TURNING THREE

As any experienced parent can tell you, kids make a developmental leap between ages two and three. One minute they’re running wild, refusing to eat dinner, and babbling incoherently; the next minute they’re running wild, refusing to eat dinner, and babbling coherently.

And so it is, we think, with our beloved PressLog, whose third birthday is today. We can hardly believe that for three whole years, the little toddler has been doing its utmost to keep you informed about the comings, goings, and fast times of MIT Press books and authors.

So has the PressLog not only endured, but matured? It’s completely unscientific, but we think there was a big step up in focus for this year’s posts. Case in point: We started off the third year talking about the Olympics and ended on the same topic: Last year it was China's pollution; last month it was that country's internet censorship. As Eliot famously wrote, "In my end is my beginning."

Not one to grow up too quickly, though, the PressLog wanted to have some fun this year, and for us fun means games – games that help explain climate change and fight childhood obesity. We also introduced our podcast series, where our authors take to the microphone and talk about their books with Heron & Crane’s Chris Gondek. For those who prefer visual stimulation, robot designer extraordinaire Maja Mataric took her craft not only to YouTube but to broadcast news as well. And there was movie-related madness, like Vin Diesel starring in Babylon Babies and Tarleton Gillespie providing incisive commentary on the Hollywood writer’s strike.

And we won! Awards, that is – lots and lots and lots of them.

Sure, there were posts on other high-flying topics, like aliens, shoes, sex and, well, sex again. But the PressLog was equally intent on letting readers in on the advanced scholarship we publish that takes on heavy ideas and gives them the heft they deserve – like the nature of inner experience, how human nature affects foreign policy, and why anyone should care about a fifteenth-century architectural manuscript.

If there’s one thing our three-year old creation still has to learn, it’s the virtues of longevity. Our friend Leonardo could probably help with that – the art/science journal has just celebrated 40 years on the cutting edge. If the PressLog is around for that long, it’ll be largely because of the loyalty of our wonderful readers. Thank you all so much for your attention – next year we swear there’ll be cake. Promise.