The ToB, presented by Field Notes, is live!

It's the 2023 Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes! Yay! It’s time to Rooster!

Statistics, anecdotal evidence, and "unconventional indicators" suggest Covid-19 may have swept through large parts of China. / The Economist

Helen Branswell: Do you need to keep up with Omicron's ever-expanding offspring? Not really. / STAT

Twelve people are responsible for 65% of disinformation about Covid vaccines on social media. / Your Local Epidemiologist

A sympathetic novel about Vladimir Putin is a bestseller in France, read by the prime minister and other heads of state. / The New York Times

See also: Channing Tatum and Roxane Gay are writing a romance novel together. Also, AI can write and illustrate a short book for you from one prompt. / Glamour, InstaNovel

One job that may make a comeback in the age of AI: secretaries. / Noahpinion

The state of abortion rights at each level of government, 50 years after Roe and seven months after Dobbs. / Wake Up to Politics

Is everything behind plastic at your local drugstore? To the extent that there's been a spike in shoplifting, it correlates to the growth of online retail. / Curbed

A website designer creates a website to showcase all of the people who've copied his website designs. / Copy Dennis

Unrelated: A couple pictures of a monochromatic room. / The Exploratorium

Who was Beethoven's Elise? A new book suggests Für Elise was named by someone else, after the composer's death. / The Guardian

Praise for an update to a book on modern English usage. "For anyone interested in language, it's catnip." / The Millions