The story of the Vrouw Maria: The lost ship of incredible Dutch art treasures.
The ship sank in 1771, taking to the bottom crates of priceless paintings belonging to the Tsar of Russia.
The Verge
Dreaming of fictional “Supercomputers” in an age of AI.
The fictional idea of a "computer that can do anything" hasn't changed. Our idea of what "anything" means has.
A film about knowledge and wonder: “The Name of the Rose” at 40.
The film based on one of my all time favorite novels was a slow burn, but I've come to love it.
Interiors: First-class smoking room of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, about 1898.
This beautiful room says a lot about the insecurity of Germany in the years before World War I.
Behind the Scenes: Star Trek and the Vietnam War (Part II).
My new video traces two simultaneous interrelated stories throughout the tumultous period 1968-69.
Killing books: The sack of the University of Louvain library and its modern echoes.
In 1914, the Germans torched one of the great libraries of Europe. AI companies are doing something similar today.
A landmark 632 years in the making: the odyssey of Cologne Cathedral.
Why did it take Germany more than six centuries to finish what was once the world's tallest building?