James Marriott

BBC Radio 4 - Understand, How Reading Made Us, 1. How Reading Made Our Brains Did learning to read rewire your brain? With James Marriott.

I strongly recommend this BBCRadio4 series on Reading from @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social. There are imv a few Just-so(-neuro) stories in Ep 1 & a sharp swerve near the end to acknowledge the cognitive capacities of pre- or non-literate peoples. But essential listening
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I'm so glad to know you enjoyed it! Having never made a radio programme before I wasn't even really sure whether it all made sense...

Understand - How Reading Made Us - 1. How Reading Made Our Brains - BBC Sounds Did learning to read rewire your brain? With James Marriott.

When I'm not doing other stuff I listen to an awful lot of radio. This, by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social, is one of this week's (and, indeed, the next three weeks') absolute must-listens. Really fascinating - and one for fans of @jburnmurdoch.ft.com and @naomialderman.bsky.social too.

Are books dead? Why Gen Z doesn't read Even academically inclined teens aren't turning the pages anymore. That doesn't bode well.

A rather gloomy read...,

When I ask students whether they ever read for pleasure, the most common response is a look of total incomprehension, as if I've asked whether they play with dollies or ride a tricycle. Followed by "well, I did when I was a child".
www.generationtechblog.com/p/are-books-...

thank you for listening! And thank you even more for sharing!

Some weekend reading from me. First up, a brilliant edition of the Writer's Bookshelf with @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social.
mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

I’m convinced… I don’t know what to think From confusion about our polarised politics to uncertainty over AI, suddenly it’s harder to take a firm stance on anything — and that’s OK

My column this week is on the insanity of feeling dogmatically certain about anything in a world that is undergoing a series of profound economic, political and technological transformations:

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Metropolitan + Live Recording of Past Present Future Podcast with David Runciman, James Marriott Whit Stillman’s masterpiece explores the impossibly bookish lives of a group of young Manhattan socialites during party season as they talk their way through topics large and small. A glorious pre-int...

Just a handful of tickets left for the first in our new season of screenings & live recordings - Metropolitan with @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social.

🎬 Regent St Cinema, London
📅 Thursday 19th March
⏰ 7pm
🎟️ Book your ticket here ⬇️

www.regentstreetcinema.com/movie/metrop...

The Pharmakon | Sam Leith | Substack Sam Leith on Reading, Writing, Re-Reading, Rhetoric and Recovery. Click to read The Pharmakon, by Sam Leith, a Substack publication. Launched a few seconds ago.

I've started a Substack for bits and pieces. First post asks the pressing question of our times: What Would You Do Alone In A Cage With Nothing But Cocaine?

yes agree... will try to find out. I think book cover designers are some of the unsung geniuses of the british workforce

Isn't it good! Some unsung genius at Bodley Head

And The New Dark Ages now has a cover! Bitter years of book reviewing have taught me not to get excited and that most books are fated to be ignored. But I am finding it hard to stay entirely jaded in this instance…

beautiful. I love this stuff

I know! i thought this was top Bluesky content!

Jeffrey Epstein circle’s ‘big ideas’ were vacuous guff Emails show that despite hooking up the rich, the powerful and intellectuals, the philosophising was utterly banal

One lesson of the Epstein emails is the total intellectual vacuousness of the international business elite

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Thank you - and very true. I think a lot of what elite educational institutions do for their students nowadays is less to educate them and more to give them the power of an iron-clad conviction of their own importance ... which sadly seems more useful for getting on in the world.

Jeffrey Epstein circle’s ‘big ideas’ were vacuous guff Emails show that despite hooking up the rich, the powerful and intellectuals, the philosophising was utterly banal

Epstein and his acquaintances — whom one might have naively credited with a kind of malign genius — trade specious sub-TED talk musings on polling, quantum physics, life after death, global warming and international relations
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Excellent @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

“An age in which millions of people voluntarily sit through the podcasts of venture capitalists is one which has grown altogether too credulous of the idea that wealth is evidence of special insight into the human condition.”

“They will never believe it about themselves but sometimes the super-rich are as undeserving and talentless as the rest of us.”

Jeffrey Epstein circle’s ‘big ideas’ were vacuous guff Emails show that despite hooking up the rich, the powerful and intellectuals, the philosophising was utterly banal

One lesson of the Epstein emails is the total intellectual vacuousness of the international business elite

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

I was never particuly into the cool things at primary school but @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social took it to another level.

Democracy’s chaotic but somehow it works Liberal western systems are forever ‘in crisis’ yet they stumble on, outlasting fascist tyrants and communist dictators

Runciman shows democratic governments reacted to existential crises with complacency, bickering and delay. Unedifying but it’s how democracy works: “lots of little failures combine to produce lasting success”.
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Excellent & right by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

This, from @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social, is I think the correct opinion.

A hermit who takes a newspaper is not a hermit in whom one can have complete confidence.

Thank you for reading. And yes - you guys are right on the front line against the forces of darkness. You have a civilisational duty to sell as many books as possible!

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

We are late to this piece by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social. It is brilliant, and sobering. We have a fight on our hands, booksellers…

jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

As an Eastern European "frosty," I'm rarely rattled.

However, after reading @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social article, "The dawn of the post-literate society and the end of civilisation," I definitely was...

Check out our CONVO here 👇🏻

youtu.be/OpHIPKUWqOw

I really enjoyed this conversation about the decline of reading and the threat addictive digital devices pose to our civilisation

We have stopped READING - could it be a sign our civilisation is COLLAPSING?

@j-amesmarriott.bsky.social certainly seems to think so. Check out our conversation HERE👇🏻

youtu.be/OpHIPKUWqOw