While I was away a friend gave me a copy of The Perfect Loaf, by Maurizio Leo, and very fortunately there was just about enough room in my suitcase to bring it home with me. Over at my baking site I wrote about baking his introductory Simple Sourdough, which proved to be an interesting exercise. M...

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Many of the annual reviews from other people that I’ve read so far seem to agree that 2022 was not a great year. I’m not so sure. It wasn’t nearly as disrupted as 2021 and, aside from certain health-related restrictions, for me personally it was actually quite an enjoyable year. At least, looking back, I cannot recall anything absolutely horrible about it. That said, I remain aware of how privileged and fortunate I am; how could I not?

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As reported earlier, I seem to have found the motivation to pick up the pieces on a project that I’ve dropped a fair few times over the past 10 years or so. And as promised, I am going to ape Phil Gyford and refer to it as $project until it is ready.

The Story So Far … back in 2008, I got a litt...

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Someone whose website I follow has had a mildly nasty experience at the hands of what she calls a couple of British twats. Apparently two men (surprise) highjacked a thread in which she was asking for some specific help and advice to tell her, more or less, that she was basically stupid for contemplating the thing she wanted advice about.

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Chris Aldrich has written a terrific essay that goes far beyond its title The Two Definitions of Zettelkasten. It sets out the long, often complex, history of the idea at the heart of the zettelkasten method: the commonplace book and its rich tradition. Chris’s corrective is absolutely essential and I hope more people will take note of it and stop referring to “The Zettelkasten Method” as if it were the tablets that Niklas brought down from the mountain.

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