The Saunterer

David Carr on how electronic technology isolates us

    A scene David Carr described in his New York Times column, December 18, 2005:

So this is how we end up alone together. We share a coffee shop, but we are all on wireless laptops. The subway is a symphony of earplugged silence while the family trip has become a time when the kids watch DVD’s in the back of the minivan. The water cooler, that nexus of chatter about the show last night, might go silent as we create disparate, customized media environments.
    (Quoted from page 12 of City Ubiquitous: Place, Communication, and the Rise of Omnitopia, by Andrew F. Wood.)
    For a brief biography of David Carr, click here. For Andrew F. Wood’s home page, click here.

Henry Beston on the value of poetry

    In the Saunterer’s view, Henry Beston doesn’t exaggerate in saying:

Poetry is as necessary to comprehension as science. (Quoted from The Life of the Creative Spirit, by H. Charles Romesburg, p. 354.)

    For a brief biography of Henry Beston, click here.

Maurice Leenhardt on what lies behind the visible world

    Underlying the visible world, said Maurice Leenhardt, is an invisible world:

One lives in the visible world and rejoices in its charm, and simultaneously one is conscious of the invisible world, just as one is constant of the atmospheric pressure, about which one thinks nothing when it does not disturb one’s bodily function, but which becomes oppressive or exalting when the normal equilibrium is disrupted. The invisible world is charged with life. (Quoted from page 278 of The Eternal Present: A Contribution on Constancy and Change, by S. Giedion. The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. 1957.)
    For a brief biography of Maurice Leenhardt, click here. For a brief biography of Siegfried Giedion, click here.

Roald Hoffmann on ancient Greek government practices we should adopt

    Roald Hoffmann captures the source of much of today’s troubles:

I want to salute the ancient Greeks not only for their philosophy but also for their ability to devise ingenious social structures that truly gave citizens the sense of being empowered. The large juries, the boule, the dikasteria, the rapid rotation of offices by lot - all of these kept everyone involved. Some of the Athenian inventions that have lapsed need to be revived, for instance the euthuna, the detailed investigation of an officeholder’s conduct at the end of his term of office. It was and is a wonderful idea, and it would be good to have it become a routine procedure for anyone who might profit in power or wealth from his or her office. (Quoted from page 224 of The Same and Not the Same, by Roald Hoffmann. Columbia University Press, 1995.)
    For a brief biography of Roald Hoffmann, click here.

Wilbur Glenn Voliva on why the earth is flat

    Wilbur Glenn Voliva was an early 20th century flat-earth advocate. Consider several of his arguments:

Ships don’t disappear in the distance at all. You can see a ship twenty-five miles out at sea if you look through field glasses. According to scientists, the curvature of the earth for those twenty-five miles, allowing for refraction, should be three hundred and fifty-eight feet. If the earth is round, how can you see your ship over a hump of water three hundred and fifty-eight feet high? . . .  As for that round shadow on the moon, the flat earth would still cast a round shadow. A saucer is round, isn’t it? . . . Of course, Magellan sailed round the world and came back to where he started. He went round the flat earth exactly as a needle goes around a gramophone record. Millions of men have sailed round the world from east to west, and west to east. It can be done on a saucer, too. But do you know of anyone who has ever sailed round the world from north to south? Of course not. Those who tried fell off. That’s why so many explorers have disappeared.

    (Quoted from page 212 of Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea, by Christine Garwood. Thomas Dunne Books, 2007.)   
    For a brief biography of Wilbur Glenn Voliva, click here. For an interview and biographical information of Christine Garwood, click here.

Leslie Marmon Silko on the meaning of fragile

    She gives the meaning in her novel, Ceremony (try applying it to ecosystems):

“But you know, grandson, this world is fragile.” The world he chose to express “fragile” was filled with the intricacies of a continuing process, and with a strength inherent in spider webs woven across paths through sand hills where early in the morning the sun becomes entangled in each filament of web.(Quoted from page 35 of Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko. Penguin Books, 1986.)
    For a brief biography of Leslie Marmon Silko, click here.

Thomas Jefferson on how to stay young in old age

    For Thomas Jefferson, the secret was gardening:
I have often thought that if heaven had given me my choice of position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. . . . I am still devoted to the garden. But though an old man, I am but a young gardener. (Quoted from page 110 of Green Planet: How Plants Keep the Earth Alive, by Stanley A. Rice. Rutgers University Press, 2009.)
    For a brief biography of Thomas Jefferson, click here. For Stanley A. Rice’s homepage, click here.

Marianne Moore on how a poem is written

    In Mary Austin’s book, Everyman’s Genius, is a letter from Marianne Moore to Mary Austin explaining how a poem comes to be. The main part:   

An attitude, physical or mental - a thought suggested by reading or in conversation - recurs with insistence. A few words coincident with the initial suggestion, suggests other words. Upon scrutiny, these words seem to have distorted the concept. The effort to effect a unit - in this case a poem - is perhaps abandoned. If the original, propelling sentiment reasserts itself with sufficient liveliness, a truer progress almost invariably accompanies it; and associated detail, adding impact to the concept, precipitates an acceptable development. To illustrate: a piece of armor is impressively poetic. The movable plates suggest the wearer; one is reminded of the armadillo and recalls the beauty of the ancient testudo. The idea of conflict, however, counteracts that of romance, and the subject is abandoned. However, the image lingers. Presently one encounters the iguana and is startled by the paradox of its docility in conjunction with its horrific aspect. The concept has been revived - of an armor in which beauty outweighs the thought of painful self-protectiveness. The emended theme compels development.
    Quoted from page 339 of Everyman’s Genius, by Mary Austin; The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1925. For a brief biography of Marianne Moore, click here. For a brief biography of Mary Austin, click here.

Denis Diderot’s test for knowing if you are a very good person

    Denis Diderot said:

I must be a very good person if I can be so saddened.

    (Quoted from page 42 of Exemplarity and Mediocrity, by Paul Fleming. Stanford University Press, 2009.) For a brief biography of Denis Diderot, click here.

Vladimir Horowitz on why great soloists perform a little imperfectly

    No taking risks, no greatness. Hear pianist Vladimir Horowitz:

For me, the intellect is always the guide but not the goal of the performance. Three things have to be coordinated and not one must stick out. Not too much intellect because it can become scholastic. Not too much heart because it can become schmaltz. Not too much technique because you become a mechanic. Always there should be a little mistake here and there - I am for it. The people who don’t do mistakes are cold like ice. It takes risk to make a mistake. If you don’t take risk, you are boring. These youngsters who win a competition are like the assembly line. Every trill is so perfect but everyone is the same and in 10 minutes you will be bored and go home. (Quoted from a copy in The Saunterer’s files of a page from a New York Times Magazine article. The article's title and date are missing; however, we believe the article appeared in the January 8, 1978, issue.)

    For a brief biography of Vladimir Horowitz, click here. To hear Vladimir Horowitz playing Chopin’s Raindrop prelude, click here.