The Quantum of Light

Articles

Interior view of the iconic Rose Main Reading Room, New York Public Library.

Destroying Books Is a Cultural Crime. Project Panama Destroyed Millions of Books with No Legal Consequence

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

Anthropic bought millions of books, cut them apart and pulped them after scanning. No court called it a crime. Destroying books is a cultural crime and no ruling changes that.

In Conversation with Francis Fukuyama

In Conversation With Francis Fukuyama on the Last Man He Once Declared Triumphant

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

In 1989, a young political scientist announced that history itself had reached its destination. On 2 September, at the London School of Economics, Francis Fukuyama returns to ask what he got right, what he got wrong and what thirty-seven years have done to that argument. He discusses his new memoir In the Realm of the Last Man at the London School of Economics on 2 September 2026. Here is what to expect.

Illustration of a young woman reading on her phone while sitting among stacks of books and cushions

A Social Reading App Now Has Five Million Members, and Most of Them Are Women Under 40

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

The company's own figures, and a survey of its own users, are the case it is making against the idea that young people have given up on books.

Illustration of a thick stack of manuscript pages tied with a ribbon on a writing desk beside a fountain pen and a cup

Authors May Have to Keep Records of How They Write Their Own Books

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

HarperCollins' chief executive says no software can reliably tell a human manuscript from an AI-assisted one, and that a book written with AI help might not be copyrightable at all.

Illustration of two identical stacks of manuscript pages side by side on a desk under a reading lamp

Readers Cannot Tell Whether a Short Story Came From a Person or ChatGPT

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

In three experiments with more than 2,500 adults, the same story scored higher whenever readers were told a human had written it.

A person standing in a modern library with towering bookshelves in Dubai.

Bloomsbury Anthropic's $1.5 billion Copyright Settlement with Authors over 14,087 Titles

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

The Harry Potter publisher is due a multimillion pound payout from the largest copyright settlement in US history. The more interesting story is what it reveals about how a book's value gets counted once a machine has read it.

DUMB 31 by Nik Nanoski, a post-apocalyptic novel styled as a bunker operations manual

Army Veteran and Nurse Nik Nanoski Releases DUMB 31, a Post-Apocalyptic Novel Ten Years in the Making

Darie Nani··1 min read

The San Antonio author spent a decade writing a science fiction novel where survival depends on teamwork, not lone heroes, drawing on twenty years as a combat medic and nurse.

From Acorns to Oaks: An Urgent Agenda to Rebuild Britain by Michael Heseltine

The Brexit Lie Has a Name — and the Men Who Told It Have Gone Very Quiet

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

Anthony Seldon's 'The Brexit Effect' is the most serious reckoning with the Brexit decade yet published. It is also, conspicuously, missing the voice of the man who has said plainest what many now believe: that Brexit was a con and that the people who sold it should be held to account. When you read it alongside Michael Heseltine's 'From Acorns to Oaks', you can see the full picture: what was lost, who lost it, and what a different Britain could still become.

A peaceful outdoor scene with a teacup, open book, and flowers on a table, basking in sunlight.

The Healing Power of Poetry: A Medicine as Old as Writing Itself

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

The history of poetry and the science behind poetry therapy, from Ancient Egypt to modern expressive writing studies and why verse heals what prose cannot. Poetry has treated grief, trauma and loneliness for four thousand years, and modern research now shows exactly why it works.

A breathtaking view of foggy hills during sunrise, with golden light cascading over the landscape.

Ulrich Brugger's Eternally New Is a Contemplative Answer to the Self-Help Industry

Dr Marina Nani··1 min read

After more than sixty years of writing, the founder of The Ojai Retreat has published a collection of aphorisms that sets itself against the formulas of modern self-help.

Voyage of the Salamander book cover over Lily Starling series hero artwork

Christian Hurst Wins IPPY Gold as the Lily Starling Series Grows Into a Universe

Darie Nani··1 min read

Since April, Christian Hurst's Lily Starling series has added an IPPY Gold Medal, a Kirkus recommendation and an audiobook, with two more novels on the way.

Dr. Latrece Wright holding her book The Uninvited Pebble

Dr. Latrece Wright Shares the Health Scare Behind The Uninvited Pebble

Darie Nani··1 min read

In The Uninvited Pebble, Georgia minister Dr. Latrece Wright writes about the weeks of waiting after a routine mammogram found a solid mass, and the faith that carried her through them.