Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Ah ... now ... I see ...

There are very many people who read simply
to prevent themselves from
thinking.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

7 comments:

  1. And I find reading helps me to think even more than usual.

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  2. Ha ha, CherryPie, same with me. I thought this quote fine, though, to pull my own legs. :)

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  3. I once worked with a blind colleague, and then friend, blind from birth, who kept saying "I see. Yes, I see." I discussed the paradox with him and he said... "Yes, I see what you mean."

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  4. I suppose it depends on what you're reading. I have just finished a book about the Roual Navu on the mid 18th Century called the Wooden World. Interesting but not thought provoking.

    Also I ahve been dipping into a book containing lists of real people with obscene names.. now that was profund!

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  5. Very grateful for your sidebar. Not to miss: Dec.30-09 posting of Laudator Temporis Acti (Michael Guilleland):The Anti-Library.

    Fascinating! If a book doesn't change me, I have wasted my precious time. The important books are the ones I haven't read yet.

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  6. Jams - I'll be very interested in participating in another one of your contests if you offer the second book you're reading as the prize. Thanks in advance. (I know I'll win...)

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  7. Andrew,
    I see. :)
    In German I'd say 'Ich verstehe' (I understand), and not 'Ich sehe' (I see).
    Becoming fully aware of his 'otherness', your friend may have (sometimes) felt both sad and alienated for quite a while when he heard someone saying 'I see'. And, blimey, being an English- or a Scotsman, how often will he have heard 'I see' during a day's hours.
    Well, I understand that ... step by step ... 'I see' became his running gag for the seeing, many of whom obviously are bloody blind.

    In Germany we have a game called 'Ich sehe was, das du nichts siehst' (I see something that you don't see). I think you have the same game: "I spy with my little eye something beginning with ...'
    Well, when I was a boy I had the privilege to know an 'old man' who sometimes would say: "Ich sehe was, das du nicht siehst". Ah, and still I do see this tiny, knowing (seeing), humourous smile on his lips.
    Thanks for reminding me, Andrew. :)

    Jams,
    not surprised I'd be if the old hunchback meant exacactly what you mentioned.
    'a book containing lists of real people with obscene names'? ... Now, that makes me thinking! :)

    Claudia,
    indeed! 'Every book that changes me reminds me of the ones that still might'.
    As for Jams' contests: Don't underestimate Sgt. Pluck. :)

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