culture

The Industrial Revolution gave birth to the manufacturing economy, and in the 250 years since, services have slowly seeped into the economy. The canonical 19th century workplace was a factory; the canonical 20th century workplace was an office. We shifted to desk-centric knowledge work—think Working Girl or Office Space . “Did you get the memo?” Th... See more

Listening to a book or podcast at some insane speed – well beyond what you could comprehend, process, and think about in any reasonable way – puts the entire value of that media on the acquisition of information. I’ve certainly felt this, a desire to “have read” a book, to finish it and be able to place it in the collection in my mind of things I’v... See more

It’s this notion of quantifying an intellectual pursuit, as if it’s only valuable insofar as you can quantify it: the number of books you read as signifier of your intellectual curiosity.

We read for all sorts of reasons: is it to say that you’ve read that book? Are you looking for the escapism of being immersed in a new world? Do you want to refine your thinking on something? Reading can be entertainment, intellectual curiosity, escapism, relaxation, or a million other things — no one reason is intrinsically nobler than any other, ... See more