From ancient Jewish texts to AI, a sequence of figures turns matter into meaning

Computer languages are ultimately rendered in ones and zeros, even AI programs. Though this technology is new, the concept it’s hinged on is not. Isaac Asimov’s iconic science fiction collection I, Robot, tells the story of androids created at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Inc. The androids range from “Robbie,” who is nonvocal, to “Stephen Byerley,” who may or may not be a robot—he is so humanlike that people can’t tell.Read Full Story Continue reading at 'Fast Company'

[ Fast Company | 2023-10-17 06:00:00 UTC ]
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Why the #247challenge matters

The National Literacy Trust today released new research for National Writing Day, which found that more young people have been writing and reading in lockdown. Following already promising research from the Reading Agency in April, showing that 45% of young people were choosing to read more, it’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-23 13:42:51 UTC ]
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Eddo-Lodge retains top spot, as sales figures return to bestseller charts

Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (Bloomsbury) has notched up a second week as the UK Official Top 50 number one, selling 34,211 copies through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-23 13:15:03 UTC ]
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WATCH: Jericho Brown and Nikky Finney on Black Lives Matter and Bearing Witness

Renowned poets Jericho Brown (2020 Pulitzer Prize winner) and Nikky Finney (2011 National Book Award winner), formerly student and teacher, reunite to address the current moment of uprising and solidarity in the face of anti-Black violence, in a visceral conversation about art, identity, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-09 17:00:01 UTC ]
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Waterstones responds to staffers' call to support Black Lives Matter

Waterstones has said Covid-19 closures means a charitable donation to Black Lives Matter is not currently possible despite a petition set up by booksellers calling for the chain to financially support the cause. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-08 15:36:16 UTC ]
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Publishers, agents and authors continue to respond to Black Lives Matter protests

Publishers and authors have continued to share reading lists and offers of help following the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-05 10:41:41 UTC ]
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Writers of the past turned suffering into literary masterpieces. They might help us understand how to meet the challenges of our day.

Authors have always tried to turn their sorrow and confusion into enduring monuments of beauty among the ruins. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-03 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Black Lives Matter in the book industry

It’s early 2012 and a young boy is walking home when he is fatally shot in the back by a neighbourhood watch officer. The officer claims the boy – only seventeen at the time – was reaching for a gun. All the boy had on him was a packet of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea. Now it’s the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-02 22:33:58 UTC ]
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ILP acquires 12 literary estates in eight-figure deal

International Literary Properties has acquired 12 literary estates from Peters, Fraser + Dunlop, including those of Evelyn Waugh and Georges Simenon, in an eight-figure deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-02 04:26:41 UTC ]
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Hachette donates £20k as trade supports Black Lives Matter

The book trade has been showing its support of the Black Lives Matter movement, speaking out across social media and making donations to relevant organisations, following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by police in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-01 06:44:29 UTC ]
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‘The Death of Jesus’ completes J.M. Coetzee’s nativity-inspired trilogy. But what does it all mean?

The Nobel laureate’s novels sit uncooperatively in a zone between allegory and parable, refuting interpretation. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-30 13:00:00 UTC ]
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The True Meaning of the Phrase ‘More Honoured in the Breach than the Observance’

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle examines a famous phrase derived from Shakespeare The old line about Hamlet, that it’s ‘too full of quotations’, wittily sums up the play’s influence on not just English literature but on the everyday language we use. Many of us... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2020-05-29 14:00:47 UTC ]
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In an age of cancellations and quarantine, people are turning to Twitter for connections — and premium content

Each year around this time, digital publishers and tech platforms announce their content plans for the year ahead. These annual upfront and NewFronts pitches are a bid to partner with agencies and advertisers to reassemble audiences across the ever-changing video landscape. That process will... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2020-05-28 01:23:59 UTC ]
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High streaming figures for Hay Festival Digital first weekend

Hay Festival Digital events were streamed over 210,000 times in the virtual festival's opening weekend (Saturday 23rd May to Bank Holiday Monday, 25th May), with people from more than 63 countries tuning in.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-26 11:37:30 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan lands Hannah novel in six-figure deal

Pan Macmillan has landed Kristin Hannah's new novel in a six-figure deal ahead of the Netflix series of her book Firefly Lane (Pan). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-26 08:06:35 UTC ]
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Debut The Flames to Doubleday in 'major' six-figure pre-empt

Doubleday has acquired debut novel The Flames about four women "muses" who inspired artist Egon Schiele, in a "major" six-figure pre-empt.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-18 02:34:02 UTC ]
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Mental health matters

We are living through an unprecedented time in global history. The coronavirus pandemic has hit every industry, and – this is not news to any of you – publishing is no exception. This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, the theme is ‘kindness’, chosen because we need to reach out to those... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-17 22:41:35 UTC ]
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Why book prizes matter more than ever

The pandemic and lockdown have affected the book industry from the fate of distributors to the closure of independent shops to the drop in individual book sales, and many literary prizes have this year postponed their announcements. But the Desmond Elliott Prize, for the first time under aegis... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-16 09:44:41 UTC ]
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Akwaeke Emezi Finds Meaning In 'Death'

In their new novel, 'The Death of Vivek Oji,' Emezi celebrates the life, and mourns the death, of a queer boy in Nigeria. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Letter From a Bookstore Turning Five During a Pandemic

May 2nd, 2020 Happy birthday to us. Little City Books opened May 2nd, 2015, a stunning spring day [click here for an account of that day, on this website]. It was Independent Bookstore Day. It was our city’s annual art and music festival. And it was the Kentucky Derby (I only remember that... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-12 08:48:42 UTC ]
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Overcoming despair to discover the meaning of life

John Kaag finds wisdom in William James’s philosophy of free will and consciousness. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
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