I never thought how much tech start-ups are like prospectors. California is the origin of both ventures. The field is full of mercenaries. Greed abounds. I honestly thought you were writing a story from your life because this is so believable.
Thank you! Sorry I forgot to credit you for getting me to read Roughing It! What a great recommendation. It has more life than almost any book I've read, Huck Finn included.
It's been so much fun and provocative reading your various posts and notes! I've been meaning to ask if you've read "Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose," by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner? Twain shows up several times as exemplary of classic prose style where -- the motive is truth; the purpose is presentation; the reader and writer are intellectual equals; and the occasion is informal. The authors say: [Twain] takes the pose that life on the Mississippi [in the book of the same title] is interesting and it occurs to him to tell you about it, spontaneously. He writes as if there is nothing to argue about, only truth that the reader will recognize once put into a position to see it." Classic prose style is infinitely fascinating and so pleasurable to read (and write)!
Baghdad Without a Map by Tony Horwitz is a modern (1990s) analogue to the Middle Eastern portions of The Innocents Abroad, if somewhat less savage in its opinions.
His wife, Geraldine Brooks, is better known -- first as a reporter based in Cairo, and later as a novelist. She has a more serious book about the region -- The Nine Parts of Desire, on the subject of women's lives.
I read a lot of Twain as a kid, but I think just his fiction. (I might be the only person born after 1990 who's read "Pudd'nhead Wilson.") Not that this is a meaningful distinction given how much of "Roughing It" is lovingly fabricated, apparently! You make a good recommendation for it. :')
I never thought how much tech start-ups are like prospectors. California is the origin of both ventures. The field is full of mercenaries. Greed abounds. I honestly thought you were writing a story from your life because this is so believable.
Your first segment is really an ingenious tribute to Twain, I dug it!
Thank you! Sorry I forgot to credit you for getting me to read Roughing It! What a great recommendation. It has more life than almost any book I've read, Huck Finn included.
It's a "bully" book, to borrow Teddy Roosevelt's adjective.
Ha, I had the opposite experience that you wrote about: I was told that all that mattered was money and I wasn't greedy enough (at a startup).
I've lived here all my life. Second time in my life that I'm thinking of moving.
It's been so much fun and provocative reading your various posts and notes! I've been meaning to ask if you've read "Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose," by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner? Twain shows up several times as exemplary of classic prose style where -- the motive is truth; the purpose is presentation; the reader and writer are intellectual equals; and the occasion is informal. The authors say: [Twain] takes the pose that life on the Mississippi [in the book of the same title] is interesting and it occurs to him to tell you about it, spontaneously. He writes as if there is nothing to argue about, only truth that the reader will recognize once put into a position to see it." Classic prose style is infinitely fascinating and so pleasurable to read (and write)!
This was great!
Baghdad Without a Map by Tony Horwitz is a modern (1990s) analogue to the Middle Eastern portions of The Innocents Abroad, if somewhat less savage in its opinions.
Oooh, I'll have to check that out
His wife, Geraldine Brooks, is better known -- first as a reporter based in Cairo, and later as a novelist. She has a more serious book about the region -- The Nine Parts of Desire, on the subject of women's lives.
I read a lot of Twain as a kid, but I think just his fiction. (I might be the only person born after 1990 who's read "Pudd'nhead Wilson.") Not that this is a meaningful distinction given how much of "Roughing It" is lovingly fabricated, apparently! You make a good recommendation for it. :')
I also recently read Puddnhead Wilson! But I wasn't born after 1990 ;) It is such a weird book--i have no idea how to write about so I probably won't
Perhaps the takeaway from Pudd'nhead Wilson is "more novels should be interrupted by the murders of Italian vacationers and their subsequent trials"