(re)Cognition Summer Syllabus
and a few updates
The following are books and readings that I think really capture and tackle and confront some of the social, philosophical, and societal issues that we've been discussing around tech, life, media, and more. I'll be adding personal reflections and a couple of chapter-by-chapter reading guides/companions so that you can read along with me as I work through or revisit some of them myself.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Bonfire of the Humanities: Television, Subliteracy, and Long-Term Memory Loss by David Marc
Celebrity Status by Kurzman et al
Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition by Charles Einstein
The Golden Key to Happiness: Words of Guidance and Wisdom by Masami Saionji
(re)Cognition Summer Challenge
Thank you to all who are participating. Mail is so wonderful and reading all of your letters has me thinking a lot about the art of handwriting. The mind body connection. The mental work you must to to meet someone through the way they curve certain letters, cross things out, etc etc.
ANGEL ♡ Thank you for sharing. Your writing is really beautiful and frenetic in a way I quite enjoy.
TSENAI ♡ I'm proud of you for mailing your first letter. Summer is also my least favorite season.
MADELAINE ♡ The watercolors are beautiful thank you <3. I think creatively challenging yourself for the way it makes you feel in the present is what it means to be alive.
Beautiful pink envelope (I can't make out the first letter of your name. Write us again!) - Unlearning is what makes the world feel big and full of wonder again.
CRYSTALLIN ♡ The way you describe friendship and childhood is really beautiful. I'm going to draw on something this weekend.
HOT LITERATI DIGITAL BOOKSTORE
I have so many wonderful books that I know I won't realistically get to in the next year, let alone the next 5. That's why I've opened the Hot Literati Digital Bookstore.
The books are listed by one quote in the work itself, instead of by title, that way you can meet it on the word level. I'll be adding more intermittently, but they are all one of a kind because they are quite literally from my bedroom.
Shop the Hot Literati Digital Bookstore
HOT LITERATI (the actual blog)
I think by now you all know that I love asking these questions of tech/philosophy/etc. I'm pretty dead set on having an actual blog (hotliterati.com) as a space where nothing is trying to hack your attention span, influence you with a like counter, or anything else of the sort. We link out to third party sites when needed, but I think if you want to engage with us intentionally, just checking our blog intermittently and commenting is a really nice experience. Also so open to feedback and suggestions.
BOOK CLUB
We're on the last week of Beloved. Thank you to all who have participated. We will be voting on a new book soon.
xo hailo