Three days after orientation, the Moirai visited the graduate house.
While the three sister goddesses were spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of a student’s PhD life, he was having a sleepless night worrying about meeting his supervisor the next day.
Hearing the student breathe a sign of relief after a peek at the thread, the three goddesses laughed.
— Don’t be silly.
They mocked but sympathized.
— Your supervisor has the power of Zeus in your PhD – the thread is elastic.
To change the reputation of dry-as-dust scholarly writing, JSTOR has introduced an AI Writing&Editing software collaborated with School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics.
After the input of research questions, data and results, it generates a paper within a minute, with writing styles such as those of Shakespeare, Austen, Wilde, or Kafka to choose from.
Reviewers and readers can customize the style to regenerate the work, thus revealing its intellectual value that could be overlooked by literary snobs.
After a three-month beta test, statistics shows that options other than “plain”, which is built on the vast pool of existing scholarly publications, are rarely used — not even the highly recommended “Hemingway”.
There is a temporary shortage of PhD offices when the building is under renovation. Students are taking shifts to use the offices by “Early bird” and “Night owl” based on the building entry record.
“Night owl” students protest to the school on the grounds of closed cafe bar at night. A fancy espresso machine is proposed to take its place.
The school decides that the lack of a cafe bar is indeed a discrimination against “Night owl” researchers.
A final-year PhD, who needs to work both day and night, is hired to work at the cafe bar after its closing hours. The wage is replaced by free access to coffee and snacks.
Department of Psychology is working with Department of Neuroscience in applying a state-of-art research to help PhD students and rookie professors stay motivated.
The brain of a subject is scanned when she feels on top of the world at her research. Operations are conducted to make permanent changes at the aroused brain zone.
Very few subjects have signed up to volunteer for the experiment because no free pizza or Amazon gift card is offered.
One hiring school is making the operation a prerequisite for incoming students and faculty members after a budget meeting.
Instead of sticking with one book at a time until finish, I enjoy reading with my ever-changing mood and energy level, often influenced by environment, weather, and nowadays — my baby.
The upside is that I don’t get stuck in a book I’m not feeling connected to at the moment and lose the reading momentum for the day.
The downside, however, is the trouble and difficulty of making choices. (Yes, life is short; good books are inexhaustible even if we keep refining and narrowing our picks.)
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My habit of reading multiple books during a time also stems from my being more of an “opener” than a “finisher”. That means “starting” a new book makes me feel refreshed and get an instant feeling of satisfaction; but “finishing” a book, which gives some people a sense of accomplishment, seems not so satisfying to me. (Sometimes I’m even reluctant to say goodbye to a fascinating book that I deliberately pause before it ends, just to return afterwards for a formal farewell.) After such self-knowledge, I find a way to generally cure that tendency now: I pledge to finish 50 books in 2016 on Goodreads, so each time I classify a book as “read” I can get a thrill out of a progress update that moves one step further towards my goal.
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Back to the trouble with picking up the right book every day. I find the following things worth trying in order to plan or improvise my daily reading.
– Keep a reading journal. I update my major reading progress on Goodreads. But still, keeping a daily reading journal not only facilitates self-monitoring for each day but also illuminates a personal reading pattern in the long run.
– Make a personal reading index. This is a result of my daily review recorded in my journal. Not only do I keep track of which books I read, I also jot down some quick reviews such as “light reading”, “too bleak”, “wit and wisdom”, or even “weird style.” So later I’m able to have a list matching my reading mood and suitable books accordingly.
– Plan ahead with “to-read” list. I take notes of books “to-read” inspired by books “currently-reading”. So if I truly enjoy a topic or an author and want to read more similar books, I can get started right afterwards (or at the same time).
– Seasonal reading. Weather and temperature obviously influence my activities, so it is quite a good starting point to look at what I read the same time in the last season for an inspiration. This is also a partially controlled examination of my personal growth in reading.
– Location specific setting. If you know very well what you’d like to read at your bedtime or teatime, it’s convenient to keep the right book at the right place.
– A spur-of-the-moment read. Timing is everything. Sometimes you just need to cope with your momentary emotions with a certain book, or even a chapter of it. In such moments, I will indulge myself and then classify those books as “not-finished”, or “tbc” if it might come in handy again.
– Set a deadline. A regular book decluttering is necessary when I have too many unfinished books. Some of these I’ll never finish, yet some just lack the opportunity of being prioritized. (I do finish some books in an uninterrupted read because of the library due date.) Apart from outside pressure, a self-imposed deadline could be a special date like the end of month, or just anytime you feel bloated — a situation that makes the choice even harder.
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Nowadays, my attention span is shortened by the never-ending calls from the baby. Much as I look forward to our reading time together, I guess my next problem will be how to combine and synchronize our reading schedules.
In search of wisdom, if a man keeps track of his process, if he identifies its uniqueness and desires to share, then his journey has a new meaning surfaced within and he’s off to create. This creation expands the possibilities of life whether it’s got noticed or totally ignored — even if he’s not creating as a professional writer, painter, composer, chef, gardener, etc.
If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.
— Toni Morrison
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I bet to say many of us do not work in the areas we’re really into but are instead compelled by external expectations or social norms. Yet rather than keep thinking that the grass is greener on the other side and divorce the current job prematurely, one might realistically consider a marriage to an avocation — feed your craving for your hobby and leave the door open for any fleeting opportunity towards your special calling down the road.
But the reality may be frustrating.
For lots of vocations life itself may be the best school. But to succeed most people need a circle, a group of peers to talk shop and offer support. What’s more? Connections beget connections! So the importance of being an insider cannot be over-emphasized. That may be the most depressing element of being an amateur – a feeling of marginalization.
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However, 1) being a layman and not systematically trained have its advantage over those who are totally ingrained by how things should be like — especially 2) if one’s goal is to feed his own inner interest unconcerned by established rules.
Two excellent discussions elaborate on these two points which I’m quoting below.
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In her Harvard commencement speech in May 2015, Natalie Portman talked about the power of being not-so-experienced from her own story.
Your inexperience is an asset, and will allow you to think in original and unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.
I know a famous violinist who told me that he can’t compose because he knows too many pieces so when he starts thinking of the note an existing piece immediately comes to mind.
Just starting out, one of your biggest strengths is not knowing how things are supposed to be. You can compose freely because your mind isn’t cluttered with too many pieces. And you don’t take for granted the way things are. The only way you know how to do things is your own way.
Each time you set out to do something new your inexperience can either lead you down a path where you will conform to someone else’s values or you can forge your own path.
— Natalie Portman
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi reflects on why the word “amateur” has grown a tarnished reputation in Flow.
The bad connotations that the terms amateur and dilettante have earned for themselves over the years are due largely to the blurring of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic goals. An amateur who pretends to know as much as a professional is probably wrong, and up to some mischief. The point of becoming an amateur scientist is not to compete with professionals on their own turf, but to use a symbolic discipline to extend mental skills, and to create order in consciousness.
— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow
And as to the relationship of Reading and Writing:
In philosophy as in other disciplines there comes a point where a person is ready to pass from the status of passive consumer to that of active producer.
To write down one’s insights expecting that someday they will be read with awe by posterity would be in most cases an act of hubris, that “overweening presumption” that has caused so much mischief in human affairs.
But if one records ideas in response to an inner challenge to express clearly the major questions by which one feels confronted, and tries to sketch out answers that will help make sense of one’s experiences, then the amateur philosopher will have learned to derive enjoyment from one of the most difficult and rewarding tasks of life.
— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow
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In my view, the power of amateurs lies in the innocent ignorance and free will ungoverned by rules and norms. To recognize such power is not to diminish the value of foundations. It is to honour the passion for finding one’s own way and expressing in one’s own voice, which is truly an unexhausted source of exuberance intrinsic to a happy and meaningful life.
Keen readers are self-sufficient. Because they are not disturbed by mundane chaos (books provide an oasis of serenity at one’s fingertips), less vulnerable to midlife crisis or identity confusion (undoubtedly dozens of great books are out there reflecting and casting light on the predicament anyone is facing), and do not shy away from questions such as the meaning of life (every book shows some aspect of life, and altogether they present all possibilities of life).
Even if a reader does not read in order to be a scholar or literary critic, she can at least achieve one thing – a good life unbounded by time and space.
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We may have forgotten that reading once was a prerogative of the ruling class, and how our society has advanced since the suppressed gained the powerful tool of reading and writing.
For a long, long time most people couldn’t read at all. Literacy was not encouraged among the lower classes, laymen, or women. It was not only a demarcator between the powerful and the powerless, it was power itself. Pleasure was not an issue. The ability to maintain and understand commercial records, the ability to communicate across distance and in code, the ability to keep the word of God to yourself and transmit it only at your own will and in your own time — these are formidable means of control over others and aggrandizement of self.
— Ursula K. Le Guin, Staying Awake While We Read
Not taking it for granted — because reading for pleasure is a freedom that is still a luxury for many people in the world. That makes me sufficiently content to be an amateur reader — and instead of using the word an “ordinary” reader — one that reads for career — I love the original meaning of “amateur” behind it — a lover of books, and life.
Does reading books on reading/writing help you become a better reader?
This is like visiting a new place with a tour guide. You may want to explore by yourself, and you think you have done enough research at home. But a local expert can always add a new dimension to your experience.
But…why not just enjoy reading as it is? That’s what “amateur” means in the first place.
Although I don’t want the differentiation of “professional” and “amateur” readers to kill the pure joy of reading, I believe an inspirational guidance can make my limited reading time more rewarding. (Sorry, my academic mindset again — always thinking about the incremental contribution of each experience, plus the cost-benefit analysis.) However, a quote from Stephen King may soothe my nerves and let go of the obsession with good books.
Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.
— Stephen King, On Writing
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While reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I was quite delighted to know that, indeed, my lack of beginner readers’ common sense caused my blindness to the masterfulness of The Old Man and the Sea.
The Old Man and the Sea (1952), a nearly perfect literary parable, so clear, with symbols so available, that the Christian imagery is accessible to even beginning readers.
— Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor
But wait, the author should have more authority on his own work right?
Then there is the other secret. There isn’t any symbolysm [sic]. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know.
— Ernest Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961
Is this over-interpretation? Do readers have the right to have their own read on a story — a God-given right to recreate the story as an uninvited co-author?
Well well, I don’t want to join the debate in an academic way. (If I feel like having one, I already have my own battlefield in another area. 😀 )
Besides, recreation is a playful and joyful way of reading — what’s more fun than read a good story may be to give it a parallel twin story as a company. 🙂
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So my point is:
I always proceed with caution when reading those “books on reading.” There is always a trade-off. Much as I love being introduced to Chekhov or getting to understand the role of “Details” in a story via Reading Like a Writer, not only could the viewpoints in some books be misleading, they may also spoil the pure joy of Reading by frustrating an unsophisticated amateur reader, and take up the real time you’re with the stories as well.
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A final note is on the authors of those “books on reading.” At any rate, they are people who truly enjoy books and have spent a lot of time in the trade. Sitting and reading with an experienced bookworm as your pal enriches a leisure activity.
Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can’t use the wrong words. But on the other hand here am I sitting after half the morning, crammed with ideas, and visions, and so on, and can’t dislodge them, for lack of the right rhythm.
— Virginia Woolf
In a letter to a friend, Woolf describes her view of what style is — or simply, what writing is — it is all rhythm.
No need to ask how to cultivate rhythm if you’ve ever studied a language or tried to write. Read, read, read. Through enormous input, you make yourself a natural.
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But I’m not talking about how to feed yourself well to achieve it. I’m thinking of the daily labor of writers, composers and other artists who have to just show up every single day and give their best effort to the world — even, like Woolf, the lack of the right rhythm sometimes makes her stuck.
So I’m talking about how to wake up the rhythm every day — flexes its muscles and shows its best shape.
The solution is simple — before one starts to write, one reads — selectively, deliberately, intuitively. That is what I call “priming“.
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Before I take pen to paper, I read. I can’t begin my day reading fiction; I need the more intimate tone of letters and journals.
— Mary Gordon
Plenty of examples I read are from Odd Type Writers by Celia Blue Johnson. In the chapter “In the Shadow of Masters”, the author provides stories of writers such as Balzac, Maugham, and Maya Angelou — they read for the correct tone, for the touchstone, or for inspiration, until they get the rhythm for their own piece of work.
… writers chose to read a particular book every day before they set to work. The process of reading helped each of these authors warm up before setting pen to paper.
— “Odd Type Writers”
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Well well, on my to-do list, there will be a new task — find my “priming” writers or works! That, to some extent, overlaps with my plan on “books to reread” list.
Several weeks before Grace was born, we moved to a larger apartment to accommodate our new life. With a clean slate, I decided to have a detox project to start afresh with my nest.
It’s daunting to think about such a project. A plan is definitely in need. That’s when I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō. Though I had already learned its main idea of “spark joy” from YouTube, reading it myself with the task on the horizon instantly turned the stress into relish. 🙂
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Due to my own reading style, Marie Kondō’s method on dealing with books doesn’t seem to appeal to me. For example, to convince her clients to keep their book collections small, she suggests that we let go of those classified as to be read “sometime” — which is equivalent to “never” in her opinion.
For books, timing is everything. The moment you first encounter a particular book is the right time to read it.
— Marie Kondō
Still, I like the word “timing” she uses in describing our journey with books (and my favourite quote that illuminates our evolving acquaintance and preference with books is by E.M. Forster). This is especially true for the so-called self-help books, which are considered by some a genre of ill repute. Nevertheless, my encounters with several excellent books in this genre do benefit me in many ways — with the right “timing”.
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Indeed, reading the classics shapes and sharpens one’s mind; yet it is the art in daily life trivialities that more directly influences one’s quality. Things like how to design and tend our space, how to develop and stick with a habit, or how to trick ourselves into starting a task and stopping procrastination when we don’t feel like it, actually have more to do with our happiness and accomplishments than we imagine.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
— Aristotle
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Perhaps what really matters is not experimenting with those catchy mottos or life hacks, but rather having someone who has gone the same path sitting side by side and “talking” about their exploring processes. It is such “communication” that inspires me with realistic goals that secure a modest success, and accompanies me in a similar journey of my own.
In a friendly tone, Marie Kondō kept me company in deciding which category of belongings to start with, what clothes I should let go, or how to arrange miscellaneous items down the road. After the book had done its job properly, I let go of it as well — with gratitude.
New Mama Gets Reading Done 