is empirical and pragmatic: develop and test models, observe what happens, and learn as we go.
That from his paper Compounding Intelligence: Adapting to the AI Revolution
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There is no Iowa Reference Writers’ Workshop.
The Daniel M. Rothschild bangers continue…
Daniel M. Rothschild. “In Praise of Reference Books.” Discourse Magazine, August 30, 2024. https://www.discoursemagazine.com/p/in-praise-of-reference-books.
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Pish! and Feh! say the reference books. Pick us up as you will and read as much or as little as you choose. Sit in a library and leaf through our pages. Look up a quick item. There are even reference books published specifically for when you’re indisposed, as they say.
Pish! and Feh! – One of my favorite sentence I’ve read all year.
Daniel M. Rothschild. “In Praise of Reference Books.” Discourse Magazine, August 30, 2024. https://www.discoursemagazine.com/p/in-praise-of-reference-books.
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True genius does what it takes to succeed, which is why Michelangelo, old, tired, irritated at not being able to go home to Florence, went to a building site in Rome every day and talked to people who hated him about hauling stone and carving pillars. As well as everything else, Michelangelo turned out to be a late bloomer in the art of running a construction site. Everyone who loves architecture can still feel glad about that today.
– Henry Oliver
Even Michelangelo took on projects that he wanted to pass on. But when the Pope asks you to become the architect for the St Peter’s basilica “yes” is your only response.
Also, maybe architecture isn’t as glamorous a profession as depicted?
Read the article in it’s entirety here. It will reveal to you new sides of Michelangelo.
Oliver, Henry. “It Is Never Too Late for Greatness.” CapX, July 4, 2024. https://capx.co/it-is-never-too-late-for-greatness/.
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Once, for no reason other than intellectual curiosity, Adams rode to Windsor to call on the famous English astronomer Sir William Herschel, whose crowning achievement had been the discovery of the planet Uranus. Greeting Adams affably, Herschel was delighted to talk of his work, and Adams returned to Grosvenor Square elated. Nabby recorded that she had never known her father so gratified by a visit of any kind.
Lonely and isolated in London, John Adams took the opportunity to visit with Sir William Herschel.
Remember that today as you grill your burgers in celebration.
Happy Fourth of July!
McCullough, David. John Adams. United Kingdom, Simon & Schuster, 2001. pg 343
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Though it was past ten o’ clock at night, the sky still clung to and retained some lingering skirts of light from the departed day; and the sullen heats of the torrid afternoon broke up and rolled away at the dispersing touch of the cool fingers of the short midsummer night.
– Kenneth Grahame
BAM! Kenneth Grahame dropping you right into summer!
Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. United Kingdom, Welbeck Editions, 2021. p116
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As if in a dream, he found himself, somehow, seated in the driver’s seat; as if in a dream, he pulled the lever and swung the car round the yard and out through the archway; and, as in if in a dream, all sense of right and wrong, all fear of obvious consequences, seemed temporarily suspended. He increased his pace, and as the car devoured the street and leapt forth on the high road through the open country, he was only conscious that he was Toad once more, Toad at his best and highest, Toad the terror, the traffic queller, the Lord of the lone trail, before whom all must give way or be smitten into nothingness and everlasting night.
Kenneth Grahame’s repetition of the phrase “As if in a dream” has a poetic quality to it. Later it’s enhanced with the phrase Toad the terror, the traffic queller.
Poetry slipping into the prose is brilliant.
Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. United Kingdom, Welbeck Editions, 2021. p111
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Go! Change your days. Burn with a hard gem-like flame.
– Henry Oliver
Oliver, Henry. Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life. United Kingdom, John Murray Press, 2024.
Floodlights and Goalposts 