You should read Winters in the World by ⁦Eleanor Parker⁩.

Why did Scotland punch so far above its weight in the age of industrialisation and enlightenment? The usual answer is education. But I argue that this puts the cart before the horse, and that it was almost entirely down to capital: ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inven…

one of my old favorites

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) dir. David Lean #BOTD

Federico Fellini talking about the crisis of cinema in 1980.

In the final scene of Throne of Blood (1957) director Akira Kurosawa used real archers to fire live arrows at Toshiro Mifune. The arrows were guided by thin wires to ensure they hit the wall inches from the actor's body.

"Like Max Weber, who argued that capitalism spread through its “elective affinity” with a Calvinist faith that revered work and saving as signs of godliness, Mumford made the case that it was only after humans had already come to view the world instrumentally that we could create

Dalí’s imagery became bleaker as the threat of war loomed over Europe in the late-1930s. The Burning Giraffe (1937) sets its figures in a stage-like space, with crutches and exposed openings turning the bodies into objects that appear precarious and engineered.

Novalis's ‘Heinrich von Ofterdingen': A New Translation & Critical Study Hardcover – July 31 2026 by Owen Ware Ed. Trans. "Owen Ware explores how Novalis probes the core problem of modern life – fragmentation and our sense of alienation from the world."

2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)

China’s Warring States period produced a flourishing of thought and technology unmatched in its time. From Confucianism and Daoism to military strategy and early engineering, 'To Rule All Under Heaven' traces the age that reshaped a civilization: oxford.ly/47N1arm

This made me a Shaman.

The (aptly-named) English botanist Nehemiah Grew — who died #onthisday in 1712 — revealed for the first time the inner structure and function of plants in all their splendorous intricacy. Brian Garret explores his life and work: publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-life… #OTD

“One must never overestimate the power of American ignorance on global affairs.” - Salman Rushdie. Let them be.

This seems to be a very consumerist way of understanding the intellectual life. I have always seen ‘intellectual consumption’ a conscious act of remoulding one’s mind to become a higher version of itself. You are producing *mind.

Musketeer d'Artagnan's remains believed found under Dutch church bbc.in/4lQdOeQ

Remembering the legendary English filmmaker, David Lean, on his 118th birthday! David Lean on the timelessness of "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) & the reaction it got from the audience when the restored version was released in 1989: "Everyone worried about re-releasing ‘Lawrence

This is truly insane, and it should be front page news across America.  Denmark secretly deployed soldiers to Greenland prepared to blow up airport runways to stop a U.S. invasion. They brought blood supplies to treat the wounded. France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden quietly

"Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon" - Akira Kurosawa

The greatest.