Joshua Glenn

Glenn was born and raised in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. He attended Boston Latin School and Williams College. He earned a Master's in Teaching from Boston University in 1993. He is married and has two sons.

From 1992 through 2001 Glenn was publisher and coeditor of Hermenaut, a philosophy and cultural criticism periodical, described as "a zine that gives voice to indie intellectual thought... a scholarly journal minus the university, a sounding board for thinking folk who operate outside the ivory tower".{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = hermenaut | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.hermenaut.com/ | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}}{{Cite magazine | last = Stutz | first = Michael | title = Street Academy | magazine = Wired | date = August 1998 | url = https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.08/streetcred_pr.html | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}}

Glenn wrote a feature in each issue on a single "hermenaut" (or "outsider intellectual") including Theodor W. Adorno, Philip K. Dick, Bruce Lee, Oscar Wilde, Abbie Hoffman, and Simone Weil.{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = Hermenaut article archive | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.hermenaut.com/archive.shtml | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} From 2000 to 2001, Glenn published and coedited the online journal Hermenaut.com and hosted its online salon, the Wicked Pavilion.

His zine collection, including a full run of Hermenaut, is held by the University of Iowa libraries.{{cite web |title=Guide to the Joshua Glenn Zine Collection |url=http://collguides.lib.uiowa.edu/?MSC0975 |website=University of Iowa Libraries |publisher=U of I |access-date=10 May 2022}}

From 1994 through 1996, Glenn was an editor at the Utne Reader. During that time, he served as a judge for the Independent Press Awards. He hosted online salons for Utne Reader, and contributed a chapter to the book Salons: The Joy of Conversation.{{Cite book | last1 = Spayde | first1 = Jon | first2 = Jaida n'ha | last2 = Sandra | title = Salons: The Joy of Conversation | year = 2001

| publisher = New Society Publishers| location = | pages = | url = http://www.utne.com/shopping/detail.aspx?itemnumber=3214 | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-86571-444-4 }}

Glenn was editorial director of the start-up Web business Tripod.com from 1996 through 1998.{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = Joshua Glenn, LinkedIn Profile | publisher = LinkedIn.com | date = | url = http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joshua-glenn/20/330/772 | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} The company provided user-friendly tools for online publishing, aggregated communities of interest, and published "streetsmart strategies for work, life, and everything else."{{Cite book | last = Fink | first = Jeri | title = How to use computers and cyberspace in the clinical practice of psychotherapy | publisher = Jason Aronson | date = January 1999 | location = | pages = 46 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NdO3Mxfty_sC&pg=PA46 | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-7657-0173-1}}

When the TV newsmagazine Nightline did an episode on Tripod, Glenn pranked the show's producers by making up digital newspeak "Let's get FTP connectivity hyped up to the hilt. Let's get the synergies ramping with the daily rocket."{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = YouTube tripod1997 | publisher = YouTube | date = 17 July 2009| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiW75D55Zks | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} When Tripod was acquired by Lycos in 2000, Glenn left to publish Hermenaut full-time.

Glenn worked at the Boston Globe{{'}}s weekly Ideas section as an associate editor and columnist. From 2006 through 2008, Glenn wrote the Brainiac blog for the Boston Globe{{'}}s Ideas section. On January 31, 2007, he scooped the Globe{{'}}s coverage of the Mooninite attack on Boston.{{Cite news | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | title = Attack of the Mooninites! | work = | newspaper = Boston Globe | date = January 31, 2007 | url = http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/brainiac/2007/01/attack_of_the_m.html | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} Glenn was also a contributing editor to the website Feed and wrote for The Baffler, The Idler and n+1.{{Cite web| title =FEED Magazine: Joshua Glenn| publisher =FEED Inc.| url =http://www.feedmag.com/wp/2010/06/joshua-glenn/| access-date =January 28, 2011| url-status =dead| archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20101224160251/http://www.feedmag.com/wp/2010/06/jos-hua-glenn/| archivedate =December 24, 2010}}{{Cite web | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | title = Idle Idols: Henry Miller | work = The Idler | year = 1997 | url = http://idler.co.uk/idle-idols/idle-idols-henry-miller/ | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011 | archive-date = December 17, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101217132810/http://idler.co.uk/idle-idols/idle-idols-henry-miller/ | url-status = dead }}{{cite web | title=Glenn/Joshua | website=n+1 | date=2011-05-25 | url=https://www.nplusonemag.com/authors/glenn-joshua/ | access-date=2022-05-18}}

In 2007, Glenn coedited Taking Things Seriously, a collection of 75 photos of and essays about objects of "unexpected significance", which made Entertainment Weekly{{'}}s "Must List" in October 2007.{{Cite news | last = | first = | title = From the October 26th, 2007 Issue: Ten Things We Love This Week | work = | magazine = Entertainment Weekly | date = October 19, 2007 | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20153042,00.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130122235828/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20153042,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 22, 2013 | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} Glenn has referred to the book as "a long-delayed issue of Hermenaut."{{Cite web | last = McLemee | first = Scott | title = To the Things Themselves | website = Inside Higher Ed | date = October 24, 2007 | url = http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee107 | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} In 2008, Glenn wrote The Idler's Glossary. Glenn and bookfuturist Matthew Battles launched the intellectual-cultural blog HiLobrow, named by TIME magazine one of the Best Blogs of 2010.{{Cite news | last = Snyder | first = Stephen James | title = HiLobrow - Best Blogs of 2010 | work = | magazine = TIME Magazine | date = June 28, 2010 | url = http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1999770_1999761_1999733,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100701222531/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1999770_1999761_1999733,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = July 1, 2010 | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} Glenn's ongoing research at HiLobrow includes a scheme to "reperiodize America's generations", as well as an analysis of science fiction published from 1904-1933 — an era Glenn has named science fiction's "Radium Age."{{Cite web | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | author-link = Joshua Glenn | title = Radium Age Robots | publisher = HiLobrow | date = January 30, 2010 | url = http://hilobrow.com/2010/01/30/radium-age-robots/ | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} Glenn has also written for the Washington Post, the New York Times Book Review, Slate, Cabinet, and the science-fiction blog io9.{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = joshua glenn - io9 | publisher = Gawker Media | date = 17 August 2010| url = http://io9.com/tag/joshua-glenn/ | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}}{{Cite news | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | author-link = Joshua Glenn | title = Shining a light on the way artificial light has changed our lives | newspaper = Washington Post | date = July 11, 2010 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902861.html | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}}{{Cite web | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | author-link = Joshua Glenn | title = Hollow Earth by David Standish - Books - Review | work = The New York Times | date = January 28, 2007 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/books/review/Glenn.t.html | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}}{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = The slacktivism of Richard Linklater. - By Joshua Glenn | magazine = Slate Magazine | date = 27 June 2006 | url = http://www.slate.com/id/2144584/ | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}}{{Cite web | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | author-link = Joshua Glenn | title = CABINET // Joshua Glenn | website = Cabinet Magazine | date = | url = http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/contributors/glenn_joshua.php | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}}

In July 2009, Glenn and Rob Walker launched the Significant Objects project, whose goal was to test the hypothesis "Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object's subjective value can actually be measured objectively."{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = About the Significant Objects Project | publisher = Significant Objects | date = | url = http://significantobjects.com/about/ | format = | doi = | access-date = January 29, 2011}} Glenn and Walker bought objects at thrift stores and yard sales, recruited one hundred authors — including Jonathan Lethem, Lydia Millet, Nicholson Baker, Colson Whitehead, and William Gibson — to write stories about those objects, then sold the objects on eBay, using the stories as item descriptions. The Guardian{{'}}s Aditya Chakrabortty called the project "one of the most life-affirmingly cheeky studies I have seen for ages."{{Cite news | last = Chakrabortty | first = Aditya | title = At Christmas, it's the thought that counts | work = | newspaper = The Guardian | date = December 21, 2010 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/21/christmas-gift-aditya-chakrabortty | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011 | location=London}} The project resulted in $128.74 worth of objects being sold for $3,612.51.{{Cite web | last = Ramchandani | first = Ariel | title = THE Q&A: ROB WALKER, CONSUMER, THINGAMABOB CONNOISSEUR | magazine = Intelligent Life Magazine | date = | url = http://moreintelligentlife.com/blog/ariel-ramchandani/qa-rob-walker-significant-objects | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} Two subsequent volumes of Significant Objects stories raised funds for the tutoring programs 826 National and Girls Write Now. Fantagraphics published a collection of Significant Objects stories in 2011.{{Cite web | last = Reynolds | first = Eric | title = Fantagraphics Announces SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS: THE BOOK! | publisher = Fantagraphics | date = June 9, 2011 | url = http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4342 | format = | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} In 2022, Hat & Beard Press announced a forthcoming book Lost Objects: 50 Stories About the Things We Miss and Why They Matter by Glenn and Walker.{{cite web | last1=Glenn | first1=Joshua | last2=Walker | first2=Rob | title=Lost Objects: 50 Stories About the Things We Miss and Why They Matter | website=Hat & Beard Press | date=2021-02-08 | url=https://hatandbeard.com/products/lost-objects-by-joshua-glenn-and-rob-walker | access-date=2022-05-18}}

Glenn and Malcolm Evans, a British semiotician, launched Semionaut in 2010, an international website about semiotic cultural and brand analysis, with contributors from Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Russia and Saudi Arabia. In 2011, Glenn and Mark Kingwell published The Wage Slave's Glossary, which "looks at the language we use to make sense of the interconnected world of work and leisure."[http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/the-big-book/2011/09/the-wage-slaves-glossary.html The Wage Slave's Glossary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102113332/http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/the-big-book/2011/09/the-wage-slaves-glossary.html |date=2011-11-02 }} Marketplace.org. In 2021, McGill-Queen’s University Press published a third book in the series, The Adventurer’s Glossary written by Glenn and Mark Kingwell, with illustrations by Seth.{{cite web | title=What adventurers know could fill a book | website=BostonGlobe.com | date=2021-09-28 | url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/28/opinion/what-adventurers-know-could-fill-book/ | access-date=2022-05-09}}

In 2012, Bloomsbury published Joshua Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen's family activities guide UNBORED: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun. "Fighting the war against techno-passivity, it reads like an old-fashioned child's activity book for a modern Gen-X parented family."{{Cite web | last = Kurutz | first = Stephen | title = Go to Your Room (and Decorate) | newspaper = The New York Times | date = March 13, 2013 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/greathomesanddestinations/go-to-your-room-and-decorate.html | doi = | access-date = January 28, 2011}} It was followed up with their family activities guide UNBORED Games: Serious Fun for Everyone in 2014 and UNBORED ADVENTURE in 2015. The project spun off several activity kits including the UNBORED: Time Capsule which received Dr Toy's 100 Best award.{{cite web | title=Dr.Toy The Best Advice on Childrens Products | website=drtoy.com | date=2021-03-06 | url=https://drtoy.com/awards/59fabb33527a5909208b45ad | access-date=2022-04-24 | archive-date=2022-06-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629085726/https://drtoy.com/awards/59fabb33527a5909208b45ad | url-status=dead }}

Glenn describes the Radium Age as "a sort of proto-science fiction... a genre that was still getting its feet and finding its way in the dark that didn't quite have solidified boundaries that would later define science fiction."{{cite web | last=Liptak | first=Andrew | title=Irradiating SF | website=Transfer Orbit | date=2022-03-08 | url=https://transfer-orbit.ghost.io/radium-age/ | access-date=2022-04-24}}{{cite journal | last=Glenn | first=Joshua | title=Science fiction: The radium age | journal=Nature | volume=489 | issue=7415 | date=2012-09-12 | issn=1476-4687 | doi=10.1038/489204a | pages=204–205 | bibcode=2012Natur.489..204G | s2cid=28550385 | doi-access=free }} In 2012 Glenn and Hilobrow co-editor Matthew Battles printed a series of public domain Radium Age titles beginning in 2012 on their own imprint HiLo Books. These included works by authors not normally thought to be science fiction authors--Jack London's The Scarlet Plague and Rudyard Kipling's With the Night Mail.

In 2022 MIT Press invited Glenn to edit a new series exploring the Radium Age and its significance, bringing ten other titles from the Radium Age back into print.{{cite web | last=Newitz | first=Annalee | title=The 100 best stories from Radium Age sci-fi, which ruled the early 20th century | website=Ars Technica | date=2016-05-31 | url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/recapture-the-glory-of-radium-age-sci-fi-from-a-century-ago-with-these-books/ | access-date=2022-04-24}} The initial run includes lesser-known novels by Arthur Conan Doyle and H. G. Wells as well as a collection of shorter fiction titled Voices from the Radium Age{{cite book | title=Voices from the Radium Age | website=The MIT Press | date=2022-03-08 | publisher=MIT Press | isbn=9780262543378 | url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/voices-radium-age | access-date=2022-04-24}}

• {{Cite book | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | title = Voices from the Radium Age | publisher = MIT Press | year = 2022 | location = | pages = 220 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 9780262543378}}
• {{Cite book | last1 = Glenn | first1 = Joshua | last2 = Kingwell | first2 = Mark | title = The Adventurer's Glossary | publisher = McGill-Queen’s University Press | year = 2021 | location = | pages = 325 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 9780228008316}}
• {{Cite book | last1 = Glenn | first1 = Joshua | last2 = Larsen | first2 = Elizabeth Foy | title = UNBORED Adventure: 70 Seriously Fun Activities For Kids And Their Families. | publisher = Bloomsbury | year = 2015 | location = | pages = 176 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 9781632860965}}
• {{Cite book | last1 = Glenn | first1 = Joshua | last2 = Larsen | first2 = Elizabeth Foy | title = UNBORED Games: Serious Fun for Everyone | publisher = Bloomsbury | year = 2014 | location = | pages = 176 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-1620407066}}
• {{Cite book | last1 = Glenn | first1 = Joshua | last2 = Walker | first2 = Rob | title = Significant Objects. | publisher = Fantagraphics | year = 2012 | location = | pages = 232 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 9781606995259}}
• {{Cite book | last1 = Glenn | first1 = Joshua | last2 = Larsen | first2 = Elizabeth Foy | title = UNBORED: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun | publisher = Bloomsbury | year = 2012 | location = | pages = 352 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-1608196418}}
• {{Cite book | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | title = The Wage Slave's Glossary | publisher = Biblioasis | year = 2011 | location = | pages = 136 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-1926845173}}
• {{Cite book | last = Glenn | first = Joshua | title = The Idler's Glossary | publisher = Biblioasis | year = 2008 | location = | pages = 136 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-1-897231-46-3}}
• {{Cite book | last1 = Glenn | first1 = Joshua | last2 = Hayes | first2 = Carol | title = Taking Things Seriously: 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance | publisher = Princeton Architectural Press | year = 2007 | location = | pages = 176 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-1-56898-690-6}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Project websites: [http://significantobjects.com/ Significant Objects], [http://hilobrow.com/ HiLowbrow], [http://www.semionaut.net/ Semionaut], [http://unbored.net/ Unbored]

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Category:Writers from Boston

Category:Living people

Category:1967 births

Category:American semioticians

Category:People from Jamaica Plain

Category:Boston Latin School alumni

Category:Williams College alumni

Category:Boston University School of Education alumni