Grokkist Press
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Contributors · Writer
The house byline of Grokkist Press: Snackables, the Grokkist letter, and the things we make together.
You'll get the Press emails only when Grokkist Press publishes. Add Danu's monthly letter too if you like.
Make senseWild Margin
Pyongyang is a planned city where ideology and architecture are fused — every detail in service to the Kim dynasty. Kim Jong-il is even credited with a treatise, On the Art of Architecture: architects must reject bourgeois ideas; buildings must remain revolutionary. 'It is as if the people
WonderMaker's Forge
Atlantic staff writer Jerusalem Demsas and economist Tyler Cowen have a lively, good-faith discussion of three books — Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and Reeves's Of Boys and Men. Much of it circles what kind of society The Dispossessed actually prefers: the anarch
ImagineMaker's Forge
An appreciative video-essay analysis of the UK comedy classic Peep Show — how it refreshes the 'odd couple' format with its signature inner monologue, how that technique is complemented by its visual style, and how airtight character writing leads to the funniest possible conclusions. Mild
ImagineMaker's Forge
Exactly what it says: a thread of people who stumbled across their own accidental lookalike in a museum painting or sculpture. Some of them are really, uncannily good — a small, joyful reminder that we've all been here before, in a way.
Bi-weekly newsletter for grokkists who insist on relating to the world with curiosity and care. Each edition contains the latest from the Grokkist Press, events and highlights from our community, and a care package of snackable outside links selected to nurture your curiosity.
ImagineMaker's Forge
Vincent van Gogh and Frida Kahlo receive client feedback on their paintings: 'The client's super happy with the overall direction — they just have a few small suggestions.' Sharp, funny commentary on modern content strategy (ironically made for an advertising competition). 'I'd love to hea
Surprise meWild Margin
What makes something mutual aid or collective care rather than capitalist charity? If we ever find ourselves in post-capitalist societies, what could care actually look like there? A tour of radical ideas: 'Believing in people, believing in care amid human conflict and messiness, is crucia
GroundedSoma Isles
'Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.' A gentle, example-led walk through Iris Murdoch's idea that attention — not action — is the real path to moral progress. 'Cultivating the right kind of attention builds up structures of value around us
ImagineSoma Isles
Using real mortality records from London's Dreadful Visitation, see what you might have died from in 1665 — Flux, Rickets, or Griping in the Guts, perhaps. One of dozens of charmingly silly time-wasters on the Whimsical Vole website, which also offers a Celeb Clock, a British Seaside Simul
Bi-weekly newsletter for grokkists who insist on relating to the world with curiosity and care. Each edition contains the latest from the Grokkist Press, events and highlights from our community, and a care package of snackable outside links selected to nurture your curiosity.
Move meMaker's Forge
A short animated compilation of people talking about their biggest regrets. Nothing in it will surprise you — but timeless truths stay fresh even when they're not surprising. A small, quietly affecting reminder to live now, made by animation student Amanda Duckworth for a class project.
Make senseEntangled Vale
'Companies are doing mass layoffs while complaining they can't find enough employees; some workers are min-maxing the system by working multiple full-time jobs at once; others need hours of unpaid overtime at just one…' A How Money Works video essay on the history of the 9-to-5 since its c