Another week begins, and with it ... well, a lot of stuff I'm sure. Hope more than a bit of that stuff is good.

With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:

The man who blew up a nuclear power station and disappeared — A tale of audacity, outrage, and protest wrapped in solid reporting. It's also a tale of a place and time which compelled some people to take actions like the ones described in the piece.

From the article:

A limpet mine is about the size of a whisky bottle. It has a magnetic plate on one side so it sticks to whatever metal you attach it to. Inside the casing is a timed fuse: when you pull the pin, a mechanism begins a slow countdown to detonation. There is no way to stop it once it starts. If the mechanism fails, it fails quickly. Wilkinson had been given the longest fuses available: 24 hours. Pull the pin on Friday afternoon, and by Saturday afternoon, if everything works, the mine detonates. If something goes wrong, it goes wrong while you’re still in the building.

How the Blitz enhanced London’s economy — So bombing got rid of swathes of historic buildings, which were replaced by soulless office blocks. And that was a good thing? Ah, capitalism ...

From the article:

[B]y locally relaxing the restrictive planning regime put in place after the war, for all its human cost, the Blitz has subsequently had an extremely positive effect on London’s present day economy. Moreover, this lasting influence has now provided us with unique insights into the very human drivers of urban economics, and spotlights the exceptional dynamism of this enduring city.

Why You Take Notes But Never Get Smarter — I don't think that taking notes necessarily makes one smarter. However, just having notes sit there and not using them is like have a pile of books that you never read.

From the article:

The real issue however is that we're simply collecting and not actively thinking. We call this the Collector's Fallacy. This is where saving information feels like learning, but in reality nothing is being processed.

What Makes a Great Bookshop? — A quick tour of some of London, England's most interesting and venerable bookshops. Not quite the same as being there, but this piece does stoke some literary envy in me.

From the article:

Do not be fooled by ‘tourist trap’ bookshops (for instance, The Notting Hill Bookshop), and be wary of gimmicky bookshops like Saucy Books (which specialises in Romantasy and YA). Chain bookshops, like Waterstones and Daunt Books, are usually reliable and diverse, if a little predictable. They usually have excellent cafes.

But, really, a good bookshop is not defined by how many books it has, but instead by how much character it has. This is particularly true of secondhand bookshops.