Category: Notebook
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The most influential books of the 20th century…
I spent all morning researching and writing this answer to the Quora question: What 20th-century novel has been most influential in shaping mindsets and changing lives? So I thought I’d share my answer here as well. It is hard to pick just one novel, but I think that 1984 by George Orwell is the most influential novel of the…
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Common Themes in the Works of Stephen King
This essay started life as a collection of notes I made on every Stephen King book a few years back, when I was rereading them all. Then it morphed into an answer to a question on Quora. I was asked to answer a question on Quora about the common themes in Stephen King’s works. I…
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Remembering How to Play
Recently, I was talking with my son’s preschool teacher, and I casually asked her when my four-year-old should be learning how to read and write. Her response surprised me. She gestured at the terrific space she had set up for the children to play in: an outdoor garden and playhouse, swings and slides, climbing ladders…
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One of us, one of us…
I’m thinking about joining Amazon Prime. I usually have to think about things for a long time before I do them, especially if any amount of money is involved. I got a Kindle for Christmas, and I think it would be nice to have access to their lending library. I also want to check out…
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Too much information?
There is no doubt about it — we are living in an information Golden Age. In just a matter of minutes, and assuming my computer and Internet connection are working, I can find the top news stories of the day, plus analysis and commentary; I can research almost any question I have; I can read…
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I am a picky reader…
This is a repost of an old post of mine from Books Worth Reading. I think about it every time I hear someone say that they can’t or shouldn’t put down a book they’ve started reading, despite not enjoying it. Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that you or I read, on average,…
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How to be a better reader…
I spotted this question on Quora: How does one become a better reader and what does it mean to be a better reader? Here is my answer. Being a better reader, I would say, means that you choose higher quality books that can enlighten as well as entertain you. By high quality, I don’t just…
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Are e-books the new content farms?
Laura Miller has a great article called Spamazon at Salon.com, which explains how e-book spam is clogging the Kindle. I was toying with the idea of getting an e-book reader, maybe for Christmas, but this new development is enough to put me right off of it. It seems that these e-book spam operators are repurchasing cheap…
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Why reread books?
Here is an answer I gave to a question asked on Quora: Which fiction books have people read more than once? Why? 1) For deeper understanding of the meaning of the book. Some books, especially those with challenging structures, benefit from rereading because each time you can dig deeper into the themes and unwind the…
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Some thoughts on George Orwell’s 1984 inspired by the so-called Birther debate and other current events…
Like most people who have read 1984, it profoundly affected my way of thinking about power and political systems. Orwell introduced concepts and language into the general consciousness, such as “doublethink” and “Big Brother.” The struggle against political oppression and the tyranny of the powerful few over the many seems to be a never-ending one,…
Shannon Turlington 