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John West

@johnwest.bsky.social
2K followers 344 following 384 posts

I report the news with code at the Wall Street Journal. I wrote Lessons and Carols (Eerdmans, 2023); The Internet Will Die, and So Will You (Here below, 2026); The Psalmist (Union Square, Hachette, 2027). beebe-west.com/john

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Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
We all do harm by being.
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Alice Miranda Ollstein @alicemiranda.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Honored to have the first excerpt of my book published by @politico.com! Out everywhere on Oct. 27. politico.com/news/magazine/2026/10/03/abortion-doctors-politics-roe-dobbs-01105039
politico.com
The Fall of Roe Changed Doctors. Now They’re Changing Politics.
State-level abortion debates have activated physicians as a political force like never before.
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noam @noamchompers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
philosophers should have simply *answered* the deepest and most intractable questions ever posed. instead they've chosen to fuck around. disappointing
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John West @handle.invalid · 02/10/2026
thank you! the dataset was really a @noslouch.bsky.social special...
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John West @handle.invalid · 01/10/2026
It's true: we used AI to see just how much Americans hate AI, and if you leave us enough comments, I'll try to use AI to see how much y'all hate us using AI to see how much Americans hate AI. (From me, @jjw.bsky.social, Sabrina Rodriguez, and @jamesbenedict.bsky.social) www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
wsj.com
We Used AI to Find Out Just How Much Americans Hate AI
Opposition to AI, data centers and Flock cameras brought people together like few other issues, and it is showing up in the midterms.
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Brian Whitton @noslouch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
NEW from me, @neilmhta.bsky.social and @sabrod123.bsky.social. Mentions of Trump on MAGA podcasts have fallen off a cliff since the 2024 election. With the midterms right around the corner, what are they talking about now? If you've been near TikTok lately, then you've probably got a guess.
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John West @handle.invalid · 17/09/2026
Here's a deeply generous review of my book on Bill Tammeus's blog, "Faith Matters." He compared me to Annie Dillard, a hero of mine who sadly recently passed, and I can imagine few higher compliments. Here's the review: substack.com/home/post/p-... Here's the book: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
In one sense, it’s simply a book that describes how rapidly the internet and electronic communications in general are changing and how that means that what we think we know about all this today will almost certainly be out of date by this time next week. (Add in artificial intelligence and many of us are even more lost.)

But the book is more than that. It’s also a book about understanding that we cannot and will not live forever and the sooner we recognize that and then start to act as if that’s true, the more generative and full version of life we will lead, one that includes our responses to the inevitable spiritual and religious questions that will face us even if we don’t want to face them.

Despite telling me more than I’ll ever want to know about digital communications, this book engaged me because it asked the deeper questions, pondered the right mysteries and drew wise conclusions about humanity’s future. And here and there West’s style of writing even reminded me somehow of authors Annie Dillard and my friend Kathleen Norris and how they use words to break open new insights.
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Bennington Writing Seminars @benningtonwriting.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Happy Publication Day to John West, MFA '18 (Nonfiction)! His book, THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU: On Learning to Live in Our Digital Age, is out today from Here Below Books. vist.ly/5hyd8
Bearded man next to book cover titled 'The Internet Will Die, And So Will You' by John West.
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John West @handle.invalid · 16/09/2026
There's link rot and then there's link rot: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
wsj.com
AWS Says It Can’t Restore Some Data From Mideast Facilities Struck by Iran
Amazon’s announcement is the first indication that some data stored exclusively in Bahrain and the U.A.E could be gone forever.
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John West @handle.invalid · 28/08/2026
Well deserved!
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John West @handle.invalid · 18/08/2026
Thank you!
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John West @handle.invalid · 13/08/2026
Thanks to @kofinas.bsky.social for being such a thoughtful interlocutor in this conversation about my book! It's the dream of pretty much every author (I think) to talk to someone who's so willing to dig into the text--and draw on such broad expertise about what you're writing about.
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John West @handle.invalid · 04/08/2026
Want a free copy of THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU? Well, there's a Goodreads giveaway through the end of August for fifteen copies of it! (Don't worry, you're still welcome to purchase a copy, even if the Goodreads gods fail you.) www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
goodreads.com
Book giveaway for The Internet Will Die, and So Will You: On Learning to Live in Our Digital Age by John West Aug 03-Aug 28, 2026
Enter to win one of 15 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Aug 03-Aug 28, 2026. From a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
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John West @handle.invalid · 03/08/2026
I've listened to PJ Vogt's podcasts ever since TL;DR, through REPLY ALL, and all the way to SEARCH ENGINE. Here's what he said about my book, THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU. You can preorder it here: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
A quote from PJ Vogt, host of "Search Engine," about my book, THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU: "A book about loss that's somehow a pleasure."
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John West @handle.invalid · 27/07/2026
Oh wow! His book looks great!
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John West @handle.invalid · 27/07/2026
Ack! My link got truncated: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
bookshop.org
The Internet Will Die, and So Will You: On Learning to Live in Our Digital Age
To live meaningfully in a digital age, we must reckon with impermanence.There's rot in the foundation of the web. A cherished blog vanishes while an adolescent fan page refuses to stay deleted. Suprem...
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John West @handle.invalid · 25/07/2026
(And I'm so sorry for the "buy my book" spam my followers are about to endure...)
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John West @handle.invalid · 25/07/2026
A weird part of writing a book is cold-emailing people you admire and asking them to say something nice. I've long admired @anildash.com for his willingness to go against the grain in a field that rewards group-think masquerading as contrarianism. Here's what he said. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
A picture of the book, THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU, with the quote: "John West offers us a way to find the meaning and soul that's missing in today's technology." From Anil Dash
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John West @handle.invalid · 17/07/2026
Thank you!!!
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John West @handle.invalid · 16/07/2026
The first review of THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU is out from Publishers Weekly: "His wide-ranging meditations, which touch on everything from Bach to TikTok, will appeal to readers who want to search for meaning rather than scroll for distraction." www.publishersweekly.com/9780802885425
A review of The Internet Will Die, and So Will You:

> Pulitzer-winning journalist West (Lessons and Carols) charts the internet’s “shift from human agency to platform agency” and lays out a path for users to reclaim the former in this philosophical guide to the digital age. He argues that the internet only appears infinite and frictionless. Instead, it is as finite and mortal as the humans who code and use it, as evidenced by cloud outages and broken links. Humans lost sight of this reality, he explains, as they increasingly “entrusted the management of our digital metropolis to others,” namely Big Tech platforms like Google and Meta, and thus ceded their choice over how to engage with the internet. West calls on the reader to take back their agency over what they choose to remember and what they choose to forget—a practice he refers to as a sabbath—by, for example, screenshotting a social media post that makes them laugh out loud or searching for poems to commit to memory. But even he acknowledges that people cannot “sabbath our way out of the web that ensnares us.” His wide-ranging meditations, which touch on everything from Bach to TikTok, will appeal to readers who want to search for meaning rather than scroll for distraction. (Sept.)
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John West @handle.invalid · 29/06/2026
I can’t remember who said this, but it’s true: the LLM future looks a lot like endlessly communicating an idea by inflating and deflating it with computers—at great cost.
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John West @handle.invalid · 22/06/2026
this is an incredible story (and my colleagues are incredible reporters).
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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Novel sentence alert
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Hugh Ryan @hughryan.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
MY BAD: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEER 90S AND BEYOND comes out in one week and I am certainly not freaking out about it! There's still time to get 20% off the hardcover by preordering from Hachette with the code MYBAD20. All my June tour dates are below! www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hugh-...
hachettebookgroup.com
My Bad
A powerful and hilarious personal history that tells the true story of the queer ’90s and how it transformed queer life in the decades that followed.“Dee...
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John West @handle.invalid · 12/05/2026
Hahaha classic
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tamara @milquetoast7.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
The Internet Will Die, and So Will You by @johnwest.bsky.social ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ First! too much internet, not enough death :) www.netgalley.com/book/824047/...
netgalley.com
The Internet Will Die, and So Will You
I just reviewed The Internet Will Die, and So Will You by John West
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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 22/07/2024
RETVRN to computers with integral bench seating
A Cray supercomputer with a mustachioed business dude sitting on the integral bench
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John West @handle.invalid · 11/05/2026
These are beautiful.
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Here Below Books @herebelow.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Attention is precious. The Internet Will Die, and So Will You (by John West) #HereBelowBooks #CoverReveal
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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This is what journalism is supposed to be about.
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John West @handle.invalid · 06/05/2026
Hilariously, before we could, our baby enjoyed the art so much, he blew out his diaper. We ended up throwing away the onesie and beating a hasty retreat. But I’ll be back—it’s an incredible museum.
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John West @handle.invalid · 06/05/2026
Yes!
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John West @handle.invalid · 06/05/2026
I went to the Met (for the first time ever!). My partner and I decided to pick a piece to sit and stare at for at least 15 minutes. We picked “Old Woman Cutting Her Nails” by someone who isn’t Rembrandt. It was wild to feel how rusty my attention is—and to see how applying it still drives wonder.
“Old Woman Cutting Her Nails” in the style of Rembrandt.
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John West @handle.invalid · 04/05/2026
Congrats, Jeff! Well deserved!
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
I have escalated my aversion to Spotify.
A iPod video in an Altec Lansing inMotion iPod speaker dock. Both items are working despite being 20 years old.
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John West @handle.invalid · 03/05/2026
This is incredible reporting from my colleague @georgiawells.bsky.social www.wsj.com/us-news/chat...
wsj.com
ChatGPT Wrestles With Its Most Chilling Conversation: How Do I Plan an Attack?
OpenAI’s chatbot dispenses advice on weapons and role-plays mass shootings. The carnage is raising scrutiny on when and how companies intervene.
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John West @handle.invalid · 27/04/2026
1. I'm working on EPITAB: a browser extension that helps you memorize poems. If you add poems to your browser, it quizzes you on lines each time you open a new tab. Here, for example, after I opened a new window in Firefox, it's asking me for the line "The season's ill—" I have an ask though...
A screenshot of EPITAB, which shows the poem "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell.
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John West @handle.invalid · 27/04/2026
3. This comes after I read @garthgreenwell.bsky.social's excellent essay on poetry memorization: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/memorizing.... (I also have a good bit about this in my forthcoming book, THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU—which you can pre-order now, etc., etc.)
garthgreenwell.substack.com
How Memorizing Poems Will Change Your Life
And some tips on getting started
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John West @handle.invalid · 27/04/2026
2. If you want to try this out, give me a shout, and I can set you up with a beta. I could really use some feedback! The dream of this is to add some friction back into my digital life—and to point that friction toward something generative. Does that sound like something you're interested in? DM me!
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John West @handle.invalid · 27/04/2026
1. I'm working on EPITAB: a browser extension that helps you memorize poems. If you add poems to your browser, it quizzes you on lines each time you open a new tab. Here, for example, after I opened a new window in Firefox, it's asking me for the line "The season's ill—" I have an ask though...
A screenshot of EPITAB, which shows the poem "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell.
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John West @handle.invalid · 22/04/2026
Honestly, it's a shame CSVW—or something like it—isn't better supported.
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John West @handle.invalid · 22/04/2026
Congrats!
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gita “the formalist” jackson @xoxogossipgita.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Hello. I’m writing a novel. @editrixemma.bsky.social @alexbrownwrites.bsky.social
Publishers Marketplace
Deal Report
LEVEL UP FOR ROMANCE!
By Gita Jackson
Imprint: Mira
Aftermath co-owner Gita Jackson's LEVEL UP FOR ROMANCE!, a debut LitRPG romance in which an overworked game developer is transported to the cozy town featured in the farming simulator she's creating and falls for the town's snarky bartender-a character who wasn't even supposed to be romanceable
-as she's forced to confront the fact that her career in the gaming industry wasn't what she thought it was going to be and figure out how to get back home, to Emma Cole at Mira, in an exclusive submission, by Alex Land at Mad Woman Literary Agency (world).
Fiction: Romance
April 21, 2026
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John West @handle.invalid · 21/04/2026
I’ve been practicing again. Here’s a sarabande from one of the perfect Bach cello suites played imperfectly on the recorder. (Also pictured: my 3D-printed recorder gun rack.)
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John West @handle.invalid · 21/04/2026
I blogged again: this-republic-of-letters.fly.dev/posts/5/toge.... This time, on the many uses and abuses of poor Walter Ong.
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John West @handle.invalid · 20/04/2026
I have! I even bought it! I like it a lot—so smart to move away from the "inbox" paradigm.
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John West @handle.invalid · 20/04/2026
5. In the meantime, fire up your RSS reader and point it here: this-republic-of-letters.fly.dev/feed/rss. (Since I wrote the blogging software, you can also get a JSON feed, and you can replace ".html" at the end of any post with ".md" or ".json" to get those formats, because I'm a nerd.)
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John West @handle.invalid · 20/04/2026
4. I'm not sure how to handle the fact that blogging's distribution method is so broken. Do I cross-post to Bluesky? To Substack? To an AI-powered avatar that reads my stories in vertical video on TikTok? (Probably not that one.)
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John West @handle.invalid · 20/04/2026
3. My first big post covers this very subject—why blog?—while giving me an excuse to cite some excellent @anildash.com posts and @davidpierce.xyz's excellent reporting: - www.anildash.com/2024/11/19/d... - www.anildash.com/2024/02/05/w... - www.theverge.com/23778253/goo...
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John West @handle.invalid · 20/04/2026
2. I'm blogging again, knowing that the blogosphere I remember is dead, that Google Reader is dead, that the distribution problem (who checks blogs anymore?) led to a supply problem (why check blogs when there are so few to read?). Or maybe it was the other way around—an ouroboros of dead blogs.
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