Dana sez–By permission, I am reposting part of Barbara Peters’ August 10 newsletter here.

Greetings,

As I said last Enews, if you are overwhelmed choosing what to read you can find plenty in those Picks. We accept no advertising in making them, no premiums for shelf or display space or for hosting author events. You can disagree with our taste, but you can trust us. As a corollary since this keeps being raised, I hope to trust myself enough to spot AI authored or assisted books and ban them.

Speaking of trust, here’s a new example of how wary you should be believing in on line content.

The Library of Congress recently published an “online Constitution” missing clauses on unlawful detention and foreign bribes, allegedly due to a “coding error,” per Axios. I cannot give you the link to open it as it has been taken down following being called out.

Anyone naive enough to believe that this was a “coding error” should be reading sharper crime fiction. (emphasis Dana’s) The Library of Congress where it was my privilege to be a librarian, was the trusted source of information for Congress and for the public. That trust can be eroded.

I add that when using Google or any search engine, be aware that advertising plays a key role in what pops up, and many sources are unreliable and spurious. I also add that the “recommendations” in many book reviews and catalogs are mostly paid advertising. As are those by many Influencers.

On a positive note, recent studies you can believe have shown that Super Agers are as a rule highly socialized, meaning they not only dine and party out, but they attended community fostering events and discussions such as we host at The Pen. Coming to them is good for your health. You can see that it has been good for mine. It’s also the case that READING is good for your mental, emotional, and physical health, as are exercises like Wordle or Scrabble or Sudoku or Crosswords or…. I do Wordle every day and on vacation Rob and I play cutthroat Scrabble matches.

–Barbara Peters, owner and proprietor
of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore.
Subscribe to the Poisoned Pen Newsletter here.

Dana sez–And, yes, since you asked: This, too, is now part of #thiswritinglife.

#thiswritinglife Chatter barbara peters The Poisoned Pen Bookstore