Vol. II · No. 289
Established 2025

smallweb

Friday, October 16, 2026
174 writers in the library
a reading room for the unhurried web
  1. Culture

    Margaret Atwood in 2023: Go Ahead and Ban My Book. “It’s...

    Kottke.org Oct 16
  2. Economics

    Carl Schmitt and Antisemitism

    Cass’s Substack Oct 16
  3. Finance

    Friday links: one big AI trade

    Abnormal Returns Oct 16
Ten shelves · 50 essays

The Reading Room

Culture · Feature

How Hunting Owls Use Sound to “See” Under the Snow

The great grey owl basically has a sound cone for a face, which helps it hunt down voles burrowing through snow in the winter. The owl’s large facial ruff, formed of dense feathers, helps amplify sound and funnel it towards his ears. Through half a meter of snow, the sound of scampering feet is inau...

From the Stacks

Five rediscoveries from the back issues, rotated by the day

Read slowly. There is no hurry.

  1. I. Culture

    Sublimation in Middlemarch

    The Common Reader Oct 2
  2. II. Life

    How to Say “YES” to Life

    The Marginalian Oct 1
  3. III. Design

    January 2026

    Maggie Appleton Jan 2
  4. IV. Economics

    Supply is elastic, installment #1637

    Marginal Revolution Oct 2
  5. V. Finance

    Friday links: access to retail investors

    Abnormal Returns Oct 2
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