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I prefer the Wait But Why article on this subject: https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/your-family-past-present-and-future.html https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/your-f

I prefer the Wait But Why article on this subject: https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/your-family-past-present-and-future.html https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/your-family-past-present-and-...

romanovcode 9y ago
Much better article indeed because of very simple and intuitive illustrations/graphs.
simonebrunozzi 9y ago
As a side note, his new (first?) book is just out.
freedomben 9y ago
I really resonate with his story about asking Nana about her history. My grandparents died several years ago, and just a couple years back I started to actually care about my family history and wanting to know more. I asked my dad a bunch of questions, and I was quite disappointed at how many of his answers were variants of: "Your grandma would know this, but I'm not sure. I was too young #{['to care', 'to remember', 'to understand'].shuffle.first}" If your grandparents are still alive, I completely second the author's advice to talk to them about the family history. I'm in the process of recording podcasts (for family use only, never to be released publicly) with my parents while they still have sharp-ish minds. Assuming the AI apocalypse doesn't wipe us out, I think my kids will really treasure this, and their kids maybe more so.
- deleted 9y ago
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- nitwit005 9y ago
  You might not have missed as much as you think, as I tried this with my grandmother. She actually insisted on telling us the family history. Unfortunately, the moment I started asking deeper questions like "And where was he during the war?" she didn't know, even for close relatives. I basically got her story. My father made her sit down and tell us who the people in the photographs she had were, writing in the names on the pages they were glued to. She got about 50% of them, but given the bias toward more photos close family members, I think she could only identify about 25-30% of the people.

I prefer the Wait But Why article on this subject: https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/your-family-past-present-and-future.html https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/your-family-past-present-and-...

romanovcode 9y ago

Much better article indeed because of very simple and intuitive illustrations/graphs.

simonebrunozzi 9y ago

As a side note, his new (first?) book is just out.

freedomben 9y ago

I really resonate with his story about asking Nana about her history. My grandparents died several years ago, and just a couple years back I started to actually care about my family history and wanting to know more. I asked my dad a bunch of questions, and I was quite disappointed at how many of his answers were variants of: "Your grandma would know this, but I'm not sure. I was too young #{['to care', 'to remember', 'to understand'].shuffle.first}" If your grandparents are still alive, I completely second the author's advice to talk to them about the family history. I'm in the process of recording podcasts (for family use only, never to be released publicly) with my parents while they still have sharp-ish minds. Assuming the AI apocalypse doesn't wipe us out, I think my kids will really treasure this, and their kids maybe more so.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
nitwit005 9y ago
You might not have missed as much as you think, as I tried this with my grandmother. She actually insisted on telling us the family history. Unfortunately, the moment I started asking deeper questions like "And where was he during the war?" she didn't know, even for close relatives. I basically got her story. My father made her sit down and tell us who the people in the photographs she had were, writing in the names on the pages they were glued to. She got about 50% of them, but given the bias toward more photos close family members, I think she could only identify about 25-30% of the people.