It took a while for paperback books to catch on. In the mid-1800s, a German publisher called Tauchnitz ditched expensive, harder covers when reprinting the works of British and American authors for continental readers. But it would be almost a century before paperback versions were fully embraced. For a long time, books were luxury items only.
Even now, the hard cover often comes first; the paperback a year later. It means an author like me goes through two book launches, far apart. If I’ve learnt anything about writing a book about the long view, you have take a long-term approach to its publication. In my dayjob, I can push an article live in a matter of hours, whereas a book I began to think deeply about in a previous decade of my life is still in the process of meeting the world. But to be honest, that’s great. Who wouldn’t want to extend a celebration?
So, hurrah! Today is the day when the newly-designed, more-affordable, slightly floppier, and far more portable version of The Long View is published in the UK.
If you have yet to buy a copy, here is where you can find it.
It looks like this:
I’ll be talking about the book at various events this year. Here are a few dates if you’d like to come along and say hi. If you bring along your copy, I’ll give you a fossil or a tree-ring keyring to say thank you (if supplies last!)
21 April: Long Now Boston
3 May: Guernsey Literary Festival
4 May: Stratford Literary Festival
15 August: Edinburgh Book Festival
In search of volcanic monsters
A long-view related project I really enjoyed working on last year is now available to read or watch on the BBC website.
Last year, I made a trip to Naples with the filmmaker Pierangelo Pirak and his team to visit the city’s volcanoes. It was a sublime experience in lots of ways, involving a hike to the summit of Vesuvius and a tour across one of the most dangerous (but invisible) volcanoes in Europe, Campi Flegrei. The latter is so big, that a lot of people don’t even realise it’s there.
Anthropocene setback
You may have seen the news that geologists have rejected the Anthropocene as a unit of time. When rumours of the vote started to be reported a few weeks ago, I wrote this explainer for the BBC about what it means. It doesn’t mean that we should stop talking about the concept as a socio-cultural idea; rather it’s a rejection of the case for adding it to the official stratigraphic record.
Myself, I feel some sympathy for the geologists who have spent many years studying and making the case to their peers, only to have it turned down at a late stage – so much time and effort has gone into exploring the definitions and candidate locations around the world. That said, I’m also persuaded by the argument that the human presence on Earth so far should be considered more like a geological “event” than an “epoch”. The former, like a mass extinction, can still have profound consequences, but doesn’t need to last millions of years. Taking the long view, I think our distant descendants will have a clearer sense of what this particular tumultuous period in human history should be called.
I’ll stop there. And end by saying thank you for supporting The Long View and reading this newsletter – and thank you to all the people who have subscribed recently. Hello! I hope you find some ideas here that are of use to you.
best wishes
Richard