GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Books

  • another month of 52’s (five-pack ten+10 bits for a creative practice+self help junky)

    I’m now distant enough from these pieces they’ve become surprises to revisit. I should to accelerate the release of these five-packs, but things are about to crazy at work. If I fall further behind, that will let them age longer as old surprises to uncover.

    ,

    2/6 Inktober 52 (2024), week 19

    world
    floating
    in
    a
    jar

    I had a rough time with the composition, and I need to take a month to practice the sign painting script to hit right. Even so, I’m happy with this final version, even if it took a little computer magic to make it work.

    ,

    2/7 Inktober 52 (2022), week 9

    uhoh
    them
    mops
    gots
    buckets

    In retrospect, I the sign painted UH-OH would have worked better, but in the moment I pushed the cursive in the finished versions. I’m looking for a good pointed brush outside of my Pentel pens, but it will take a few tries to get right. That’s gonna be an expensive exercise since it requires buying individual brushes.

    ,

    1/25 Inktober 52 (2025), week 4

    aquarius
    poor
    ganymede
    mixing
    nectar

    I’ve been starting my mornings by practicing the my script of the month. Pushing the finished piece with the hue function gave it a nice watery feel, by changing the colors. My main practice inks are yellow and pink because they are quite dry (so they don’t heavily on cheap paper).

    BTW the original Aquarius myth is sad, if not traumatic. Them Greeks told things real. Same for the Bible, even if we normally gloss over those parts.

    ,

    2/1 Inktober 52 (2025), week 5

    we’re all in this zoo

    As always, there are so many little decisions that must be made after the overall concept. Again, the practice sheet came to the rescue, adding a little extra noise to give the composition presence.

    ,

    2/8 Inktober 52 (2025), week 6

    a light in the swamp

    The top two versions are tweaks of the same scan. All versions were done as black/grey ink on white paper and then inverted in GIMP. After that, it’s about how hard to push the dials.

    ,

    As much as I’d prefer to do it all perfectly on the page, the computer is an integral part of my process. These discussions about process are my penance for relying so much on the box.

    Similar to the writing seminar in undergrad, I suspect my most influential class in grad school was the digital photography course with Frank White. As an architectural photographer, he unapologetically embraced the computer as part of the process.

    Of course, the process is a lot harder if you don’t start with good inputs, but the final piece is the final piece. Excuses about what happened along the way don’t matter for the deliverable.

    That’s how I do it here. I’m not above the occasional process photo to flashthat I can do most of it in real life. I’m not hiding anything, whether it came from the pen or was pushed in the computer.

    It just is.

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS—10 Bits For a Creative Practice

    I wrote this as a response to someone’s post in early 2024, but the records have been drowned in the endless feed of content. I liked this enough to save it as a draft and it’s finally time to reshare it.

    1. Show up every day.
    2. Jump in! FFS just start.
    3. Study the greats.
    4. Celebrate your peers.
    5. Don’t freak out about bad work.
    6. Tension is the trigger to breathe. Relax.
    7. If you can’t do it slow you can’t do it fast. No rush.
    8. Pivot freely.
    9. If the crop feels wrong, the crop IS wrong. (Trust your gut)—an aphorism I learned in that photography class.The concept of trusting default triggers has served me well over the decades for many things beyond images.
    10. Do it again tomorrow!

    .

    PPS—Self Help Junky

    Another response to someone else (exactly who lost in the endless feed).

    As a former self-help junky, I’m a big fan of the anti-self-help movement. Of course, a moderate approach is generally best in life, but if you could only pick path I’d recommend skipping self-help.

    But I’m moderating this reactionary stance after reading Kenny Werner’s Effortless Mastery.

    I wonder if the question for judging a book is “how” versus “what”. Don’t invest in books that tell you what to do (or avoid). But there might be value in books that explore how to get somewhere that you already want to reach.

    In that spirit, here is a quartet of self help books that might be of use:

    1. Fail-Safe Investing, Harry Browne (great life-finance advice, though do your own research on portfolio composition because the specifics are dated)
    2. So Great they Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport (good compilation of career advice for someone entering the workforce)
    3. Several Short Sentences about Writing, Veryln Klinkenborg (this book goes beyond writing to life, even if a bastardized version of his advice has infected LinkedIn with punchy shallow drivel.)
    4. Effortless Mastery, Kenny Werner (a slow approach to practice, nominally about music but it applies to anything. It’s a distant second best to Tai Chi training at a good school.)

    All that said, the Bhagavad Gita would trump all of these books, even if it’s profane to place this text next to self-help fare. May the gods forgive me.

    But always be ready to ignore anything that you read in these books. Never confuse the author’s confidence in their advice for it’s applicability to your wild and wooly reality.

    .

    PPPS—Black to Yellow

    For giggles I took a brush pen with black in and put in a cartridge with Lamy Mango Yellow. The first sheet shows the transition from pure black (marked with the cyan slash on the second line) to yellow.

    1/24

    Interestingly, when I went back for more practice, there was still some more black that came out of the brush.

    1/24

    The next morning I made the “aquarius” 5WP (above), which had more black sneaking out (every other line was made with that black-mango ink, the other lines were made with the former mango pen, now filled with a pinkish ink).

    Funny how these things play. The joy of the real world!

    .

  • 40 words (five-pack nine+Wisdom Books)

    It’s fun to revisit old 5WP’s in these compilations. Some of them far back enough that I’ve forgotten that I made them!

    ,

    1/14

    present
    is
    time
    right
    now

    Decades ago, I watched Mike Ditka spout “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift—that’s why they call it the Present.” I usually quote it ironically, but I can’t deny that it stuck.

    ,

    1/16

    one
    glance
    aged
    the
    strainer

    One afternoon, I looked at our metal kitchen strainer and realized that it had been thoroughly beat up over its years of service. I never noticed the kinks and divots in the frame, and I’m back to being blind to it. The power of the thing overwhelms the thing of the thing.

    ,

    1/19

    lost long blame empty vessel

    interstellar crime missing alien gem

    phenomenal floating history endless wish

    More fun with the pointed brush cursive and the Artstack Poetry Haul challenges. Between February (italics) and January (pointed brush) it seems that it takes about two weeks of practice to get confident in running a new script on the 5WPs.

    ,

    1/21

    bright
    flashes
    through
    plastic
    slats

    Las Vegas lights up with illegal fireworks on July 4th and New Years Eve. This 5WP was surprisingly tricky. I tried a few arrangements that fell flat, including this one. It was rescued by my old axiom “when in doubt, add noise” with the wash lines for slats.

    ,

    sing this pen on page

    time passing in this book

    I finished another notebook on 1/24/2025 (started 10/14/2024). Turns out that bound composition books are not fun to graph on, especially at the end when everything feels wrinkled. One day I’ll find at good use for the ones still at home. Until then, I’m sticking to spiral notebooks for quickly graphed 5WPs.

    For this psuedo-triptych, I included the back page of the journal where I had started practicing with the brush around November. I’m really happy with the refinement that happened over three weeks of daily practice.

    It wasn’t fun to start with the pointed brush, so it’s a nice reminder to get uncomfortable because that’s where the new growth is hiding.

    ,

    I am finally finishing my Alphabet Magic series. The sketches were completed in 2023, but the publishing of those sketches and photos has dragged on (the calligraphy detour didn’t help!)

    Last week, I made a big push to edit the images. I had been annoyed by the Windows photo editor but I’m super happy after using GIMP (which I learned due to the calligraphy detour.) Plus these posts pair great with new and ancient drafts of those Penny Delight poem-proses.

    It’s awesome to close out a long unfinished project. I am a firm believer in just pushing stuff out there. In the process of publishing, synchronicity swoops in and creates connections that can’t be planned in advance.

    Keep exploring and cya next time!

    ,

    PS-The Wisdom Books, Robert Alter

    As part of my wisdom kick, I picked up a copy of Robert Alter’s translation of Job, Proverbs, and Qoholet (Ecclesiastes).

    Job is an enigma. A good dude gets crushed, argues about whether he deserved it, and God pops in to yell at everybody.

    In a world with a human-ish diety, it reads weird. This book makes more sense for an atheist. We might have some agency, but we’re buffeted by the whims of grand forces beyond our control—society, fate, nature. We don’t matter. We’re fleas on the tiger, hopefully it takes us to a good place, but there ain’t no guarantees.

    Arguing about fault is fruitless. The competing monologues between Job and his accusers are just Tweet-storms between opponents talking past each other.

    I respect canon and the filter of time. Anything from the ancients that made it to the present must have something worth reading, even if I reserve the right to pick and chose what to believe from the good book. One day, I should read the rest of the Bible without god. I wonder if I will enjoy it more.

    Robert Alter’s introduction and commentary helps make sense of an otherwise befuddling text. I really enjoy his opinions on the development of the text. It’s hard to kick the reflexive perspective of hardcore divine inspiration, so it’s nice to have someone say, “yeah the text is corrupt here.” The confusion isn’t all on me as a puny reader. At a practical level, the formatting (using the main text over footnotes on the same page) is superb, the information is always immediately at hand.

    ~

    Unlike Job, Proverbs did not hold up, in spite of fond memories reading this book many times as a kid.

    It did not utterly bore me as the “Wisdom of Solomon” (all sizzle and no steak), but there was more noise to signal than I had remembered. The memorable images are still there (the lazy man rolling back and forth on his bed like a door), but I had forgotten all the chaff that came with this book. It burns pages selling the beauties of wisdom. Bro, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t already buy in!

    This time, I was struck by it’s optimism—do good and good stuff will happen. Maybe that was a better fit three decades ago, with America as the global hegemon and an apparently principled Christian conservatism on the rise. But such sunny optimism doesn’t feel right in the wake of two failed wars, a mismanaged epidemic, bipartisan ineptitude in federal power, and the flagrant cruelty of the evangelical church.

    I suspect the reception of these ancient works are intimately tied to current events. Maybe I’ll find more resonance in old testament prophets, demanding repentance and a return to righteousness….maybe Proverb’s calls to wisdom weren’t misplaced after all.

    ~

    Ecclesiastes is beautiful.

    I never noticed this before, maybe because this book demands that you age into its reading.

    Robert Alter’s prose certainly helps, as well as the formatting of the page as a true prose essay. However, I checked my King James Bible and noticed that it read great as well, even though the copy was chopped into verses and was full of anachronisms breaking up the flow.

    Growing up, I primarily read Proverbs. That might be right for a young mind, keeping them on the search for wisdom and avoiding laziness. But after hitting a certain place, it’s impossible to avoid the bigger things in the world. It’s not so sunny out there.

    If wisdom is the way, how do we explain this insanity?

    Strangely enough, the gentle hedonism of this book is one way through. Pursue the wisdom, but don’t expect it to work out. Enjoy the fruits of your labor if it comes, but don’t kick yourself if it don’t.

    Years after reading the bible, I did not expect to have a fully aesthetic moment in reading this book. Other parts of the Bible must hit such heights. Maybe the Sermon in the Mount. Is it hiding in the minor prophets?

    Time to start digging.

    ,

    PPS—Nothing deep here, just messing around with the banjo and recording it for giggles (January 13).

    ,

    PPPS-Pointed Brush Progress (February)

    At the start of the year, I went through all my scripts and put them in a book (black ink). After January, I ran the pointed brush to see how it improved (red ink).

    I don’t think the printed text improved much, but that’s because I got totally sidetracked into the cursive, which I adore. I don’t think my pointed brush cursive here was the best, but I guess it’s good to have an “average” example.

    That said, there is no greater feeling of flow than graphing with the brush pen while feeling the “edge”.

    .

  • old 52’s (five-pack seven+Bhagavad Gita)

    Catching up with old Inktober52 challenges from 2024.

    ,

    1/20 Inktober 52 (2024), week 22

    duck
    paddling
    into
    murky
    secrets

    ducks
    paddle
    over
    dark
    secrets

    I uploaded the one on top, but was not happy with how it looked. I messed around a little in GIMP, adding a duo-tone background and then changing the opacity to multiply. Now I’m really happy with both versions!

    ,

    1/23 Inktober 52 (2024), week 27

    free to pluck the
    stars

    This was inspired by Ann Collin’s post with collage artist Duane Toops, a beautiful pairing of poetry and collage. Check it out!

    Their collaboration was bouncing in my head as I tried to fall back asleep while also mentally imaging the Inktober52 prompt “free”. This line slid into my half asleep mind and I snapped awake.

    The original graph was black ink on white paper. In the computer, I inverted the color, pulled “stars” way up into the sky, and added a little brown to emphasize the earthiness of the starting line.

    Even though I don’t prefer relying upon the computer, I do it when it makes sense. At the very least, rightsizing the white space around conventional pieces. And sometimes it’s nice to envision a piece and hit it out of the box.

    ,

    1/28 Inktober 52 (2023), week 42

    plump
    witches
    prefer
    organic
    children

    This one turned out to be wicked hard. Even though I envisioned both of these concepts fairly easily, they both took multiple attempts and I’m not happy with any of them.

    Sometimes you just throw your hands up and say “this is all I got with today’s skillz!” And move on.

    ,

     

    1/29 Inktober 52 (2023), week 51

     

    the
    elf
    sang
    soft
    slow

    I’m still figuring out how to use that music nib. This was inspired by a glorious piece by totemspoems on Instagram.

    ,

    2/3 Inktober 52 (2021), week 30

     

     

    ink
    more
    black
    than
    bile

    A lot of times I’m using greys, washes, or watercolor. It was fun to just use a pure black india ink.

    ,

    At the start of February, I showed my wife some awesome calligraphraphers on Instagram. She was reasonably nice about my work too =).

    But we agreed that the borders was limiting the punch on the 5WPs.

    So they’re gone.

    As an architect, there are some perks to being married to another architect.

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS-Bhagavad Gita

    I spent the month of April 2021 reading and listening to all the books in the library about the Bhagavad Gita. I thought about doing a series of separate posts, but I’m not sure I have that much to say, so listicle time!

    Let’s start with a free copy, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. As with all public domain books, the language is dated, but nothing beyond the King James Version of the Bible. It doesn’t come with commentaries, which are essential for understanding what’s going on—especially for us from the West where Hinduism is an exotic oriental religion, but the price is right for a decent introduction to the Gita.

    I listened to Jack Hawley’s Bhagavad Gita, A Walkthrough for Westerners which is a translation where the commentary is mixed into the writing, resulting in a version that is three times as long as the original poem. It’s an interesting concept that reminds me of the Living Bible paraphrase of the Bible published in the 1970’s. But I was reading the original at the same time as listening to this book, so it felt strange to have Hawley’s parentheticals inserted into the flow of the text. And it was unsettling to never be sure what was textual and what was explanatory. I don’t think it’s a horrible idea, but I prefer the streamlined punch of the original.

    I also listened to Ram Dass’s book Paths to God which takes the opposite tack from Jack Hawley. This is a series of lectures nominally around the Gita, but really about Hinduism and spirituality in general. I first came across Ram Dass in the documentary Fierce Grace (as part of a double header with Winged Migration in a movie theater that was about to be demolished). I’ve always been skeptical about white dudes who are into eastern spirituality, but I could sense a good spirit in the film. One interesting aspect of this book is that Ram Dass effortlessly utilizes the language of the 60’s (freak, trip, etc) in a way that makes one understand how that vocabulary came about. Of course it has become a caricature through the intervening decades, but the body of language met a need that was lacking in standard English. In all, I really liked this book.

    The library has a straight audiobook reading of the Gita translated by Barbara Stoler-Miller. The reader, Jacob Needleman, has a copy of the audio posted on his own website. The free version online is of inferior audio quality to the version on Overdrive, but it is free.

    Eknath Easwaran has a popular translation, but he relies a bit too much on sanskrit terms which makes it hard to follow at times.

    When Love Comes to Light, by Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor is a two part book, with an extended ten chapter commentary of the Gita followed by a translation of the book in the second part. Having read and listened to a few books about the Gita, I’m at that point where I’m no longer a complete stranger to the work, but I am still such a novice I can’t really judge the quality of the commentary. Nothing seems out of line with what other people say about the Gita. One nice feature about this commentary is that it generally follows the flow of the Gita. While the essays don’t shy from pulling quotes from the entire book, the flow of the ten chapters covers the themes in the order that they were presented in the original. As such, it may be a good introduction to the Gita.

    The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling, by Stephen Cope is a self help book based around the Gita. Like any self help book it is digested in to four digestible “pillars”:

    1. Look to your Dharma
    2. Do it Full Out!
    3. Let Go of the Fruits
    4. Turn it Over to God.

    I enjoyed being introduced to the biographies of the great individuals who were discussed in the book, but the criticism on Amazon that the author never dealt with the the conundrum of familial obligations is absolutely on point. The Gita is all about following your duty, which is an easy concept if one has only one single overarching dharma. But what if you have multiple obligations? This book falls short for us normies. I understand why Cope streamlined the biographies to focus on their pursuits of their dharma, but this reduced applicability of these stories for our messy lives. I get that the greats are great because they are different, but if the author doesn’t draw a connection between their lives and our reality, then their biographies become irrelevant. As such, the book is simultaneously too long and too short.

    I read the Stephen Mitchell translation, which is in Modern English. Unfortunately I can’t remember anything about this translation. Stephen Mitchell has translated so many different texts, I’m always a little worried about whether he has the expertise to do it right whenever it comes to a specific book.

    I’ve ultimately settled on Laurie Patton’s translation. I enjoy her tight structure, capturing a poetic pithiness of the original that the other translations don’t. I read this after my initial explorations, so having some of the concepts telegraphed is not a problem.

    Given that I’ve read more about this text than any other text from the last twenty years you could say I dig the book. Its appeal to duty resonates with the cultural Confucianism of my upbringing and my intellect is tickled by the exotic foreign spirituality in the rest of the book.

    Naturally, the Gita has ended up in the top tier of wisdom literature that I would like to revisit for the rest of my life, along with the Daodejing, Analects, Havamal, Zhuangzi, and the book of Ecclesiastes.

    ,

    PPS-Practice

    1/22

    .

  • 52ing into 2025 (five-pack six+Books that Matter: The Analects+Confucius: And the World He Created)

    Here are the last couple of Inktober 52’s from 2024 and the first three for the new year.

    ,

    12/23 Inktober 52, week 51

    realities
    wrapped
    in
    the
    enigma

    I tried going with a square for this is play on “enigma wrapped in a riddle”. The corners felt awkward so I went to the old standby—a big circle.

    ,

    12/30 Inktober 52, week 52

    zombies cross the finish line

    Always a little scary to give up control, letting gravity have a say.

    I’m not sure if outlining was better or worse. It makes it a bit cartoonish, less bloody.

    ,

    1/4 Inktober 52, week 1

    quiet
    sunrise
    quells
    murky
    shades

    The pointed brush and copperplate cursive came together in “sunrise”. I’m unhappy with my dip pen copperplate—it needs a ton more practice to look good for these 5WP’s. But all that December work set me up for pretty good cursive with the pointed brush.

    So it worked out after all. Shouldn’t plan too much for these these creative meanderings. Just peek far enough to keep doing.

    ,

    1/12 Inktober 52, week 2

    perky
    shrimp
    pound
    pearly
    xylophones

    After finding the big concept, one must still wrestle with a bunch of little decisions. It turned out the last slant was best.

    ,

    1/18 Inktober 52, week 3

    tick tock
    yesterday
    transforms
    tomorrow

    I finally learned how to properly spell “tomorrow”.

    ,

    I can’t believe we’re 8% through the year!

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS—Books that Matter: The Analects of Confucius, Robert Andre LaFleur, Great Courses, 2018

    This excellent audio course covered the Analects and its outgrowth in Chinese history. It provides a conceptual framework for reading the text as a series of conversations between the teacher and his students. LaFleur then covers key themes, such as filial piety and remonstrance, and finally closes with a discussion of Confucius’s long legacy in China and East Asia.

    After four years, it might be time to revisit this course. Like most Westerners, I have an affinity with quirky individualism of Daoism as a reaction against fundamentalist Christianity. However the ideas centering social relationships and mutual bonds as discussed in this lecture series are attractive, especially as our nation continues to rattle itself apart with irresponsible leaders and citizens.

    Beyond these lectures, just finding this course is a reminder of how much info is just out there. Here’s a free 12 hour lecture series! what else is hiding on Overdrive? And the library’s physical stacks? Add Kanopy.com and the publisher’s own streaming service? Finally podcasts and YouTube!

    I wonder what Confucius would say about drowning ourselves with information.

    ,

    PPS-Confucius: And the World He Created, Dan Schulman, 2015

    This book was a good rejoinder to the Great Courses lecture series, which had taken a positive spin on the philosophy. This book focused on the real-world history of Confucianism, which was quite detrimental by the end of China’s imperial age.

    Such is the fate of any philosophy that becomes calcified. American Christianity’s obsession with being right has created an political religion that has forsaken Jesus’ true core of love. The ineffable concept of the dao became a collection of wild superstitions in religious Taoism. And the vision of a well ordered society metastasized into a harsh top-down hierarchy that perpetuated stagnation and cruelty.

    These loose philosophies started out kindly enough but lost their heart as they became systematized. Certainty killed the animating force that gave them life.

    An organized religion builds a magnificent intellectual edifice by losing the point. One must always be free to pick what works today and ignores that which is irrelevant to the moment.

    For that reason, I suspect Confucianism is making a comeback. With the destruction of the formal, governing, imperial ideology, the writings of Confucius and Mencius are available for a fresh rereading. It took two centuries of chaos in Asia to exorcise the old ghost of Confucianism. Master Kong is free to ascend again.

    Schulman notes in his epilogue that we are at a crossroads where Confucius can be used to help form an orderly rich society. Or maybe it becomes the bedrock for a new authoritarianism. Let’s just hope we don’t screw it up as badly as last time.

    ,

    PPPS-Practice, red to salmon

    1/15

  • More #52’s (five-pack five+Analects of Confucius, translated by Robert Eno, 2015+Make More Art Flow Chart)

    Some more 5WP’s inspired by Inktober 52 prompts.

    ,

    12/16 Inktober 52, week 50

    gingerbread
    home
    chicken
    running
    feet

    After the initial post, I thought it might be better with the gingerbread home inverted. But it just looks like a piece of toast.

    In the past few months, I’ve gone native with GIMP. Its UI is not as intuitive as what I remember from Photoshop, but I’m able to produce quickly on the program, at least for the limited work that I do with it. I presume going back to Adobe would now involve an uncomfortable learning curve.

    And yes, this piece is a reference to Baba Yega’s lovely home.

    ,

    12/18 Inktober 52, week 32

    fang
    sour rain
    eerie sea

    This was partly inspired by the Fender logo, but it took a bit of finagling to get something that felt properly fangy. Even then, I had to add a bit of splatter to lock in the effect.

    ,

    12/20 Inktober 52, week 30

    O
    blessed
    and
    cursed
    mutation

    There is a slight color shift in the four words because I was playing with the gradient effect by touching two Pilot Pens. Maybe I’ll spend a month really playing with that effect. Or maybe I just use watercolors.

    ,

    12/21 Inktober 52, week 29

    summoned
    Hellboy
    to
    wash
    dishes

    Tried a couple versions of this poem but went with the mental image of Hellboy carefully soaping porcelain teacups. It was fun to learn how to draw an ellipse!

    ,

    12/22 Inktober 52, week 25

    little
    folk
    abduct
    farm
    animals

    After the time cutting out a pile of A B U D C and T’s from mailers and brochures, I had to show off all five attempts.

    ,

    I’m trying to write these in advance, but it’s hard to keep up with the calendar. Time marches inexorably forward.

    And commitments invariably multiply.

    The doc just prescribed a half hour of aerobics, 5 days a week. It’s going to take every self-help hack I’ve collected over forty-five years to develop a positive mindset about this new 150 minute weekly time suck.

    But I’ve been warned that heart drugs mean no more eating grapefruits.

    So I must run and jump.

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS—Analects of Confucius, translated by Robert Eno, 2015

    The internet is a wonderful place.

    When the pandemic hit, I finally started reading eastern philosophy. I can’t remember why I started with the Analects, but Robert Eno of the University of Indiana made it easy by freely sharing his translation of Confucius.

    The Analects are a mix of history and proverbs, and Eno greatly aids the reader with a two column format that runs the commentary directly adjacent to the text It’s a brilliant layout to insert to add historical context and explain pithy sayings without interrupting the flow of the original.

    I also enjoyed that Eno chose not to translate key words, such as ren, junzi, li, and dao. The transliteration allows these words to accrete their own meaning, separate from imperfect English analogues. Over time, these sounds become “real words” as you internalize this technical vocabulary.

    In terms of thought, I’m temperamentally conservative so I naturally get along with this book even if the philosophy eventually calcified into an oppressive ideology of empire.

    Confucius was merely trying to restore order in a dissolving society. These Analects are a collection of lively sayings, not a systematic philosophy. The flow is accessible, almost haphazard. This was a practical school, exploring the role of ritual, morality, and power in governance. As a bureaucrat, I feel an odd camaraderie with his students, through two and a half millennia from bamboo slats onto a printed PDF.

    Even if you’re not a government drone, it’s worth a read. Daoism is more popular in the West, but one’s appreciation of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu will be enriched by better having a conversation with their stuffier sibling, Master Kong.

    ,

    PPS—I doubt Confucius was into flow charts, but I think he’d dig this, courtesy of Miep, who shared a flowchart which I loved. I tweaked my version to utilize the shapes that are used at my government job.

    • Rectangle = Process
    • Squiggly = Document
    • Diamond = Decision
    • Oval = Start/End/Conclusion
    1/5

    .

  • Baron in the Trees, Calvino (1957), The Jerusalem Windows, Chagall (1962), Genie’s Banquet, Eifuku & Takada (2016) Dorfromantik, Palm & Zach (2023)

    Baron in the Trees, only took me forever to read this.

    • Like many foreign films, the novel is fun and quirky until but the real world intrudes.
    • Indeed, this impending sense of doom is why it took me months to finish.
    • But it was edifying. A brilliant display of sparse deep storytelling.

    Jerusalem Windows, a killer $2 find at the library.

    • As with many mid-century monographs, it comes with a hagiography of the great artist. I kind of enjoy it, in a nostalgic way.
    • The colors are stunning, and it’s awesome to watch the process from sketches to finished window and detail.
    • But the allegory in the images are hard to grok, even for a kid who grew up as a hardcore Christian. I need to reread this book. Slower.

    Genie’s Banquet, a filler with the kids.

    • A fine example of a sharp little Japanese card game, common in the 2010’s.
    • As a cooperative game, this it’s a perfect fit at this moment.
    • There are some translation glitches in the rules, but the joy of boardgaming is that you can make up the rules when you’re unsure. We made it work.

    Dorfromantik, for my wife’s fake birthday, but really for the boy.

    • Charming and idyllic is exactly correct in describing this game. Normally I want a game to have an edge, but it’s the lack such an edge that makes this game. The SDJ is well earned.
    • This board game successfully imports the ubiquitous constant-unlock dynamic of the mobile gaming. However, I appreciate that this is non-destructive process (unlike the Legacy series). Most importantly, thank god, there’s no pay to win model with this thing.
    • I wonder if I should toughen the boy up by playing competitive games (winning, losing, manhood, and all that). In the meantime I’ll enjoy these team games with him. Who knows when he will phase out—they change so fast!

    ,

    Having finished my calligraphy notebook last week, I started on our girl’s composition book from first grade. Might as well use up all the paper we got. It’s fun to add my practice with her old studies, and this means I’ll finish another notebook sooner rather than later!

    (and yes…that should have been “hungry”, but sometimes you just roll with it.)

    .

  • Book Notes, April, May 2024

    Now that we’ve finally put our books up on shelves after a decade in the garage, I pull random old books to enjoy before bedtime. The bedroom is getting crowded with a pile that needs to go back downstairs.

    Here are some notes before sending them back into the stacks.

    Staying by the bed

    Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino—I’m still slowly working through this book. I paused to read Cosmicomics and might get distracted by T-zero but I want to finish it sooner rather than later.

    Letter on Ethics, Seneca—I enjoyed listening to the selected letters audiobook by Penguin so I picked up the complete letters translated by Margaret Graver last year. I finally started reading them; I’m enchanted by their brevity even though (spoiler warning) the later letters seem to run long.

    The Unbroken Web, Richard Adams—This collection of stories has that pan-religious vibe from the 70/80’s. I most likely would have sent this back onto the shelves but I wrapped it up as a self-birthday present so I might as well give it a solid try in June.

    Carlo Scarpa, The Complete Works—I borrowed this volum many times in college so I finally bought it as a birthday treat. In the past, I only looked at the images, but after spending 100 euros, I’m for damn sure reading the essays. Good lord, that’s some turgid writing. Architecture criticism at its finest.

    Going back up

    Cosmicomics, Italo Calvino—I’ve tried reading this many times over the years and finally broke through. It’s a tender collection of short stories based on scientific principles. I wonder if aging and kids have given me an appreciation for love stories.

    Zhuangzi (Burton) & Lieh-tzu (Graham)—Always good to revisit two of the key texts of Daoism.

    Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess—The boy was curious about chess so we played a few times. I pulled this book of the shelves because I find chess utterly impenetrable. I’ve never been good at with spatial games, much less a perfect information abstract. I slogged through a couple exercises before giving up even though I’m still enchanted by the structure of this book.

    The 26 Letters, Oscar Ogg—Delightfully of its time though I wonder how it holds up with the historical scholarship over the past sixty years.

    40 days dans le desert B, Moebius—Absolute classic. Trippy as fuck.

    The Ode Less Travelled, Stephen Fry—I borrowed this book from the library when I thought I’d take my poetry experiments more seriously. Instead, work took over my life. In stressful times, the pursuit of quality may have the paradoxical side effect of stifling production. Time to send it back to the public library.

    Under the Jaguar Sun, Italo Calvino—I was searching for something to calm the mind, but this was a bit too intense. Turned out that my subconscious was close, since the correct answer was Cosmicomics.

    Journey to the West (Yu)—Always good for a romp Great Sage Under Heaven. Plus a little poetry.

    Charles M. Russell—Nice overview of the artist’s work. Holy hell, the wild west was indeed wild. Life of all types was cheap back then.

    Signal to Noise, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean—The art holds up. The writing is what you’d expect from a 30 year old writing about a protagonist twice his age. I loved Gaiman, but I’ve soured over the past few years. One day I’ll revisit Sandman, but I’m dreading the potential realization that I’ve outgrown this as well.

    Giovanni Battista Piranesi—A collection of his prints. If drawn accurately, the scale of the ruins are unimaginable, towering over the inglorious lives conducted under these decaying edifices. Quite unsafe to stay in those shadows, though I guess you’ll take what you can get in the heat of summer. Beyond antiquity though, his renderings are sick. Beyond rad.

    Carlo Scarpa—In college, I picked up this Taschen survey on the (relative) cheap. It’s a passable intro to his work, though with the obnoxious style repeating text with multiple languages on each page. Then again, it reminded me of the greatness of Scarpa which lead to my big birthday purchase (noted above).
     

  • Money Multiplication Matters

    Tangents from a few books about money. I heartily recommend the one by Harry Browne; the rest are OK.

    ,

    Fail Safe Investing, Lifelong Financial Security in 30 minutes, Harry Browne, 1999

    If you’re a wimp (like me) this is the best book on investing. And if you get interested in Risk Parity style portfolios, check out Frank Vasquez’s “Risk Parity Radio” for up to date opinions and advice on this style of portfolio construction.

    • If you want to speculate, look elsewhere. Harry Browne advises that your profession will be your primary source of wealth and warns against taking risks like investing on margin.
    • Clean, clear advice. Some specifics are outdated (such as how to purchase investments) but his conservative concepts are solid.
    • I plan on revisiting this book every year. I’ve taken a more aggressive approach than his “Permanent Portfolio” (more stocks, less gold and bonds). Still, I thank him for introducing me to Gold. It’s a controversial asset but a game changer for me. It added a third uncorrelated asset class to ballast the portfolio, which made me more comfortable with investing heavier in stocks.

    ,

    Explore TIPS, Harry Sit, 2010

    Gotta start somewhere and I was curious about Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities when I started my investment journey in 2022. I’ve gone with a different investing strategy.

    • TIPS are bonds with inflation insurance. Harry is a fan of going heavy on TIPS relative to nominal bonds. (I believe a properly diversified portfolio will compensate for inflation with the other asset classes, so I don’t like the extra cost of the inflation insurance).
    • Purchase them at auction, the secondary market or via ETF’s. Harry Sit is open to all investment avenues.
    • I-bonds are more like CD’s since they can’t be sold on the secondary market. Harry Sit is not a fan.

    ,

    Value Averaging, The Safe and Easy Strategy for Higher Investment Returns, Michael E. Edleson, 1993

    An optimized way to pour cash into the investment market.

    • “Value Averaging” is setting a goal for how much you want an investment to increase over time and purchasing accordingly. Unlike “Dollar Cost Averaging”, Value Averaging pushes you to buy more when the markets are down and less when they’re up.
    • If you want to be awesome, the book gives a bunch of math to optimize the investment curve.
    • As a retail investor playing with small sums, I believe optimization is a waste. After learning the basics, the smallest edge requires a ton of study. Any such such bet will be overwhelmed by the capricious whims of the gods. Better to enjoy the finer parts of life.

    ,

    Die Broke, Stephen M. Pollen and Mark Levine, 1997

    I found the book in a random giveaway pile in Berkeley, maybe in lower Sproul Plaza. Two cities (and decades) later, I finally read it.

    • Great title and interesting provocation to reevaluate our relationship to money, work, and retirement.
    • I love books with unique structures. Part 1 is a short self help mindset manual. Part 2 is an alphabetical list of chapters with practical advice. (Since this book is almost thirty years old, I lightly skimmed the second part since I presume most of it is out of date.)
    • I enjoyed Part 1, partly because I already agree with their four key maxims. I view employment as a transaction not fulfillment, believe in avoiding debt, and doubt the positive good of leaving a large bequest. I’m not totally sold on the maxim of “Don’t Retire” but I appreciate their skepticism of the modern retirement paradigm.

    ,
     

    make
    money
    grow
    invest
    digits
    on a
    screen

    .

  • Pen and Ink, James Hobbs, 2016

    This is a great little survey of what’s possible with this medium. Hobbs picked a variety of artists and provided thoughtful commentary on each of his picks.

    As I get deeper into sketching, this book is a definite keeper. It’s nice to have an overview of all the different approaches in a single volume. Seeing the multiplicity of technical skills makes the practice less intimidating than studying the work of a single master.

    I got mine for $14, but prices fluctuate because it’s out of print. While you fish for a good price, I’ve included the list of artists in the photos below.

    Please note that this book is a bit smaller than I expected, so I included a Lamy Safari for scale on a couple photos.

    Now go and fly that pen!

  • OPM.55 (notes on) Small is the New Big, Seth Godin, 2006

    Stop making products and start making magic.

    This has been Seth’s mantra over the years. This book is no exception.

    It’s a fun read, delightfully nostalgic for someone that live through the internet revolution. Even though this book was about the World Wide Web before social media inhaled the information superhighway, Seth’s encouragement is still as powerful as ever.

    Go out there, let it all hang out, and do something.

    This book emphasizes “zooming” — acclimating to the difficult art of change. He posits that zooming is a powerfully motivating way to view the world.

    This book comes from that short lived genera of collected blog-posts volumes. The world has changed a bit since publication, but it still rhymes with the 00’s, even if things feel a little gloomier.

    Seth has been telling the same story for the past three decades.

    So if you dig him, check it out. If you don’t, this book won’t change your mind.

    With AI, change is coming (again!). What would you do if you knew for certain that what your work today won’t survive the next two decades of disruption? How will you embrace the change that is coming? Are you gonna zoom?

    ~

    One of my favorite riffs is when Godin embarks on an extended discussion about “maybe-proofing” the company. One of the best ways to kill a project flow is to dawdle. Sometimes we should pause and let things develop, but that should be a deliberate choice. As OPM’s, we have to maybe-proof ourselves. Our job is to make choices.

    ~

    In the two years after reading this book, I’ve realized that I’m on the back half of my career. So I’ve lost interest in self-help and Seth has been a casualty of this shift. He’s correct that one needs to embrace change in your career, but I’m not focused on my career anymore.

    I will always work hard and dabble with process improvements, but when I’m not at work, I focus on other joys. I no longer feel an urge to to maximize my output or lead the charge to make things better in the office.

    ~

    Some Links

    At the end of each month, I often need to use up my quota at Hoopla (a library streaming service). I invariably return to these albums. Two of them are absolute classics. The third is lesser known, though by perennial request by our kids. The fourth is a nod to my weakness for EDM.

    Keith Jarrett’s Koln Concert. It’s the best selling solo jazz album of all time, but I’ll switch it up and borrow his Paris Concert which forays into baroque counterpoint.

    The Awakening is one of the most sampled albums in hip hop. Recorded in February 1970, it feels like a distinct evolution by the Ahmad Jamal Trio from the bebop of past decades. If I’ve had too much piano lately, I’ll get Way Out West with a unique trio of bass, drums, and saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins.

    My kids are obsessed with the “Ballad of Pancho Villa” (which they call “cafe music”) so they always insist on borrowing From All Sides, a collaboration between guitarist Bolo Sete and the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

    I recently mentioned Klangphonics for their quirky YouTube shorts. Driving feels better with Songs to Try on the speakers (but it’s not so aggressive to become dangerous).

    ~

    Park Shade, 2022

    ~

    Thanks for reading!
    Justus Pang, RA