James McConnachie
@jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social
Writer. Reviews non-fiction for the Sunday Times, edits The Author magazine. Books about the Kamasutra, Conspiracy Theories, Nepal and, next, a Himalayan mountain. Books, singing, wildlife, languages, running...
Pinned
Girl in the water | Psyche Stories of Change
I’d saved someone from drowning. Had I done the right thing?
psyche.co
I wrote this for the launch of Psyche's new memoir strand: "The girl was lying on a stretcher, wrapped in a blanket, and he reached for a medallion hanging around her neck, showing to me the two words embossed on it: Sourde-Muette." psyche.co/stories-of-c...
Christ no I realise this sentence was even longer. And it was the week before. Mustn't get into a habit...
October 29, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Christ no I realise this sentence was even longer. And it was the week before. Mustn't get into a habit...
Just discovered that 'point-blank range' doesn't mean ultra-close. It actually means fairly close - and in fact a very specific kind of close: close enough not to have to lift the barrel of the gun a bit so as to adjust for 'bullet drop'. Love how meaning drifts as a technical term becomes a cliché.
October 28, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Just discovered that 'point-blank range' doesn't mean ultra-close. It actually means fairly close - and in fact a very specific kind of close: close enough not to have to lift the barrel of the gun a bit so as to adjust for 'bullet drop'. Love how meaning drifts as a technical term becomes a cliché.
"It’s just crazy to me to see this engine for intellectual property theft that is totally indefensible taking place with the full cooperation of Amazon.”
Generative AI has made Amazon’s knockoff problem more inescapable than ever. Authors tell Rolling Stone it’s leaving them frustrated— and the internet worse in the process.
Amazon Is the World's Biggest Online Book Marketplace. It's Filled With AI Knockoffs
bit.ly
October 27, 2025 at 8:09 PM
"It’s just crazy to me to see this engine for intellectual property theft that is totally indefensible taking place with the full cooperation of Amazon.”
"A quick search on TikTok shows close to 90,000 videos and tutorials on how to make passive income on KDP with constant AI publishing"
Generative AI has made Amazon’s knockoff problem more inescapable than ever. Authors tell Rolling Stone it’s leaving them frustrated— and the internet worse in the process.
Amazon Is the World's Biggest Online Book Marketplace. It's Filled With AI Knockoffs
bit.ly
October 27, 2025 at 8:08 PM
"A quick search on TikTok shows close to 90,000 videos and tutorials on how to make passive income on KDP with constant AI publishing"
...as we reported in The Author. Getting worse?
Generative AI has made Amazon’s knockoff problem more inescapable than ever. Authors tell Rolling Stone it’s leaving them frustrated— and the internet worse in the process.
Amazon Is the World's Biggest Online Book Marketplace. It's Filled With AI Knockoffs
bit.ly
October 27, 2025 at 8:07 PM
...as we reported in The Author. Getting worse?
Reposted by James McConnachie
Must be the longest sentence I've ever published
October 26, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Must be the longest sentence I've ever published
Reposted by James McConnachie
In huge positive news, the Australian government just ruled out handing the work of their country’s creatives to AI companies for free 🙌
They resisted the well-funded tech lobby & shut down proposals to upend copyright law.
Other governments should do the same!
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
They resisted the well-funded tech lobby & shut down proposals to upend copyright law.
Other governments should do the same!
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
October 27, 2025 at 6:35 AM
In huge positive news, the Australian government just ruled out handing the work of their country’s creatives to AI companies for free 🙌
They resisted the well-funded tech lobby & shut down proposals to upend copyright law.
Other governments should do the same!
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
They resisted the well-funded tech lobby & shut down proposals to upend copyright law.
Other governments should do the same!
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Must be the longest sentence I've ever published
October 26, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Must be the longest sentence I've ever published
“an endless wet nightmare of huge seas, puking, pork chops, and sexing crab” – no, that's not the book, which is excellent, it's a quote from it. I reviewed Rose George's Every Last Fish for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
‘If farm animals were treated like fish there would be an outcry’
Every Last Fish by Rose George is an unsparing investigation of the fishing industry and its abuses
www.thetimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:19 AM
“an endless wet nightmare of huge seas, puking, pork chops, and sexing crab” – no, that's not the book, which is excellent, it's a quote from it. I reviewed Rose George's Every Last Fish for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Philip Jones describing @thebookseller.com as 'the Pravda of the book trade'!
October 25, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Philip Jones describing @thebookseller.com as 'the Pravda of the book trade'!
Reposted by James McConnachie
The more I reflect on the damage the AI bubble could wreak when it bursts, the angrier I get at the credulousness that has inflated it. Especially in the media, and especially the tech media, which often seems like an industry PR machine. My lastest column.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
AI is a bubble that is going to burst
The industry has fostered a cult of personality that seems to leave the tech press starstruck and unquestioning of nonsensical claims
www.thenewworld.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 12:57 PM
The more I reflect on the damage the AI bubble could wreak when it bursts, the angrier I get at the credulousness that has inflated it. Especially in the media, and especially the tech media, which often seems like an industry PR machine. My lastest column.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
Did they even need a ladder? Just a pair of climbing shoes, a steady head and all that lovely rustication.
The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'
10/10 response, no notes
10/10 response, no notes
October 24, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Did they even need a ladder? Just a pair of climbing shoes, a steady head and all that lovely rustication.
"Coincidentally, the [family seat] also belonged to my wife’s family for 200 years at the end of the Middle Ages.'
Rory Stewart: ‘Brexit was devastating for farmers’.
The Rest Is Politics podcast host and former MP on a startling experience in his Lake District cottage, and why the Cumbrian landscape is under threat ⬇️
The Rest Is Politics podcast host and former MP on a startling experience in his Lake District cottage, and why the Cumbrian landscape is under threat ⬇️
Rory Stewart: ‘Brexit was devastating for farmers’
The Rest Is Politics podcast host and former MP on a startling experience in his Lake District cottage, and why the Cumbrian landscape is under threat
www.thetimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 8:38 AM
"Coincidentally, the [family seat] also belonged to my wife’s family for 200 years at the end of the Middle Ages.'
My Dad always warned me that in any group of people some, in other circumstances, would be openly fascist. He used to look around the table at meetings and wonder. Well, they're crawling out from cover now, Dad. ¡No Pasarán!
October 21, 2025 at 6:32 PM
My Dad always warned me that in any group of people some, in other circumstances, would be openly fascist. He used to look around the table at meetings and wonder. Well, they're crawling out from cover now, Dad. ¡No Pasarán!
Ha! But also:
Journalists: what's the fee?
Academics: let me have the privilege of sharing a lifetime's knowledge and insight for free
Journalists: what's the fee?
Academics: let me have the privilege of sharing a lifetime's knowledge and insight for free
Me, talking about deadlines
Journaists: Can I have until midnight tonight?
Academics: I require an additional 16 months
Journaists: Can I have until midnight tonight?
Academics: I require an additional 16 months
October 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Ha! But also:
Journalists: what's the fee?
Academics: let me have the privilege of sharing a lifetime's knowledge and insight for free
Journalists: what's the fee?
Academics: let me have the privilege of sharing a lifetime's knowledge and insight for free
Reposted by James McConnachie
The Industry Insider with the @societyofauthors.bsky.social will help explain to authors and industry professionals how access forms work and why they make requesting access requirements easier and ultimately save everyone involved time, money and stress.
Sign up here…
bit.ly/48Bmxxb
Sign up here…
bit.ly/48Bmxxb
Industry Insider - Understanding Access Forms and Riders - Tools for Disabled, Chronically Ill and Neurodivergent Authors - The Society of Authors
To celebrate the launch of the SoA’s Access Form template, ADCI is hosting a panel discussion on what an Access Form is and how it can help authors, agents, publishers, event organisers, and anyone el...
bit.ly
October 20, 2025 at 10:32 PM
The Industry Insider with the @societyofauthors.bsky.social will help explain to authors and industry professionals how access forms work and why they make requesting access requirements easier and ultimately save everyone involved time, money and stress.
Sign up here…
bit.ly/48Bmxxb
Sign up here…
bit.ly/48Bmxxb
Nourishment for the inner nerd: I reviewed Danny Bate, on the alphabet, for The Sunday Times:
October 19, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Nourishment for the inner nerd: I reviewed Danny Bate, on the alphabet, for The Sunday Times:
Reposted by James McConnachie
The fact that our next book Telenovela is going to carry a Books By People stamp certifying that it is AI-free has also now been reported around the world in Publisher's Weekly: www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Frankfurt Book Fair 2025: Identity Stamps
Two new startups, Books by People and Amlet, aim to certify a book’s authenticity in the AI era
www.publishersweekly.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:21 AM
The fact that our next book Telenovela is going to carry a Books By People stamp certifying that it is AI-free has also now been reported around the world in Publisher's Weekly: www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Reposted by James McConnachie
I realised recently that there is a massive up-side to being a ghost writer: you wouldn’t be expected to market and promote the books you write.
October 16, 2025 at 7:10 AM
I realised recently that there is a massive up-side to being a ghost writer: you wouldn’t be expected to market and promote the books you write.
Reposted by James McConnachie
Pretty disturbing. Authors need to argue for the legal right (written into their contracts with publishers) to veto AI translations of their work.
The 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair heard that developments in AI audiobooks mean publishers will no longer have to decide whether to translate a book, but instead just choose which market to translate into 👇 #FBM25
AI audio means publishers ‘don’t have to choose whether to translate, only which market’, FBF hears
ebx.sh
October 15, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Pretty disturbing. Authors need to argue for the legal right (written into their contracts with publishers) to veto AI translations of their work.
Love the idea that OpenAI is planning to "cash in on its intellectual property".
This isn’t even close to a plan! Why is this being reported as a “five year plan” when it’s a series of vague ideas?
October 15, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Love the idea that OpenAI is planning to "cash in on its intellectual property".
Reposted by James McConnachie
The Times, specifically @jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social, has in this joyful review kindly bestowed on my book Britain's highest description: "lovely"
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Why does Q always need a U? A quirky guide to the alphabet
The letter A was once an ox’s head and O was an eye — you’ll never look at a keyboard the same way after reading Danny Bate’s fascinating linguistic history
www.thetimes.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:02 PM
The Times, specifically @jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social, has in this joyful review kindly bestowed on my book Britain's highest description: "lovely"
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
so interesting and important. And think of the gaps outside language-based knowledge! Gen AI has aeon.co/essays/gener... via @aeonmag
Generative AI has access to a small slice of human knowledge | Aeon Essays
Huge swathes of human knowledge are missing from the internet. By definition, generative AI is shockingly ignorant too
aeon.co
October 13, 2025 at 1:06 PM
so interesting and important. And think of the gaps outside language-based knowledge! Gen AI has aeon.co/essays/gener... via @aeonmag
Reposted by James McConnachie
For those whose works were included in the Anthropic class action, the Authors Guild and settlement administrators are hosting a webinar on what you need to know: authorsguild.org/event/anthro...
You can check if your works have been included here: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
You can check if your works have been included here: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
Anthropic Settlement: What Authors Should Know - The Authors Guild
Copyright holders recently secured preliminary approval of a $1.5 billion class settlement in the Bartz v. Anthropic case, in which authors Andrea Bartz, Kirk Johnson, and Charles Graeber led a class-...
authorsguild.org
October 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
For those whose works were included in the Anthropic class action, the Authors Guild and settlement administrators are hosting a webinar on what you need to know: authorsguild.org/event/anthro...
You can check if your works have been included here: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
You can check if your works have been included here: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
One of the more revealing insights into conspiracism. Explains why it so often goes hand in hand with auto-didacticism aka internet 'research'. The illusion of mastery of a subject.
Why are some people more prone to believe in conspiracy theories? Part of the answer may lie in metacognition, i.e., the ability to correctly estimate one's own knowledge about topics.
-> New paper with @kwinter.bsky.social, @kaisassenberg.bsky.social & Helen Fischer
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/2044...
-> New paper with @kwinter.bsky.social, @kaisassenberg.bsky.social & Helen Fischer
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/2044...
“Knowing what I don’t know” – belief in conspiracy theories relates to lower metacognitive sensitivity: a signal detection theoretic approach
Beliefs in conspiracy theories are seemingly hard to dispute through facts. Researchers have partly attributed this resistance to certain information processing styles that are associated with cons...
doi.org
October 9, 2025 at 10:38 AM
One of the more revealing insights into conspiracism. Explains why it so often goes hand in hand with auto-didacticism aka internet 'research'. The illusion of mastery of a subject.