Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 26/09/2026Been reading reviews of James Marriott’s new book, “The New Dark Ages,” on the passing of the print age. It’s been covered by the leading British newspapers, but I think the best piece has come from the Cherwell, Oxford’s student newspaper. Smart to make it a bit more personal. 111
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 09/05/2026Worth noting that Pope Leo’s background is Augustinian. St. Augustine is the patron saint of printers. www.ncregister.com/cna/pope-leo... 050
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 11/03/2026One lovely part of book research is reading these deep cuts 020
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 22/02/2026*sigh* There comes a time in every millennial’s life when you’re officially recast as the old guy. Thanks to @vox.com for making me sound ancient in this otherwise fantastic piece about Wikipedia’s role in the age of AI. www.vox.com/culture/4787... 041
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 18/02/2026The Internet Archive stores physical books, preserving them as a back-up to digitization. Whereas AI companies despise the physical world so much they’ve shredded millions of books and tried to hide the evidence. 030
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 06/02/2026As a thought experiment, I’ve been updating the references in a few passages from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985). What do you think? 031
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 04/02/2026Most writing about the Attention Crisis is gloomy, for good reason. But I appreciate this little book by Prof. Alan Jacobs because he highlights the rewards that come from the struggle of deep reading, as in this passage: 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 02/02/2026the Onion needs to update this for 2026 to mention AI summaries & give us one cause it’s too long 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 01/02/2026Eighty-four percent of Americans say they’ve adopted analogue habits to create boundaries with screens. Writing in notebooks leads the list at 32%, followed by reading printed books at 31% and using paper calendars at 28%. 051
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 29/01/2026While a lot of folks are understandably concerned about the loss of mass market paperbacks, there’s perhaps a more positive interpretation of this story. 🧵 1/5 120
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 27/01/2026This news means a lot to me. I'm writing my first nonfiction book, THE POWER OF PRINT, about why we think differently with paper versus screens, and why we should all aspire to reclaim our print brains. Coming 2027 from St. Martin's Press. @stmartinspress.bsky.social 3102
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 24/01/2026Worth reading the whole piece but here is Twenge’s conclusion 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 03/01/2026As we start 2026, I’m grateful for the sharp, thoughtful people I’ve met on Bluesky, but I also want to keep in mind what my favorite contemporary philosopher says about posting: 000
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 22/12/2025We can form intense ties with analog objects over years of use. That’s why Flaubert asked to be buried with his inkwell. But digital tech is mostly disposable. We value its connection to the infosphere, not the thing itself. No one’s dying wish is to be buried with AI glasses. 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 19/12/2025Now imagine Hugo was born in 2012. Instead of empty notebooks, he would have access to the infinite feed. Throughout adolescence, his phone would provide constant stimulation. Never bored, he’d have no time or space, and no compulsion, to create. 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 19/12/2025Víctor Hugo, born 1802 in Eastern France, spent his teenage years filling notebooks with poetry and sketches. Eruptions from his restless mind. He developed a two-handed approach—one hand writing, the other drawing—that he’d later use while writing classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (cont.) 110
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 18/12/2025James Cooney Horvath raises this example in his new book. I’m halfway through and appreciating his argument. 120
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 11/12/2025Today I learned that Albert Wenger, head of the VC firm that originally backed Twitter, has this sticker on the back of his phone 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 10/12/2025Case study in the enduring power of print: BookTok creator Jack Edwards reaches millions of readers with his online videos, but always dreamed of seeing his work in physical form. He's now a books columnist for British Esquire and made a video about the thrill of tracking down a copy of the magazine 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 08/12/2025“The medium is the message.” Johann Hari on the message of printed books: 040
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 05/12/2025When I argue for the benefits of physical books, people tell me that every generation misses the old ways. But no, this isn’t pure nostalgia. Yes, my dad used to complain about decline back in the 90s, but the scores weren't plummeting then. Today they're in a free fall. 051
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 01/12/2025At first I avoided O’Dell’s book, assuming it was mostly about chilling out. It covers that, yes, but it’s really a defense of *all* activities that aren’t commercially productive but “produce” value which can’t be measured or exploited. Bird-watching, contemplation, wandering through a labyrinth… 040
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 22/11/2025At the local coffee shop this morning, reading “Non-things” and thinking about why sitting with a physical book feels so different from scrolling. There’s a calmness to print that the feed can never give you. 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 20/11/2025Needed a break from thinking about Wikipedia so I’m reading this. The author is a rare books librarian at Oxford’s Bodleian and her little guidebook is delightful. 0201
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 28/10/2025wasn’t my most out-there take, but still… called it 09629
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 27/10/2025Seems likely that Grokipedia will suffer from Grok’s, um, issues… www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 27/10/2025Excellent @willoremus.com piece about the launch of Grokipedia, Elon’s historical relationship with Wikipedia, and whether AI language models (as opposed to humans) are good enough to write a trustworthy encyclopedia. On that point, I agree with @jimmywales.bsky.social Gift link: wapo.st/47PKzTd 142
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 16/10/2025“The landscape thinks itself in me, and I am in its consciousness.” —Paul Cézanne 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 01/10/2025The biggest Wikipedia news this week? Amazon sold out of “The Editors.” Don’t worry, it’ll be back in stock soon and in the meantime, you can grab a copy other places. 131
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 29/09/2025no one tells you that a huge part of being a Wikipedia beat journalist in 2025 is people emailing “the Wiki page for Tylenol is really weird right now,” detailing the debate over disambiguation links, then acting surprised you haven’t landed the Wikitylenol story on the front page of The NY Times 061
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 20/09/2025Thomas Mallon with an unexpected benefit of keeping a diary. 010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 07/09/2025Last week, the leaders of Meta, Alphabet, OpenAI, and Apple took turns praising Trump at a White House dinner. Not in the room: the leaders of Wikipedia, the volunteer editors who curate and maintain the internet's knowledge. 052
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 04/09/2025quick notes from @biblioracle.bsky.social’s book: -automation ≠ artificial intelligence -writing is thinking -writing is feeling -framework for thinking about AI: resist, renew, explore -remember that we are embodied creatures, not machines 021
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 26/08/2025I miss the old em dash discourse. 2011: They disrupt the flow and should be used sparingly—like javelins hurled across the page. Modern prose has too many interruptions. 2025: They prove you cheated with AI. Leave in typos so we know you're human. Good writing is inherently suspicious. 020
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 23/08/2025An older woman in a D.C. book club annotated my Wikipedia-inspired novel like it was a spy dossier. "Political websites - biased propaganda" "Recruitment! Bribery! Double agent!" "How can we TRUST anything?" 021
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 19/08/2025Audie Cornish (CNN host): Why would the generation that was raised on TikToks and hashtag activism turn to paper? Kennedy McDaniel (zine maker): Do I want my reach to be broad? Or do I want it go deep? 081
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 13/08/2025If you’re curious, THE EDITORS is still out there, both online and in a few brick-and-mortar stores. Cheers to the long game of writing and reading. 3/3 030
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 13/08/2025But the real magic of books is private, when someone discovers them in their own time. A year later, I’m still getting emails from first-time readers asking: “How much is real? Is Wikipedia really like this?” 2/3 141
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 13/08/2025One year ago today, my debut suspense novel THE EDITORS hit the shelves. Launch week was a whirlwind—interviews, events, celebrating with many of you. 🧵 1/3 121
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 10/08/2025“The good readers of a society are both its canaries—which detect the presence of danger to its members—and its guardians of our common humanity.” 053
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 02/06/2025Ezra Klein: I used to conceptualize knowledge the way you see it in 'The Matrix.' I thought reading was downloading information into your brain. Now I think that what you're doing is spending time grappling with the text. Making connections through the process of grappling. 100
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 26/05/2025Is this true, Gen Z? (The Revenge of Analog, David Sax) 011
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 17/04/2025Q: Did Dillon Brooks get a Wikipedia tattoo? A: Sure seems like it! It’s the same W logo with an added drop shadow. But together with the P on his other shoulder it stands for “Wolf Pack.” Loved this coverage from Wikify: open.substack.com/pub/wikify/p... 031
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 14/04/2025Excited to be part of the inaugural McNally Jackson Book Festival…and in the same group as the creator of my favorite social media account @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social. 141
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 09/04/2025A Swedish library journal just called THE EDITORS a “Wikipedia-thriller," and published a review of how the novel dramatizes the platform’s edit wars, geopolitical pressures, and community of (anti)heroes. Tack så mycket, Digiteket! digiteket.se/inspirations... 163