If you feel like there’s not enough room for whimsy in the world right now, if you feel like you need a little unironic delight in the power of the imagination, then consider giving Italo Calvino’s brilliant and bizarre anti-novel, INVISIBLE CITIES, a read.
It’s a collection of 55 short prose poems in which the Venetian traveler Marco Polo regales his boss, Kublai Khan, emperor of the Tartars, with tales of the various cities in his kingdom. It’s a Lonely Planet guide jumbled with a book of fables, stirred with an atlas, and marinated in a tank of psilocybin. It’s dream-fuel that offers something new and marvelous each time you sit down with it.
To mark the book’s 50th anniversary, Mariner Classics has a wonderful new edition, out today, including gorgeous illustrations by @karinapuentefrantzen (and a brand-new intro by me).
Any folks who read Cloud Cuckoo Land might remember that some sections include a supposedly all-knowing supercomputer named Sybil.
I described her as living “inside a translucent cylinder that rises sixteen feet from floor to ceiling,” and “a machine composed of trillions of golden threads, none thicker than a human hair. Each filament twines around thousands of others in entanglements of astonishing intricacy.” And later I wrote that “the Library is just a swarm of data inside the flickering chandelier that is Sybil”...
Umm, that novel came out in 2021. Check out this image of Google’s new quantum computer, Willow, which performed a calculation earlier this month in under 5 minutes that would take a conventional supercomputer 10 septillion years (more years than the universe has existed). 🤯
Photo from NYTimes article, credited "Google Quantum AI"
Bookstores are the heartbeat of local communities, even here in Prague where I’m visiting my kid! Bookshops offer warm and inviting spaces to gather, connect, and provide access to the solace of books. One of my favorite organizations, BINC, is raising funds to continue their incredible support of independent booksellers, and if you’re inclined to donate, I’ll leave a link in my bio. Special cheers to my local Boise store @rdbooks !
#standwithbinc
Apparently it's International Dog Day, so here's to our car-driving, poker-playing, mountain-climbing best friend, Ky. It's not the size of the 🐶; it's the size of the ❤️.
The wonderful @sunday_neutrals took these gorgeous photos of some of the foreign editions of All the Light - what an incredible trip down memory lane. Cheers to my publishers, translators, and readers around the world.
A delight to help celebrate Simon & Schuster’s centennial in New York last month, and to offer this glimpse into my ultra-disciplined (🙄) writing habits.
Shout-out to Carolyn Chute who wrote a much funnier day-in-the-life-of-a-writer using this format back in the ‘90s.
And a very happy 100th birthday to S&S, my wonderful US publisher of 25 (!) years.
I was proud to deliver the commencement address (twice!) at the University of Idaho in my beloved home state. What a privilege to celebrate the extraordinary class of 2024. #govandals
Full speech linked in bio.
Ten years ago today, All the Light We Cannot See was published. I’ll never be able to personally thank all the booksellers, librarians, readers, and friends who shared this story, but I’ll keep trying. (Thank you!!)
I hope that the novel has been a gateway for readers to discover more novels, an exploration of how technology can be a tool of both disinformation and liberation, and a reminder of how lucky we are to be here on this planet with the astonishing engine that is a human brain inside of our heads.
Every hour that we can go out and move unencumbered through the world is so incredibly precious. 📚💎📻
I was proud to draft this message for the great Harrison Ford — and it’s ready just in time for Earth Day. 🌎
In honor of the foundational work of the biologist E. O. Wilson and the @eowilsonbiodiversityfoundation , please join us in trying to shine a light on the biodiversity crisis and protect the quiet mysteries. 🐛🐜🌱
#EarthDay2024
#HalfEarthProject
#Biodiversity
#EOWilson
#HarrisonFord
For a decade my iPhone has distracted me while I’m trying to write. Then I found a StonePhone, and for one month I've been bringing it to work with me instead.
Swipe ➡ to see scientific findings.
📱Vs 🪨
#stonephone
The last three weeks in 10 photos:
1. Got old(er).
2. Attended premiere in NYC.
3. Forgot to apply deodorant before premiere.
4. Brother brought deodorant to theater.
5. Afterparty.
6. Saw Cezanne's Peppermint Bottle.
7. Attended premiere at Library of Congress.
8. Hung out with #1 LIBRARIAN IN 🇺🇸.
9. Lots of people watched series.
10. Home.
Thank you so much to everyone for caring about this story.
We are loving Ann Arbor so much! The leaves! 🍁 The Big House! 🏟️ Zingermans! 🍞 Before I head home to Idaho, come see me give a talk at Hill Auditorium on the University of Michigan campus this Wednesday, Oct. 11th at 6pm! (Admission is free!)
