Here's to you ‘a handful of history’, my sharing of real-life stories from around the world. All the narratives I pick are rooted in history one way or another, yet most of them carry themes and happenings that we can easily reflect upon today. Enjoy :-) - Majken xx
What Books Do to Your Life
Illustration by Taeeun Yoo.
Are books a threatened specie in a world dominated by the internet and (other) entertainment industries? Or can we trust the prediction made by the German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, Herman Hesse, who - back in 1930 - wrote these comforting words: “We need not fear a future elimination of the book. On the contrary, the more that certain needs for entertainment and education are satisfied through other inventions, the more the book will win back in dignity and authority”.
Illustration by Violeta Lópiz.
A few years ago, the author, blogger and artist Maria Popova joined the publisher Claudia Zoe Bedrick to support Hesse’s statement. They wanted to demonstrate that “a life of reading is a richer, nobler, larger, [and] more shimmering” life than one without reading. And so they invited artists, writers, scientists and other cultural heroes to write a letter to “the children of today and tomorrow about why we read and what books do for the human spirit in our world.”
Among the all in all 121 contributors are Jane Goodall - the primatologist and anthropologist known for her studies of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania - the authors Neil Gaiman (“Coraline”) and Elizabeth Gilbert (“Eat, Pray, Love”), screenwriter and producer Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy”), philosopher and a founder member of The School of Life, Alain de Botton, musician David Byrne (Talking Heads), entrepreneur and businessman Richard Branson (Virgin Group).
The letters are put together in the book A Velocity of Being - Letters to a Young Reader, and each text is paired with a beautiful illustration created by different artists.
Illustration by Wendy MacNaughton.
When you read the book, you have no doubt that books indeed are a crucial part of the life of these contributors. There’s even a story from a 100-year-old Holocaust survivor that reveals how books helped save the lives of children in a Polish ghetto in the dark, dark days of WWII.
Also the texts encourage us, the readers, to investigate books too. And there is plenty of literature for us to choose from since a book is not just one thing, as the writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit reminds us; “Nearly every book has the same architecture - cover, spine, pages - but you open them onto worlds and gifts far beyond what paper and ink are, and on the inside, they are every shape and power. Some books are toolkits you take up to fix things, from the most practical to the most mysterious, from your house to your heart. [..] Some books are wings. Some are horses that run away with you. Some are parties to which you are invited, full of friends who are there even when you have no friends. [..] Some books are medicine, bitter but clarifying. [..] Some are handheld lights you can shine on almost anything.”
Illustration by Liniers.
The Velocity of Being - Letters to a Young Reader helps remind us what books do to our lives. And what they have done already. While reading, I took a stroll down memory lane and revisited the weekly reading hour we had at my school in which we sat in our chairs - or on the floor or where ever we fancied sitting - swallowing literature of our own choice. I’m not sure if such classes exist today, but I sure hope so.
Eggplant Sauce and About Being Eighty-Eight
How do you make a story about your own life? You can write it down. You can make a video. You can create a collage or a scrapbook. You can speak your words on a sound recorder. There are lots of options. I stumbled upon these two documentaries telling parts of the lives of two older women.
The first one is about Mary Feinberg. She is famous for her eggplant sauce; however, it turns out that the sauce not only was the dish she served for her late husband’s birthday through the years, also it connects to some of the darker moments of her life. Feinberg’s daughter runs the camera, and while filming her mother making the eggplant sauce, the story behind the ragout is being exposed layer by layer.
Inga is a short documentary about the 88-year-old Danish woman Inga. Every day she writes a diary. About love, about being eighty-eight. And then she takes a swim in a cold lake. There is always something new to enjoy, she finds. A few years ago, she got the biggest compliment she’d ever received: “The only difference between you and someone young is that you have been young longer”, it said. Inga has noticed that the word ‘old’ is discouraging for some people. But to her, it isn’t. “The strange thing about age”, she says, “is that you aren’t older than you feel inside.”
A Sad List (And What to Do About It)
Here’s a list of original, beautiful and interesting pictures of animals worldwide. Oh, it’s a sort of “art-meets-natural-science” online exhibition, you might think. But it is not. It is, in fact, a sad list of species that are now extinct.
Roughly the world has lost about 800 animal species since the year 1500, we are told. And that is if you count those who are documented. As we all know, the list keeps growing, and the makers are aware that the fantastic posters do not make up for all the damage done. But hopefully, they can help create a focus on the problem all in all. So, scroll your way through and reflect a little. And once you’re done: take action. Whatever action - small or big - is possible for you to do. Thank you.
Here are some interesting links that may inspire you, like the “7 Solutions to Biodiversity Loss” article from earth.org with practical hands-on advice, e.g. bringing your own personal bag to the supermarket. Simple and effective. Or if you want some background knowledge on why it is essential to protect species of any kind - plants, animals - there’s the Royal Society’s “Answers to 16 key questions about biodiversity” (including a video featuring David Attenborough).
Photo: Roelandt Savery, The Dodo, c. late 1620s.
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THIS IS a blog post from me to you. I send it out once every fortnight - if you want to join my email list please go HERE. In turn, you will receive ‘a handful of history’, which is me sharing real-life stories from around the world, narratives I’ve picked that are rooted in history one way or another. Every other time, my latest act, ‘from my corner of the world’, will land in your email. These are texts in which I share with you thoughts and views about writing, researching and creating. All the doubts and wonders I come across, all the surprises and discovery of new roads I am lucky to experience when working with my non-fiction texts.
Thanks for reading. I’m happy to see you here! - Majken xx
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