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Divya Ramesh's avatar

Lovely read Gowri. I'll be picking up Tiny Experiments now!

I long related to that fig tree quote (and got a tattoo of a fig tree - my first big one). Over the years, I stopped feeling the tug of the lost fig and more content in the ones I had chosen and the new ones that were made available as a result. I recently also saw this definition in the book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, and felt this was an updated growing-old-contentedly version of the fig tree concept. :)

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The Til

n.the reservoir of all possible opportunities still available to you at this point in your life—all the countries you still have the energy to explore, the careers you still have the courage to pursue, the skills you still have time to develop, the relationships you still have the heart to make—like a pail of water you carry around in your head, which starts off feeling like an overwhelming burden but steadily draws down as you get older, splashing gallons over the side every time you take a step.

From the till, a shopkeeper’s register filled with unspent change + until.

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Gowri N Kishore's avatar

Beautiful, Divya. <3 Hadn't come across this one before.

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Pallavi Dutta's avatar

This is such a refreshing take on the genre. This made me feel good about dipping and dropping many many things. So I'm not inconsistent, I'm just experimental :) An absolute triumph, my friend.

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Animesh Srivastav's avatar

Thanks a lot, very interesting read. Fully agreed on running tiny experiments like life is a living la. If you haven't read 4000 weeks, would highly recommend it. Changed my perspective about how we want to do things thinking of the end result or how it will help us become great/rich/kinder etc etc. And it recommends to just do things we like and let life take care of the rest. As a philosopher said 'Life is 50% madness and 50% wisdom'

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Gowri N Kishore's avatar

Thank you, Animesh! I read Four Thousand Weeks last year and it made a huge impact on me. In fact, I'm reading Burkeman's next book Meditations For Mortals right now with a book group. It reinforces many of the same ideas, only applying it to aspects like information overload, cause-anxiety, to-do lists, and so on. You might also enjoy Ness Labs' newsletter, which is written by the author of Tiny Experiments.

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Rajendra Nargundkar's avatar

I like the idea of Mutual Admiration Societies, and have a few going..

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Gowri N Kishore's avatar

Haha! Dorothy was all for supporting fellow writers in public and swapping helpful critiques in private. The book I've linked to traces the lives of the members of her Mutual Admiration Society and is also a good read.

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Sreeram R's avatar

Really interesting take on the philosophy of diversification from a murder-author's perspective. Your suppositions actually make a lot of sense - our most memorable books on murder mysteries are those that are rooted in human nature, the subtler the better, and all the more plausible for it. And for an author writing about such human characteristics, the curiosity that leads them to seek these out is just as likely to seek outlets in other forms, such as alternate or extended careers.

S2 seems to be off to a good start, and you weren't kidding when you said you wanted to try something new. Looking forward to the next episode!

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Gowri N Kishore's avatar

The "philosophy of diversification" sounds like an actual, deliberate strategy. I am afraid one of the tech-bros is going to use it in an X thread and later, a book title. :D

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