Suggested Substack: The Garden of Forking Paths, by Brian Klaas
Now that I’m on Substack myself (Mark McNease On Topic), I’ve started discovering all the great writing and thinking being launched into the universe on this platform. I’ll be making occasional recommendations for anyone who likes to ponder deeply, and sometimes not-so-deeply, along with the writers putting virtual pen to paper.
Today it’s a fascinating substack called The Garden of Forking Paths, by Brian Klaas, Associate Professor of Global Politics at University College London. His most recent post is titled The Ten Days That Didn’t Exist
Here’s a very small sample, since the writing belongs to him! Check it out.
There are ten days that don’t exist in history. Understanding why leads to a fascinating look at the nature of time—and one of the wildest conspiracy theories you’ve never heard of.
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You don’t have to study modern physics to understand that humans have a constructed relationship with time. The names of our days of the week, for example, are holdovers from Norse/Anglo-Saxon times. Tuesday comes from Tiw, the god of war; Wednesday from Wodin, the god who was said to rule Valhalla; Thursday for Thor; and Friday for Frigge, the goddess of love. We insert our cultures, our histories, and our scientific progress into our concepts of time.
