Having so far covered the very basic concepts of money, the market and the pricing mechanism, in the previous episode I first properly introduced the word economy, with its literal origins as ‘household management’, which more broadly could refer to all the resources available to us. But what does it mean when we say the economy ‘is growing’ or a myriad other similar expressions and stockphrases we see thrown about? Let’s explore all this further.

Note again that I’ve written about the core concepts here a couple of times, including in one longread coming up early next month TecC 48, and so while there sure will be conceptual overlap, in those ones they’re part of other topics, whereas here the concepts get exclusive focused treatment.

Let’s meet our fictional friends first.

Steve is in a bit of a mood. He’s not eaten for a good while, there’s a raging storm outdoors so he can’t go out and pick up food. So, Steve is very ‘hangry’. He’s like, I want to eat something dammit, and there’s nothing in the kitchen.

The others are sat by the fire. Irene replies, well Steve there’s flour, the oven is ready to go, why don’t you make yourself some bread? But you know how it is when you’re hangry, Steve is like, why won’t the flour itself become bread, why should I have to do anything, this is not fair!

No Free Lunch

So that’s right, you guessed it, this is about the concept of value creation. (And, when I’ve touched upon this topic before, I’ve used the example of bread then as well. So for variety’s sake so it doesn’t get boring, imagine it is sourdough rye bread in the making this time!)

But connecting this to my serious point, the fact is, all through the story of human existence, there have been resources available to us, there is land, there are forms of energy, there are organic sources. But, and obvious as this may seem, unless we put things together, nothing happens. Even the earliest hunter-gatherers had to, well, hunt and gather. The nuts and grapes did not automagically fall into their mouths with them just lying under a tree or vine with mouths open. (Like there were some sort of a gravity-induced Next-Minute Delivery service, in the Amazon forests no less!)

In a good measure, this is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We take resources available to us and fashion it to our need using our effort, intelligence and ingenuity. Otherwise we’d have been just another chimp out there hopping from tree to tree, or more likely, we’d have gone extinct. (It was the evolutionary pressures of suddenly being exposed to the elements and predatory dangers in the treeless African Savannah that forced the earliest hominids-to-be to innovate in this way: better resource management compared to our primate cousins.)

(Of course there is the thorny question of impact to the environment, I’ll come back to that complex issue in due course.)

So in summary, the core human reality is that we take resources available to us and by applying our human skills, create value. But how do we measure this value?

The Wealth of Notions

The whole economic process is what I’ve previously called the Production Equation: inputs + processing = output. And here’s the thing, for value creation to happen, the output should be worth more than the cost of the input and the processing. And this is what is the profit.

Yes, that’s all it is, fundamentally. Despite all the modern connotations and associations that have grown around the word ‘profit’.

Profit is in fact the very essence of life, it’s at the very definition of every living organism. For without a living cell taking in resources - sunlight etc, and producing an output with the management of those resources conforming to the above equation, there is no life. If an organism expends more energy than it can consume, it’s not going to live for long. So we may say every single cell in our body is indeed ‘profit-seeking’.

(And yes, even the so called ‘non-profit’ organizations are profit-seeking by definition, it’s just not measured in money, I mean, don’t they want good outcomes for their efforts? - more on this another time as promised!)

And if we are willing to see even beyond, we can see that the concept of ‘profit’ is associated with some of the fundamental forces of the universe, essentially with entropy. For now, to keep it simple, given that any isolated system in the universe tends to evolve to increase entropy, ie, disordered or dispersed energy, consequently just like life, a profitable process leads to low entropy.

Coming back to earth, in fact, ‘profit’ is a net positive from an ecological perspective, for it allows us, if used properly, to measure and ascertain optimal use of resources.

And just as we saw in the discussion of the price signals in the previous episode, the current concept is also based on fundamental economic / mathematical principles. And to work (profitably) on our shared goal of improving the human condition, and protecting the planet, we’d rather not ignore these principles but work with them?

I’m sure we can all agree that we want to be productive, if ‘profit’ is not your word, I’ll offer another one: ‘sustainable’. Without the output being more than the input, we are not in a sustainable venture. And who wants to be unsustainable?

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Nothing in this presentation constitutes as advice - financial, investment or other

Further Reading & Reference

* A Brief History of Intelligence. Max Bennett.

In the previous two episodes, the first in this new series, we first gathered some money and then went to the market. Let’s now look at a key component of all the transactions that take place there: price. Again, the concept of price has a lot more than what it seems at the surface.

(For a professional treatment of the psychological aspects of this and related topics, I highly recommend you check out an article by psychology expert Matt Grawitch, link at the bottom.)

We’re now back at the idyllic townsquare market scene of the previous episode. Our fictional friends (who by now you know quite well from my other series) are at the market. Let’s say Brenda and Irene are strolling around both looking to buy a sack of grain each. When Brenda enquires the price with Steve, he quotes 8 copper coins. When Irene does the same at Bryan’s stall, he says 10 copper coins. But why? It’s to be the exact same quantity of grain in both cases, so why the difference in price?

Facing the Face Value

There are a few possibilities here. One is offering better quality than the other. Or, one seller is simply charging more than the other - perhaps Bryan’s got better reputation, there is an element of prestige in buying from him. Or even, for simply no reason.

Now I think we can see that nobody is going to pay the higher price for no reason (at the very least they want a better designed sack for the grain you say?) But prestige / reputation / status factors could command a bit of a premium. Again this might be justified or it might be downright vain (There is this joke from the 1990s. Two ‘New Russians’ -- a name given to those who suddenly became filthy rich, the famous oligarchs -- are sat in a trendy bar in Nevsky Prospekt, sipping champagne. One of them, complimented on his new tie tells the other, yes I bought this in that shop over there for 500 dollars. The other responds, oh no, you’ve been conned, if you went to that shop opposite you could have paid a thousand dollars for the same tie instead.)

Adding It All Up

Such indulgences notwithstanding, the rest of us mortals, in most cases, all other things being equal, would go for the lower price. But who really determines the price? Obviously, given we’re not talking about tipping, it’s not the buyer. But in some sense it’s not the seller either.

Essentially, a viable price depends on factors such as supply and demand, a dynamic we deal with in many of our decision-making processes way beyond just buying goods at the market. Ultimately the ‘right price’ is what the buyer is willing to pay, and what the seller hopes exceeds the cost of making the item -- given the sum total of the circumstances at play. But there’s more to it.

Taking a bigger picture here, a price is fundamentally a signal that’s filtered through all these ‘circumstances’, a whole bunch of factors, vagaries and vicissitudes: crop yield that year, ie, supply, a new fad leading to a change in dietary habits, such as a switch from grain to dairy - so low demand for grain. Maybe cheaper grain imports from abroad, and so on, all of what we may collectively term the economy (From Ancient Greek ‘oîkos’ “house” and ‘-nomia’ “rules, management”)

Uncrossing the Signals

As we saw about the emergent nature of the market previously, prices in a free market also have a life of their own, they also essentially ‘emerge’ from the aggregate of these circumstances - the market realities of the economy. One may say it’s not perfect, plus a myriad of other questions about whether it is indeed the “right price for me” etc. Each of these complicated questions merit more in-depth treatment in their own right.

But in principle, the concept of price is just that - a signaling mechanism, it filters through the unpredictable, unplannable messiness of our reality into something quantifiable, at the local level, something tangible, each little price tag contributing to the accumulation into the aggregate of the overall economy, and back the other way - again I’ll come back to the advanced details in due course.

But let’s consider this. The biological equivalent of price is pain.

Pain is not ‘evil’ per se, pain is an essential component of evolution, it’s a way for your body to tell you that something is wrong, that something needs attention. It too is a signal! Likewise, price is a signal that gives us information about our reality.

Suppressing pain only means we numb ourselves to what biological reality it’s conveying, is suppressing the signal of prices any different?

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Nothing in this presentation constitutes as advice - financial, investment or other

Further Reading & Reference

* The Psychology of Money in Everyday Decisions, Matt Grawitch

This is still a thread on the study of the science of knowledge in continuation with the last couple of episodes released. Previously in Episode 33C1 and Episode 33C2 we covered two towering titans in this area, both as an extension of the wider golden-age phenomenon we covered in Episode 33, the beacon of knowledge, the original of those spinoffs. Now we’ll take the thread forward, as if in the spirit of Episode 33B, the baton of knowledge, but also, as we’ll see, an extension of the related concepts we covered in the piece on the rise of the University: Episode 36.

Read full article here

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Clegg, Brian. (2003). The First Scientist: A Life of Roger Bacon. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0786711161.

* Hackett, Jeremiah M.G.. (1997). Roger Bacon and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays. Brill. ISBN 978-9004100152.

* Polloni, Nicola; Kedar. (2021). The Philosophy and Science of Roger Bacon: Studies in Honour of Jeremiah Hackett. Routledge. ISBN 978-0367471743.

* Power, Amanda. (2013). Roger Bacon and the Defense of Christendom. Cambridge University Press.

* Anstey, Peter R.; Vanzo. (2023). Experimental Philosophy and the Origins of Empiricism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1316516461.

* Crombie, A.C.. (1953). Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science, 1100-1700. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198241898.

* Lindberg, David C.; Shank. (2013). The Cambridge History of Science: Volume 2, Medieval Science. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521594486.

* Popper, Karl. (1963). Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415285940.

In the introduction to the series, I hinted at the word ‘money’ evoking strange emotions - and now, the word ‘market’ can also do the same, as it’s wound up in a whole lot of connotations and convolutions. But once more, let’s go back to the very basics.

Let me also point out at the outset that I’ve already written in full depth of the institution of the market including tracing its origins and the motivations underlying its emergence - TecC 18 in my series on innovation and progress. While there will be some conceptual overlap here, I intend to take a slightly different perspective more in line with this series.

In the modern world, especially in the professional domain, the word ‘markets’ can conjure up images of many computer terminals with floating numbers and folk below them shouting (ok the shouting has abated a bit since widespread computerization, but if not shouting, still talking on three landline phones while staring at 6 computer screens all at the same time!) This of course is the more frantic world of ‘stock markets’ and similar. But let’s go back to the simpler, perennial scenario.

It’s the village or town square and people have gathered. Some people have something to sell - cows, sheep, cloth, grain, fruit and veg, while others have a need for one or more such items.

Know your Custom

So you have the sellers shouting at the top of their voice, and the potential buyers strolling about to see what’s on offer and whether it would fit their needs. It’s not hard to imagine the seller’s concern - will I attract enough buyers with my shouting before my throat goes hoarse, or the sun goes home, or your competitor next stall sells everything before you - pick your poison.

Assuming walking around and picking up every item, maybe feeling the texture, sniffing it (no Chanel references there though!), is less strenuous than shouting at the top of your voice, but the buyer is also doing some bit of ‘work’ in wanting to find the right items for purchase.

Now both these bits of work are doing essentially one function: giving out or taking in information. The quantities, the price, potential discounts, quality assurances...

So yes, here’s the heart of the matter: the market is fundamentally an ‘information system’. It’s not the stall, it’s not the shouting, it’s not the haggling; it’s not the terminals; it’s not the flowing numbers, it’s not the overworked stockbrokers. All of that is just a manifestation or implementation of this core principle: information exchange.

Because, think about it, why did those townsfolk gather at the town square? And our modern equivalents, why do we go to the mall or supermarket, why do we all browse amazing.com? (I’m just Bezos-proofing myself, currently expecting some Next Day delivery!)

A Fluent Flowering

Now also notice this: nobody tells the seller what to sell and nobody tells the buyer what to buy. (Of course we can add partial exceptions or qualifications to this as things get more and more complex getting into the modern commercial world, but let’s leave that aside for now and stick to this simple easy-to-understand scenario.)

So here’s the other core point: a market is an emergent system, it emerges from the ‘bottom up’ - Steve has sheep and Bryan wants them for silver, they don’t need to go to the Duke for permission or advice on sheep and silver exchange prospects? (For a fun fictional depiction of this check out TecC 35.)

So yes, in summary a market is a system, an institution that facilitates exchange by offering a means of information gathering in the first place. But yes, I know, that’s a fairly simple scenario, and things have moved on from what seems like an idyllic scene from the Asterix comics.

This brings us to the other important player in the wider equation. Even though the market emerges spontaneously, it needs rules, and as it gets more complex, more sophisticated methods of ensuring the rules are followed.

The sellers or other people within the town square could agree upon a common set of rules they will all voluntarily abide by. But more typically, it’s the apparatus of the state that has taken upon itself to govern the functioning of the markets.

(I’ll get to the core concept of the state and the interplay of the state and the market in due course, but if you’re curious you can have a look at TecC 17 where I deal with the state in some depth again.)

A Growing State of Affairs

The key point here however is that state, as opposed to the market, is fundamentally a top-down institution, as we very well know. And one may argue that the rules of the market are best enforced not by the players within but an external neutral body, and that the state best fits that need. But of course along with that one may also pose the question, are the forces and actors in that institution divested enough that we can say it’s neutral?

And then there’s the question of the dichotomy between top-down and bottom-up approaches to organizing things - I’ve dealt with this over several episodes in the other aforementioned series, but in this context here’s the conundrum.

As the market has become more and more complex, the state has accreted and acquired more and more areas of regulating how the market works. But, the pattern that has emerged from the mentioned articles is that bottom-up arrangements can handle complexity much better than top-down systems (if constituted well plus a bunch of qualifications I won’t go into here.) By this line of thought is there not an argument to favor nimble, bottom-up systems rather than relying on a single-point-of-failure sprawling central state apparatus? Or at least, what’s the right balance between the two? And how do we know?

Alas, despite some fervent claims from some quarters, at this point we can rather more surely say that we are not sure of the answers; at least I’m not offering any one way out in favor over the others. And if you want to debate me over this, I’ll also add that these debates have raged over decades if not more now.

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Nothing in this presentation constitutes as advice - financial, investment or other

Further Reading & Reference

* TecC episodes linked above

In the previous episode, I provided an introduction to the fundamental questions of being, becoming and knowing, and as explained by a preeminent thinker on the topic - and of course using a certain train of logic and argument. You might say, well, ok it may be ‘logical’ but surely someone else could come up with different logic? How I can really know - or do we leave it to the so-called sages? Today we’ll explore all this further.

Full Article

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Sonneborn, Liz. (2006). Averroes (Ibn Rushd). Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1404205147.

* Urvoy, Dominique. (1991). Ibn Rushd (Averroes). Routledge. ISBN 978-0415055673.

* Adamson, Peter; Di Giovanni. (2018). Interpreting Averroes: Critical Essays. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107114883.

* Turner, Howard R.. (1997). Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0292781498.

* Ozment, Steven. (2020). The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe. 40th Anniversary. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300203554.

* Popper, Karl. (1972). Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198750246.

* Deutsch, David. (2012). The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0143121350.

So yes, let’s start at the very heart of the matter: what is money after all? Now even though we might think we know it all too well, it could turn out to be more than what we think.

On the most basic level, money is a measure of value -- strictly speaking money itself has no value. This may seem odd to us, as we’re used to thinking of money itself as having value, but the distinction will become clearer as we explore this further.

Money is also technology, at least in the paradigm of my other series, TecC, it’s a system, an institutional technology if you will.

And in that sense, it’s also a social contract - it works only if both parties in any exchange involving money agree to its value. If $10 is worth something else to you than it is to me, we’re not in business!

Signal vs Noise

We can think of another social contract we use all the time - language - the very words you’re reading or hearing here: every single word is a (more-or-less) random combination of sounds as it evolved by historical accident. And still, we are both in agreement as to what a certain combination of sounds (or the corresponding written form) means. If we don’t, we are not speaking the same language - literally!

Trust or Bust

The one difference could be that the social contract of currency is backed up by the State. This was not always the case, and with the advent of digital currencies - I’ll get to how that works, or doesn’t in due course - we again see the phenomenon of non-centralized monetary instruments. Still, for most of us, in most situations, what we use as money is guaranteed by the state: I promise to pay the bearer etc.

Whether it’s private currency or State-backed, one thing is fundamental: money works on the basis of trust. No trust, and the paper in your hand may be worthless, however intricate the carvings of the face of a king or president on it, might be!

The textbook scenario of trust breakdown is of course hyperinflation, extreme devaluation of currency because of eroding trust in the state issuing the money. And the classic example of this is Zimbabwe: where even a Trillion Zimbabwean Dollar note was something like less than a cent or a penny - that widely circulated story of how you had to push a whole wheelbarrow of cash just to buy a loaf of bread, and by the time you got to the baker’s, all that cash was worth less than said wheelbarrow!

So yes, the wad of cash stashed away under the mattress might feel comfy, not just physically, but in the reassurance of it being safe, having everlasting value, but it might just not be the same another day. Still, that’s a story for another day.

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Nothing in this presentation constitutes as advice - financial, investment or other

Further Reading & Reference

* Money, Pink Floyd

Greetings one and all.

Everybody loves money! Or at least, everyone needs money. Money is an essential reality in our life. Yet, the word ‘money’ can evoke strange reactions - and I want to explore this together.

Allow me to introduce this new series: The Story of Money.

What it is not

Let’s get this out of the way first. Most emphatically, this series is NOT:

* A get-rich-quick scheme

* How to crypto / bitcoin / dogecoin / whatevercoin

* 10 ChatGPT prompts that’ll make you a millionnaire!

Also, this series categorically provides no advice, financial, investment or any other.

What it is

When I say money, I mean it more broadly - any topic of interest that would fall under the banner of economics and/or finance (hence the series reference).

But this is not an economics text book serialization - this is about relatable topics relevant to us on a day-to-day basis. At least for those of us who need to use money on a day-to-day basis - if you are a Thai Buddhist monk, sorry, you might not find this interesting. (I once toyed with the idea of doing this 2-week-monk trial that’s available to Western tourists in Thailand. I was told you’ll have to put away all your money, but eeks, your phone and all Internet contact at bay as well. You know what my decision was!)

Topics could be ideas, concepts, tidbits, curious money-related anecdotes from the past (like the Romans are said to have been paid in salt, hence our word ‘salary’?), etc. Short, usually a single-topic piece, intended to be at least one a week.

I intend to make it informative, but also importantly lighthearted - you can expect my signature narrative style here just as in the TecC series.

Why me?

I worked for almost a decade in investment banking (JPMorgan - Front Office then Middle Office roles), and was in the eye of the storm of the 2008 crash! I’ve worked as an entrepreneur, including co-founding a US AI healthcare startup. I’ve filed limited company accounts/returns with the British tax office for several companies including my own - this last one is my favorite dinner party introduction line!

More importantly though, I’ve always had a deep interest in economics in the broader sense of how things, efficient resource use, optimal outcomes etc, and I want to share the lessons I’ve learned, using my first-principles systems-thinking approach, over the years having spent some effort in this area.

My Commitment

In line with my commitment as expressed in the introductory notes of my publication, I have been reflecting on how much value I’m providing to my subscribers, mainly with my current series TecC. Given that stream’s multidisciplinary nature, its 2000-word-length format, would you like something shorter to engage with my writing? Wait no more.

Why should you care?

In life, we can always do better with the money, the resources, we have; there are always better ways of understanding how the world works through this lens - so let’s be informed, or entertained, why not both eh?

Thank you for reading, I trust you’ll join me on this new journey. Please do comment on my pieces (both these and the existing series), share them on Substack, tell a friend. Thanks again.

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* None yet!

As described in Episode 33C, in a fractal spinoff starting with this episode, I shall be covering the achievements of the greatest minds of a forgotten golden age of innovation and intellectual achievement, and making a case for why they matter to us in the modern day, how they shaped the course of innovation and intellectual progress since their time to our own.

Back in Episode 23 I traced the emergence of systematic thought and intellectual inquiry, at least in Europe, looking at the Greeks of Classical Antiquity. Then in Episode 30B I traced how the Romans, or specifically one Marcus Tullius Cicero carried forward this Greek baton alongside adding his embellishments to it.

Also just to complete the initial context, I’ll recap the core development, that after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, despite efforts of people like Cicero, much of the Ancient Greek knowledge was lost to the West, and that it was instead picked up by the Islamic Scholars from about 750 onwards as detailed in Episode 33.

I’ll now be getting to the very heart of some of the core intellectual innovations that come next, building on top of the Ancient Greek legacy: in other words, the very question of thought - of knowledge, reality, understanding. (The underlying concepts can be represented in some rather daunting-looking technical terms, close your eyes for a moment: ontology, epistemology, metaphysics, and yes philosophy!)

But trust me, as has been the case and commitment in my previous articles, there’s absolutely no specialist knowledge or expertise required to follow along. And as before, you’ll find the specifically technical detail in the copious footnotes. Follow me!

Read full article here

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Adamson, Peter. (2023). Ibn Sina (Avicenna): A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192846983.

* McGinnis, Jon. (2010). Avicenna (Great Medieval Thinkers). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195331486.

* Wisnovsky, Robert. (2003). Avicenna’s Metaphysics in Context. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801441783.

* Gutas, Dimitri. (2014). Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works. Brill. ISBN 978-9004262072.

* Adamson, Peter. (2013). Interpreting Avicenna: Critical Essays. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521190732.

* Arya, Michael P.. (2021). The Essential Avicenna (Ibn Sina). Xulon Press. ISBN 978-1662820960.

* Al-Khalili, Jim. (2010). The House of Wisdom. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1101476239.

* Starr, Frederick S. (2013). Lost Enlightenment - Central Asia’s Golden Age. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15773-3.

* Lombard, Maurice. (2009). The Golden Age of Islam. Markus Wiener Publishers. ISBN 978-1558763227.

* Turner, Howard R.. (1997). Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0292781498.

* Ozment, Steven. (2020). The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe. 40th Anniversary. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300203554.

* Mortimer, Ian. (2022). Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter. Vintage.

In Episodes 43 to 45 we saw some of the foundational developments that characterize the Renaissance, or what we specifically understand to be the Italian renaissance. Now, let’s cast the net wider, and to see similar revolutionary developments emerge elsewhere.

Read full article here.

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Newitt, Malyn. (2023). Navigations: The Portuguese Discoveries and the Renaissance. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1789147025.

* Diffie, Bailey W.; Winius. (1977). Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-19-690419-6.

* Cortesão, Armando. (1969). History of Portuguese Cartography. Junta de Investigações do Ultramar-Lisboa.

* Elbl, Martin M.. (1985). The Portuguese Caravel and European Shipbuilding: Phases of Development and Diversity.

* Ariganello, Lisa. Henry the Navigator: Prince of Portuguese Exploration. Crabtree Publishing. ISBN 978-0778724339.

Ever so often arrives a titan of skill supreme and sublime

Whose life and works will with achievement itself rhyme

Such as may have set the stage, mayhaps even defined an age

But our man, if you will, was not of an age, but for all time

We’ve already seen in this mini-series, a trilogy tracing the development of the English language, such as in Episode 35A becoming slimmer, stronger and sleeker having shed the unnecessary baggage of word endings, then in Episode 35B where Chaucer gave respectability to that language, and finally in Episode 35C where despite the hit-and-miss development of spelling, English found a foothold and some unexpected advantages.

We will now meet English’s greatest and smoothest operator, its most effective and eloquent elevator, its most remarkable and rakish reinventor. Yes, we will.

Read Full Article Here

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, most voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Ackroyd, Peter. (2005). Shakespeare: The Biography. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385511391.

* Bate, Jonathan. (2009). Soul of the Age: A Biography of the Mind of William Shakespeare. Random House. ISBN 978-1400062065.

* Greenblatt, Stephen. (2004). Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393050572.

* Shapiro, James. (2005). A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599. Harper Collins.

* Shapiro, James. (2015). The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. Simon & Schuster.

* Bloom, Harold. (1998). Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Riverhead Books.

* Bryson, Bill. (2007). Shakespeare: The World as Stage. HarperCollins.

* Bevington, David. (2010). Shakespeare and Biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199586479.

* Garber, Marjorie. (2004). Shakespeare After All. Pantheon.

* Crystal, David; Crystal. (2002). Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion. Penguin.

* Crystal, David. (2012). Spell it out: the singular story of English spelling. Profile Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84668-567-5.

* Crystal, David. (2019). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 3rd. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108437738.