#cliffsnotes

stefan edit bc i <3 him (yes his captions are in his handwriting yes i used his dossier to make the font)

it’s a little messy since i’m still getting the hang of editing but i like it

August 28, 2025

Today, we’re remembering CliffsNotes, exploring the connection between books and empathy, and more!

On Lit Hub dot com:

“Somebody wrote an article online that shit talks Fidel.” Profiling the cyber soldiers who crush internet dissent in Cuba. | Lit Hub Technology

Huda Fakhreddine on Paul Celan and the necessity of Gaza to poetry: “If time must continue on its course after this, then it cannot but course toward a free Palestine.” | Lit Hub On Translation

As AI invades classrooms, Joelle Renstrom looks back on the most human of study guides, CliffsNotes. | Lit Hub Criticism

Maris Kreizman explains why books aren’t the solution to building empathy, but they definitely help: “We’re stuck in a moment when passive entertainment rules, when books are viewed by the ruling class as strictly utilitarian.” | Lit Hub Criticism

“Academia is a hellscape; Katabasis just makes it literal.” 5 book reviews you need to read this week. | Book Marks

Kelly Sundberg recommends titles to read for your new life by Saeed Jones, River Selby, and more! | Lit Hub Reading Lists

What if all the ice on earth suddenly melted? “Everything about this epoch is superlative, bizarre, unprecedented.” | Lit Hub Climate Change

“They come under immediate assault from sandflies. Emil is beating them off his neck and shins the whole way, but it pleases him how well he manages the exertion.” Read from Olufemi Terry’s new novel, Wilderness of Mirrors. | Lit Hub Fiction

From around the internet:

A middle school teacher shares his strategy for engaging reluctant readers. | The Washington Post

“To remember is to risk punishment”: Sajad Hameed and Rehan Qayoom Mir report on India’s book ban in Kashmir. | Jacobin

Ahmad Almallah on the poetics of Palestine, American hypocrisy, and writing “between linguistic borderlands.” | Asymptote  

“I’ve since come to think of guilty pleasure only when I think about terrible beauty.” On the entwining legacies of climate change and family history in California. | Nautilus

Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth read “The Lifted Veil,” George Eliot’s angsty tale of emo telepathy. | Reactor

Tate McFadden interviews Sam Szabo about queer cartooning and comics history: “I always think about my creative process as being two channels in my brain. One is memoir and one is gags.” | The Comics Journal

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Is NotebookLM the New CliffsNotes? (The Answer May Surprise You)

October 4, 2024

NotebookLM は新しい CliffsNotes か？（答えはあなたを驚かせるかもしれません） Googleの比較的新しいNotebookLMは、読書をしない学生の救世主、CliffsNotesを彷彿とさせます。しかし、ポッドキャスト形式の要約も作成できるこのAIツールの最適な活用方法とは一体何でしょうか？いくつか考えてみましょう。

https://ryotarox.tumblr.com/search/CliffsNotes

CliffsNotesとは、学生向けに米国で生まれた、文学作品の学習ガイドみたいなもの。良い点は「Essay Questions」で質問が用意されてること、学生以外でも読後の考察に便利。

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