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Tag: books

morning computer america the abandoned

Published October 6, 2025 by Warren Ellis

America The Abandoned.

Social media usage peaked in 2022 and has been on a steady decline since. An analysis of 250,000 adults across more than 50 countries by the digital audience insights company GWI found that adults aged 16 and older spent an average of two hours and 20 minutes per day on social platforms at the end of 2024. That figure is down almost 10% from 2022. The decline is most pronounced among teenagers and people in their twenties. Usage has traced a smooth curve upward and then downward over the past decade. This is not simply the unwinding of increased screen time during pandemic lockdowns. The data also captured a shift in how people use these platforms. The share of people who report using social media to stay in touch with friends, express themselves or meet new people has fallen by more than a quarter since 2014. Opening the apps reflexively to fill spare time has risen. North America is an exception to the global trend. Social media consumption there continues to climb. By 2024 it reached levels 15% higher than Europe. Meta and OpenAI recently announced new social platforms that will be filled with AI-generated short-form videos.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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accessions 15sep25

Published September 15, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Kindle books on sale:

AUTOCRACY INC, Anne Applebaum (UK) (US+) fits nicely into some of my recent reading.

I read a book about Libertaila decades ago, so this, PIRATE ENLIGHTENMENT, caught my eye. (UK) (US+)

I don’t normally buy how-to books about writing these days, and I’ve never been an especial admirer of Delany beyond his short story “Aye, And Gomorrah” – except that that is one of the best short stories in the SF canon, and I read a long interview with him, I think in the Charles Platt book? Which would be where I got the concept of the novum. So, for 99p or whatever it was, I’m going to give ABOUT WRITING (UK) (US+) a go.

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accessions 11sep25

Published September 11, 2025 by Warren Ellis

I’d totally forgotten that I’d pre-ordered the new Mick Herron Slough House/Slow Horses book. (UK) (US+) I won’t be able to get to it for ages, but at least I’ll know it’s waiting for me.

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accessions 3sep25

Published September 3, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Adding to my pile of “serious reading for the rest of the year.”

CHOKEPOINTS, Edward Fishman (UK) (US+)

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TANNHAUSER, Via Abraxas

Published April 2, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Abraxas Publishing were kind enough to send me a copy of their facsimile edition of Aleister Crowley’s TANNHAUSER, in a gorgeous A4 form. Abraxas are doing all kinds of weird and occult stuff, and their website is really worth a look if you’re into that stuff. Lovely looking objects.

This should be the product link, in Finnish and in English.

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A Care Package From Paavoharju And Friends

Published March 27, 2025 by Warren Ellis

I’m acquainted with the wonderful Finnish band Paavoharju. I’m woefully behind on all logging, but a couple of weeks ago I took delivery of a care package they and their friends put together for me. I’ll try to break down each piece individually here over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, here’s Paavoharju’s most recent, and the last time I bought a bunch from the fine Finnish label Fonal. I discovered the Finnish scene back in the 00’s, I think, and I have been buying music and art from there ever since.

Unexpected gifts like this leave me lost for words. Thank you.

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Accessions 4mar25

Published March 4, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Been wanting to sit down with Ionesco for a while. I won’t be done filling in the gaps in my reading until sometime after I’m dead.

THE BERENGER PLAYS, Eugene Ionesco (UK) (US+)

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A Future Of The Novel

Published December 13, 2024 by Warren Ellis

The novel was a dominant art form last century
https://www.economist.com/culture/2024/12/12/the-novel-was-a-dominant-art-form-last-century
from The Economist

This century’s novelists will need to grapple with this shift. Writers in the last century benefited from increased literacy rates, cheap mass production and the rise of chain bookstores, which all helped create a culture more receptive to their works. Novels could also easily hold their own against films; it is harder now that people have a giant film and TV library in their pockets.

What might a book written in 2124, looking back at the 21st-century literary novel, argue? That the novel continued to expand its focus outward, by engaging with genre fiction, for instance, as Colson Whitehead and Haruki Murakami do brilliantly; or with nature and science, as Richard Powers and Kim Stanley Robinson do. Novel-reading will become even more of a niche, worthy hobby, like going to a classical-music concert or ballet today.

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19oct24

Published October 19, 2024 by Warren Ellis

Thinking day. I’m under-producing and need to clear out some cobwebs and collapse some hurdles.

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