Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Nourishment for Mind & Body

'Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.'
--Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729)

14 Comments:

At 5:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Then who is the Susan Powter of reading?

 
At 10:55 PM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

Now that's a name that has rightly faded into the mists of recent history, in all her bald glory. She had her 15 minutes of fame. But if we had to choose one with that dubious designation, I suppose it might be one of those impossibly well-read professional book reviewers, like the Washington Post's Michael Dirda, who spend their entire days reading and then writing about what they read. Not bad work if you can get it.

 
At 10:18 AM, Blogger Christine Borne said...

Or, Nancy Pearl.

 
At 10:37 AM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

Hey, Christine, thanks for that link, and the reminder about her. Come to think of it, I happened to hear her in a recent NPR interview (I think she's a semi-regular), and found her quite interesting. I'll be sure to keep a lookout for her stuff. She's a good example for you of how librarians can multiply their infuence through harnessing the media. I'm looking forward to seeing a stream of published op-eds flowering from your keyboard.

 
At 11:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

if you spent your days just reading and writing then who would trim your grass or do your shrubs? i think i know the answer. mfh

 
At 11:29 AM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

If you do it for pay, as one should, then you could hire a kid from the neighborhood, or your own kid. But of course I didn't mean one would be doing that ALL day, just all the working day. That leaves evenings and weekends for the kind of detestable but necessary chores to which you refer.

 
At 11:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You need to enlighten yourself and visit a Home Depot or a Lowes one of these days instead of a bookstore. mfh

 
At 11:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nancy Pearl is a great choice. She was also the model for a librarian action figure (with "amazing" shushing action)...I kid you not.

 
At 11:39 AM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

I will happily visit Home Depot and Lowe's after the world's last bookstore closes, if ever that happens. Or maybe when I learn that they're serving shrimp tempura samples next to the power drill displays. Until then, I'll try to reserve my time for the really important things. Being a bored and boring suburban guy just isn't among my attributes, I'm afraid. Though I do have lots of other faults.

I like that librarian action figure, Buster. That made me chuckle.

 
At 11:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nancy first broadcast on the college station here in Tulsa before moving up to Seattle.

 
At 11:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

By the way, our 1957 time capsule was briefly opened yesterday. It doesn't look so good inside, but there is still a chance the Plymouth Belvedere in it can be salvaged. It was wrapped in 3 layers of plastic sheet. We'll find out tomorrow.

 
At 11:45 AM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

Wow! I guess all roads lead to and from Tulsa. Ironically, the NYT brilliant sports columnist Will Rhoden today poignantly profiled the Cavaliers first draft pick, Bobby "Bingo" Smith, who's a product of Tulsa State. I'd post the link, but I was disappointed to learn just a moment ago that the piece is behind the paper's pay wall, Times Select. That's something new: till recently, only opinion pieces and a few other selected areas were so segregated. A sign of the Times, I guess.

 
At 11:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wonder if the NYT's management is uncomfortable with exposing the world directly to Krugman and Rich.

 
At 11:57 AM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

No, to the contrary, they know that they're what people are most likely to pay for, actually. You happen to mention the two must-read columnists (Maureen Dowd has long since dropped out of the must-read category for many, including me, though I still do enjoy her column more often than not).

And if you're trying to figure out a way to slowly transition to an online version that pays for itself, you begin by putting your strongest, most popular material behind pay walls, and keep adding from there. It's all a grand experiment, but with the sometimes-alarming rate of reader migration from print to web (slower with the NYT older audience than with other papers), it's an experiment with some urgency behind it.

 

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