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Nice, well written essay. Reminded me of Annie Dillard's writing. I'm not sure if it's the end of Silicon Valley, but if it is and that results in spreading the

• CalRobert 6y ago
  Would you recommend anything in particular by Dillard? "How we spend our days is how we spend our days" struck me from the moment I read it (though once I learned the context, the meaning shifted. I haven't read anything by her, though.
  • davee5 6y ago
    "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" is her signature book and for many (myself included) a spiritual experience to read. "The Writing Life" is the best book about the process of creating that I have ever read, and I often suggest it to my design teams. (Designers like to read books about design, but you don't hire designers because they're good at words. You want to read about creating? Read books by writers.) One of my favorite excerpts from The Writing Life: > A well-known writer got collared by a university student who asked, “Do you think I could be a writer?” “Well," the writer said, “I don’t know... Do you like sentences?" The writer could see the student’s amazement. Sentences? Do I like sentences? I am 20 years old and do I like sentences? If he had liked sentences, of course, he could begin, like a joyful painter I knew. I asked him how he came to be a painter. He said, “I liked the smell of the paint."
  • UncleOxidant 6y ago
    Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. It's such a calm, meditative book. In fact, IIRC it has a chapter on fecundity that is similar to this essay.