I often hear people say that they no longer read novels; that if they’re going to take the time to read a book, they want to learn something.
But “nonfiction” means neither objective nor important.
Fiction teaches empathy and truth about the impossible diversity human experience: This is NOT a waste of time.
Reading novels is both enjoyable and enlightening. Practice it. Allow yourself.
(And for some book-loving inspiration, check out my favorite tumblr blog, Bookshelf Porn.)
There is a certain age when a woman must be beautiful to be loved, and then there comes a time when she must be loved to be beautiful.
Françoise Sagan (#quote in NYTimes.com article)
The market for something to believe in is infinite
Hugh MacLeod (via nuradical) #quote
I don’t worry about inspiration. I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, ‘Well, now it’s writing time and now I’ll write.’ There’s no difference on paper between the two.
Frank Herbert, science fiction writer (via @academicladder)
If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent, whatever that is. Who am I? What right have I to speak? Who would listen to me if I do? You’re a human being with a unique story to tell, and you have every right. Yours enlarges the circle.
Richard Rhodes: How to Write: Advice and Reflections, Harper, 1995.
That initial element contains an enormous number of built-in decisions that limit the scope of the intellectual or visual problem at hand, thankfully preventing the paralysis that results from the overwhelming unlimited scope of decision contained in a blank page or empty space. The initial element provides a leverage point for expression. Also that starting element helps to find a problem that one can actually make progress on.
Edward Tufte’s The blank page, the empty space, the paradox of choice on Ask E.T. Forum, 2006. {This was one of my inspirations for The Blank Page: Effects of Constraint on Creativity}
There’s a big difference between adding a feature to an existing product and building a product around a philosophy.
Dustin Curtis (via 9-bits)
If you are a knowledge worker, cognitive capitalist, or a Reichian symbolic analyst, you will not be retiring at 65. Period.
The 15 Minutes that Could Save Five Years – Michael Schrage – Harvard Business Review
“Everyone reading this should take 15 hard minutes to ruthlessly reassess the reality of the “new” final years of their future career. The finish line has become elusive; the goal posts have been pushed back. Based on your current skill set and competences, what do you think your workday will look like when you’re 70?”
You can’t improvise on nothing, man; you’ve gotta improvise on something.
Jazz great Charles Mingus as quoted in Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration (by Keith Sawyer, 2008)
A grasp of finance, strategy, marketing and all those “big picture” subjects only forms part of a serious leader’s education. Those sometimes neglected or disdained topics – organisational development and behaviour, communication, team dynamics – that are often rejected as insubstantial turn out to be crucial to success as a leader.
Stefan Stem, in the Business Education supplement of FT on May 20, 2010, argues cogently for the importance of the ‘soft skills’ training that is all too often neglected and/or under-valued.
I am a writer, teacher, researcher, teamworker and ideawoman. I believe in observation, collaboration, and the open-minded following of ones' heart and nose.
I help teams and companies combine creativity with insights about human behavior to design elegant solutions to real problems, and develop their capacity to create powerful products and services in less time with fewer resources.
Images featured in blog posts and on Flickr are the author’s original work unless otherwise stated. Portraits of the author on this domain taken by Roy Rosenthal.
