We read to know we’re not alone. –C.S. Lewis
That’s why I’m going to blog. I can’t pretend that I have subject matter expertise currently absent from the Internet, and I’m sure not exciting enough to compete with the cults of personality around realbloggers. I’m not outgoing enough to start these kinds of conversations with people face-to-face, and I’m too anxious in groups to create a “community” around me.
(There has to be a “but” or I’d just end it here and you’d be sad)
But. This blog is me doing exactly those things. I have plenty to say, and you’re going to read because on this screen, my personality can be HUGE. In-your-face, Sherlock Holmes I’m-always-right huge, and this blog will be my Dr. Watson, dutifully taking down everything I say. Speaking of Sherlock Holmes, do you know why reading Doyle’s stories of the famous detective could improve your life today? I do.
That’s why you’ll stay, I hope. I read books like a fat kid eats donuts (voraciously and with a lot of sprinkles), but most people I know feel there’s no time to read – I’d like to prove them wrong. There is nothing more important than making time for reading. As Confucius said (this guy knew everything), “No matter how busy you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” This is even more relevant today, when the pace of current events seems too fast to linger on dusty fiction or topics not directly connected to the workplace. I’d like to prove that there is never a more important time to stop and read than when things seem too busy to do just that. Novels, tomes, compendiums, essays, opi (how many people have ever tried to pluralize “opus?”); There’s a whole world of books waiting to teach us. Of course, there are crappy ones too, but we’ll take this one issue at a time.
That’s my part, but do you know yours? Here it is: Read this blog once a week. Each time (if you’re diligent but not impatient) you’ll find another book, and you’ll learn exactly why you should be reading that book today. You could call it literacy advocacy, but I call it fun. Repeat: IT IS FUN TO READ THESE BOOKS! Even if they didn’t have important lessons to teach us about ourselves and the world around us, quality books sharpen the mind and fill you with questions, and there’s no better feeling in the world than to have a whole lot of questions, except maybe to have a whole lot of questions and find out that other people have those same questions. A community of curiosity (copyright me) is destined for intellectual greatness, like the Platonic Academy or Aristotle’s Lyceum. And what better place than a self-founded community of curiosity to perform that sacred ritual of a person just closing the last pages of a great book: run out and require everyone to read it!
The Greek word “polymathes,” or “polymath” in English, is the formal term for a person whose expertise or interests span a wide range. Literally, it means “having learned much,” which seems like a good phrase to mutilate in search of a blog name. Since I don’t speak Greek, I’ll have to adapt the English interpretation – I’m thinking “Having Wondered Much.” It seems right for that question cumulus cloud we’re supposed to find our heads in when we finish a good book. Strong name, right? Sounds to me like it could be the name of a book (circles within circles)!
So. We’ve got a name, we’ve got a plan, and we have a very compelling reason to read this blog (it will force you to look for new meaning in old words). You’ve got a writer whose hesitance to draw attention to himself is alleviated by this whole Internet business, and I’ve got readers who will (presumably) only bother coming back if they’re interested in the old words about which I have new ones. We also have an abundance of old words (tomes, novels, compilations, etc.), those things are all over the place. The only thing left is to get moving – we’ll need something along the lines of Doctor Frankenstein’s lightning to zap the blog to life.
Or we could just go. Hope to see you by the back cover of this story!