The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins
My writing philosophy:
Write the book you want to read.
Bring it to people who share your taste.
Write the next book you want to read.
That’s it. May it prove useful to you.
And now, a book I love that you might too:
The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins by Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell paints a fascinating, detailed picture of what science has learned about cetacean society: how humpback whale songs spread like human memes, why killer whales are such picky eaters that they’ll starve rather than give up their favorite delicacy, sperm whale baby-sitting arrangements, and so much more. Enriching your understanding of how these marine mammals live will give you a new lens through which to view human behavior. More than just intellectually stimulating, it’s a funny, personal, and touching read. I wish there were more books like this: late career academics writing for a general audience to communicate their most important lessons learned from lives devoted to research.
Things worth sharing:
I went on the Orthogonal Bet podcast to talk to Sam Arbesman about the marvels of semiconductor manufacturing, writing near-future thrillers, and the art of cultivating curiosity.
Stephen Harrison, subscriber to this humble newsletter and veteran tech journalist, just published his first novel, The Editors, a deeply-researched thriller about a global information war taking place beneath the surface of a lightly fictionalized Wikipedia. I’m excited to read it.
Publishers keep your limited-edition deckle-edge hardcovers and give me the sweet, sweet joy of a tattered mass-market paperback.
The first time I went to Burning Man, it felt like visiting another planet, so when I wrote a novel about it, I approached it as a work of science fiction that just happened to be set in the real world.
A bureaucracy will only do the work it was created to do if it feels secure, but it will only be motivated to change if it feels threatened.
Seeing readers post Foundry reviews like this makes the whole writing and publishing process worthwhile.
Nick Cave on defeating cynicism: “Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.”
An implicit law of the internet: if you don’t like something, seek satisfaction elsewhere.
On September 23rd, I’ll be speaking on a panel about the feedback loop between science fiction and technological progress at UC San Diego Innovation Day. If you attend, come up and say hi.
I find it useful to think of posting on social media as equivalent to writing very short columns for a general-interest magazine with an extremely opinionated algorithmic editor who enjoys pretending that they're only interested in "what readers want."
Jack Clark, author of the best newsletter about AI, describes LLMs as “vast high-dimensional artifacts that encode within themselves the culture on which they have been trained and can reflect.”
I just signed and sent a collection of the Analog novels to a lucky reader. Want a signed trilogy for yourself? Order directly from me.
Thanks for reading. We all find our next favorite book because someone we trust recommends it. So when you fall in love with a story, tell your friends. Culture is a collective project in which we all have a stake and a voice.
Best, Eliot
Eliot Peper is the author of Foundry, Reap3r, Veil, Breach, Borderless, Bandwidth, Neon Fever Dream, Cumulus, Exit Strategy, Power Play, and Version 1.0. He also consults on special projects.
“A tightly-woven tale of espionage and self-realization. Do yourself a favor and check out Neon Fever Dream.”
-Popular Science