"Every writer on nature comes to their own accommodation with the hard facts of wild life. We needn't all look at them too closely, or for too long – but, if we don't look at them at all, I'm not sure what our writing is for." - Aeon
"Obscenity might seem a trivial side note in such a horrific conflict, but understanding it is a way of understanding language, and language has played a big part both in Moscow's professed motivations for this invasion and in Kyiv's defiant response." - The Guardian
When done properly, poetry can help to make science more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Not just as a box-ticking exercise because making sure all sorts of people engage with science. - The Conversation
The statute required any publisher selling e-books in Maryland to make those e-books available to libraries "on reasonable terms." The American Association of Publishers sued for an injunction blocking the law; that was granted, and Maryland’s attorney general has now decided not to appeal. - Publishers Weekly
This system comes with big problems. Chief among them is the issue of publication bias: reviewers and editors are more likely to give a scientific paper a good write-up and publish it in their journal if it reports positive or exciting results. So scientists go to great lengths to hype up their studies. - The Guardian
Although in most cases the word serves to expose implicit power dynamics and level the playing field, it can also be used to do the exact opposite. - The Atlantic
Of the six books now in contention for the prestigious translated fiction award, five were written by women, with three translated by women too. - The Guardian
Today, teams of archivists and librarians are working to save Ukrainian library and museum collections. Their efforts echo the work of the Monuments Men who, during the Second World War, gave “first aid to art and books” and engaged in the recovery of cultural materials. - The Conversation
To create a space that is intentional in its gathering of materials meant to provide intellectual and literary stimulation, a space wholly devoted to books, be it a bookstore, a library, or a personal collection, is to understand the fulfillment provided by the activity of rumination and reflection. - Slate
Unlike many "real" book clubs and video game podcasts, they're less interested in new releases—focusing instead on detailed analysis of popular retro titles. - Wired
It turns out the bookshelf bulk-buy is standard practice among the rich and famous – and increasingly so, since books have become established as an erudite backdrop for Zoom. - The Guardian
Native to the East African coast, Swahili developed as a lingua franca for various nationalities doing business in busy ports like Zanzibar. Now Swahili is spoken, written, read, and broadcast across a huge swath of the continent by 200 million people, for most of whom it's a second language. - Quartz
"The leading French daily, with 425,000 digital subscribers to date, plans to reach 1 million paying readers in the next two to three years, with a quarter of them reading the (online) English version, Le Monde's chairman said this week." - Bloomberg Quint
The modern “word-cross” appeared for the first time in print in the December 21, 1913 edition of New York World’s FUN Supplement. Section editor Arthur Wynne, trying to fill the Christmas insert, drew inspiration from his native England. - Zocalo Public Square
If all works of literature are haunted by the ideal forms of which they are but imperfect instantiations, then the blank book symbolises the refusal to compromise authorial vision. - Aeon
