Launch Day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY!
Welcome back, and hallo, new readers! This is it! The US launch day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is February 4th. I’m amazed and relieved to get to this...
Who made the monsters? A lesson from Del Toro's Frankenstein
Thanks for reading my free newsletter! If you’d like to support my work, you might consider buying or gifting HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY. Excellent free...
Join me online on Thurs Dec 4th! And a horror novel even for scaredy-cats
Hallo, nerds with a conscience - and thanks for subscribing! This week’s newsletter: Event newsflashA horror novel recommendation, even for scaredy-catsNew...
New essays, an online event, and more
Hallo folks, and welcome, new subscribers! A news-heavy memo today while Halloween deadlines and updates flow thick and fast: New essays out in the world!...
Walter Ralegh's headless monsters and annotation as thinking
On writing and picturing as forms of thinking and knowledge-making, with examples of Renaissance mapmakers and publishers demonstrating exactly this in the...
A monster for our time?
Thanks for reading my free newsletter! If you’d like to support my work, you might consider buying or gifting HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY. Excellent free...
The Edinburgh Book Festival and a preview of fall monstery stuff
Thanks for reading my free newsletter! If you’d like to support my work, you might consider buying or gifting HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY. Excellent free...
Three things I learned about work, rest, and play during a book launch
HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is six months old! In today’s newsletter: three things I learned during the most intense part of the launch; new podcast and...
Soldering irons and oscilloscopes: my brush with actual science
First, a news flash: On Thursday July 31 at 1pm US Eastern Time / 7pm Central European Time I’ll be on The Colin McEnroe Show, a live public radio show about...
Capes without superheroes: a New World detail on a Renaissance painting
Innsbruck, Austria, 1569. Archduke Ferdinand II paced around the room while fiddling with the ornamented chain around his neck. As his patience began wearing...
The Real Bermuda Triangle is on the Internet
I could do with a serving of fried apple hand pies from Herbsaint in New Orleans right about now. Hallo, readers! This week I discovered that there’s a...
Happy Birthday, JAWS!
Thanks for reading my newsletter! You might also enjoy my new book, Humans: A Monstrous History, a history of humanity from antiquity to the present. I blend...
An LA Times Op-Ed and the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Welcome back folks, and hallo, new readers! In today’s newsletter: An op-ed in the Los Angeles TimesNext book event - at the Edinburgh International Book...
Making the hard call - and starting a new book project
Crème brûlée at Chez Janou in Paris on HUMANS pub day. Hallo folks, and welcome, new readers, This week’s issue: Make the hard call.How do big things get...
40% off UC Press books, Reddit Ask Me Anything, and the end of the book tour
Post-festival supper at Masala Zone, Covent Garden, London. And the blank space on the map - I mean the platter? Yoghurt dip en route! Hi folks and welcome,...
Book tour part 3: events, hangouts, baseball, and drafting the past
Where’s HUMANS? Check the alt-text for this image to find out. Is HUMANS in your fave store? Feel free to share photos if so! Welcome back everyone, and...
Book tour part 2, reviews, writing, and podcasts
At the Renaissance Society of American conference in Boston, MA. Hallo, readers! If you’re a new subscriber, welcome - you might like to check out my new...
Book tour part 1, a forest of free excerpts and podcasts, and an audiobook!
At the Renaissance Society of America conference. Welcome back folks, and hallo new subscribers! This newsletter is a bit late: the time and bandwidth...
Lurching towards the book tour
Welcome back, and hallo new subscribers! Today’s issue is mostly book, tour, and podcast news. In less than two weeks I head to the US for a few weeks of...
Basement adventures showed me why ChatGPT can only ever be garbage.
In The British Library. Photo by Surekha Davies. Hallo readers, First, a news flash: Join me for a virtual book launch for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY...