Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Like an ice axe to my heart....

"If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a first hammering on our skull, why then do we read it? So that it shall make us happy? Good God, we would also be happy if we had no books, and such books as make us happy we could if need be, write ourselves. But what we must have are those books which come upon us like ill-fortune, and distress us deeply, like the death of one we love better than ourselves, like suicide. A book must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us." -Quoted by George Steiner, "Language and Silence"

The picture is me reading a book on Knots...not necessarily a life altering read but tying knots is a challenging endeavor if you've never learned any worth tying.

5 comments:

Wes said...

Might I suggest "The Ashley Book of Knots"?
It's the consummate knot tying "bible".
Over 3900 different knots! My stepdad was a retired career US Naval Officer. That book sat next to his easy chair for 20+ years. A fascinating book for you, Eric.

Matt said...

That's why John Cassavettes made films.

Wes said...

LOL Matt!

Reading knot tying books in your spare time is vastly under-rated!

FCB said...

Hmmm, another interesting post but a bit to narrow for my liking. I whole heartedly agree that we need to read books that "hammer or skull", in some seasons. But sometimes we need sweet succor; vivid beauty; philosophical poetry and romantic poetry is nice also. On I could go, but I think his point may be we simply need to read to purpose and not simply to fill time or arouse some appetite we will have to suppress later.
I'm not sure where knot tying lands but I'm sure it has many redeeming qualities :)
Love Dad

Michael McMullen said...

Learn how to tie a Monkeys Fist. Probably won't solve any problems, but it looks awesome.

http://www.animatedknots.com/monkeysfist/index.php