A Room with Enough Shelves
E-books are convenient. Audiobooks are practical. But the paper book is what got me hooked — and what I hope will fill my shelves again one day
Blog
Blogs, essays, updates, and occasional notes that sit alongside The Butterfly Effect.
The Old Lady's Paper
On 2 March 1797, the Bank of England issued its first £1 and £2 banknotes — emergency paper to replace vanishing gold. The crisis measure became permanent. We still live with the consequences.
The Witches of Salem
On 1 March 1692, three women were brought before magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts — the first act in a drama that would leave nineteen dead. The trials were small by European standards. The psychology behind them was not.
The Last Days of the Republic?
On 28 February 2026, Israel and the United States launched strikes across Iran. Whether this marks the beginning of the end for the Islamic Republic — or another crisis it will survive — nobody yet knows.
The Descending Eagle
On 28 February 1525, the last Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc was hanged on the orders of Hernán Cortés. What began with 500 soldiers and thirteen horses remade an entire continent.
The Short List
On 27 February 380, Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica and made Nicene Christianity the only legal religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity had joined a very exclusive club.
The Flight from Elba
On 26 February 1815, Napoleon escaped Elba and walked back into power without firing a shot. The gamble lasted one hundred days and ended at Waterloo.
The Equaliser
On 25 February 1836, Samuel Colt received US Patent No. 138 for a revolving-cylinder pistol. The revolver democratised killing and America has been living with the consequences ever since.
The Emperor's Birthday
On 24 February 1525, Charles V turned twenty-five. His birthday present was the Battle of Pavia, a captured French king, and confirmation that his was the most powerful empire Europe had seen since Rome.
Four Years
On 24 February 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Four years on, the war grinds on — hundreds of thousands dead, a continent reshaped, and a causal chain that traces back to a suitcase in Taiwan.