This is an absolutely fascinating talk. I’m sure many of you have already seen/heard it. But for those who haven’t, it’s very thought-provoking. (BTW – I only beat the chimps once.)
Archive for September, 2014
I grew up traveling — lived in different countries, visited others. It’s a pattern I carried into my adult life. And I was particularly lucky that I had parents who really knew how to travel. They were adventurous, curious and open. That doesn’t mean they climbed the Himalayas or hitchhiked across Patagonia. But they were readers. And through their reading they learned about new places, people and cultures. Often they would then venture forth and experience them in person.
They’d always have one real guidebook — given my father’s complete inability to get from point A to point B without visiting points D, K and L first. But the books they used to guide them were memoirs, travelogues and novels. I vividly remember the first time I became aware of their ingenious travel secret. They were living in Spain and we had decided to do a cross-country trip from Barcelona to Madrid.
For that trip we used James Michner’s Iberia, a memoir of his time in Spain during the nineteen-sixties. The writing is amazing. His images breathtaking. Spain had changed enormously by the late seventies when we took our trip. But using him as our guide gave us so much appreciation of what was enduring and what was changing.
When we got to Granada, I found an old copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Tales of the Alhambra. It was a weekday and past tourist season, so I had time to roam or linger with little disruption. As I sat in the cool shade near of one of the courtyards reading “The Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses,” I was transported back in time. I could see the valley they gazed over. I had walked past the fountains of the gardens in their gilded cage. I could picture their escape. What a magical afternoon.
If you venture to Spain, I heartily recommend you consider reading Iberia and Tales of the Alhambra before or as you go. There are lots of other books, of course. Here are some of my personal recommendations:
Two classics set during the Spanish Civil War:
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
And a couple more modern contributions:
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (translated by Lucia Graves), again partially set during the Civil War. This is a rich, lyrical, mystical, very Spanish work — I personally enjoyed it most in the audio version.
Madrid Tales — an anthology of Spanish short stories translated by Helen Constantine and Margaret Jull Costa. Not all the stories will appeal, but they are a great initiation into modern Madrid, and Spain.
Happy reading and bon voyage.
I’m a reader. I’m also an (unpublished) author. I find it disturbing to see how heated and angry the conversation gets about how to read a book. Apparently the decision to read a physical book, a Kindle, a Nook, an e-book or listen to an audiobook is a reflection of your worth as a reader or perhaps even a person.
People, what’s the problem? Why does it matter as long as someone’s reading.
Personally I revel in those times when I curl up with a book in a comfy chair and can lose myself in another world. But I find it easier to snuggle in bed with my Kindle — books can be awkward to handle when you’re buried in pillows and dogs. And since getting my Kindle, I’ve been reading a lot more books. Because now I can read wherever I am and whatever I’m in the mood for.
As for audiobooks? On road-trips they’re a godsend. Plus I’ve found listening to an audiobook in the car is one way I can get through some of those books I find hard to stay focused on when I just sit and read. One of my favorites (long out of print) is The Vandal’s Crown, which is about currency trading, of all things, something I’d normally never even try, but which I found fascinating as I drove from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. I now deliberately choose the audio format for denser books just in the hopes I’ll actually manage to read them (unlike so many that sit on my shelves, pristine, dusty and unread).
Does this mean that I’m any less of a reader? I don’t think so. And frankly if and when I ever get published, please feel free to read me in whatever format you prefer. Just please read me.
Cheetah, Namibia
Don’t get so stuck in the fast lane of life you forget to just be.
Every once in a while I push myself to do something I’ve just been too chicken to try. A while ago I decided to skydive. I had gotten a pilot’s license (small single-engine planes) while I was living in Kenya. But I when skydiving came up, I would assert that I saw “no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.”
Truth is I have a terror of falling and was sure I wouldn’t even make it out of the plane, much less survive the actual skydive (I’m not the most graceful or athletic). But one day a friend was talking about her skydiving experience and I found myself wondering if I dared.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I called a small skydiving company in South Miami and booked myself a dive (tandem, of course).
I decided to make the trip down alone just in case I chickened out or made a total ass of myself. It was a perfect morning — bright blue sky, not too hot, not too cold.
As I crawled in the small, rickety, old plane that was piloted by a young man who I doubted was out of high school, I figured I had a better chance of dying from the plane falling apart than from the dive.
When I got over the shock of flying with an open side door (I was sitting right next to it), the hard part turned out to be getting my legs to swing out in preparation for the drop. My head kept saying move, the legs were adamant that they wanted to stay right where they were. But eventually we were all set. 
Then my instructor and I were out the door free falling. What a sensation.
After a minute or so the chute opened. And we drifted peacefully over open countryside. There was no sound, no distraction, no fear. Just gentle rocking.
I had worried about the landing. But my instructor guided us in so carefully I barely felt my butt meet the ground.
The result: An amazing experience, truly the thrill of a lifetime.
Eclectic World, Eclectic Mind 