Alan Townsend
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alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend
@alantownsend.bsky.social
Scientist, author, intermittent skeptic, dodger of bears. THIS ORDINARY STARDUST from @GrandCentralPub. Rep: @annasproul
https://www.alantownsend.info/
Reposted by Alan Townsend
I sometimes think about how the common ancestor of whales and humans crawled out of the ocean ~400 million years ago; but then ~50 million years ago, the whale ancestor said “screw this, we’re going back”.
February 26, 2024 at 5:28 AM
👇👇👇
It’s really best to think of ChatGPT as your *most* fun high-IQ friend who has an intermittent mental problem at the intersection of factitiousness and psychopathy.
May 20, 2025 at 7:47 PM
So enjoyed being part of the @latimes.com book festival. Brings me hope in a darker time to see so many people gather around the power of books and reading. Special thanks to @kategammon.bsky.social Susan Weiss Leibman and Lawrence Ingrassia for a great panel discussion. #latimesfob
April 28, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Good lord stop what you’re doing and read this right now.
I was in New York when the crash happened this week, and I started writing this on the way back home, crossing over the 14th St. bridge in a cab.

neonliterary.substack.com/p/on-the-man...
On "The Man in the Water" and the value of writers
A parable in a plane crash.
neonliterary.substack.com
January 31, 2025 at 11:53 PM
The irony of posting this from my phone aside, this from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social is a dead on important read.
November 17, 2024 at 4:47 PM
My bulldog has a keenly developed sense of irony.
November 17, 2024 at 12:46 AM
Excellent piece on higher ed - and our misplaced societal focus - by UM president Seth Bodnar. Proud to work here.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Our conversation about campuses is elitist and misleading. We can fix that.
The conversation has nothing to do with preparing our country to compete in the coming century, much less helping most of our young people get ready for it.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 13, 2023 at 3:52 PM
This was not an average delivery tonight. Absolute floods of joy, pain, love and history in this one box.
November 9, 2023 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by Alan Townsend
A reminder for Americans that the 5Calls app makes it trivially easy to call your representatives. I’ve been using it daily. 5calls.org
5 Calls
Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.
5calls.org
November 7, 2023 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Alan Townsend
The laziest tendency, I think, of current US politics discourse is telling people who are harmed by political extremism to “just leave.” I took a road trip with Zooey Zephyr, who isn’t giving up on Montana but fighting back. Story out today in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2023/o...
October 31, 2023 at 3:51 PM
That’s it, I’m hanging up writing. This from Rae Hodge can’t be topped.
October 31, 2023 at 4:09 AM
Authors (current and hopeful), this newsletter from Anna Sproul-Latimer at Neon Literary is a terrific resource, and often highly entertaining to boot. Check it out.
neonliterary.com/glow
How to Glow in the Dark — Neon Literary
neonliterary.com
October 30, 2023 at 7:43 PM
Pre-orders of THIS ORDINARY STARDUST now available. This project has been a labor of many emotions, and the most important one of my life. Excited to share it with the world. #authors
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-...
This Ordinary Stardust
A compassionate, vulnerable, and transformative exploration of the nurturing and spiritual power of scientific wonder, as illuminated through the tragic dual...
www.hachettebookgroup.com
October 19, 2023 at 8:24 PM