‘The Writing Retreat’ by Julia Bartz – Book Review
The Writing Retreat could have been a decent little thriller, and there’s definitely glimmers in here of a better book under the overwhelming amount of baggage that comes packed in the 400 or so pages this one operates with. Between the angst-filled characters, the laborious pace, and the generous helping of the ludicrously incredulous, this […]
Epicurus for Our Time
“THE WASTELAND GROWS,” wrote Nietzsche over a century ago. “Woe to him who hides wastelands within.” Since then, the wastelands have grown more indiscriminately within and without. Our social and spiritual lives wither on our cell phone screens. Our cities, habitats, and public arenas suffer from a blight whose causes remain obscure while the effects […]
How can humans detect AI writing? These Penn researchers have some tips
If a group of people is presented with a body of text, will they be able to spot the human-written passages over the AI-generated ones? The answer is, well — maybe. AI detection work is at the center of a University of Pennsylvania study in its School of Engineering and Applied Science. Chris Callison-Burch, an […]
Richard Anobile, Chronicler of the Marx Brothers, Dies at 76
Richard Anobile, a prolific creator of film books whose friendly collaboration with the anarchic comedian Groucho Marx on a project called “The Marx Bros. Scrapbook” turned sour when Mr. Marx sued to stop its distribution after reading his unedited quoted remarks in print, died on Feb. 10 in Toronto. He was 76. His wife, Elizabeth […]
AI chatbots learned to write before they could learn to think
The internet can’t stop talking about an AI program that can write such artful prose that it seems to pass the Turing Test. College students are writing papers with it, internet marketers are using it to write marketing copy , and numerous others are just having earnest and fun conversations with it about the meaning […]
The Writer’s Desk: Six things to know before (and after) your book is released
Congratulations! You wrote a book and you’re now a superhero. Whether you’re traditionally or self-published, here are a few things to keep in mind: You can’t please everyone . The more copies of your books sell, the greater the risk of negative reviews. Since sites like Amazon and Goodreads allow the everyday reader a voice, […]