Logan -- 195d Well said, exactly! replyWell said, exactly!
thread · root b386ebf9…9666 · depth 3 · · selected 2adafe29…d015
thread
root b386ebf9…9666 · depth 3 · · selected 2adafe29…d015
I’m a big believer in re-reading books and re-watching films.I think the Schopenhauer quote that “one can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books” is true.I want to open-source how I do this in my own life.Most people engage with great works of literature, art, film, philosophy etc once, when they’re in high schoolor college, and then never again. This is a shame.What you can glean from and resonate with in King Lear, for example, as a working father versus as achildless16-year-old is significantly different and orders of magnitude more profound.Great art is not meant to be engaged with once when we’re really young and then never again. That’s leaving alot of epiphany, a lot of beauty, and a lot of wisdom on the table.One thing I started doing several years ago was creating a mandatory minimum curriculum each year. Meaningbooks/films that no matter what else I read or watch in a given year, I make sure I get to them.I’ll get more specific on the book front in a separate post, but suffice to say my bare minimum is twoShakespeare tragedies and a selection of poetry I’ll unpack later. I also find it grounding to read at least oneof the Gospels every year.That’s table stakes for a year. It’s not too heavy of a lift (intentionally, as I am a working father of twoyoung children, after all, with scarce free time). But it’s always rewarding. Over the last few years I’vestarted expanding it a little bit.On the film side, I watch the following ten:1. Citizen Kane - Orson Welles2. Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock3. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Kubrick4. Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu5. Rules of the Game - Jean Renoir6. The Godfather - Coppola7. 8 1/2 - Fellini8. Sunrise - F.W. Murnau9. The Searchers - John Ford10. Seven Samurai - KurosawaIn a good year I certainly watch more than this. And there are certainly other films I also try to prioritizere-watching, but this is just baseline.If folks find this sort of humanities nerdery interesting I’ll start posting more notes about it.I have one particular shelf in my house that’s just “the pocket,” “the essentials.” The idea is to visit andrevisit it often.
In the case of books, on the one hand, it's discovering new layers of meaning, and on the other, it's just aprecise moment in your life. Great literature combines both, repeatedly.In movies, the best ones, the same plus details you missed the first, the second, or the third time... thedelight of discovering them and being surprised once again.
Well said, exactly!
In the case of books, on the one hand, it's discovering new layers of meaning, and on the other, it's just a precise moment in your life. Great literature combines both, repeatedly.
In movies, the best ones, the same plus details you missed the first, the second, or the third time... the delight of discovering them and being surprised once again.