The most popular link last time was this behind-the-scenes look at Selena Gomez's mental health startup, with this piece about Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir second.

1. A lovely obituary for Juliet Congreve, a British librarian who did a lot to aid and improve the adoption of computing by the library system.
2. How Publishing Has Changed Since 2015. The headlines: audiobooks matter now, the literary media ecosystem has died, and it is possible for authors to bypass Amazon for sales (if they have a Brandon Sanderson-level of fame).
3. I am not usually much of a meme enjoyer, but this one tickled me.
4. Before you could cut ties by unfriending, untagging and blocking, if you wanted to remove an erstwhile BFF from your photos, you had to get physical.
5. I have been trying really hard to keep an open mind on the — gestures broadly — AI stuff. It's getting more difficult, though, and I do think this post by an admitted "AI hater" makes some good points.
6. Never mind! Let's read about the lutanist who has been playing to people in Central Park for nearly half a century.
7. Bless the videogame archivists. They have now successfully preserved all 54 previously lost clickwheel iPod games.
8. Why do they keep adapting Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, but overlooking Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park? Probably because these more nuanced books don't easily transform into a blockbuster rom com.
9. This piece gets full marks for the pun in the headline — "Stew Kids on the Block" — and then extra credit for being an interesting look at the long history of TikTok's latest culinary obsession, the perpetual stew.
10. An interview with a 23-year-old who spends months at a time making perfect recreations of Dutch golden age art in Minecraft.
11. A better way of discovering new music on Spotify, which lets you set genre and chronological parameters and doesn't keep feeding you the same five songs that are currently popular.
12. An index of old robots.
13. What Happened to the Bowling Shirt Guy?

The most popular link last time was the endless comedy of stick figures, with this list of tips second.

1. I need this short story to become a novel so I can find out whether the narrator and Nate end up going the distance!
2. Too much of what I know about US history comes from Hamilton. It's good to cross-check that with sources that don't rhyme sometimes.
3. Ruby Tandoh's Grub Street Diary. I too have a local Wimpy and love it dearly.
4. The Rise and Fall of Music Ringtones (with graphs).
5. The summer 2025 trend recap. There was no "drug of the summer", but there was at least one of everything else.
6. A guide to help Wikipedia editors to spot AI writing, but useful for everyone. Look out for the overuse of certain conjunctions, a tendency to needlessly editorialise, and an undue emphasis on symbolism.
7. The Serial-style narrative podcast series is already almost extinct, because they don't make as much money as regularly publishing celebrity interview shows. An interesting analysis.
8. For some reason, I've been convinced from the start that there was something odd going on with Selena Gomez's mental health startup, "Wondermind". Turns out I was right!
9. This is a thought-provoking look at the gendered nature of the literary feud. I did also like the author's all-caps disclaimer addressed to those who found the piece on Bluesky.
10. Are you following the Elizabeth Gilbert discourse? I can't help myself. Here's an extract from the book to get you started.
11. Some sensible answers to FAQs about writing and publishing a book.
12. What it was like to work at a fashionable restaurant in New York in 2006. (Awful, it was awful.)
13. Thoughts on the question "How Can I Write At A Time Like This?". "Maybe one answer to how to write now is to teach yourself what you might need to be relentless. To ask yourself how do I tell the truth while I’m alive, and how do I keep telling the truth after I die?"

The most popular link last time was Sarabet Chang Yuye's steps for "stupid cleaning", with the Sub/Title game second.

1. When did "this is great marketing" become a universal compliment?
2. I would like everyone to applaud my restraint at including only one Taylor Swift link today. It's also partially about Dostoyevsky.
3. On the peculiarities and techniques of Japanese web design.

4. From When Harry Met Sally to Too Much, an ode to the screen trope of women looking at women on their phones.
5. A scattergun list of unwarranted advice. Some of it is quite good, such as Jia Tolentino's maxim to "always give 70 per cent".
6. As someone who read and moderated thousands of hateful comments in the 2010s, I'm glad to see that we've seemingly found a way to outsource this successfully to the robots.
7. I've seen a lot of Penelope Fitzgerald appreciations in the US media recently, I think because it's the 25th anniversary of her death this year. Apparently she is having a moment over there? I recommend her novel Offshore, by the way, which was a very important book to me while I was writing The Way to the Sea.

8. This is an entire YouTube channel dedicated to instructional videos for all manner of letter-locking techniques (this being how you securely enclosed your missive prior to the adoption of the envelope). The one above is a Jane Austen special.
9. In an era of constant surveillance, the case for becoming unoptimisable.
10. I have no particular opinion of R.F. Kuang (other than the fact that the footnote indicators in my edition of Babel were too bloody small) but this is an interesting critique of her media persona and a strong argument, I feel, for public earnestness.
11. Behold, The Fancy Rug Dilemma.
12. An account of walking from the southern Japanese city of Yamaguchi to Tokyo (by a Japanese person, not Craig Mod).
13. A good warning sign that puts a stick figure in peril never fails to lift the spirits.

The most popular link last week was this look at neo-medievalist tattoos, with this review of the Tiny Bookshop videogame second.

1. Sarabet Chang Yuye gives some sensible advice for keeping house when you're not very good at keeping house. This part especially resonated with me:

"Explicitly enter THE MODE. Part of the despair is not knowing when I should be in THE MODE or not. Set a timer for the end."

2. This piece skews a bit much towards digital marketing agency speak for my liking, but it does make some valuable points about the "cruel paradox" of the so-called creator economy. Successful influencers become successful because the way they communicate their humanity is appealing, but the very process of sharing and distributing this part of themselves slowly kills said humanity. This is what I was trying to get at in my social media essay when I said that I came to realise that "the so-called creator economy is a blatant pyramid scheme underwritten by some of the worst corporations in the world".
3. Sub/Title is a fun game where you guess the film based on a snippet of dialogue.
4. A software curator at the Internet Archive explains why it is worth preserving Flash (even if you found it very annoying in the mid 2000s). So much creative expression went into those browser games and animations.
5. It has long been my opinion that Elementary, the TV series starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, is far superior to the BBC's Sherlock (the Benedict Cumberbatch one). This is not an especially popular or widely held opinion, which made me all the more delighted to come across this essay on why it's both a good Holmesian adaptation and good television.
6. You've heard of a url shortener — bit.ly et al — but what about a url lengthener? One that adds a lot of needless and meaningless text to make your link much more likely to trigger a spam filter if included in an email? You can even add emojis and philosophy quotes, if you want.

7. I believe I have heaped praise upon data journalism outfit The Pudding before, but I'm doing it again because the design of this piece about the best way to dice an onion is so clever. They made a red onion font!
8. I have made no secret of my obsession with pipe organs (my favourite podcast is still Hot Pipes). I am new to Walter Martin's radio show, but I liked his organ episode very much.
9. A thought provoking list. As a perpetual diary-abandoner, I'm trying to let this one inspire me:

"I regret that I have never kept a journal, especially in my 20s. Nothing fancy; I just wish I had kept a regular list of what I was eating, who I was meeting, where I was sleeping, what I was doing for fun. I especially wish I had kept a list of everyone I met, and their contact info."

10. I promise I am interested in how this new innovation will help to save bees from bacteria, but I am mostly sharing this because of the photo of Maple the detection dog in her beekeeping outfit.
11. In Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers, the Dowager Duchess is always getting her quotations confused. But this isn't a character trait deployed only to indicate absent-mindedness; as this analysis shows, her substitutions generally have something to say about the book's themes. Sayers, as her fans well know, is very serious about the matter of quotations.

12. I don't at all understand how this video was made, but I enjoyed flying around a miniaturised Baltic state nonetheless.
13. A Wikipedia editor has uncovered what looked like a decade-long attempt at self-promotion by a minor American composer, David Woodard. Until recently, Woodard's entry was the most-translated on the entire site, appearing in 335 languages (for reference, the country of Japan only has 334).

"This editing pattern clearly displayed a long-term intent to create as many articles about Woodard as possible, and to spread photos of and information on Woodard to as many articles as possible, while hiding that activity as much as possible. And it worked for a long time, up until the number of inter-wiki links got too high for people not to question it."

The reason for all of this covert effort is unclear — unless it is simply vanity — but this account of the investigation is quite fascinating.

The most popular link last week was this piece about how "link in bio" ruined everything, with ode to the 1990s film soundtrack second.

1. A few weeks ago I shared a piece looking at what Gen Z are spending their "fun money" on. Now we can go younger still, thanks to these interviews in the Observer with tweens about what they "really want". Purchases here that I love the sound of and would enjoy today at my advanced age: a Crash Bandicoot Switch game, a top with cherries on it, a Sylvanian family figure and a Jacqueline Wilson book.
2. What comes after autofiction? This writer makes the case for "igno-fiction", which engages with ideas of spirituality, religion and mysticism. Is this why publishers are churning out the Greek myths retellings these days?
3. A critique of the current vogue for "neo-medievalist" tattoos.

4. A fascinating history of the Venetian aristocracy, which dominated the Republic of Venice post 1297.
5. If you are at all interested in the topics of weight loss/body positivity/fat liberation, I recommend watching this video by comedian Sofie Hagen addressing their own weight loss. Content warning, obviously, for all that comes with this subject. It's a graceful and informative attempt to grapple with a difficult subject.
6. In Pride and Prejudice, Caroline Bingley waspishly states that to be considered accomplished, “a woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all of this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions.” Mr Darcy adds that she must also improve her mind via "extensive reading". This consideration of how that might translate to today speculates that being in a position to turn down romantic overtures from the wrong person is the twenty-first century version of a woman's accomplishments.

7. A 92-year-old social worker in Ohio died earlier this year and his family has digitised his handwritten list of all 3,599 books he read during his lifetime.
8. A software developer takes on the problem of gaining access to a deceased grandparent's password-protected computer. I think about this probably more than I should — I don't know all my loved ones' passwords!

"After about two seconds (yes the password was that simple) I had the password! Embarrassingly, it was something we easily could have and should have guessed. But we didn’t, so my effort was for something at least."

9. I should be clear, this GQ profile of Travis Kelce is not good, in the sense that it is neither well-written nor revelatory nor particularly original. But I still read it compulsively, because it's just such perfect combination of all the most egregious things this style of journalism can be. They did a photoshoot in a swamp Zoolander would be proud of! The interviewer even allowed himself a small moment of horniness: "You don’t ever get to see them, hidden by game pants and socks, but his legs are tremendous, real Bernini shit. And to witness him perform a Nordic hamstring curl is something I will never, ever forget." Chef's kiss.
10. We're nostalgic about the Walkman now, but it caused a moral panic when it first launched.
11. A guide to self-publishing on the internet. I don't agree with all of this, but it's interesting.
12. I want to take a week off and play this bookshop manager simulator game.
13. An interview to which I related very hard:

"When my first book was published, I thought I'd made it, that I was going to be a Successful Writer now. I was confused and dismayed to realize that wasn’t the case. I’d accomplished this major thing, this lifelong goal, and it didn’t really change anything. It didn’t make it easier to sell my next book or even pitch an article. My thinking before that first book was very black and white: I thought I was about to be a success, and then, when I didn't feel like I imagined being successful would feel, I figured that meant I was a failure."

The most popular link last time was the Literature Map (I agree, it's fascinating), with these thoughts about "normality" second.

1. We should all be writing about our ancestors. This piece about the writer's grandmother Herta Schlerff is full of surprising twists: she was born in Bulgaria to a family of florists, educated in Egypt and Switzerland, worked at the newly created League of Nations, got married, emigrated to Argentina, got divorced, married someone half her age, and more.
2. With a printer, some paper, some glue, a paper cutter and some basic typesetting skills, you can now make an entirely functional book at home. Why do this? "There is some peace in just printing things out."
3. Storyterra is an interactive global map showing where stories are set — it includes books, films, games and TV shows. So if you are travelling somewhere, you can scroll around and find some media set in the new place you are exploring.

4. I had briefly forgotten about Bon Appetit alum Claire Saffitz, and then I stumbled upon this video of her reverse engineering TimTams. I'm so glad she's still doing this!
5. The case for holding a breakup ceremony, with a script.
6. How Instagram's "link in bio" walled garden system ruined everything.

7. NPR's Tiny Desk is always worth watching. As someone said in the comments of this one: "Clipse making us realise we’ve been listening to mediocre rap...".
8. This one came via my Browser colleague Uri and answered a question I've been pondering for years. What is the Difference Between Henry, Hetty, James, Charles, George Vacuum Cleaners?
9. Helsinki has just managed an entire year without a road traffic accident death. The most important thing, apparently, was reducing speed limits, but better public transport and well-designed areas for pedestrians and cyclists also helped.

10. I don't think I've ever seen such a cinematic video about woodworking. I'm in awe: imagine using a circular saw safely and also thinking about how to make that look interesting on camera at the same time!
11. The Wicked film promotional rollout was not a fluke, it was merely the mainstreaming of a growing trend: the TikTokification of the press junket. Movie stars are all chasing a single viral clip now, rather than deigning to talk about their work. "There are some of us, still, who want to hear about the actual films, rather than what a good boyfriend the actor would be for the internet. Regardless of the form, it’s a deliberate dumbing down."
12. A close reading of the craft and structure in A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton.
13. I'm not just saying this because these were very formative years for me, musically. 1990s film soundtracks were just better.

The most popular link last time was this look at what Gen Z does with their "fun money", followed by this list of ten pieces to help you get into classical music.

1. Cookbooks are an industry of their own within publishing — 20 million are sold annually in the US alone. Why is there so little coverage of what goes on in this influential sector?
2. Godchecker: a sort of Wikipedia, but just for deities of all origins and cultures.
3. Are we "scapegoating the algorithm"? An argument that the problems of political polarisation and disinformation already existed before social media. US-centric, but an interesting read nonetheless.

4. Account of a conservation programme in northern Mexico where ranchers (who previously hunted big cats to protect their herds) are paid per photo of a live jaguar from the motion capture cameras on their land. It seems to both saving animals and producing fun jaguar selfies!
5. In the era of emoji, don't overlook the charm of ASCII smileys ;-)
6. I feel like I recommend the Still Sketching newsletter every week, and I'm going to do it again now. This post about Tom's Midnight Garden is wonderful.
7. An account of a bookstore crawl in Tallinn, Estonia.

8. A series of photographs that tell the story of the Lykov family. They belonged to an offshoot of the Russian Orthodox religion known as the "Old Believers" and in 1936 disappeared into the Siberian wilderness so they could follow their faith unmolested by successive Soviet regimes. They were rediscovered in 1978 when a team of geologists flew over their remote cabin, 160 miles from the nearest human settlement. The family did not know that WW2 had happened and declined to be relocated. One daughter of the original patriarch still lives out there.
9. This memoir excerpt by John Gregory Dunne (husband of Joan Didion) is dark but arresting.
10. Use the Tourist Map of Literature to see other readers' preferences mapped and find recommendations. Type in the name of your favourite author and see the strong and weak ties that surround them.
11. On fame and normality: "I'm sometimes more impressed by normality, especially successful people who've touched the sun and still choose normality in the end."
12. Uncovering an Ancient Roman wine scam. Imagine having your fake Cretan wine dug up 2,000 years later!
13. Jane Austen left relatively few notes behind her, but her characters are forever jotting things down. Why?