2 . A book called Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations has been published in the United States since the 1850s. It started with John Bartlett, the owner of a bookstore near Boston, Massachusetts. He selected words, or quotations, from famous people, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and John Keats for the book.

Geoffrey O’Brien is the current editor of the 170-year-old book. He said it is hard to keep up with so many quotations because of “the speed of events” in modern times. “No matter when we went to press, we would be cutting off in the middle of the story,” he said.

The 19th edition of Bartlett’s just came out. It is the first publication since 2012 and the second under O’Brien. “With the Internet and cable news, you have the constant manufacturing of statements of one kind or another,” O’Brien said. So, he tried to choose quotations that have staying power beyond current news events.

In the early days, the book was mostly made up of quotations from white men. But recently, the book includes words from the singer Beyoncé and the track and field athlete Usain Bolt. It even has thoughts from other languages such as Russian and Navajo, a Native American language.

With so many new quotes, some older ones had to be removed. O’Brien said he was sad to drop comments by John Dryden, one of his favorite poets.

O’Brien also needs to keep the book to about 1,400 pages. So, once very well-known American comedians like Bob Hope and Johnny Carson are not in the latest book. Also gone are quotes from former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle and actor Sally Field.

O’Brien said the goal of the book is to be “representative” but not like an encyclopedia (百科全书). Not everyone can get in. He said he was sad to not be able to include a comment from U.S. civil rights activist and politician John Lewis, who died in 2020.

3 . This is the digital age, and the advice to managers is clear. If you don’t know what ChatGPT is or dislike the idea of working with a robot, enjoy your retirement. So, as for the present you should get for your manager this festive season, a good choice may be anything made of paper. Undoubtedly, it can serve as a useful reminder of where the digital world’s limitations lie. Several recent studies highlighted the enduring value of this ancient technology in several different aspects.

A study by Vicky Morwitz of Columbia Business School, Yanliu Huang of Drexel University and Zhen Yang of California State University, Fullerton, finds that paper calendars produce different behaviours from digital calendars. Users of old-fashioned calendars made more detailed project plans than those looking at an App, and they were more likely to stick to those plans. Simple dimensions seem to count. The ability to see lots of days at once on a paper calendar matters.

Here is another study from Maferima Touré-Tillery of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Lili Wang of Zhejiang University. In one part of their study, the researchers asked strangers to take a survey. Half the respondents were given a pen and paper to fill out a form; the other half were handed an iPad. When asked for their email address to receive information, those who used paper were much likelier to decide on a positive answer. The researchers believe that people make better decisions on paper because it feels more consequential than a digital screen. Paper-and-pen respondents were more likely than iPad users to think their choices indicated their characters better.

Researchers had other findings. They found shoppers were willing to pay more for reading materials in printed form than those they could only download online. Even the sight of someone handling something can help online sales. Similarly, people browsing(浏览) in a virtual-reality(虚拟现实) shop was more willing to buy a T-shirt if they saw their own virtual hand touch it.