Dear Good Hours.
I have tried to start this letter a dozen different ways and gotten lost in the weeds every time. That usually happens when I’ve stumbled on a connection I’ve never made before. All the lay lines crisscross in the feeling and before you can say “a-la-peanut-butter-sandwiches” the thing turns to shit.
So I’m going to try and dumb it down. Not for you, never for you, but for me…always for me.
These seems like a good time to add this button.
I’ve been steadily consuming all the episodes (doing seasons out of order) of a podcast called “The Last Archive” It describes itself like this:
“The Last Archive is a show about the history of truth, and the historical context for our current fake news, post-truth moment.”
It has this meta-theatricality to it and the way it reminds me of childhood days and the AM radio “farm report” soundtrack constantly in the background. I couldn’t care about crop reports or local trade/swap/buy offers, but I did perk up when I heard the dramatically paced voice of Paul Harvey telling “The Rest of the Story.”
Season 3 Episode 1 is called “Information Please!” and it tracks the history of the dissemination of information away from institutions like schools and libraries, and places it, for better or worse, in the hands of everyday people. It tells the tale by tracking the story of encyclopedias from pulp paper to gigabite Wikipedia.
It’s more than a little strange I pulled this pick of World Book encyclopedias from the Wikipedia commons…
We didn’t have the prestigious Encyclopedia Britannica in our house, but we did have a set from World Book, though its weird, I searched the web for the editions released and can’t find any pictures that remind me of the set we had growing up. I don’t know where or when my parents bought the set. As far as I was concerned it was just always there.
And I loved them.
I’d forgotten how much I loved them until “The Last Archive” made me think about them. I was probably looking at them even before I learned to read. I would feel bored and just pull a random volume off the shelf and page through it. Look at the pictures and read more if I stumbled on something that interested me. It was for sure a primer. I remember being especially fascinated with the mythology and the Greek and Roman god section. I remember in particular feeling both terrified and intensely curious about this painting by Francisco Goya featured alongside the text about Saturn.
All the thoughts and memories of our encyclopedias made one of my own obsessions a little clearer. I just like to browse and though its possible to do that on the internet, for christsakes, its possible you’re reading this on your devices “browser” program, it isn’t the same.
The internet is no longer the wild west it’s made out to be. Sure there is randomness and unchecked spaces of deplorable things. Man can corrupt anything he sets his mind to. But you’re wrong if you don’t think it’s a curated experience that is usually leveraged at you as a consumer. Why do I get bombarded with adds for Lost Art Press products everytime I look at Facebook or Instagram? Those adds I don’t mind. Why does Tic Toc (which I’m fairly new to) insist on every third random thing being a pretty young woman in her 20’s insisting they prefer “older men” and “dad bods”
My wife has been on Tic Toc almost since the beginning and she never gets the random shaking jiggly parts that force me to feel either very old or very corrupt.
I know the argument is, “that’s just social media.” but it’s not. We’ve all had the experience of having lunch with a friend or lover and having a discussion about which left nostril inhaler is better. The whole while out cell phone is face down on the table 6 inches from our hands. And later, when we go to look up the closest pharmacy so we can pick up some Pepto-Bismol we are treated to adds for “Old Spice Left Nostril Inhalers, with nose tubes sized for a man, so you better not let your wife/girlfriend steal it from you - because she will try!”
I keep a good sized library of books on the subjects I’m interested in. Somewhere over 300 volumes on woodworking, with, I’d argue, the most extensive collection on Medieval Woodworking anywhere. (some volumes I’ve hunted for years working only off a bibliography listing) Those seconded by my collection of chairmaking books. But there’s a little bit and more of everything on the shelves.
I also have a dozen books on bartending and mixing drinks. A couple dozen volumes detailing movie props and concept art. Printmaking. Art and artist profiles. Mythology and history. Medieval and Viking history might be my 3rd largest collection right on the heels of Dungeons & Dragons and other TTRPG’s.
I like books. I’m obsessed with books. And I think…
I think I can trace at least a decent percentage of the problem back to those World Book Encyclopedia’s that kept a prominent space on the bookshelves in my childhood living room.
I wonder if they are still kicking around my parent’s house somewhere. I don’t want them, (mom - if you’re reading :) ) I just want them to die some kind of good death. A Viking funeral ceremony maybe, with the pyres and the bending of swords and all the trimmings.
Love Derek
Ratione et Passionis