laphamsquarterly:

Stanford researchers create a data visualization of the 15,000 letters Voltaire sent over eighty years, many of them while he was in exile near the Swiss border. 

“Stanford technology helps scholars get ‘big picture’ of the Enlightenment”

I know it’s geeky, but this is so cool.

The Republic of Letters: The internet of the Enlightenment Age

(via theatlantic)

"Anybody can be anybody"

The Dice Man

The charm of battered books →

This is why Kindles are the Devil’s tool!

There’s noting like the feel of a well thumbed book in your hands, containing memories as much as words. 

"I know…that you feel a little bit lost right now about what to do with your life, a bit rudderless and oarless and aimless but that’s okay, that’s alright because we’re all meant to be like that at twenty-four."

Dexter Mayhew in One Day by David Nicholls

Really should read the books I own & haven’t read rather than a) buying more or b) re-reading old favourites

stickyembraces:

includes fascinating portrayals of casual drug use at house parties, how the author/protagonist had conversations about post-punk while seeing his mate’s band perform at some shitty small venue, internal monologues about consumerism while observing people in a mall and that time when the protagonist had an epiphany about living in the moment while walking in the rain

(via bookporn)

"I think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation"

Umberto Eco

From a brilliant interview in The Paris Review

"The better organized the state, the duller its humanity"

Vyvyan Ayrs in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell