To be everywhere is to be nowhere

10 things worth sharing + notes on Notes

Hey y’all,

Lately I’ve been into little fixes and living for dinnertime.

Here are 10 other things I thought were worth sharing this week, plus a note about Notes at the end:

1. “To be everywhere is to be nowhere.” That’s what Seneca said about travel… and reading. (I’m currently reading Letters from a Stoic, which is basically a 2,000-year-old advice column.)
   
   

2. I’m also reading Charles Portis’s The Dog of the South for the 3rd time, going back and forth between ebook and audiobook. (On Tuesday, we got an epic thread of suggestions going on listening to audiobooks — I’m particularly interested in audiobooks mentioned that are supposed to go heavy on sonic experimentation, like Beastie Boys Book and Creative Quest.)
   
   

3. It’s impossible — not to mention undesirable — for me to keep up with all the news and think pieces about AI. Much easier and pleasant to read a whole book about it! Melanie Mitchell’s Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans is a great primer on what AI actually is, the history of the field, and how we got to where we are. The jacket copy is accurate: “She explores the profound disconnect between the hype and the actual achievements in AI, providing a clear sense of what the field has accomplished and how much further it has to go.”
   
   

4. The kids picked Frankenstein (1931) for pizza night and it made me think about why I haven’t hired an assistant.

   
   

5. A look inside the 17th century home on the Ipswich River in Massachusetts that illustrator Ed Emberley lived in for 60 years, making his books and raising his family. (I grabbed a few photos of his studio.)
   
   

6. Music: I wrote about how much I still love Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters, an album that came out three years ago, just a month into the pandemic. Patricia Wolf is raising funds for her upcoming tour, so I bought her first two albums on vinyl: I’ll Look For You in Others and See-Through. Wonderful working music. (The latter was part of my COVID recovery last year.) Reunions: The Walkmen played their first song together in 10 years and 12 Rods is putting out a new album — my pal James Flynn made a documentary about them called Accidents Waiting To Happen.
   
   

7. Ted Lasso has been pretty ho-hum for me lately, but the episode “Sunflowers” felt like a return to form. Two (spoiler free) things worth pointing out: the docent recites from a real letter Vincent wrote Theo and Ted’s trip is a homage to the amazing Donald in Mathmagicland. (You can watch it on Youtube.)
   
   

8. Fun fact: on the cover of the Arabic translation of my book Keep Going, the arrow points right to left.
   
   

9. Owl update: Mr. Coconut made a rare appearance outside my studio window yesterday morning. The owl babies are one and a half weeks old!
   
   

10. RIP jazz legend Ahmad Jamal. RIP cartooning legend Ed Koren.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is a completely reader-supported publication. If you love it and want to support my work, the best ways are to buy my books, hire me to speak, or become a paid subscriber:

xoxo,

Austin

PS. Notes is — let’s be honest here! — a Twitter clone that Substack has made for sharing links, short posts, quotes, photos, etc.

To be honest, I’m a little worried about Substack’s “feature creep” and I don’t know really know how I’ll use Notes yet. Probably for the same dumb stuff I use Twitter for. Like this bad joke for Barry fans:

If you want to check it out, head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around.

You can also share notes of your own. Thoughts, ideas, interesting quotes, whatever.

If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. See you over there. (Though I prefer to see you all in our wonderful comments!)