‘I have lived among the Gods.’
Harkness, Sarah. Literature for the People: How The Pioneering Macmillan Brothers Built a Publishing Powerhouse. United Kingdom, Pan Macmillan, 2024.
Category: amreading
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‘Few men of our time have made a better use of a fortune of which they were the architects, or have been less spoilt by prosperity.’
That from the introduction of Sarah Harkness’ tome on the Macmillan brothers. Two pages in and I’m hyped. That’s what an introduction should do, right? It should act as the book’s hypeman!
Book introductions are underrated.
Harkness, Sarah. Literature for the People: How The Pioneering Macmillan Brothers Built a Publishing Powerhouse. United Kingdom, Pan Macmillan, 2024.
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Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted.
— Margaret Thatcher
Are you reconnaissanceing?
What in your field are studying up on, researching, observing?
Oliver, Henry. Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life. United Kingdom, John Murray Press, 2024. pg 91
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At Saint-Maurice I have a huge trunk. I’ve been filling it, ever since I was 7 years old, with my plans… with the letters I receive, with my photos. With all I love, think about, and want to remember. At times I spread them out haphazardly on the floor. And as I look down, I am reminded of all these things once again. Nothing but that trunk is of importance to me.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
We should all cultivate a “trunk” like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Bimba Landmann‘s In Search of the Little Prince is an enlightening short biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The prose reads like a poem. And I knew Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a pilot, but I didn’t realize how much he loved to fly.
Picture books remain underrated.
Landmann, Bimba. In Search of the Little Prince. United States, Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.
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One morning you wake up and say: “It was just a fairy tale.” You laugh at yourself, but deep down you’re not laughing at all. You know that fairy tales are the only truth of life.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Picture books remain underrated.
Landmann, Bimba. In Search of the Little Prince. United States, Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.
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October is the month of painted leaves. Their rich glow now flashes round the world. As fruits and leaves and the day itself acquire a bright tint just before they fall, so the year near its setting. October is its sunset sky; November the later twilight.
- Henry D. ThoreauKick off October with Henry D. Thoreau.
Again from his essay Autumnal Tints.
Thoreau, Henry D.. Essays: A Fully Annotated Edition. Italy, Yale University Press, 2013. p. 283
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Muir was a quintessential romantic frontier figure. Unarmed, carrying only a few crusts of bread, a tin cup a small portion of tea, a notebook, and a few scientific instruments, Muir walked into the vastness of the Sierras to search out truths. Single- minded, he did not hesitate to challenge the accepted the accepted authorities and their explanations regarding the wilderness he loved. He formulated his own theories and carefully searched out the evidence. America has always loved its rebels, even if it turns out later that they have not discovered the whole truth.
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“Truth and sincerity have a certain distinguishing native luster about them which cannot be perfectly counterfeited; they are like fire and flame, that cannot be painted.”
Ben Franklin
Floodlights and Goalposts 