“Given his devotion to empirical fact, it seems odd to think that Galileo’s most important ideas might have their roots not in the real world, but in a fictional one.” Galileo’s crucial contributions to physics may have come from measuring the hell of Dante’s Inferno.
Measuring Hell
“Cool Characters”
“What those who care about books must appreciate is that the boundaries between canonical and noncanonical have never been ironclad in African-American literature.” Clark C. Cooke writes for the LA Review of Books on black crime fiction and the rise of a “new African-American literary scene.”
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Maud Newton Talks to Philip Connors
Today at The Paris Review blog, Maud Newton talks to Philip Connors, author of Millions most-anticipated book Fire Season.
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Does NASA Use Emoji?
You can sign up to receive a text alert from NASA notifying you when the International Space Station is scheduled to fly over your house.
Talking to Ourselves
“Like walkie-talkies that require a button be pressed to speak and released to hear, does reading require that either the voice of the author or the voice of the reader’s consciousness be silenced at any given moment? Such an analogy suggests that reading is an act of hospitality toward another’s mind, in which we silence our voice in courtesy to the voice of another’s consciousness, a voice that alternates with our own in conversation.” John Biguenet on silent reading.
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Excerpt from Good on Paper
Rachel Cantor’s pub day for Good on Paper (included in our first-half preview) was this Tuesday. Check out an excerpt from the novel at Lit Hub.
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A Generation of Writers Influenced by Octavia Butler
Hillel Italie speaks to writers like N.K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okarafor about Octavia Butler's undeniable influence on a generation of thinkers and artists.
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Bring your @ game.
Sarah Weinman has compiled a list of verified literary Twitter accounts on her blog.
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