The good news: Alan Jacobs has a new blog at Culture11.
The too-good-to-be-true news (warning: Geek Ahead): he says the blog will be about “technologies of reading and research and, well, knowledge.” Woah. Thank goodness for venture capital, aye Culture11?
Tapping Jacobs for such a blog is a stroke of editorial genius. Best known as the author of a C.S. Lewis bio, The Narnian, Jacobs has covered a wide range of cultural topics over the years. I first discovered him in the pages of the Boston Globe, where he was an occasional contributor to the Sunday “Ideas” section. Jacobs is a gorgeous prose stylist with an insatiable intellectual curiosity, which makes him a fine essayist on all manner of topics. (I’ve returned to this reflective piece on John Milton, Stanley Fish, and the maintenance of “long joy” again and again.) He also maintains a delightful Tumblog.
I’m particularly excited about the chosen topic not only because Jacobs writes so well about technology, but because he writes so helpfully. He’s reflective about the meaning of technologies new and old, but also practical. Through Jacobs, I learned about Yojimbo and Todoist, and both have become essential tools. I’ve explored several other on- and offline tools for gathering, sorting, and manipulating knowledge through Jacobs nods. He’s a Heloise for the information-overload set.
So, a hearty welcome to Text Patterns. (I kinda think Text Messages would have been a better name. But it’s clearly taken.)
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