TEXT!

How to learn

I was going to say that 2025 has so far been a year of highs and lows, but it’s probably more accurate (because things don’t separate out into simply…

Sep 5 • 

Adam Smyth

21

3

August 2025

August reading

In August, I’ve been mainly reading.

Aug 31 • 

Adam Smyth

11

4

5 August 2025

The taxi arrives ten minutes late at 5.40am.

Aug 14 • 

Adam Smyth

14

8

July 2025

What I was doing at 5.35pm every day from 5th January to 18th July 2025

Sunday 5 Jan

Jul 19 • 

Adam Smyth

23

7

June 2025

Please select ...

My favourite textual form may well be the list of hyper-specific categories organised alphabetically.

Jun 17 • 

Adam Smyth

23

3

May 2025

Novel!

With my friend Chloë Houston, I’ve written a novel and it’s about to be published.

May 17 • 

Adam Smyth

23

15

April 2025

5.35pm (continued)

I like Philippe Lejeune on the tricky task of defining the diary: ‘a series of dated traces [série de traces datées] … Discontinuous.

Apr 21 • 

Adam Smyth

12

2

Repeating Names

A little while ago I was reading about the late 18th-century English clergyman, biographer and antiquary, Mark Noble (1754-1827), author of several…

Apr 3 • 

Adam Smyth

17

4

March 2025

The Book Makers - paperback

The Book Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives is out in UK paperback in April.

Mar 28 • 

Adam Smyth

19

2

February 2025

5.35pm photos

In a post last week, I recorded what I doing at 5.35pm on each day of January 2025 — one sentence per day.

Feb 2 • 

Adam Smyth

14

6

January 2025

5.35pm

There are many ways to track experience in writing, and I’m a fan of the various forms that diaries, or proto-diaries, or sort-of-diaries, can take…

Jan 31 • 

Adam Smyth

33

11

December 2024

Categories (filing cabinets; book shelves)

On my way to the reading room in the National Archives in Kew, I see a set of filing cabinets that carry headings of implausible exactness.

Dec 17, 2024 • 

Adam Smyth

20

6