Leigh Stein, Attention Economy Journalist Profile

Articles

Friday Reads for Spring Break

1 month ago | courtneymaum.substack.com | Courtney Maum |Amy Shearn |Marcy Dermansky |Leigh Stein

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A TikTok ban means losing the one platform making Americans want to read books

Jan 22, 2025 | thehill.com | Leigh Stein

After an action-packed weekend of tearful goodbye videos, “Titanic” memes and one act of arson in protest, TikTok received a stay of execution from President Trump. The newly inaugurated executive signed an executive order to delay, for 75 days, the enforcement of legislation that would ban the platform if it is not sold to an American company. As much as TikTok’s critics argue that the platform has made Americans “dumber and slower,” TikTok also catalyzed a renaissance in reading for pleasure.
Opinion - A TikTok ban means losing the one platform making Americans want to read books

Jan 22, 2025 | yahoo.com | Leigh Stein

After an action-packed weekend of tearful goodbye videos, “Titanic” memes and one act of arson in protest, TikTok received a stay of execution from President Trump. The newly inaugurated executive signed an executive order to delay, for 75 days, the enforcement of legislation that would ban the platform if it is not sold to an American company. As much as TikTok’s critics argue that the platform has made Americans “dumber and slower,” TikTok also catalyzed a renaissance in reading for pleasure.
20,000 readers of literary fiction...?

Oct 6, 2024 | leighstein.substack.com | Leigh Stein |Danielle Bukowski

A few days ago, I quickly posted a TikTok about this piece in the Atlantic, which opens with an anecdote from a Columbia university professor named Nicholas Dames. One day, “a first-year student came to his office hours to share how challenging she had found the early assignments. [The Literature Humanities course] often requires students to read a book, sometimes a very long and dense one, in just a week or two.
7 Poetry Books for People Who Don’t Like Poetry

Sep 30, 2024 | electricliterature.com | Leigh Stein |Lyndsay Rush

Reading Lists It's time for your Great Poetry Awakening I don’t love fish.
TODAY: literary agent Mackenzie Brady Watson

Sep 13, 2024 | leighstein.substack.com | Leigh Stein

Mackenzie Brady Watson is a literary agent and the person who taught me the term “memoir plus.” As a former genetics lab technician, Mackenzie has a great passion for science books, especially if they are historically driven or revolutionize current theory, as well as sociology, investigative journalism, food writing, memoir, and business books.
In praise of lists

Aug 15, 2024 | kateseward.substack.com | Kate Seward |Emily Sundberg |Elisabet Velasquez |Leigh Stein

Does anyone remember BJ Novak’s List App? I discovered it in August 2015, when I joined what was then called Scratch, a consulting group inside a company that was then called Viacom. I don’t remember who introduced me to it, but I do know I took to it immediately: it was like having some of my favorite parts of right there in my pocket.
'AI Bullshit' Makes Poets Mad

May 21, 2024 | reason.com | Leigh Stein

This week's featured article is "'AI Bullshit' Makes Poets Mad" by Leigh Stein. This audio was generated using AI trained on the voice of Katherine Mangu-Ward. Music credits: "Deep in Thought" by CTRL and "Sunsettling" by Man with Roses
'AI Bullshit' Makes Poets Mad

May 7, 2024 | flipboard.com | Leigh Stein

When the conceptual poet Lillian-Yvonne Bertram began to experiment with large language models (LLMs) in 2018, they discovered unexpected poetry inside ChatGPT-2. "The prompt responses were quirky: prone to interesting conversations and uncanny and poetic slippages. There was a strangeness about …
'AI Bullshit' Makes Poets Mad

May 7, 2024 | aol.com | Leigh Stein

May 7, 2024 at 5:00 AMAn image generated using the prompt, “Illustration of AI generated poetry." | Illustration: Joanna Andreasson/DALL-E4Joanna Andreasson/DALL-E4When the conceptual poet Lillian-Yvonne Bertram began to experiment with large language models (LLMs) in 2018, they discovered unexpected poetry inside ChatGPT-2. "The prompt responses were quirky: prone to interesting conversations and uncanny and poetic slippages.