Something strange and wonderful is happening in the world of reading and writing. The subtitles are on. Book clubs are back. And Substack—a platform barely five years old—is now being cited on national newscasts as a source of authority, influence, and original thinking.

In this essay, I explore Substack’s charms, reflect on reading and writing, and boast about how I personally learned to write (hint: not in school), what writing for television taught me about clarity and voice, and why the two most famous books on writing still matter.