The pace of change in our world is pretty rough on the nostalgicists among us. On the other hand, you might also say that the nostalgicists are living in boom times, because there is more and more to regret the passing of. This paradox came to mind as I read Sven Birkerts's essay today in the Los Angeles Review of Books. He wrote it in response to "Wikipedia and the Death of the Expert," which I published here in mid-May.

It's really an honor to be read so closely by so distinguished a critic, I must say. Gives one a rather Eliza Doolittle-like feeling, like being invited [...]