https://micahstubbs.net/2026-10-24T22:00:00+00:00Micah Stubbs2026-10-24T22:00:00+00:002026-10-24T22:00:00+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2026/Oct/24/dont-learn-value-from-society-booklet/#atom-tag

Wolf Tivy's essay ["Don't Learn Value From Society"](https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/07/13/dont-learn-your-values-from-society/) ran in Palladium on July 13, 2023. It opens with the friends from his high school who are dead or lost, and it argues that you should not take your values from the society you live in, using Abraham leaving Ur as the model. The Students, the group Tivy founded, held a [reading group on the essay](https://luma.com/the-m3w4) in San Francisco, hosted by Ben Landau-Taylor, and I typeset it as a pocket booklet so it could be read on paper and marked up before the discussion. ## The booklet It is printed on precut 6.125 x 9.25 inch stock, the same trim as the Plato booklets, with a matching cover: a double-rule frame and Greek-key bands, the author's name across the top, the title in italic, a one-line summary, and the four section titles.  The interior is 26 pages. The front matter is an epigraph (Genesis 12:1-2, the call of Abram, in the King James Version) and a contents page with a colophon. The essay follows in 10.5 point Palatino, with a drop cap, running heads, small ornaments between sections, and block paragraphs separated by a full blank line, the way the essay appears on the web. Then a glossary and a two-column index.  The glossary is new to this edition. It defines 58 names and terms a reader might want explained, from Abraham, Canaan and the covenant of circumcision to catharsis, epistemic problems and Nietzsche's transvaluation of values, and every term is in the index.  [Download the glossary (PDF)](/static/palladium-dont-learn-value/dont-learn-value-glossary.pdf). The essay itself is free to read [on Palladium's site](https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/07/13/dont-learn-your-values-from-society/), so I am not posting the full booklet. ## Printing it on cardstock As an experiment, both the cover and the interior went through an Epson EcoTank ET-2988 on 65 lb cardstock, the interior duplexed automatically. Cardstock is more opaque than text paper, so nothing shows through from the back of the sheet, and the printer duplexed 12 sheets of it without a jam. The result is a stiff, thick little booklet that holds up to being carried around. The stock is [Cougar White Card Stock, 8.5x11, 65 lb / 176 gsm, Smooth](https://www.cutcardstock.com/products/discount-white-card-stock?variant=678403941) from CutCardStock, ordered with [custom cutting](https://www.cutcardstock.com/products/custom-card-stock-and-paper-cutting) to 6⅛ × 9¼. One pack yields 250 sheets, $33.95 with cutting. For a lighter interior, the 60 lb [Cougar White Digital Super Smooth](https://www.cutcardstock.com/products/cougar-supersmoth-white-paper?variant=687081577) text paper cut to the same size works too. ## Links 1. [The Students' "Don't Learn Value From Society" reading group](https://luma.com/the-m3w4) on Luma 2. [The essay on Palladium](https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/07/13/dont-learn-your-values-from-society/) 3. [Glossary PDF](/static/palladium-dont-learn-value/dont-learn-value-glossary.pdf) 4. [Booklet cover](/static/palladium-dont-learn-value/cover.png), [first page](/static/palladium-dont-learn-value/page-1.png) and [first glossary page](/static/palladium-dont-learn-value/glossary-page.png) 5. [Cougar 65 lb cover stock](https://www.cutcardstock.com/products/discount-white-card-stock?variant=678403941) and [Cougar Super Smooth 60 lb text paper](https://www.cutcardstock.com/products/cougar-supersmoth-white-paper?variant=687081577) at CutCardStock 6. [The same treatment for Plato's Crito and Phaedo](/2026/Oct/28/plato-crito-phaedo-booklet-reading-glossary/) <p>Tags: <a href="https://micahstubbs.net/tags/palladium">palladium</a>, <a href="https://micahstubbs.net/tags/wolf-tivy">wolf-tivy</a>, <a href="https://micahstubbs.net/tags/reading-group">reading-group</a>, <a href="https://micahstubbs.net/tags/book-printing">book-printing</a>, <a href="https://micahstubbs.net/tags/glossary">glossary</a>, <a href="https://micahstubbs.net/tags/cardstock">cardstock</a></p>