For the Best Opening That Violates Elmore Leonard’s #1 Writing Principle, perhaps also the first paragraph of the Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch, although it's rather about the sea and not the weather per se:
“THE SEA WHICH LIES BEFORE ME as I write glows rather than sparkles in the bland May sunshine. With the tide turning, it leans quietly against the land, almost unflecked by ripples or by foam. Near to the horizon it is a luxurious purple, spotted with regular lines of emerald green. At the horizon it is indigo. Near to the shore, where my view is framed by rising heaps of humpy yellow rock, there is a band of lighter green, icy and pure, less radiant, opaque however, not transparent. We are in the north, and the bright sunshine cannot penetrate the sea. Where the gentle water taps the rocks there is still a surface skin of colour. The cloudless sky is very pale at the indigo horizon which it lightly pencils in with silver. Its blue gains towards the zenith and vibrates there. But the sky looks cold, even the sun looks cold.”
Hey David, I wish you and yours very happy and healthy holidays too 🙌 this is a nice, light hearted post to round off the year.. thanks for all of the newsletters throughout 2023, I know that I always get a little boost when I see the e-mail landing! It gave me a little lift at times when I needed a boost. If you get around to it could I ask if you had a favourite 3/4 books of 2023? I know you referenced a lot of books in the newsletter like 'Discipline is Destiny', 'Master of Change', 'Quit' etc. I picked up 'Power and Progress' after you recommended it and I'm liking it so far (i also picked up 'Nobody's Fool') , you seem to have been reading a massive volume of material (I guess partly due to book prep) and I was wondering is this intensely focused for the book prep process or more broad in the theme of Range?
"It was a dark and stormy night..." was the beginning of every novel Snoopy wrote. What exactly was Charles Schultz implying? That Snoopy was the Captain, Snoopy was the Sailor, or that he simply liked recursive story telling?
I find very interesting the connection (correlation?) between Nobel prize winners and Olympic athletes. Possibly related, I’ve noticed over the years at my daughter’s ballet studio that the graduating high school seniors (so far all women since my daughter started there) typically receive multiple, significant college scholarship offers and are almost always at the top of their academic classes. These women have typically been dancing for years and often go on to study dance in college or postpone college to perform professionally. Those opportunities establish that they are also at the top of their cohort for ballet.
I often wonder if one skill (academics or ballet) drives the other, or if there are a set of skills, focus, and drive that the dancers apply to both ballet and academics. Granted, my N is about 12 and the observation is limited to one pre-professional suburban studio over a handful of years. But it still interests me that these women are performing very highly on multiple levels and I wonder if there are any correlations.
I love the Year End Awards, especially the part where your deep science background peaks through! I'm wondering two things: (1) what was your organizational process for coming up with these awards? Did you just think "from what I read this year, what is still sticking with me?"? Did you go to your master thought list? Or something else? I guess I'm asking because it's a list of cool things you've learned, and I struggle to actually recall cool things I've learned after a bit of time. (2) After reading your great exchange with William Murphy, I'm going to steal a question from Adam Grant: what is something that you've changed your mind about this year? Seeing how much you read, I imagine there might be a lot of things!
And all in all, thanks for another great year of posts, David. I've moved around a lot this year, and (as strange as it sounds) getting to read your thoughtful reflections and responses has been one of my few and favorite constants. Happy holidays to you and your family!
A brillaint read and so insightful and reflective for this time of the year David. I'll now be ingnoring most road sign on my jorney home for Christmas (It might take me a while to get there!). Only just joined and already reading some of the past posts - thanks.
Playing off the Wilde and Whistler exchange: https://youtu.be/uycsfu4574w?si=jkUXdLTF6sF2UcJg
For the Best Opening That Violates Elmore Leonard’s #1 Writing Principle, perhaps also the first paragraph of the Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch, although it's rather about the sea and not the weather per se:
“THE SEA WHICH LIES BEFORE ME as I write glows rather than sparkles in the bland May sunshine. With the tide turning, it leans quietly against the land, almost unflecked by ripples or by foam. Near to the horizon it is a luxurious purple, spotted with regular lines of emerald green. At the horizon it is indigo. Near to the shore, where my view is framed by rising heaps of humpy yellow rock, there is a band of lighter green, icy and pure, less radiant, opaque however, not transparent. We are in the north, and the bright sunshine cannot penetrate the sea. Where the gentle water taps the rocks there is still a surface skin of colour. The cloudless sky is very pale at the indigo horizon which it lightly pencils in with silver. Its blue gains towards the zenith and vibrates there. But the sky looks cold, even the sun looks cold.”
Hey David, I wish you and yours very happy and healthy holidays too 🙌 this is a nice, light hearted post to round off the year.. thanks for all of the newsletters throughout 2023, I know that I always get a little boost when I see the e-mail landing! It gave me a little lift at times when I needed a boost. If you get around to it could I ask if you had a favourite 3/4 books of 2023? I know you referenced a lot of books in the newsletter like 'Discipline is Destiny', 'Master of Change', 'Quit' etc. I picked up 'Power and Progress' after you recommended it and I'm liking it so far (i also picked up 'Nobody's Fool') , you seem to have been reading a massive volume of material (I guess partly due to book prep) and I was wondering is this intensely focused for the book prep process or more broad in the theme of Range?
"It was a dark and stormy night..." was the beginning of every novel Snoopy wrote. What exactly was Charles Schultz implying? That Snoopy was the Captain, Snoopy was the Sailor, or that he simply liked recursive story telling?
I wrote this , after reading your newsletter. If life, this year and things in spectrum:
Illusions keep us in a safe haven,
If they break, the realities are seen as it is.
Are we willing to face them head on?
Is the truth bigger than us all?
Only few of us know the cost of losing illusions.
Once seen, it cannot be changed.
All the lines, missing flags are seen.
All along, they were there and the society.
Now, I wouldnt trade off for anything less than.
Detached unstitched words, situations, circumstances and people.
The doors are closed forever.
That's okay, for truth shapes us and makes us - far from delusional world.
Never better , than now to see what it was: I got way more cuts from roses ,that had unseen blades.
The prayer was accepted.I put a jar on the blades and thrown it in ocean.
Now, roses bloom fully in the garden.
I sit with those roses and see their light, in its full spectrum- fragmented.
I became that rose-with their eyes of water to become a bouquet of Ruhi Flowers.
-Mariam Saeed Khan
I find very interesting the connection (correlation?) between Nobel prize winners and Olympic athletes. Possibly related, I’ve noticed over the years at my daughter’s ballet studio that the graduating high school seniors (so far all women since my daughter started there) typically receive multiple, significant college scholarship offers and are almost always at the top of their academic classes. These women have typically been dancing for years and often go on to study dance in college or postpone college to perform professionally. Those opportunities establish that they are also at the top of their cohort for ballet.
I often wonder if one skill (academics or ballet) drives the other, or if there are a set of skills, focus, and drive that the dancers apply to both ballet and academics. Granted, my N is about 12 and the observation is limited to one pre-professional suburban studio over a handful of years. But it still interests me that these women are performing very highly on multiple levels and I wonder if there are any correlations.
I love the Year End Awards, especially the part where your deep science background peaks through! I'm wondering two things: (1) what was your organizational process for coming up with these awards? Did you just think "from what I read this year, what is still sticking with me?"? Did you go to your master thought list? Or something else? I guess I'm asking because it's a list of cool things you've learned, and I struggle to actually recall cool things I've learned after a bit of time. (2) After reading your great exchange with William Murphy, I'm going to steal a question from Adam Grant: what is something that you've changed your mind about this year? Seeing how much you read, I imagine there might be a lot of things!
And all in all, thanks for another great year of posts, David. I've moved around a lot this year, and (as strange as it sounds) getting to read your thoughtful reflections and responses has been one of my few and favorite constants. Happy holidays to you and your family!
A brillaint read and so insightful and reflective for this time of the year David. I'll now be ingnoring most road sign on my jorney home for Christmas (It might take me a while to get there!). Only just joined and already reading some of the past posts - thanks.