Here are a few of the books I’ve been sent for review recently, covering AI, maps, time travel and language.
Read MoreBooks received
in Quick looks
A Practical Guide to Write On
I’ve provided this (a) as an example of how a manual should be set out and (b) in case you just happen to have a working Atari with this software on it!
Read MoreJust William
A remarkable achievement: a shout-out to underconfident writers who do it anyway
in Reflections
The most difficult thing for a saxophone learner to do is open the case and pick up the instrument every day.
Read MoreAutomated writing
years.
The term “automatic writing” is usually associated with a particular psychic phenomenon. However, software now exists that can take data, such as sports results, and generate reports from it.
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Picture by Ideogram
I never have writer's block, but...
So the great prolificist had run out of ideas, eh? Well actually no: I had the opposite problem. I’d had so many ideas and corresponding false starts that I was floundering in a sea of ideas.
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Saxophonist, by Terry Freedman
Genuine writing
On Friday I picked up my sax for the first time in a month. I attempted to play Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. It started off ok-ish, but then the timing went and so did the right notes. Well, you can’t have everything I suppose.
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My Jane Austen collection
Quick looks: Jane Austen; Write, Cut, Rewrite; Handwritten; The Book At War; From Edtech to Pedtech
in Bookshelf, Quick looks
Since I read Northanger Abbey when I was in my twenties, I have to say that in the interim it has much improved. Clearly, Jane must have taken a creative writing course or two because it is now much funnier, more cutting and more modern, what with her stepping outside the story to comment on her characters and the novel form itself.
Read MoreEscapism: a 50 word prose poem
in Oulipo
The following story has been written in accordance with a constraint, in true Oulipian style. The Oulipo is a writing movement based on constraints, such as omitting the use of a particular letter when composing a text.
Read MoreReview: Oulipo and Modern Thought (Update)
If your interest in the Oulipo goes beyond simply trying out their techniques, and you wish to learn about the context in which it was conceived and the developments in went through, you will find this book very useful.
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Saxophonist, by Terry Freedman
The Johnny Sax Chronicles -- 29 February 2024
Writing in different voices, genres or styles is a really good way of improving one’s skills.
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Quick looks: Triggered Literature PLUS an extract from my new version of Macbeth
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
A very timely publication. The first section is replete with anecdotes about trigger warnings and similar. Some of these are, in my opinion, ill-informed (such as the charges levelled against Jane Austen) while others are ridiculous (like the rewriting of parts of the Noddy books).
Read MoreLibraries and readers in an age of conflict (book review)
The Book at War is a fascinating study of how books and other reading matter have variously influenced politics, propaganda and history over time.
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Review: The Artist's Journey
in Bookshelf
Elborough’s central premise is that artists’ travels have always influenced their art – albeit more obviously in some cases than others.
Read MoreAn example of popular academic writing
A long-held belief of mine is that no writing is wasted. I hear of people who have spent time writing something, decided it's rubbish, and then deleted it. But the process of evaluation that someone goes through to arrive at the conclusion that the thing they've just slaved over is rubbish is valuable in itself.
Read MoreThe creative writing course I’m teaching: evaluation of a press release
I have a course coming up, one that I’m teaching. I asked an AI writer to draft a press release for it. Here’s what it came up with, with my annotations in italics and in square brackets.
Read MoreReview of Fantasy: Realms of Imagination
The shelves in libraries or bookshops labelled Science Fiction and Fantasy interest me only for the former, not the latter. Games like Dungeons and Dragons have never appealed to me, and much as I like maps and strange lands, the works of Tolkien leave me cold.
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Quick looks: Triggered Literature
I haven’t read much yet because it came only a few days ago, but have discovered already that someone regards Hamlet as a sort of school spree killer.
Read MoreBravery
in Memoir
“This should do it.” My father was responding to my mother’s growing exasperation with the two-year old me constantly getting under her feet in the kitchen.
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Review: The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper
Who would have thought that a material as commonplace as paper could have such a rich history and profound effect on our lives?
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