A Round History Book?
I don't like history books the way they are traditionally presented. They're too linear and I can't see history as a timeline though it's often depicted in that way. I believe that I require something thicker and more loopy.
Or, something like an elastic band ball that builds and intertwines. Or, maybe that's not the right model because you can't see into the centre of it. Maybe the geodesic dome - something that gets proportionally stronger as it increases in size...
I'm liking the Scottish book though I keep forgetting what it's called and who wrote it (I think his surname is Herman). I've now looked it up and put in a link! I'm actually reading it and getting somewhere with it. I'm at the Union of 1707. I guess that it's too linear like all history books and I sometimes forget what happened prior to what I'm currently reading about. I also find it hard to keep track of the year that things are happening in because Herman often gives only the month and day and I have to flip back to make sure we're still in the same year. That's annoying but probably only because I have habitually never paid too much attention to years when I'm reading, likely because it involves memorization which I try to avoid generally. I wonder why? Is it fear of failure and not wanting to confront the idea that I might have a bad memory? Why do we so highly value memory anyway?
So my reading of the Scottish book is impressionistic and holistic. I don't know what I want from it - It could just dispassionate: a better understanding of the author's thesis, or it could be very emotionally charged: a confirmation of a cultural heritage/cultural value that I've been led to believe is true throughout my childhood or just a clearer understanding of where all that is coming from - both my father and brother are named for Scottish heroes so I figure I should know something about that and the potential pressure it created for them as they fashioned their identities. Or, I could just be along for the ride. There's a weird little picture on the front cover of the book that seems to show a guy in a kilt studying his shadow so I guess I'd like to know more about that...is it iconic?
I don't like history books the way they are traditionally presented. They're too linear and I can't see history as a timeline though it's often depicted in that way. I believe that I require something thicker and more loopy.
Or, something like an elastic band ball that builds and intertwines. Or, maybe that's not the right model because you can't see into the centre of it. Maybe the geodesic dome - something that gets proportionally stronger as it increases in size...
I'm liking the Scottish book though I keep forgetting what it's called and who wrote it (I think his surname is Herman). I've now looked it up and put in a link! I'm actually reading it and getting somewhere with it. I'm at the Union of 1707. I guess that it's too linear like all history books and I sometimes forget what happened prior to what I'm currently reading about. I also find it hard to keep track of the year that things are happening in because Herman often gives only the month and day and I have to flip back to make sure we're still in the same year. That's annoying but probably only because I have habitually never paid too much attention to years when I'm reading, likely because it involves memorization which I try to avoid generally. I wonder why? Is it fear of failure and not wanting to confront the idea that I might have a bad memory? Why do we so highly value memory anyway?
So my reading of the Scottish book is impressionistic and holistic. I don't know what I want from it - It could just dispassionate: a better understanding of the author's thesis, or it could be very emotionally charged: a confirmation of a cultural heritage/cultural value that I've been led to believe is true throughout my childhood or just a clearer understanding of where all that is coming from - both my father and brother are named for Scottish heroes so I figure I should know something about that and the potential pressure it created for them as they fashioned their identities. Or, I could just be along for the ride. There's a weird little picture on the front cover of the book that seems to show a guy in a kilt studying his shadow so I guess I'd like to know more about that...is it iconic?
posted by Anne @ 10:47 AM
4 Comments:
At 1:41 PM,
Stella said…
you'd like a book format i saw the other day. a woman in my self employment workshop makes books that open up like a pop-up but as you fold the covers back the pop up continues to unfold, so the book, fully opened looks a bit like those fortune telling cubes we used to make in school, opened up. (I looked for an image on the web but couldn't find one.) So you have the center of the book apparent with all the other pages. I like the idea of circular book too, like a non-alphabetized rolodex.
I started to read the Scots book this morning. That is a curious image on the cover.
I keep hearing a bob dylan lyric:
Highlands http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/highlands.html
At 8:19 AM,
Anne said…
There are also those Christmas decorations that you buy and store flat but that fold back to form tissue paper or card-backed foil Santas or bells. I seem to think that I might have one packed away in a box somewhere. Perhaps it can be adapted for history writing purposes...
At 11:45 AM,
Stella said…
that's a really good idea!
i remember you saying something about (was it) reviewers (?), who get through the first third of a book. There's an endurance to completing books and a feeling of investment and achievement that may cloud observation.
those bells are magical! there must be a website showing how to make them. I wonder if the pleasurable associations with that possible way of forming a history book clouds observation or encourages it!
tumbleweeds are a good model too. a net of mobius tickertape, like being able to read a ball of wool...
At 10:11 AM,
Anne said…
I've made it to something like page 110 of the Scottish book. It's a miracle. It's readable. Lately, though, I've been very tired and fall asleep reading it. I keep reading the same part about how the Union of 1707 "cleans up" Scotland. People are eating better and washing more (or something like that) and with that comfort comes a little bit of complacency? I guess I'll find out when I keep reading!
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