A fantastic thread.

Matt Seybold@mattseybold.bsky.social · last wk.

So, I really hope I get to tell this story in longer form in the near future, but it it’s burning a hole inside me. Most of it comes from an interview with Bob Hirst this weekend. Bob has been Exec Editor of the Mark Twain Project for 47 years, before which he was part of its staff for ~15. 1/16

IMPACT: that company that was offering to buy books for AI companies’ training data — and probably destroy them in the process — says it will no longer offer this service following 404 Media’s exposure of it www.404media.co/ai-company-t...

Company Offering Printed Books to Train AI Stops After 404 Media Coverage

Citing backlash, ISBNdb removed its webpages about training AI, denied ever buying, scanning, or selling a book for AI training, and said the site was a "test of market interest."

404media.co

If you have time this Sunday morning, I recommend my friend @benwikler.bsky.social's book This Is The Plan. It came out Tuesday, and while I usually skim books, I read this cover-to-cover. I most appreciate the book's actionable optimism for those of us trying to save the Republic. Some highlights:

Video www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia...

Protest photographers come together in exhibit documenting decades of activism in Philly

For more than 60 years, 92-year-old Harvey Finkle has carried a camera to protests across Philadelphia, documenting everything from anti-war demonstrations to disability rights advocacy. Eva Andersen ...

cbsnews.com

I have a new manuscript of mostly poems, with 3 lyric essays that really do belong with this collection, and no good idea of where to send it now that both publishers of my previous books have closed shop. Contest route seems unlikely for a mutant like this. University presses? Stable indies?

Delightfully ingenious travel journal which uses “hieroglyphic” plates to recount an 1814 voyage to the Caribbean: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/hieroglyphic-journal-of-a-voyage-to-the-caribbean-1815

📢 Once more for the people in the back: - Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized. - Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs. - Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.

Jesse Locker@jessemlocker.bsky.social · 4w ago

Giving myself a headache in the archives

[sniffling] freakin go birds

Jennifer ♾️ aura points KP@jeniuskp.bsky.social · 4w ago

Fun fact: Ben Franklin's aunt testified at the Salem witch trials.

Ben Franklin Declared His Independence from his Inheritance of Nasty Superstitions and Became an Enlightenment Man

A Fourth of July revisiting of a Founding Father’s family connection to the Salem Witch Trials

theunpopulist.net

This is a truly remarkable development: A carbonized scroll, sealed since the eruption of #Vesuvius in 79 AD, has been virtually unwrapped and successfully deciphered in its entirety. What informations will the other carbonized scrolls reveal? What an exciting project! scrollprize.org/firstscroll

An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

PHerc. 1667, sealed since the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, has been virtually unwrapped and read from beginning to end — without ever being opened.

scrollprize.org

Scientific American is being sold to LabX Media, publisher of Discover: group.springernature.com/gp/group/med... They've fired me and other union staff, ahead of June 26 vote ratification. My rates are suddenly more reasonable, if you need editing or reporting - Argonaut2026@gmail.com

Philly friends! Here’s a chance to support a great event!

Eric Smith@ericsmithrocks.bsky.social · 2mo ago

So to help make this year’s Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl a success, we’re doing a little fundraising! If you’ve enjoyed our big event and can help out, we could use a hand paying for some things! www.phillybookstorecrawl.com/updates/join...

Huge congratulations to @bethkephart.bsky.social for such a well-deserved award. With great thanks to #ForewordReview for recognizing Beth's work and Peggy's story.

If you're reading this, my cat and I have boarded a one-way flight out of the United States. The Trump administration wrongfully denied my work permit renewal; after months of demanding that they follow the law, we have run out of legal recourse, and I have no choice but to leave the country. (🧵)

Support Alex's Emergency Relocation + Next Steps on Give In May

Alex is leaving the US after his work permit renewal was wrongfully denied by Trump's USCIS.

giveinmay.org

Recently, FamilySearch digitized and uploaded tons of microfilmed records, including many from 18th-century Massachsuetts. They're using some sort of AI to transcribe/summarize the handwritten documents. I've noticed that the AI strips out references to race and enslavement in 18thc documents.

#NJ #NY The unusually hot weather and then frost destroyed much of this year's apple crop in our area. Our small Apple orchards are going to have a difficult year. If they have a farm store please try to purchase from them during the summer season.

A wholesome story for nerds: On Saturday, I was signing books at a local bookstore for Independent Bookstore Day. The store had a signing-palooza with new authors every hour; toward the end of my hour, a woman came up and asked what my book was about. "Dictionaries," I said, and she lit up. 1/n

This is the way.

Governor JB Pritzker@govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4mo ago

Illinois made history as the first state to outlaw book bans once and for all. Marginalizing people, ideas, or facts has no place in our state — and they have no place in a democracy. This National Library Week, we continue our commitment to free thought and free speech.

Well, I love Avid Bookstore in Athen, GA more than ever now! georgiarecorder.com/2026/04/10/l... #BookSky 📚 💙

Athens bookstore challenges Gwinnett County jail over mail policy • Georgia Recorder

An Athens-based bookstore is challenging a Gwinnett County jail policy that bars independent booksellers from mailing books to prisoners.

georgiarecorder.com

Please consider signing!

EveryLibrary@everylibrary.bsky.social · 4mo ago

If the Feds start banning books, I’m hiding my TBR pile better than the plans to the Death Star. #HideMyTBRLike How would you hide yours? Sign the petition and stop the Federal Book Ban Bill. buff.ly/W1YsomE @hankgreen.bsky.social @rbreich.bsky.social @markhamillofficial.bsky.social

Saving local news means saving our shared memory. When archives disappear, communities lose their history. Learn about the librarians & archivists helping safeguard local history, & the collaboration between @archive.org, @poynterinstitute.bsky.social, & @ire.org that’s providing tools & training ⬇️

The Poynter Institute@poynterinstitute.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“If news is the first draft of history, the loss of local news archives means a loss of memory, culture, identity and, sometimes, reality,” writes Poynter faculty and director of craft and local news Kristen Hare. www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...

Time for book promotion! A Pox on Fools is a historical indictment of RFK Jr. & his anti-vax allies. I believe it's an important work; advance praise has been great, & I'll be posting examples at regular intervals. For now, check out this lovely Publishers Weekly piece on how the book came to be:

How ‘A Pox on Fools’ by Thomas Levenson Got Made

An inside look at the publication process for the science writer’s latest book

publishersweekly.com

who has a book coming out that people can preorder so they have something to look forward to and then be pleasantly surprised when the book just shows up on their doorstep

Pablo Picasso, Text with double page decoration (folios 14 verso and 15) from the illustrated book Divers Poèmes du Livre Ouvert, 1941 #pablopicasso #museumarchive

Our new release is up on our website: Ted Lieverman spent a total of 45 nights embedded with Delta Platoon at the fire house known as Engine 8, Ladder 2. The images here offer insight into what it means to live as a fire fighter, whether rushing toward danger or quietly preparing for it. #Philly

But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?

Reposting this again because it's wonderful.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 3y ago

It seems to me that the time is ripe for a Bluesky thread about how—and maybe even why—to befriend crows. (1/n)