My new book, Blank Space, is a cultural history of the last 25 years, scheduled for publication in November 2025. Now that I've finally emerged from writing and editing, here are some early thoughts about the process. I know: I haven't been sending very many newsletters. This is because I| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Without agreeing on what "culture" is, it's really difficult to understand whether we're at an optimal rate of change Katherine Dee on Wisdom of Crowds: “No, Culture is Not Stuck” Since Simon Reynolds published Retromania in 2010, there has been a debate about whether the 21st century is facing a| Culture: An Owner's Manual
The "culture" of a society isn't a blob of random human activity, but an orderly ecosystem arising from the interactions between particular subunits. To maintain ecosystem health, we must reject the cynical “poptimist” framing of culture as a mere vehicle for entertainment and commerce and instead promote the benefits of| Culture: An Owner's Manual