Blog

Design maestro Michael Bierut decodes the hidden meaning of a recent NYTBR cover designed by his partner.

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Barthes, Foucault, & Derrida unwittingly helped retailers by predicting the future of capitalism. (See also thoughts on the political manipulability of postmodernism.)

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Anti-Semitic paranoia in the book world: 1968 (scroll down), and 2006.

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Craving year-end book lists? Check out some underrated writers, The Millions, Newley, the NBCC, and of course all the picks from the big guns. Soon I’ll talk up my own favorites.

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Ambergris, in Melville’s day, and now

A hundred and fifty years after Herman Melville’s Ishmael pondered the unlikely worth of ambergris — otherwise known as whale vomit — the stuff is still used in expensive perfumes and remains incredibly valuable. In theory. Trouble is, few people alive can identify it. So while the woman above hopes she’s holding onto ossified whale puke, it is more likely . . .

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