I am not an artist. Far from it. But I can truly appreciate art of any kind when I encounter it.
Now, the art I most appreciate is often written. And the books I read are usually accidental discoveries. I hear about them either through some of the blogs I read, or because I heard someone talk about it on a podcast, or simply because I bump into them by accident, when browsing through amazon.com or even, although less and less these days, ambling through a real life bookshop. So, my discovery process is pretty much like taking a city trip to a new city, walking around without a city map and by chance encountering a gallery.
The point is, such discoveries are like an oasis in a dessert. Not easy to find and a sight for sore eyes when you do find one. Of course, this is why there are city maps, guides and curators. And much like museum curators chasing what the audience gets to see, and art curators deciding what to put on the walls in a gallery, the new, or perhaps very old profession of thought curators is so important.
One such thought curator is Maria Popova, whose website annex blog is called Brain Pickings. What a discovery this was for me. She introduces you via her posts which take you maximum 5 minutes to read to the most eye opening and especially heart opening prose and poetry you will ever discover … and at the end of each post, she suggests some additional reading as well, much like a good dresser suggesting the best tie to go with the suit you just purchased.
So, if you are looking for some interesting thoughts to mull over this weekend, you could do much, much worse than visiting Brain Pickings. The entire website comes highly recommended. What a wonderful discovery.
Perhaps this excellent post on Pablo Neruda’s ode to silence is a great place to start.
I call thought curation a very old profession … after all, what was an ancient storyteller other than a thought curator for the tribe … ensuring the tribe knew what it had to know to survive?
Exploring The Black Box 