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Writing on the law. Reviews of books, and the occasional film.

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5 posts

BOOKS · Jul 4, 2026 · 3 min

A thousand years in one sitting: Mary Beard's SPQR

The best single-volume history of Rome — skeptical about the legends, serious about the evidence, and the right cross-examination of what "golden age" actually means.

NEWS · Jul 4, 2026 · 1 min

The most interesting sentence in this S-1 is about what they won't buy

A $75M blank-check company wants to do a deal in Asia — and promises, in writing, to avoid the legal structure that took Chinese companies public for two decades.

BOOKS · Jul 3, 2026 · 1 min

Doctorow's 'Enshittification' names the thing

The word won because the pattern is real. The book's better half explains why the law stopped preventing it.

BOOKS · Jul 3, 2026 · 1 min

On the pile: 'AI for Good'

Josh Tyrangiel's new book skips the doom debate and profiles people using AI to fix specific things. Full review when I've finished it.

STORY · Jul 2, 2026 · 2 min

Five days at the 46th Montreal Jazz Fest

A centennial tribute I'll never hear live again, a UK pianist who stole an evening, and a frog sticker from a rising singer-songwriter.