This item posted on Axios has been causing a stink among some people on Bluesky:
AI has become my reading buddy as I’ve plowed through my summer book list, helping me keep track of plots and characters, unpack themes, and make sense of wordy, old prose.
Why it matters: The way many of us actually read books — a few pages before bed, a chapter at the beach, another on a plane — makes it easy to lose the thread. AI can help you pick it back up without starting over.
📖 I really got into using AI while reading James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans.” The text was far too dense for casual vacation reading. My first prompt asked:
“I’d like a guide as I read The Last of the Mohicans who can help me understand what I’ve read and where the story is, without giving spoilers or getting ahead of my progress. Can you do this, chapter by chapter?”
The robot agreed: “Cooper’s sentences are long and his diction is archaic.”
It promised to give me “a recap of what’s happened so far and clarify anything confusing. … I’ll stick strictly to what you’ve read. No hints about what’s coming.”
🔖 That’s now become part of my reading routine: Tell AI where you stopped and ask for a spoiler-free recap so far, which often surfaces details I’d missed or forgotten.
The only thing that stops me believing this bullshit was also produced by AI is the way it then goes on to acknowledge AI’s imperfections. Otherwise… what the fuck was THAT?
I mean, I just looked at the article and thought whoever the fuck wrote it was unworthy of books. How someone could miss the point of reading so badly just baffled me. So who the fuck did write it? One Nicholas Johnson, according to the byline. I clicked on the latter to find out more, and…
WHAT THE FUCK do you mean this guy is the PUBLISHER OF AXIOS? And he was the EDITOR IN CHIEF? OOF!!!!! I don’t normally read Axios and it appears I’ve been right to do so; there seems to be quite some general hostility towards Axios on Bluesky, not just because of this idiotic story but in general, which interested me cos I’d been under the impression it was actually fairly well respected… which is something I’m apparently terribly wrong about cos, like I said, I don’t read it and I haven’t followed it. Indeed, I only just discovered tonight it’s only been around for ten years, I thought it had been around much longer for some reason. If it’s been like this all this time, I’m surprised it’s even been around for as long as it has; in any case I’m less than inclined to read it ever again…
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