Commonplace Reading - Issue #20

Adam Tinworth

Jan 8, 2018 — 3 min read

It's the New Year Resolution hangover issue!

It's week two back at work for many, but effectively week one for me. I've been on childcare for much of the early part of the year, as my wife pushes towards getting a big piece of work finished.

It's given me more time than usual to start thinking about how I want to shape my work in the coming months - and you'll find some of that reflected below.

I hope you enjoy it - and, as always, feel free to drop me a line with your thoughts.

Happy New Year, all.

Back in the study, bathed in the light of the screen…

Pay Attention!

Stop reading what Facebook tells you to read

The problem with the web, and business model and "fake news" is actually - us. So, here's your New Years Resolution: find ways of getting your content without supping it all from the Facebook pipe…

The year we wanted the internet to be smaller

If you want an example of how that might work - well, here's some great examples of how people are starting to flee from Big Social Media and find productive relationships in more niche — and strange — spaces.

Facebook is the out-of-town supermarket of the web, so let's learn to browse local

And here's my take on the subject - what can we do to stop Facebook monopolising attention?

Politics and productivity

Why religion is not going away and science will not destroy it

This is a headline which does disservice to the piece. The underlying narrative is that science is under siege in parts of the world, and that a narrative that always posits that science and faith are incompatible robs science of valuable allies in times of crisis. And there's some good historical perspective. A good challenging read.

A Burnt-Out Case

Talking of religion, here's some thoughts about what we can learn about burn-out from what looks like a spectacular case of it in one of the greatest theologians who ever lived.