I am old enough to remember a time before everything was readily available at all times.
“I am but an ordinary Man. The Times alone have destined me to Fame — and even these have not been able to give me, much…Yet some great Events, some cutting Expressions, some mean Hypocrisies, have at Times, thrown this Assemblage of Sloth, Sleep, and littleness into Rage a little like a Lion.”
John Adams
I have a vivid memory – so clear that it’s like a snapshot – of sitting in an American Revolution class junior year as my professor, a brilliant man and a wonderful teacher, kept extolling the virtues of George Washington and juxtaposing them with John Adams, whom he referred to as “curmudgeonly” and “acerbic.”
That’s all I needed to hear.
“He saw the whole of a subject at a single glance, and by a happy union of the powers of reasoning and persuasion often succeeded in carrying measures which were at first sight of an unpopular nature.”
–Benjamin Rush
I imagine writing a book about John Adams in the 2010’s would be a daunting task.
At first glance, it appears that there is significant difficulty in writing about a member of a revered, almost mythical, group that died nearly two centuries ago.
It’s no secret that I’m a Wu-Tang Clan superfan.
I know obscure trivia about the group. I have their logo on my coffee mug. I own old issues of The Source and XXL with the group on the cover. I also own items like the “Protect Ya Neck” cassette single, the “C.R.E.A.M.” single on vinyl, and the actual Purple Tape (the cassette version of Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…).
One of the more obscure Wu-related items I own is a copy of
The World According to Pretty Toney, a 2007 book by Ghostface Killah with J. Brightly.
Generally speaking, economics books are not meant to make for pleasant reading.
We’re a nation of clutter. We’re a society of packrats. We love our stuff.
You can’t learn everything in school.
In fact, many of the greatest lessons are found outside of the classroom. As someone that went to graduate school (twice) and did get an MBA, I will not diminish it by saying that reading some books is the equivalent of completing a postgraduate degree. It’s not. I learned a great deal from reading case studies, listening to lectures, and engaging with my fellow students.
However, there there were some gaps that business school did not address.
To fill in those gaps, I turned to books.
There are only a few things that have really changed my life. My children, certainly. My wife, of course. There are maybe one or two others that could be included — business school, for example — but one thing that I would include in that category without hesitation is the website CreateSpace.
The best thing about the digital revolution is that there are almost no rules. Like independent films in the early ’90s, creators are using available technology to push boundaries and reinvent the way things are done. Thus, the rise of the e-book and the availability of self-publishing now allows a superfan to create their own digital scrapbook of their favorite writer/director/podcaster/author.
Even if you realize it’s hard, it’s still far harder than you realize
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 