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The Desk of Haruki Murakami
- Gys 11y agoI hope one day my desk will make it to HN frontpage ;-) By then I am sure it will be just as tidy as Haruki's desk
- icanhackit 11y agoNote that it's vinyl on his shelves, not books. Safe to say nearly all of it is jazz. Nice loudspeaker in the corner too. When you love music you play it loud so you can be more immersed in it rather than have something merely in the background.
- jzzskijj 11y agoYes, Murakami is indeed avid record collector. "In a 2011 New York Times article, Murakami estimated that he owns 10,000 records, but says he was afraid to count." http://theweek.com/articles/444246/literary-playlist-guide-music-haruki-murakami http://theweek.com/articles/444246/literary-playlist-guide-m...
- anentropic 11y agopretty much my dream office
- TurboHaskal 11y agoHow come? That's hardly an office but a living room with sub-par ergonomics when it comes to getting work done.
- sleepyhead 11y ago> sub-par ergonomics uh, you can't even see what type of chair he uses. > hardly an office So to be an office there is some strict requirements that it has to fulfil? I'll tell the local startup incubator in Phnom Penh where developers sat outside in 40c on wooden benches (with plastic container over power outlet for protection on rainy days) because the few rooms inside were occupied (no a/c).
- TurboHaskal 11y agoI don't even need to see the chair. Just the mere positioning of the screen makes me cringe. The article mentions vinyl records, a coffe mug, a baseball figurine... That's hardly the kind of equipment that comes to my mind when I think of an office. How does it make it a dream office when the only relevant material mentioned are a bunch of pencils? This is just some guy showing off his music collection.
- rodgerd 11y agoLet me know when your vastly superior office has allowed to to produce work that makes you a perennial Nobel contender, or equivalent thereof.
- sirtaj 11y agoAre you sure you're aware what he does for a living?
- DanBC 11y ago> Just the mere positioning of the screen makes me cringe. There's a chance the photographer moved the monitor to show a lot of the room that would otherwise have been hidden.
- mhurron 11y agoMy home office has a bunch of anime figures and posters because it's my office and I'll decorate it how I see fit.
- moron4hire 11y agoHow are the albums, coffee mug, and baseball figurines not relevant material to a creative worker?
- Jtsummers 11y agoOr even to non-creative workers that have to spend 1/3 their life in that space. You want it to be comfortable. Either by literal ergonomic comfort, or by the creature comforts of the familiar and pleasing.
- tempestn 11y agoThat would largely depend on what kind of work you're doing.
- bovermyer 11y agoIt must be really hard to get any work done with your nose pointed so far skyward.
- idonthaveaname 11y agoYou could probably say similar for Hans Zimmer's "office"[0]. [0] http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2010/01/29/the-secret-lair-of-hans-zimmer-from-where-he-inspires-the-world/ http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2010/01/29/the-secret-lair-of-...
- tempestn 11y agoWow, that's gorgeous. Except for the last shot of the jumble of cables, which made me cringe. But the rest, nice.
- molly0 11y agoThere is nothing indicating that he likes to run. Is he still running marathons?
- martijn_himself 11y agoI really like Murakami's work- my favourite is 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle'. But I've just finished reading 'Kafka on the Shore' and came away thinking it was too much fantasy and a bit shallow. Because of his masterful style he sometimes gets away with unresolved plots and mysteries but this was just too much. I like magical realism though. Any recommendations for other writers?
- ctchocula 11y agoIf you like magical realism, you might enjoy One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is a metaphoric interpretation of Columbian history based upon the lives of many generations of one family.
- martijn_himself 11y agoI loved it (it took a few attempts to finish it though). I think Marquez's work is more realistic (and not always evident when he strays into the magical); Murakami sometimes crosses straight into fantasy. If that makes sense at all.
- iambatman 11y agoThe Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov is possibly my favourite magical realism book. I found that some of David Mitchell's writing is similar to Murakami, specifically number9dream, Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas. Through reading Murakami I've gotten into Kobo Abe, he shares that weirdness with him and are very Kafkaesque, I loved The Woman in the Dunes and The Box Man.
- bananaoomarang 11y agoThe Master and Margarita and Wind Up Bird Chronicle are two of my favorite books at the moment, so this seems like a good bet. The way both authors blend physically/spatially/temporally distinct characters and settings into one narrative is very similar, and incredibly satisfying.
- edanm 11y ago
- brillenfux 11y agoSo everything looks neat, but he's twisting his back to look at the monitor? Of course it's a Mac ;-)
- tempestn 11y agoI thought that too, but it looks like it would be pretty easy to slide over behind the keyboard for serious use. Maybe that's what he does. (Although I do know people who work crooked like that all the time!)
- mhd 11y agoI'd really like to know more about the other desktop, i.e. what software he uses (both to actually write and collect thoughts/infos). Writers tend to differ a lot there, with some just using the newest Word, some keeping around ancient copies of WordStar and some even using Emacs...
- asb 11y agoIt's a fun contrast to the desk of the late Jim Williams: http://m.eet.com/media/1116686/williams%20desk.jpg http://m.eet.com/media/1116686/williams%20desk.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Williams_%28analog_designer%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Williams_%28analog_designe...
- andy_ppp 11y agoThose speakers look super high end... I'd be more interested in the Hifi he and the records than his rather dull desk!
- Rainymood 11y agoI can't view these images in China, is there anyone that kind to upload them to another host: say imgur?
- preek 11y agoOne speaker looks like a Geneva Model XL[1]. I really like the Geneva speakers - I have a Model M and XS. 1. http://www.genevalab.com/sound/ch_de/genevasound-xl-wireless/ http://www.genevalab.com/sound/ch_de/genevasound-xl-wireless...
- tblomseth 11y agoAlso note, Murakami-san has the only pencil eraser worth even considering using: the Staedtler Mars® plastic 526 50.
- solaris999 11y agoYou're missing out on the Seed Radar: http://www.seedr.co.jp/en/eraser.html http://www.seedr.co.jp/en/eraser.html
- giltleaf 11y agoAmazed by your attention to detail...and in need of a good eraser. Thanks for the tip.
- axx 11y agoIs there some kind of website where people can upload their office/desk pictures including better descriptions (like those plus-icons) and a little Text? I don't know why, but to me it's motivating and just interresting to see how other people work. And i don't mean websites presenting huge offices of big companies. I mean homeoffices etc. A few years ago this was really big on Flickr, but since "nobody" is really active on Flickr anymore, i feel like those days are gone. I bet there is a good number of interesting peoples workplaces to look at. :)
- mbil 11y agoIt's not exactly what you described, but you may like reddit.com/r/battlestations
- axx 11y agoIt's close! I know that subreddit, but it's too much hardware-related. /r/macsetups is the same. For me it's more about the workplace in combination with the people that work there. I mean a combination of those subreddits and a site like usesthis.com with the possibility to mark items on pictures.
- stingraycharles 11y agoYes. I recall someone describing their setup with a specific Ikea desk, and how he mounted all their switches, wires, splitters under the desk which made all cable mess on the desk disappear. This motivated me to completely replicate that setup, down to buying that exact same Ikea desk. Still too hardware related for your taste I guess, but I think there would be overlap in the communities. Would make sense if this would be consolidated in a reddit community, seems like the right place for a hobby like this.
- jeffbr13 11y agoThere's the LifeHacker workspace show-and-tell group on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/lifehacker-workspace-showandtell/ https://www.flickr.com/groups/lifehacker-workspace-showandte...
- amykhar 11y agoI think having the monitor off to the side and not behind the keyboard and mouse would make my neck hurt. But, it's a gorgeous desk.