Books
Thinking through Writing
Thinking through Writing: A Guide to Becoming a Better Writer and Thinker
Henry At Work
Henry At Work: Thoreau on Making a Living
Be Not Afraid of Life
Be Not Afraid of Life: In the Words of William James
Zenithism
Zenithism
Published: February 14th, 2021
Zenithism is the prospect that an infinite natural system evolves infinitely many maximally advanced conscious beings.
Zenithism, the first book on the subject, examines zenithist philosophy through essays, aphorisms, short stories, and a Grecian dialogue. This mixed-genre work is an invitation to explore the eschatological possibilities of science, technology, and nature.
The Charter Party Companion to Private Holidays
The Charter Party Companion to Private Holidays: Essays and Aphorisms
Published: January 22nd, 2017
The Charter Party Companion to Private Holidays is a collection of aphorisms and essays, including essays on eschatology, misanthropy, and trivialism.
The Adelaster Bay Books of Hours
The Adelaster Bay Books of Hours
Published: December 22nd, 2016
The Adelaster Bay Book of Hours is a small collection of flash fiction, including my "Harlequin," "Dear Zunairah," and "Dolphin and Sapling."
The St. Stylite Trivialist Primer
The St. Stylite Trivialist Primer
Published: January 22nd, 2015
The St. Stylite Trivialist Primer is a collection of poems for those who suspect that everything is true. The Trivialist Primer includes a calendar of centos, an alphabet of free verse, haiku horoscopes, clerihew obituaries, and other poetic tutorials for the embryonic trivialist.
Selected Articles
Online Education Avoids the "Hidden Curriculum" of Cultural Expectations
with John Kaag
"Several years ago, one of us wrote an anonymous article about the dangers of anonymity in online education. Since working together on a new educational platform called Outlier.org, the error of his ways has become apparent to him."
Thoreau's economics: the truly precious costs precious little
with John Kaag
"The word ‘economy’ evolved from the Greek root οἶκος. ‘Oikos’ had three interrelated senses in ancient Greece: the family, the family’s land, and the family’s home. These three, taken interchangeably, constituted the first or fundamental political unit in the ancient Greek world,
especially in the minds of Greece’s hereditary aristocrats..."
What Thoreau can teach us about the Great Resignation
with John Kaag
"America is giving up. Collectively, we’re putting in our two weeks. Please accept our national letter of resignation."
Selected Short Stories
"In her grass crown, her red-feather ruff (to match her scarlet teeth), and necklaced with the heads of Dodo, Laughing Owl, and Great Auk, she dances . . ."
"Eugene, Joymax’s father, was wealthy, so Joymax, Eugene’s only child, was wealthy. And Eugene’s wealth he consecrated to the perfection of his son, as a herald of human perfections to come."
"Lycophron of Chalcis was appointed by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, son of Ptolemy I Soter, to manage the comedies of the Library of Alexandria . . ."
