Monday, March 15, 2010

Some Stuff I've Been Reading Online

"Publishing: The Revolutionary Future," from The New York Review of Books. An interesting discussion about the future of publishing in the digital era.

What makes a word beautiful? What's the deal with "cellar door"? Language Log responds to the NYT's "On Language" column.

The Guardian (UK) posts the "Ten Rules for Writing Fiction" given by a bunch of authors. Part 1, and Part 2.

"Fleeting Youth, Fading Creativity," from the WSJ, discusses whether the young are more creative.

A great essay about David Foster Wallace from The Point.

In a TED talk Ken Robinson discusses how our schools kill creativity (video).

"Five Tips for Writing Non-Fiction" from someone I've never heard of.

A Korean couple obsessed with gaming "Starves Real Child While Raising Virtual One." I'm horrified.

According to the NYT, some guy named Bill Geerhart sent a bunch of letters to famous people. In the letters he pretended to be ten-year-old "Little Billy." Many of the famous people (including Gerald Ford, Dan Quayle, Jack Kevorkian, Larry Flynt, Robert Shapiro, Charles Manson, David Berkowitz, Sandra Day O'Connor, Clarence Thomas, and Harry Blackmun) responded. Now Bill Geerhart is publishing a book of "Little Billy's letters." This is kind of funny, and maybe the book will be interesting, but if I was one of the letter writers, I'd be seriously pissed.


There's no such thing as a synonym, et cetera--an article from Michigan Today.

"Why Do the Archives of So Many Great Writers End Up in Texas?" A totally fascinating article in The New Yorker about the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas and why they are landing so many big archives treasures.

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