Perhaps not the happiest book to read at Christmas!! I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed reading this book, but I will say that I am glad I read it. It gives an insight into living with and coping with (or not) depression that I would not have expected. Much of it I already ‘knew’ intellectually – however having the story told at first hand – straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak – carries a huge amount of impact.
Year: 2015
Discworld – The Next Chapter
Just yesterday I wrote about how I like to visit different “worlds” when I am reading. Last night I got to the end of the story of one of those worlds. Knowing that it was his last novel, getting to the end of Sir Terry Pratchett’s “The Shepherd’s Crown” was always going to be tinged with disappointment – not in the story itself, but because we will never know what happens next to the many characters that we have met through the Discworld series.
Just – WHY?
As we progress through life there is – at least for me – an increasing realisation that there are things that we do – that we enjoy doing – that are seemingly unproductive, unnecessary or just a “waste of time”. Yet we persist in doing them. For some people these can be harmful – to themselves or others – for others they are entirely benign – and yet the question remains – WHY?
A Matter Of Taste
A recurrent theme on the blog is the matter of “taste” in regard to the arts – especially in regard to music. It is well understood that “what you like” is determined by all sorts of factors and quite naturally varies from person to person – that song that “brings tears to your eyes” may well “bring tears” to someone else’s eyes for very different reasons!
The Shepherd’s Crown
And so it ends….. I have started to read the last Discworld book. Glad that it includes the Nac Mac Feegle😀
Satin Island
A bit of a ‘departure’ for me – I read this only because my wife got it from the library and didn’t like it – not enough ‘story’ for her. I took a while to get into the book – it is certainly not what you might call a “page turner”. One of the reviews on Amazon describes it as “clever but empty”!! I read it to the end – was I any the wiser? Perhaps not – but it was an interesting collection of ideas – and the central character’s job title (corporate anthropologist) was intriguing. Ultimately it probably raised more questions than it answered.
Its Not Just Me
With a huge shout out to Confirmation Bias I am always ecstatic (OK maybe that is a bit too strong) when I find that others are speaking similar messages to my own. Have a look at this video – What is the Speed of Dark – and see how it mirrors many of the underlying themes of this blog site.
…and Another Quote
Our ignorance encompasses, at least, all the things we know we do not know (known unknowns); all the things we do not know we do not know (unknown unknowns); all the things we think we know but do not (error); all the things we do not know we know (tacit knowing); all taboos (forbidden knowledge); and all denial (things too painful to know, so we suppress them). Medical ignorance seems especially threatening to many of us. If, however, we are to cope with our vast ignorance of the human body, its powers and processes, we must learn to acknowledge our nescience and optimize it. To do so, we need to rethink the nature and interrelations between knowledge and ignorance. We need to expand our capacities for self-learning and refine abilities to map our complex experience.
Ann Kerwin
Another Quotation Of Ignorance
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance
from East Coker (The Four Quartets) Thomas Stearns Eliot
Still Hungry!!
The title of this blog “Feeding My Ignorance” is derived from the Terry Pratchett quote that appears at the top of the Wiki page. This allied to the Einstein quote on the this page illustrates that my take on ignorance is not a negative one – and that the fact that my ‘perceived’ ignorance is increasing is actually a very positive (if paradoxical) sign of increased knowledge.