Nekud is a general interest publication devoted to long-form writing on the arts and the sciences. Its ten sections cover arts, architecture, culture, music, literature and history, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is written for readers who enjoy exploring unfamiliar subjects and tracing the connections between them, whether or not they have a specialist background.
The publication began with essays on science and technology, and these remain a full and continuing part of its work. Placing them beside essays on painting, building, music and literature allows each to shed light on the others, as when the history of the Crystal Palace becomes a study in engineering, or the story of a scientific instrument becomes part of the history of craftsmanship.
Most essays take a single subject, such as a painter, a building, a piece of music, a book, a discovery or an invention, and follow it through its historical setting, the people involved and its influence on later generations. The aim is to give readers a substantial and reliable account that can be read in one sitting.
Essays are researched from primary and scholarly sources and written in a formal, neutral style. Where possible they link to reference works and academic publications so that readers can follow the subject further. Corrections and suggestions are welcome through the contact page.
The name Nekud is taken from the Hebrew word for the points used to mark vowels in writing, a small device that makes a text readable. It reflects the publication's interest in the means by which culture and knowledge are recorded and passed on.
Nekud is published alongside two related sites: Huaxia, long reads on the history and culture of China, and The Masoretes, the transmission of the Hebrew and Greek Bible. Each keeps its own subject and readership, and Nekud serves as the broadest of the three.