This letter is speaking to me. Thank you for the reminder that books are not ghosts. Reading your book now and so glad to have found you here! Thank you 🙏🏼
And all the hiraeth we used to feel for our completed books, that sense of inanimate but profound attachment like a toddler with a teddy? I wonder if that emotional connection has just been gleaned and compounded by our phones. Our screens are shapeshifters who black-swan all the love that the books used to receive.
Yessssss! I've been thinking about the concept of talismans -- holy objects that are inert with potential - but their power was an animate force inside them. a book can be a talisman: they are made to be carried to the right place where their power can become the most potent.
Love this! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking. Dm me if interested in a recommendation swap — we’re growing fast!
From the title I expected this to be about books being written by AI instead of writers or about the lack of depth in modern books. But I loved the route you took. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. The tradeoffs we didn’t anticipate and maybe aren’t even aware of. What’s the real cost of modern conveniences?
Ok I freely forgive you for the Anthony Burgess image because this is an extraordinarily well-done post. I *especially* loved and was so impressed by the skill of your writing in that intro piece about the two men. Have you read Piranesi? The tone of it reminded me of that
YESS. It’s an insant if slightly niche modern classic. The kind of book where every reader I know who has read it gets an awed, distant look on their face when they talk about it. It’s like a cross of a Greek-Roman world with a literary fantasy. Short and not epic - Clarke intentionally keeps the world limited, she could have turned it into a big fantasy epic and she clearly chose not to because she wanted to focus on interiority, her main character, and a concept of beauty and longing. It’s good and magical
Wonderful way to draw out an important point..physical over digital.
"Books were stories, ideas, made flesh. Now, mostly, they’re ideas made phantasm." - I love the image of books as incarnation
I really like that idea, too. That stories need to take up space
This letter is speaking to me. Thank you for the reminder that books are not ghosts. Reading your book now and so glad to have found you here! Thank you 🙏🏼
Thank you so much, Caroline !
And all the hiraeth we used to feel for our completed books, that sense of inanimate but profound attachment like a toddler with a teddy? I wonder if that emotional connection has just been gleaned and compounded by our phones. Our screens are shapeshifters who black-swan all the love that the books used to receive.
come on!
no sense of attachment, of completion, of growth.
definitely compounded - i would guess - the amount I see, read, or consume in a day, is far more than my body and soul can ingest.
attention is a sacred thing.
Wonderfully put. I agree, while also enjoying digital books.
I would add the Beauty of Inheritance here too.
I will not inherit riches from my grandparents or parents, but I will inherit their books.
Riches beyond monetary value.
Generational Inheritance is the Way of the Kingdom, and books are a part of that.
Their lives lived in the margins of books my kids will read.
This is awesome - stories that outlast our bodies ( for a time 😉 )
Yessssss! I've been thinking about the concept of talismans -- holy objects that are inert with potential - but their power was an animate force inside them. a book can be a talisman: they are made to be carried to the right place where their power can become the most potent.
Books are tangible treasures and in my opinion so much easier to read than screens, not to mention highlight and dog-ear.
Love this! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking. Dm me if interested in a recommendation swap — we’re growing fast!
check us out:
https://thesecretingredient.substack.com
From the title I expected this to be about books being written by AI instead of writers or about the lack of depth in modern books. But I loved the route you took. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. The tradeoffs we didn’t anticipate and maybe aren’t even aware of. What’s the real cost of modern conveniences?
Ok I freely forgive you for the Anthony Burgess image because this is an extraordinarily well-done post. I *especially* loved and was so impressed by the skill of your writing in that intro piece about the two men. Have you read Piranesi? The tone of it reminded me of that
I haven’t. Should I ??
YESS. It’s an insant if slightly niche modern classic. The kind of book where every reader I know who has read it gets an awed, distant look on their face when they talk about it. It’s like a cross of a Greek-Roman world with a literary fantasy. Short and not epic - Clarke intentionally keeps the world limited, she could have turned it into a big fantasy epic and she clearly chose not to because she wanted to focus on interiority, her main character, and a concept of beauty and longing. It’s good and magical
Piranesi is one of my yearly re-reads. And the hardcover is one of the most beautiful books I own.