Niall Oddy
@nialloddy.bsky.social
Early modernist, working on travel and cross-cultural encounter. Book on ideas of Europe in c.16 France: https://tinyurl.com/5n6kvbun.
May post cat pics
May post cat pics
Reposted by Niall Oddy
You may be cool, but you'll never be as cool as these two cats wearing sunglasses in the window of an optician's Boulevard St Germain in 1925
November 26, 2025 at 10:43 AM
You may be cool, but you'll never be as cool as these two cats wearing sunglasses in the window of an optician's Boulevard St Germain in 1925
Reposted by Niall Oddy
The next Stevenson Lecture (25 Feb 2026) will be delivered by @oldfortunatus.bsky.social (University of Oxford). ‘Richard Oswald’s Library: Slavery, Collecting, and the Invention of Rare Books’ will be free to attend but booking essential. Link below 👇
Stevenson Lecture 2026 | Richard Oswald’s Library: Slavery, Collecting, and the Invention of Rare Books
ies.sas.ac.uk
November 26, 2025 at 7:29 AM
The next Stevenson Lecture (25 Feb 2026) will be delivered by @oldfortunatus.bsky.social (University of Oxford). ‘Richard Oswald’s Library: Slavery, Collecting, and the Invention of Rare Books’ will be free to attend but booking essential. Link below 👇
Seems like I picked the wrong year to develop a Chocomel habit
November 25, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Seems like I picked the wrong year to develop a Chocomel habit
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...
contingentmagazine.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Day 361 of uninterrupted protests in Georgia.
A march planned for the 22nd anniversary of the Rose Revolution.
A march planned for the 22nd anniversary of the Rose Revolution.
November 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Day 361 of uninterrupted protests in Georgia.
A march planned for the 22nd anniversary of the Rose Revolution.
A march planned for the 22nd anniversary of the Rose Revolution.
Reposted by Niall Oddy
ROFL. Eco is not wrong. He's not wrong at all.
November 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
ROFL. Eco is not wrong. He's not wrong at all.
Last time I was in Argonaut I didn’t see any books by Nigel Biggar or Boris Johnson.
I can’t say the same of the last New York based investment management fund owned Waterstones branch I went in
I can’t say the same of the last New York based investment management fund owned Waterstones branch I went in
We need your help.
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
Anger as Waterstones snaps up prime site on doorstep of independent bookshop
UK's biggest bookselling chain under fire over plans for new store beside Edinburgh tram line.
www.heraldscotland.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Last time I was in Argonaut I didn’t see any books by Nigel Biggar or Boris Johnson.
I can’t say the same of the last New York based investment management fund owned Waterstones branch I went in
I can’t say the same of the last New York based investment management fund owned Waterstones branch I went in
Reposted by Niall Oddy
This is TODAY! Join us in Bloomsbury or online! #EarlyModern #SkyStorians
MONDAY! Looking forward to welcoming @rogerleejesus.bsky.social to the @ihr.bsky.social seminar for a talk on "Colonialism and Land: Rethinking Imperial and Local Agency in the Portuguese Empire in Asia
17 Nov, 5:30, hybrid (register for zoom link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...) #EarlyModern
17 Nov, 5:30, hybrid (register for zoom link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...) #EarlyModern
November 17, 2025 at 7:09 AM
This is TODAY! Join us in Bloomsbury or online! #EarlyModern #SkyStorians
Reposted by Niall Oddy
📢📢📢New book forthcoming in the 'Maritime Humanities, 1400-1800: Cultures of the Sea' book series! Material Culture in the Swedish Navy, c. 1450-1850, edited By Simon Ekström, Niklas Eriksson, Anna Maria Forssberg, Leos Müller will be published 28/4/26 ⚓️⚓️⚓️
routledge.com/Material-Cul...
routledge.com/Material-Cul...
November 17, 2025 at 7:33 AM
📢📢📢New book forthcoming in the 'Maritime Humanities, 1400-1800: Cultures of the Sea' book series! Material Culture in the Swedish Navy, c. 1450-1850, edited By Simon Ekström, Niklas Eriksson, Anna Maria Forssberg, Leos Müller will be published 28/4/26 ⚓️⚓️⚓️
routledge.com/Material-Cul...
routledge.com/Material-Cul...
And this government seems to be determined to placate the demands of people who didn’t vote for them and never will, instead of legislating for the millions of people who actually voted for them
Fascinating how often political commentary in the UK still refers to the median voter. In a multi-dimensional space with salience endogenous to positions, it‘s unclear to me who that should be. In a multi-party system, winning the median voter is of course not necessarily a vote-maximizing strategy.
November 17, 2025 at 10:30 AM
And this government seems to be determined to placate the demands of people who didn’t vote for them and never will, instead of legislating for the millions of people who actually voted for them
A sleeper agent for Nigel Farage, surely?
Let’s revisit the ‘Starmer is a fundamentally decent man’ cliche’
November 17, 2025 at 10:28 AM
A sleeper agent for Nigel Farage, surely?
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Once again, a large crowd of protesters is marching through Tbilisi streets for day 353 of uninterrupted, nationwide demonstrations in Georgia. 🇬🇪
🎥 Mo Se
🎥 Mo Se
November 15, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Once again, a large crowd of protesters is marching through Tbilisi streets for day 353 of uninterrupted, nationwide demonstrations in Georgia. 🇬🇪
🎥 Mo Se
🎥 Mo Se
Reposted by Niall Oddy
What is ironic about a great power like Russia is the persistent status insecurity and need of recognition by the US and Europe. If you really parted ways with the West and are fighting for a multipolar order what do you care how people in the West see you?
November 14, 2025 at 11:23 AM
What is ironic about a great power like Russia is the persistent status insecurity and need of recognition by the US and Europe. If you really parted ways with the West and are fighting for a multipolar order what do you care how people in the West see you?
Reposted by Niall Oddy
"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Artificial Intelligence: A Warning for History
Does A.I. have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past? Gordon McKelvie considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it means for historians facing the current H...
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Reposted by Niall Oddy
The effects of the proposed cull of languages provision at the University of Nottingham and the University of Leicester will be massive: for the wonderful staff, for current students, and for future budding linguists. Esp those who, like me, come from working-class backgrounds in the East Midlands.
Staggering harm is being done to #language learning in Higher Ed. No oversight or strategic thinking, with cold spots now present. Petitions alone this week in response to closures:
Nottingham · Change.org
Leicester · Change.org
#edusky #langsky @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
Nottingham · Change.org
Leicester · Change.org
#edusky #langsky @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
Change starts here
Join over 500,000,000 people creating real change in their communities.
Change.org
November 12, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The effects of the proposed cull of languages provision at the University of Nottingham and the University of Leicester will be massive: for the wonderful staff, for current students, and for future budding linguists. Esp those who, like me, come from working-class backgrounds in the East Midlands.
Reposted by Niall Oddy
"Afghanistan is fading from the public memory around the world while the Taliban are being normalized despite their brutal policies."
- Shaharzad Akbar 👉 @shaharzadakbar.bsky.social
Read her article on Justice Info 👇
www.justiceinfo.net/en/147963-ke...
#Afghanistan #Taliban #GenderApartheid
- Shaharzad Akbar 👉 @shaharzadakbar.bsky.social
Read her article on Justice Info 👇
www.justiceinfo.net/en/147963-ke...
#Afghanistan #Taliban #GenderApartheid
July 18, 2025 at 3:29 PM
"Afghanistan is fading from the public memory around the world while the Taliban are being normalized despite their brutal policies."
- Shaharzad Akbar 👉 @shaharzadakbar.bsky.social
Read her article on Justice Info 👇
www.justiceinfo.net/en/147963-ke...
#Afghanistan #Taliban #GenderApartheid
- Shaharzad Akbar 👉 @shaharzadakbar.bsky.social
Read her article on Justice Info 👇
www.justiceinfo.net/en/147963-ke...
#Afghanistan #Taliban #GenderApartheid
Reposted by Niall Oddy
The perfect photo to challenge narratives of progress.
November 7, 2025 at 8:08 AM
The perfect photo to challenge narratives of progress.
Reposted by Niall Oddy
I don't remember where I saw someone say that AI is particularly bad for historical thinking, because by definition it looks for what is the most likely to happen based on a pattern, whereas as historians we particularly like the outlying things, the weird things, the things that make us go "huh"?
November 7, 2025 at 12:56 PM
I don't remember where I saw someone say that AI is particularly bad for historical thinking, because by definition it looks for what is the most likely to happen based on a pattern, whereas as historians we particularly like the outlying things, the weird things, the things that make us go "huh"?
Reposted by Niall Oddy
EXCITED FOR OUR NEXT SESSION!
Sari Nauman on "Between Categories: Migration, War, and Refuge in the #EarlyModern Baltic Sea".
Monday, 10 Nov, 17:30, @ihr.bsky.social NB02 and on zoom (register for link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...) #SkyStorians #MovingHistory #HistoryOfMigration
Sari Nauman on "Between Categories: Migration, War, and Refuge in the #EarlyModern Baltic Sea".
Monday, 10 Nov, 17:30, @ihr.bsky.social NB02 and on zoom (register for link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...) #SkyStorians #MovingHistory #HistoryOfMigration
NEW PROGRAMME! What an exciting one it is!
We're looking forward to thinking with @eicathomefinn.bsky.social, Sari Nauman, @rogerleejesus.bsky.social & @araujohistorian.bsky.social
Mondays, 17:30 @ihr.bsky.social & zoom. All very welcome! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #EarlyModern #SkyStorians
We're looking forward to thinking with @eicathomefinn.bsky.social, Sari Nauman, @rogerleejesus.bsky.social & @araujohistorian.bsky.social
Mondays, 17:30 @ihr.bsky.social & zoom. All very welcome! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #EarlyModern #SkyStorians
November 3, 2025 at 7:37 PM
EXCITED FOR OUR NEXT SESSION!
Sari Nauman on "Between Categories: Migration, War, and Refuge in the #EarlyModern Baltic Sea".
Monday, 10 Nov, 17:30, @ihr.bsky.social NB02 and on zoom (register for link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...) #SkyStorians #MovingHistory #HistoryOfMigration
Sari Nauman on "Between Categories: Migration, War, and Refuge in the #EarlyModern Baltic Sea".
Monday, 10 Nov, 17:30, @ihr.bsky.social NB02 and on zoom (register for link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...) #SkyStorians #MovingHistory #HistoryOfMigration
Reposted by Niall Oddy
For those who are interested in intellectual history and early modern Ottoman world: Don't miss this extraordinary book by Marinos Sariyannis!
Published open access today!🎉
#OttomanHistory #EarlyModern
Published open access today!🎉
#OttomanHistory #EarlyModern
My latest book, on open access!
Ottomans and the Supernatural: Nature and the Limits of Knowledge in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire url: academic.oup.com/book/61617
Ottomans and the Supernatural: Nature and the Limits of Knowledge in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire url: academic.oup.com/book/61617
Ottomans and the Supernatural: Nature and the Limits of Knowledge in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire
Abstract. Man is part of nature, we say, and perhaps for most of us nature includes all that exists (at least in a tangible way—i.e. if we want to exclude
academic.oup.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM
For those who are interested in intellectual history and early modern Ottoman world: Don't miss this extraordinary book by Marinos Sariyannis!
Published open access today!🎉
#OttomanHistory #EarlyModern
Published open access today!🎉
#OttomanHistory #EarlyModern
Reposted by Niall Oddy
I wrote about why I can't sleep at night: the devaluation of so many things (critical thinking, creativity) I thought were paramount. lithub.com/when-we-deva...
When We Devalue Art (Books!) We Devalue the Future
When you’ve spent your whole adult life working in and around book publishing you get used to hearing that people don’t read anymore and that the industry is on its last legs. There is always a cri…
lithub.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:01 PM
I wrote about why I can't sleep at night: the devaluation of so many things (critical thinking, creativity) I thought were paramount. lithub.com/when-we-deva...
Reposted by Niall Oddy
"Developing our linguistic capacities — to master diverse concepts, to follow an intricate argument, to form judgments, to communicate those to others — is the development of our capacity to think. Cognitive degradation threatens democratic processes."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
Opinion | Why Even Basic A.I. Use Is So Bad for Students
www.nytimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:49 AM
"Developing our linguistic capacities — to master diverse concepts, to follow an intricate argument, to form judgments, to communicate those to others — is the development of our capacity to think. Cognitive degradation threatens democratic processes."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
Reposted by Niall Oddy
This article is incredible and you better believe I'm going to work this into my lectures on first encounters between indigenous people and Columbus when I teach my American history survey next.
November 5, 2025 at 4:50 PM
This article is incredible and you better believe I'm going to work this into my lectures on first encounters between indigenous people and Columbus when I teach my American history survey next.
Reposted by Niall Oddy
The World Bank’s latest data shows a quiet global triumph: 93% of people aged 15 to 24 can now read and write. In many regions youth literacy has reached or neared universal levels, marking one of the most successful, least reported stories in development. buff.ly/vnsUhLo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
World Bank Open Data
Free and open access to global development data
buff.ly
November 5, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The World Bank’s latest data shows a quiet global triumph: 93% of people aged 15 to 24 can now read and write. In many regions youth literacy has reached or neared universal levels, marking one of the most successful, least reported stories in development. buff.ly/vnsUhLo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Reposted by Niall Oddy
LLM extruded essays are like being cornered by the most boring person at a party while they monotone monologue small talk at you, convinced that they’re pronouncing something profound.
October 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
LLM extruded essays are like being cornered by the most boring person at a party while they monotone monologue small talk at you, convinced that they’re pronouncing something profound.