What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you?
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@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon A random handbook about setting a storefront for a shoe repair business. It was the first (and to a large extent last) time i saw an end to end description of how a work becomes a workshop. How visible and invisible tasks interplay, the role of appearances and underlying reality, balance of flexibility and record keeping, importance of maintenance and tool placement and ergonomics... it also taught me a fair bit about fixing my shoes.
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon I work in an industry that doesn't understand itself as a workshop, and isn't grounded in identifying process friction or the need for invisible work. That book taught me more that most university classes.
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta was real in ways I desperately needed to hear when I read it, back in 2021-22ish. I suspect a reread now would be incredibly insightful.
A lot of the stuff I've seen bringing modern systems and Civilization into question is written in ways I struggle to get my head around. But I remember this felt like walking with a friend, not a scholar flexing all the knowledge they have that you don't. Heady, thinky, sleep-on-it ideas, sure... but the writing style itself was approachable, and I wasn't struggling to 'keep up'.
I think reading it was a push in my current direction, and especially with how thoughtfully I relate to my environment. It was a big influence in lots of tiny ways, I think.
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@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon I work in an industry that doesn't understand itself as a workshop, and isn't grounded in identifying process friction or the need for invisible work. That book taught me more that most university classes.
@feonixrift @ShaulaEvans @bookstodon amazing!!!
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
*You're all such fascinating people -- I'm curious about how you got to be who you ar, hence this particular question. xo
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
@ShaulaEvans "The Book of Form and Emptiness" by Ruth Ozeki [2021]:
• one of the first books I read after a long period during which reading itself was difficult for me... reading has always been one of my favorite things, so it helped me reconnect with myself at a time I needed to relearn who I even am
• my mom (who recommended it to me) and I bonded over the similarities between our lives and the MCs' (a teen who starts having psychotic symptoms after his father dies, a now-single mother doing her best to support her son) and we appreciated the perspectives it offered us of each other's experiences (my psychiatrically troubled upbringing, her parenting me through my psychiatrically troubled upbringing...)
• I felt so... seen... like, I've definitely met actual folks like these characters during my own stints at the mental hospital (and dealt with this degree of incompetency from various institutions!!!)
• this is one of those stories that's about everything: surviving adolescence, overcoming bereavement, environmentalism, workers' rights, critiques of the psychiatric system, the importance of libraries...
• The Book itself is a character, and a delightful one at that... I'd like to think all books feel the way about us that This Particular Book does
• the story references—and is what got me into—Jorge Luis Borges, who is quintessential schizo reading material (and has inspired several of my favorite authors... which makes me feel like I'm creatively headed in the "right" direction with my own work) -
What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Pratchett, for me.
"Like an exercise bicycle it takes you nowhere, but it just might tone up the muscles that will."
Terry Pratchett on fantasy, from The Discworld Companion.
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
I remember reading Catch 22 when I was a teenager, probably 14 or 15? I was pretty quiet, geeky, a chess nerd. It made me see an absurdity to art that gave me more confidence in expressing my somewhat awkward ideas. I joined a drama group and wrote comedy with a school friend. And although I abandoned things for a while, I eventually dropped out of uni, bummed around like a beatnik and then taught myself circus skills, joined a community circus, and began to perform again. For 15 years I became a self employed performer, going against my natural introverted self. When I changed jobs to teach chess, I was an instant hit as I now have a gift for storytelling and entertainment which appeals to students and staff. I owe a lot to the absurdity of Joseph Heller who showed me the ridiculous can be a beautiful thing if presented in the right way.
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon @falcennial
I can’t remember the title or the author but I remember reading a non-fiction book in 1984 about rainforest depletion and it made a major contribution to me becoming vegetarian
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@ShaulaEvans "The Book of Form and Emptiness" by Ruth Ozeki [2021]:
• one of the first books I read after a long period during which reading itself was difficult for me... reading has always been one of my favorite things, so it helped me reconnect with myself at a time I needed to relearn who I even am
• my mom (who recommended it to me) and I bonded over the similarities between our lives and the MCs' (a teen who starts having psychotic symptoms after his father dies, a now-single mother doing her best to support her son) and we appreciated the perspectives it offered us of each other's experiences (my psychiatrically troubled upbringing, her parenting me through my psychiatrically troubled upbringing...)
• I felt so... seen... like, I've definitely met actual folks like these characters during my own stints at the mental hospital (and dealt with this degree of incompetency from various institutions!!!)
• this is one of those stories that's about everything: surviving adolescence, overcoming bereavement, environmentalism, workers' rights, critiques of the psychiatric system, the importance of libraries...
• The Book itself is a character, and a delightful one at that... I'd like to think all books feel the way about us that This Particular Book does
• the story references—and is what got me into—Jorge Luis Borges, who is quintessential schizo reading material (and has inspired several of my favorite authors... which makes me feel like I'm creatively headed in the "right" direction with my own work)A wonderful book, and an uplifting story
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@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon @falcennial
I can’t remember the title or the author but I remember reading a non-fiction book in 1984 about rainforest depletion and it made a major contribution to me becoming vegetarian
@urlyman @ShaulaEvans @bookstodon makes sense there are wonderful books on the wonderful journey of a wonderful man.
literally Textbook Schofield! 🤌
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Anne of Green Gables. It showed me that it's ok to be ambitious in school, and that wanting to write stories is, if not perfectly normal, at least not unheard of either. I read it at about 7-8 (for the first time, but I've of course read it countless times since).
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, turned me on to travel, philosophy. I was about 14 when it came out.
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Thicker Than Water by Leonore Davidoff, which I read ahead of a colloquium with the author at the beginning of my Master's in 2012, when I was 23.
It's a monograph about siblings in history that's super engaging because it's such an interesting, human topic and she wrote it in such an accessible way. Not only did it open my eyes to the fact historians are 'allowed' to write like that, but it made me think 'what about only children?' – giving me a topic for my PhD!
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Watership Down, which I tried to read for the first time in around 4th grade (on my own, not assigned for school or anything). about halfway through I made the conscious decision that I was missing a lot, that I would probably understand it more fully when I was older, and put it aside. read it again all the way through... not sure exactly when but definitely before or in high school, because that was when I started compiling a Lapine (rabbit language) dictionary. over the years I read multiple copies often enough that the paperback would fall apart, and I'd get another copy and do it again. I have no idea how many times I've re-read it, but I have large chunks of it basically memorized.
it was possibly the first book that showed me what a written masterpiece was, and the fact that it was about rabbits, *from the perspective of rabbits*, made it deeply precious to me. (cont)
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@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon A random handbook about setting a storefront for a shoe repair business. It was the first (and to a large extent last) time i saw an end to end description of how a work becomes a workshop. How visible and invisible tasks interplay, the role of appearances and underlying reality, balance of flexibility and record keeping, importance of maintenance and tool placement and ergonomics... it also taught me a fair bit about fixing my shoes.
@feonixrift That sounds absolutely fascinating!
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What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you? At what point in your life did you read it?
Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook: however you define "book" for yourself is fine with me.
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon spell of the Sensuous by David Abrams. Most of the book is about the origination of language and how our environments shape our sounds. It helped me open to the possibilities found in relating to my environment, to keep me open to hearing new forms of language, to keep me listening for song lines from the Earth.
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Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta was real in ways I desperately needed to hear when I read it, back in 2021-22ish. I suspect a reread now would be incredibly insightful.
A lot of the stuff I've seen bringing modern systems and Civilization into question is written in ways I struggle to get my head around. But I remember this felt like walking with a friend, not a scholar flexing all the knowledge they have that you don't. Heady, thinky, sleep-on-it ideas, sure... but the writing style itself was approachable, and I wasn't struggling to 'keep up'.
I think reading it was a push in my current direction, and especially with how thoughtfully I relate to my environment. It was a big influence in lots of tiny ways, I think.
@mouseless How did you first come across the book?
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@ShaulaEvans "The Book of Form and Emptiness" by Ruth Ozeki [2021]:
• one of the first books I read after a long period during which reading itself was difficult for me... reading has always been one of my favorite things, so it helped me reconnect with myself at a time I needed to relearn who I even am
• my mom (who recommended it to me) and I bonded over the similarities between our lives and the MCs' (a teen who starts having psychotic symptoms after his father dies, a now-single mother doing her best to support her son) and we appreciated the perspectives it offered us of each other's experiences (my psychiatrically troubled upbringing, her parenting me through my psychiatrically troubled upbringing...)
• I felt so... seen... like, I've definitely met actual folks like these characters during my own stints at the mental hospital (and dealt with this degree of incompetency from various institutions!!!)
• this is one of those stories that's about everything: surviving adolescence, overcoming bereavement, environmentalism, workers' rights, critiques of the psychiatric system, the importance of libraries...
• The Book itself is a character, and a delightful one at that... I'd like to think all books feel the way about us that This Particular Book does
• the story references—and is what got me into—Jorge Luis Borges, who is quintessential schizo reading material (and has inspired several of my favorite authors... which makes me feel like I'm creatively headed in the "right" direction with my own work)@gemsmoke You are *definitely* on the right path with your work. xo
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@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Pratchett, for me.
"Like an exercise bicycle it takes you nowhere, but it just might tone up the muscles that will."
Terry Pratchett on fantasy, from The Discworld Companion.
@falcennial I'm with you. I deeply love this books. And I came across them at exactly the right moment for me.
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@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Watership Down, which I tried to read for the first time in around 4th grade (on my own, not assigned for school or anything). about halfway through I made the conscious decision that I was missing a lot, that I would probably understand it more fully when I was older, and put it aside. read it again all the way through... not sure exactly when but definitely before or in high school, because that was when I started compiling a Lapine (rabbit language) dictionary. over the years I read multiple copies often enough that the paperback would fall apart, and I'd get another copy and do it again. I have no idea how many times I've re-read it, but I have large chunks of it basically memorized.
it was possibly the first book that showed me what a written masterpiece was, and the fact that it was about rabbits, *from the perspective of rabbits*, made it deeply precious to me. (cont)
@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon it's always been very difficult for me to "see myself" in media, for whatever reason--I just don't identify with protagonists very easily, most of the time--and Watership Down's non-human focus showed me that it was possible to write something beautiful, that could be taken seriously by the general population, that didn't center a "normal" human perspective.
over the years, I've come to appreciate it like an exquisitely well-made piece of furniture. I know the grand arcs and the fine details like the smooth sweep of polished woodgrain under my fingertips. I've examined its construction, seen how the parts are fitted together, the craftsmanship that connects each piece to the others. I don't know if I will ever be able to make something so beautiful or enduring in my life, but it's the high mark I will always aspire to.
