I’m currently helping out a friend with some advice on no-code website builders. Webflow is a pretty good option for projects that need more flexibility than Squarespace. In my research last week I came across Ycode, which seems to borrow a lot of ideas from Webflow, but with a narrower feature set and a lower price point.

A beautifully designed and well curated collection of typefaces that are available under a variety of free licences.

A pretty cute idea to help you revisit random internet finds: via a bookmarklet you save some links you want to come back to later, the app then compiles an email with two randomly chosen link that you receive once a week – maybe on a Sunday.

A growing directory of over 20,000 free audio books in a range of languages. Most of them are classics that are in the public domain, such as The Odyssey by Homer or Darwin’s Origin of Species.

Just Friends →

On the joy, power & influence of friendship

Described as ‘a love letter to – and meditation on – friendship’, a well-researched, beautifully written book that will make you think more deeply about the non-kin people in your life. “Just Friends explores modern friendship – what it means to be, to make and, sometimes, to lose a friend. It is a celebration of friendship, shining a light on the many different forms they can take and the comfort they provide, whether they exist within the workplace, emerge in motherhood, are uncovered inside our neighbourhoods, or become our chosen family.”

The Case for Degrowth →

Against the relentless pursuit of growth

Does degrowth provide the answer to happiness, equality and other major societal issues? The movement calls for a managed reduction in production and consumption in the developed world to sustainable levels. This book makes a persuasive case for it: “Drawing on emerging initiatives and enduring traditions around the world, the authors advance a radical degrowth vision and outline policies to shape work and care, income and investment that avoid exploitative and unsustainable practices. Degrowth, they argue, can be achieved through transformative strategies that allow societies to slow down by design, not disaster.”

Writer and culture critic Anne Helen Petersen is writing a book on friendships and is immersing herself in anecdotal research, speaking to hundreds of people about what friendship means to them, how to find it and how to be a better friend. I enjoyed reading some examples of the conversations she’s had so far. “That’s what I keep hearing in these conversations. There are always sacrifices to making these friendships and communities and living situations work. It’s so easy to get hung up on the immediate, tangible inconveniences instead of the long term, ineffable gains. And that, I think, is why so many people have been eager to talk to me: they want to tell everyone they encounter how good it can be. They’re hype people for a different way of organizing our lives. The more they and others talk about it, the more imaginable it becomes.”

Fascinating insights into the book publishing industry. This piece reveals insightful quotes from a court case about a proposed purchase by Penguin Random House of publisher Simon & Schuster in 2022. The government ended up blocking the acquisition, but loads of publishing houses opened their books during the hearing: “The DOJ’s lawyer collected data on 58,000 titles published in a year and discovered that 90 percent of them sold fewer than 2,000 copies and 50 percent sold less than a dozen copies.”

Intelligence is a label that humans use to understand the world, not a fixed, measurable trait. It is a concept that has evolved and continues to shape how we view success in humans and other species. A long, rewarding read that offers a new perspective on what we consider intelligent life. “Every species alive today can be considered our equal in the success game, by the simple virtue of continued existence. Physically speaking, humans are a middling mammal with an odd hair pattern, a badly evolved back, and a mouth that no longer fits all our adult teeth. All of which is why we really like brains.”