I have been reading Ben Franklin's autobiographical collection. At the start he states that he derives pleasure from "any little anecdotes of my ancestors." He can imagine that his posterity shares his curiosity, so he succumbs to the inducement of his vanity and decides write his story. He goes on to say that in telling his story, he realizes that a recollection of that life is almost like living it over again, and that putting it down in writing makes it as durable as possible (his words). I have been fascinated by Ben's story--all the nitty gritty details about what he ate and didn't eat, the gossip about his friends and enemies, the chain of events that influenced his principles, his thoughts, his passions, his disappointments and heartbreaks. I know this is a blog, not an ode to vanity, but where else could I tell my own story?
The urge to tell one's personal story is one of the strongest of human drives--rivaling survival, perhaps. (What good is surviving if there's no story?) So, I suppose, I too am driven to tell my story; much as I abhor the notion of joining a crowd (and bloggers are truly a crowd), the draw of the blog is irresistible. A little tidbit, a morsel at a time, indelibly recorded--immortality via blog?
Reading Favorites
Steven Ambrose: Band of Brothers
Gary Zukav: Dancing Wu Li Masters
Dan Simmons: Hyperion
James Michener: The Source
Robert Heinlein
Issac Asimov
Joe Simpson: Touching the Void
Stephen King: The Eyes of the Dragon
Robert L. Scott: God is My Copilot
Beryl Markham: West With the Night
Tony Hillerman (mostly)
Ben K. Green
Robert Service
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Patrick McMannus
Richard Proennke: Alone in the Wilderness
Douglas Whynott: Following the Bloom
Chris Czajkowski: Diary of a Wilderness Dweller
Steven Strogatzaz: Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaeous Order
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