Funfare for the Common Man

This is part 5 (of 10) of my August 2020 Challenge. We’re at the halfway point. I am trying to fit all of my posts into the context of a broader narrative. In other words, that is an unnecessarily pretentious way of saying I hope they all link together, in a way.  Yesterday was Part 1: Embracing the wilderness. For some context, you may to read that post if you haven’t already. There is a very tenuous link to this post. Very . Part 2: Tolerance in a post-truth society: where do we draw the line? Natalia said that she ‘wanted to ask [me] to write smth on the issue of tolerance in the context of post-truth society (where do we draw the line and stuff)’ and I thought this was a great opportunity to make a tenuous link between this and being out in the wild. (why not?) This is a fascinating yet troubling area to grapple with, one that is often on my mind. In fact, it was on my mind a lot last week. When you’re out in nature wandering (and wondering), your mind also tends to wander (an...

When it comes to reading, the question I probably get asked more than any other is this: ‘how the hell do you find the time to read?’ More specifically, it’s more along the lines of ‘where do you find the time to read so [damn] much?’ ‘Reading is the best education.’ (Fran Lebowitz) In 2005, I started keeping a meticulous list of what I read, something bibliophiles sometimes refer to as a BOB:  ‘a book of books’. It’s a great snapshot of how reading shapes me during a particular period of my life, or at the very least, a simple way to keep track of what I read. Though I’d heard about this idea long ago, the editor of the NYTBR captures this far more eloquently than I could ever hope to: “Bob offers immediate access to where I’ve been, psychologically and geographically, at any given moment in my life,” she explains in My Life With Bob . “Each entry conjures a memory that may have otherwise gotten lost or blurred with time.” I can’t tell you the precise figures, b...