Blogs of the Year 2024

As usual, my list of blog posts and other less mainstream internet publications that I’ve enjoyed, found thought-provoking and/or just felt that others might appreciate if they missed them first time around – though I have to admit that either there were some rather quiet months this year, or my reading patterns have been a bit erratic…

January

Any blog post that opens with a pertinent reference to Philip K. Dick’s Time Out Of Joint has to to be essential reading; Henry Farrell on LLMs: https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/chatgpt-is-an-engine-of-cultural

Ellie Mackin Roberts offers advice for temporary lectureships: https://elliemackinroberts.net/2024/01/12/dos-and-donts-of-a-visiting-professorship-a-uk-response/

Kevin Munger does some intellectual history with Google ngrams: https://crookedtimber.org/2024/01/17/the-hayakawa-question/

Dan Davies on the British Mittelstand: ‘We dominate the world when it comes to “doing miscellaneous stuff”. Nobody can touch us when it comes to “things that don’t fit in any other category”’: https://open.substack.com/pub/backofmind/p/the-thing-that-makes-the-thing-in?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Alexandra Sills (@belovedofoyzis) on the classicists list melting down over Palestine solidarity: https://ancientalexandra.weebly.com/blog/what-is-the-fucking-point

February

Foluke Ifejola Adebisi on ‘decolonising’ university catering: https://folukeafrica.com/decolonising-catering-in-uk-universities-an-often-elusive-quest-for-good-jollof-and-dodo/

Joshua Nudell on the absence of discipline-redefining blockbuster history: https://joshuapnudell.com/2024/02/02/the-historian-as-opinion-columnist/

Keith Flett on boom and bust in craft brewing: https://kmflett.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/breal-beer-brands/

March

Claire Millington on the BM’s shambolic attempt at doing Instagram memes for its problematic Roman Army exhibition: https://clairemillington.com/2024/03/04/behind-the-tweets-at-the-british-museum/

Paul Musgrave on normalising the job of the professor: https://musgrave.substack.com/p/what-do-professors-do

April

Glen O’Hara on academic mental health: https://voicesofacademia.com/2024/04/05/its-not-your-fault-that-academic-life-is-getting-harder-by-glen-ohara/

Liz Bourke on cosy fiction: https://lizbourke.wordpress.com/2024/04/10/67-considering-the-cosy-turn-in-sff-who-gets-to-be-comforted

Abigail Nussbaum on LGM on different adaptations of Patricia Highsmith: https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/04/ripleys

May

Catherine Baker on Eurovision 2024: https://bakercatherine.wordpress.com/2024/05/12/im-done-playing-the-game-between-disenchantment-queer-solidarity-and-artist-activism-at-eurovision-2024/

Justin Myers @theguyliner on the utter crappiness of Facebook as a means of keeping up with people: https://theguyliner.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-connections

Will Pooley on the joys of Excel: https://williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2024/05/22/sheet-happens/

June

Tallulah Trevesant on the antiquity to alt-right slippery slope: https://www.workingclassicists.com/post/the-antiquity-to-alt-right-pipeline

Doug Muir on vampire stars aka the T Coronea Borealis nova: https://crookedtimber.org/2024/06/15/waiting-for-the-nova/

Tom Hamilton on terrible, terrible Tory football analogies: https://dividinglines.substack.com/p/into-injury-time

July

Liz Gloyn on being a student again: https://lizgloyn.wordpress.com/2024/07/10/from-the-other-side-of-the-fence/

August

Erik Robinson at Sententiae Antiquae on mortality and libraries: https://sententiaeantiquae.com/author/palaiophron/

Spencer McDaniel on Space Karen’s reading of the Iliad: https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2024/08/28/whats-the-problem-with-elon-musks-iliad-advice/

September

Suyi Davies Okungbowa on the expectation that writers will perform: https://suyidavies.com/essays/against-performance

Will Pooley again: “vibes are not a research method”: https://williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2024/09/05/vibes-are-not-a-research-method/

Henry Farrell (again) on Patrick O’Brian’s conservatism: https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/patrick-obrian-is-a-great-conservative

October

Josh Nudell’s Weekly Varia post is always a treat, a pick’n’mix assortment of ideas and links, but rarely the sort of thing one returns to – but I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to include it in case anyone reading this blog isn’t aware of it, and this one was especially interesting on several different topics: https://joshuapnudell.com/2024/10/06/weekly-varia-no-99-10-06-24/

Irina Dumitrescu on managing creative energy most effectively in the way that suits you: https://irinadumitrescu.substack.com/p/managing-energy-for-creative-work

Not sure if it’s a blog or an online edited collection, but Marcella Ward on Islamophobia and historiography brought Everyday Orientalism’s essential series in Palestine to a powerful conclusion: https://everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2024/10/11/can-islamophobia-be-historiographical-eopalestine-20/

November

Eryk Salvaggio critiques the guide for teachers using ChatGPT (or else): https://mail.cyberneticforests.com/how-does-openai-imagine-k-12-education/

Will Pooley (yet again) on the urgency of joy in the creative process – third in a must-read series on doing history in an era of permacrisis: https://williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2024/11/22/the-urgency-of-joy-3/

Alexandra Sills gives Gladiator II a good kicking AND explores why the issue of ‘historical accuracy’ is so fraught when it comes to Ridley Scott movies: https://ancientalexandra.weebly.com/gladiators/gladiator-ii-pedantry-passion-and-pictures

Yvette M. Hunt on what family scone recipes tell us about Galen: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ae1gu9A6y/?mibextid=K35XfP

December

Deborah Cameron great as ever on Gregg Wallace: https://debuk.wordpress.com/2024/12/06/women-of-a-certain-age

Liv Mariah Yarrow on experimental grading: https://livyarrow.org/2024/12/20/did-i-give-too-many-as/?