The Biweekly Blog so you don't think I'm dead
I've been occupying my time with more interesting things than staring at my computer, thus the recent paucity of blogging. For one thing I've been reading more. I just read these two books (among others)
Mastery by George Leonard. I suppose you would classify this is a self help book. Leonard analyzes all the different approaches people take to new hobbies, sports, etc., and analyzes how and why they fail (if they're not successful). One recurrent theme is the constant desire for improvement, contrasted with the reality that just perfecting a very simple skill can take years of practice. He had a great quote, which I can now only paraphrase, that said the search for constant improvement is the root of boredom, and that you should find true enjoyment in variations on a theme. A lot of his examples were from tennis and martials arts, where very basic techniques have innumerable variations depending on opponent, position, and so forth. Leonard talks about "enjoying the plateau" of an acquired skill level for a significant period of time, rather than always looking ahead to the next leap. Reading this book lent itself to introspection as I compared Leonards description of Hacker or Obsessive types with my own pursuit of various interests.
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadimann. I happened across this author while radio channel surfing. She was giving a talk on NPR, the material for which seemed largely gleaned from this book. It's the kind of book you'd find in a second hand bookstore on a shelf labeled "Books about books". She laments the lack of such a shelf at the Barnes and Nobles of the world. It's actually a collection of essays she wrote for a magazine whose name I cannot remember, of which she was a founding editor and was published by the Library of Congress. More notable topics include marginalia (writing in books), and the contrast between carnal and courtly book lovers (do you read in bed or in a chair? do you dog ear your pages and leave your book face down, spine open? would you use bacon as a bookmark? you get the idea). Her father, a carnal lover if ever there was one, had a habit of tearing out pages of a book he had read while traveling in order to lighten his load. One essay described a book she had once read which astounded her by using, by her count, twenty-two words for which she knew no definition. Mephitic, anyone? This inspired me to start writing down words I didn't recognize, which I've been doing for another book I'm reading now. We'll see how long I keep that up (I still haven't looked up the words I wrote down from this book yet...) This book was very entertaining, and I recommend it to anyone who has a love of books, whether it be courtly or carnal.
Mastery by George Leonard. I suppose you would classify this is a self help book. Leonard analyzes all the different approaches people take to new hobbies, sports, etc., and analyzes how and why they fail (if they're not successful). One recurrent theme is the constant desire for improvement, contrasted with the reality that just perfecting a very simple skill can take years of practice. He had a great quote, which I can now only paraphrase, that said the search for constant improvement is the root of boredom, and that you should find true enjoyment in variations on a theme. A lot of his examples were from tennis and martials arts, where very basic techniques have innumerable variations depending on opponent, position, and so forth. Leonard talks about "enjoying the plateau" of an acquired skill level for a significant period of time, rather than always looking ahead to the next leap. Reading this book lent itself to introspection as I compared Leonards description of Hacker or Obsessive types with my own pursuit of various interests.
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadimann. I happened across this author while radio channel surfing. She was giving a talk on NPR, the material for which seemed largely gleaned from this book. It's the kind of book you'd find in a second hand bookstore on a shelf labeled "Books about books". She laments the lack of such a shelf at the Barnes and Nobles of the world. It's actually a collection of essays she wrote for a magazine whose name I cannot remember, of which she was a founding editor and was published by the Library of Congress. More notable topics include marginalia (writing in books), and the contrast between carnal and courtly book lovers (do you read in bed or in a chair? do you dog ear your pages and leave your book face down, spine open? would you use bacon as a bookmark? you get the idea). Her father, a carnal lover if ever there was one, had a habit of tearing out pages of a book he had read while traveling in order to lighten his load. One essay described a book she had once read which astounded her by using, by her count, twenty-two words for which she knew no definition. Mephitic, anyone? This inspired me to start writing down words I didn't recognize, which I've been doing for another book I'm reading now. We'll see how long I keep that up (I still haven't looked up the words I wrote down from this book yet...) This book was very entertaining, and I recommend it to anyone who has a love of books, whether it be courtly or carnal.
posted by Paul at
4:08 PM
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