“Human English contains persistent, if subtle, linguistic patterns of variation and readability. By contrast, AI uses what I call exam English – a rather formal, dense English. … It is less varied and less readable. People perceive it as robotic, but they also perceive it as smart.” - The Conversation
"Quinn finds the guys (mostly guys) in television shows whose characters people fantasize about. It pays those guys to read original scripts that have explicit sex in them—often, as with Ember & Ice, stories that vaguely echo the original source material that the actor became famous for.” - Slate
"The Rutherford County Library Board voted ... to relocate more than 190 books, many involving LGBTQ+ themes, from children’s and teen sections to adult areas following a review of ‘age-appropriate’ materials” - and the library director refused.- The Advocate
In which Slate unpacks the internet’s reaction to Lindy West’s new book, and Lindy's - and her partners’ - reactions to the reactions. “I’m like, man, you’re rusty at this because, yeah, maybe it’s been a long time.” - Slate
Not like it’s making any worker rich (check the numbers), but at least they didn’t have to strike this time. “HarperCollins employees have had a union for over 80 years, and are currently the only major publisher in the US with a union.” - LitHub
Is this real or a dream? “This year’s festival was stuffed like a generalist’s backpack. Events ran from 7 in the evening and wound down deliberately at 3:14 am, in honor of Pi Day. The program was anchored by German filmmaker Werner Herzog.” - LitHub
There’s nothing like a Rosetta Stone for the Harappan script (as it’s sometimes called), which developed in and around the ancient cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in present-day Pakistan. Scholars have wide differences about whether the script might ever be deciphered, with or without artificial intelligence. - Live Science
That’s the thing about bad works: they demand talking back to, and unlike the moments of profound inward reflection good works often inspire, we feel better off shouting out loud at the bad ones. - 3 Quarks Daily
A new report has put a figure on the value of public libraries to the community, estimating that they are worth $86.60 in community value per adult per year. - ABC Australia
In response to questions from The New York Times about the A.I. allegations against “Shy Girl,” Hachette told The Times that its imprint Orbit has canceled plans to release the novel in the United States and that Hachette will discontinue its U.K. edition. - The New York Times
James Joyce’s editors compiled a massive list of the book’s errors to be fixed in new editions. Joyce rejected some of the corrections, saying, “These are not misprints but beauties of my style hitherto undreamt of.” - Smithsonian
The total number of books published in the U.S. in 2025 with ISBN numbers jumped 32.5% over 2024, to more than four million books, according to statistics compiled by Bowker. - Publishers Weekly
“Minutes from six crucial Adelaide Festival board meetings in December and January, obtained by Crikey, give an unvarnished view of how disinviting (Palestinian-Australian author Randa) Abdel-Fattah from the Adelaide Writers' Week in the wake of the antisemitic Bondi Beach terror attack snowballed into a public relations disaster.” - Crikey (Australia)
“(The) chart is set to launch later this year in the UK, offering a monthly rundown of the most popular titles on (the) social media platform. The ranking will combine verified retail sales data with social media engagement. … The charts were first trialled in Germany and are being expanded to the UK.” - The Guardian
