Salt Mines

Please excuse this quick commercial break: I am launching a new Substack newsletter called Next Generation Of.

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days, Jessica Livingston (2007, Apress) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000, Simon & Schuster) *** In the 90s and early 2000s I was in school and toiling away for obscure startups in Sw…

Das nackte Auge (The Naked Eye), Yoko Tawada (2004, Verlag Claudia Gehrke) Η χορτοφάγος (The Vegetarian), Han Kang, tr.

The Empusium, Olga Tokarczuk (2024, Fitzcarraldo Editions) The Magician, Colm Tóibín (2021, Penguin) Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain), Thomas Mann (1924, Fischer) *** A survey of the New Fiction pile in any London bookshop reveals current trends in cov…

Elena Ferrante, Frantumaglia – A Writer’s Journey: Not much is known about the real person behind the pseudonymous Elena Ferrante, author most notably of the Neapolitan Quarter, and she doesn’t reveal much more in this collection of letters and interviews.

Cal Newport, A World Without Email: In his new book, Newport identifies a common scourge of the modern workplace that he calls the Hyperactive Hive Mind: A workflow centered around ongoing conversation fueled by unstructured and unscheduled messages deliv…

Margarette Lincoln, London and the 17th Century: The best writers of history don’t just give a bird’s eye view of major events; they know when to drop to ground level for small details that make the past come alive.

Paul Morely, A Sound Mind – How I Fell in Love with Classical Music (and Decided to Rewrite its Entire History): I picked up this one because the premise seemed right up my alley: An aging rock/pop critic writes about his late-in-life exploration of the c…

Priya Satia: Time’s Monster – History, Conscience and Britain’s Empire: I’ve been living in London for almost a year now, and despite exposure to British culture throughout my whole live I don’t really get the UK.

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness: I deserved a break from the tomes I’ve wrestled recently – just a light novella about the nature of madness and evil, you know.