It seems our diary planned for this morning won't be ready after all, so I thought I would offer a topic to initiate our Friday morning conversation.
It occurs to me that sometimes it's not just a single book that inspires us, but a writer's entire philosophy or body of knowledge brought to us through his or her collected writings. Although I could name some particular books by writers who have influenced me (and I plan to, in a later diary), each of those books really serves as a doorway, an entry point to a way of seeing and a way of thinking that's expressed in several books.
Three authors who have influenced me greatly include Daniel Quinn, Peter Senge, and George Lakoff.
How about you? Have you been influenced by an author because of several books, more than one particular book?
Daniel Quinn may be best known for his book, Ishmael, which conveys Quinn's unusual way of thinking about human life and human culture through a series of conversations between a teacher and a student. The book begins with a want ad:
"Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world."
Although Ishmael tends to be the first of Quinn's books that readers encounter, I started with another one, and it did indeed change my life. Quinn's approach to seeing our culture's habits might be described by the title of a more recent book, If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways.
Peter Senge's book, The Fifth Disicpline, influenced Daniel Quinn while writing Ishmael. When I learned that I promptly began reading Senge's work. When I read Senge's description of "the beer game", I experience one of those lightbulb-over-the-head moments. The beer game is a simple role-playing exercise that demonstrates how knowledgeable, competent people make decisions that seem to make sense at the time, but quickly turn out to be disastrous. Senge's way of seeing and understanding cultural assumptions and the feedback between group beliefs and individual beliefs has really changed the way I think about social change. And it's changed the way I interact with folks at web sites, too.
Speaking of changing our interactions, George Lakoff's work on language frames also has influenced the way I think, speak, write, and interact. Some readers may recognize Lakoff as an occasional contributor here at Daily Kos and Alternet. Something I find important, but sometimes doesn't get much attention, is that Lakoff's current work in understanding politics is really a specific application of his more general work (over decades) to understand how we humans think, speak, write, and influence each other. I first read about Lakoff's work on frames in a magazine article for the Sierra Club. I promptly bought Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, and I was proverbially blown away. "Holy cow!" I thought. Finally someone could explain the puzzling stuff conservatives have been saying and doing throughout my adult life. Lakoff has since written the short how-to guide, Don't Think of an Elephant, as well as Thinking Points and Whose Freedom? His book, The Political Mind, seems to be something of an update to Moral Politics. I prefer Moral Politics as a reference, but many readers seem to like Political Mind as an entry point. An excellent way to get to a bigger picture, however, is Lakoff's earlier book, Metaphors We Live By, and philosophy fans may find some intriguing challenges in Philosophy in the Flesh.
So, those are three authors who have changed my life: George Lakoff, Peter Senge, and Daniel Quinn. I see some participants have described their own influential authors in comments, too. Thanks! Please keep 'em coming.
Thanks for your participation and your contributions.