The first edition of William Burroughs' first novel, published under a pseudonym..
The economist Brad DeLong puts forth an interesting “parlor game” on his blog: write the worst blurb you can imagine for the best book you can think of. It’s an illuminating exercise, because it helps one realize a couple of things. One, that “literary” is really a perceptive filter, a sort of lighting effect that casts a work as somehow Important. Two, that even works of high literature are propelled by plots. When you strip them down to that level, some ethereal classics have rather down-to-earth dynamics at their core.
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06.04.09 §
A few months ago I was contacted by Mike May, who happens to be the subject of the Robert Kurzon’s recent book Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure and the Man who Dared to See. If you’re familiar with the book, you know that Mike was blinded at the age of three, but that didn’t stop him from being a daunting overachiever. CIA employee, world record-setting skier, businessman, inventor–like I say, daunting. It was gratifying to learn that he’s a fan of A Sense of the World, and that he rightly views James Holman as a kindred spirit. Unlike Holman however, his story has a fascinating, modern twist. Thanks to innovations in stem cell research, he was able to undergo an operation that actually restored a measure of sight–a surprisingly mixed blessing, considering how well-adapted he had been to the non-visual world.
Mike is also CEO of Sendero Group, the company that pioneered “talking map” software for the GPS. That innovation that has greatly increased the independence of many modern-day blind travelers, and in the spirit of both Crashing Through and A Sense of the World, Sendero is sponsoring an annual scholarship award “for the most impressive travel adventure for the year” by a non-visual traveler. read more »
02.13.09 §
