Tag Archives: Literature

Lessons in reading

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

We went from “what good are the humanities?” to “suddenly, no one can read” in a few years, and it’s no coincidence that we’re suddenly awash in misinformation and lack of critical thinking. This is WHY we need the humanities. … Continue reading →

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Tourist Map of Literature

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

While not really a map this simple tool does map affinity based on user’s literary tastes. It allows you to plug in any author you like and then it  shows other writers whom readers of your literary choice also selected. … Continue reading →

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To leave the world a little better than you found it

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Paul Auster // “That’s all I’ve ever dreamed of… To make the world a better place. To bring some beauty to the drab humdrum corners of the soul. You can do it with a toaster, you can do it with … Continue reading →

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“The Best Things In Life Are Free”

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Today copyrighted works from 1927 will enter the US public domain. They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon. These include Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse and the final Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, the … Continue reading →

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A Novel Way to Tell Time

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The Author Clock by Mechanical Design Labs is a novel digital clock that uses quotes from well known books to tell the time. The clever timepiece lifts passages from hundreds of years of literature to provide quotes that refer to the exact … Continue reading →

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Forgotten Books, Forgotten Stories

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Last month, I found a very interesting piece in Smithsonian Magazine titled “How Much Medieval Literature Has Been Lost Over the Centuries,” which linked to six-minute video from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the journal Science … Continue reading →

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Before the Law stands a doorkeeper

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Before the Law stands a doorkeeper. To this doorkeeper there comes a man from the country and prays for admittance to the Law. But the doorkeeper says that he cannot grant admittance at the moment. The man thinks it over … Continue reading →

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pushing right back

Posted on September 19, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

 

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we owe literature almost everything we are

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

“You said that we owe literature almost everything we are and what we have been. If books disappear, history will disappear, and human beings will also disappear. I am sure you are right. Books are not only the arbitrary sum … Continue reading →

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For in the beginning of literature there is myth

Posted on September 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote” by Jorge Luis Borges Translated by Andrew Hurley Weary of his land of Spain, an old soldier of the king’s army sought solace in the vast geographies of Ariosto, in that valley of the moon … Continue reading →

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