Book Quotes

The Silver Book (Olivia Laing)

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

I just finished reading: The Silver Book by Olivia Laing 📚

The Silver Book is a beautiful novel that I couldn’t, won’t let go of. Queer love intertwined with 1970s Italian filmmaking, and the march of fascism in the background.

The writing is exquisite, I ate up every word. The emotion was not just put on a stage for us to see, it’s wrapped around us, forcing us to feel as deeply and openly as Nicholas and Danilo did.

The spectre of impending grief is on every page, but so is the teasing of ecstasy. Life is cruel, uncertain, and exhilarating in equal measure.

One of the strongest themes of the book for me was the false hope in running away. Burying experiences, our feelings, is more of a snooze button than an off switch. They lay beneath our conscious day, and we beat them down quickly when they show signs of waking up. But it is inevitable that they will one day exhaust you in to giving in to their confrontation.

Nicholas has run away to a situation he knows, Danilo knows, is unlikely to hold forever. Nicholas’ time in Italy always feels temporal, like an extended holiday. Neither of them even pretend that “it’s different for us”. The longing is eternal, circumstances are not.

The entire cast’s celebration of queerness even evokes a temporary reprieve from captivity. Fascism looms. Might the party end? Camp and its excess of joy begins to feel the boot on its throat.

Complete fiction, I’m sure.

This is For Everyone - Tim Berners-Lee

Sunday, October 19, 2025

Finished reading: This is For Everyone by Tim Berners-Lee 📚

Firstly, I have no idea why, but I wasn’t aware of how intermingled Tim has been with high society. He doesn’t try and hide it in this book - quite the opposite - but it was a little startling to read about in current times. I wanted to tell him to read the room, more than once.

However, I really enjoyed the nostalgic trip the book provided. I grew up as the web grew up, so it felt both interesting and oddly cathartic. Tim took us from the genesis of the first page, through the various milestones of the web’s development, and his take on its future.

He certainly sounds more of an optimist of where we could head than I expected, but maybe this was more wishful than his honest expectation. The Solid project did pique my interest not long ago, and I might just be convinced to take another look at playing with it.

I can’t imagine a non-technologist being at all interested in spending the time reading this - but if you’re involved at all, it is worth including on your list, in my opinion.

Sunday, October 19, 2025 →

Currently reading: This is For Everyone by Tim Berners-Lee 📚

“But if we are to prevent these systems from exploiting us, it is critical that we get the data layer right. We need a layer where we control our own data, and we can share anything with anyone, or any agent - or no one.”