Friday, September 2, 2011 Lethbridge

7:50 am

The temperature is +11 C, with a high predicted of +16 C. From the Environment Canada website: Today Mainly cloudy. A few showers beginning this morning and ending this afternoon then 40 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. Wind southwest 20 km/h becoming northwest 20 gusting to 40 this morning. High 16. Tonight Clearing this evening. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light this evening. Low plus 2. Normals Max: 22°C Min: 7°C.

9:50 am Morning Musings

What a bloody mess!

I am sitting in my chair looking at the books that surround me. I, again, am in the process of trying to decide which books to keep, which ones to read, which ones to skim, which ones to re-read. There is a certain sense of order to much of this: mathmatics books are in one section, history books in another, psychology, philosophy, science, education, technology on other shelves. But there are also books that are in stacks near my chair, and other books that are in the wrong place. There are also areas that should be called "other" as there is no discernable theme to that collection.

More than half of the books are ones that I would call my "favorites". They are books that I have read before and have fond memories of having enjoyed. Almost all of the books around me are non-fiction. The fiction books are in other rooms.

The mess has just increased by 3. Three books have just arrived by Purolator. I ordered these from amazon.ca last week. All three are about microbiology - a topic that I know very little about. Two of the books are by Lynn Margulis. I have seen her name mentioned many times but have never actually read anything by her. That will soon change.

My primary goal is to create some new shelf space so that all of the books at least have a place to rest.

I have cheated a little. I went downstairs and brought up an empty book shelf module which holds about 25 books and stacked it on top of two other modules. This module, plus an equivalent space on my bookshelves behind me, have given me enough space to at least get all of my books off the floor. A small start, but at least it is a beginning.

Another small start involved a few books that I have collected on learning how to draw. I have pulled out 5 of these to give to a library while still keeping another 5 that focus on landscapes and scenery. Then I hit a roadblock as I noticed a pad of watercolor lessons - one exercise for each day of the year. I have always wanted to learn how to draw, yet I have always pushed this back in favor of other activities. The real issue is that of a daily exercise. This leads to two other considerations. One is to focus on drawing. Thus the pad of watercolor exercises can be given away. The second is photography. This is another real interest and is one where I can shift the emphasis to color and composition. Now to see what books I have on photography. And then to set up a daily routine that encompasses drawing/photography.

[Addendum: 1:00 PM]

I have reviewed 5 "sections" of my shelf system that contained books on mathematics. After careful consideration, involving the dual criteria of "I remember this as a good book" and "this is still interesting to me", I have reduced the number of sections to 4. In other words, I have removed 20% of my books on this topic. I am definitely motivated to return to my study of symmetry and group theory.

11:30 am Science

The following 3 books arrived today from amazon.ca:

• Microcosmos (1986) by Lynn Margulis & Dorian Sagan.
  • This book was mentioned by Fritjof Capra in his "The Hidden Connections" and I was intrigued to learn more about bacteria and evolution.
• Symbiotic Planet (1998) by Lynn Margulis.
  • This is another book by Margulis. I am looking forward to this as well.
• Life Ascending (2009) by Nick Lane.
  • I noticed this on the amazon.ca web site while ordering the above two books.