FROM THIS IS THINKING | ALAN DAVIES

                                                                                040901

        Blurbs are to books what those lead weights on
        the rim of a wheel are to the wheel.

        But the perception that things are not
        sufficiently in-kilter on their own is often a
        misperception on the part of the publisher.

        Or perhaps it is the roadway (the reading public
        as a social phenomenon) that is actually out of
        whack. But to the extent that they are the
        problem (merely perceived or otherwise) no
        amount of however judiciously placed blurbs
        will fix them.

        Blurbs eat the book. They pre-eat it.

        We're much better off with mixed metaphors.

        

        Again. Writing is an aid to forgetting.

        For those of us fastidious about words writing is
        a way of getting some of them out of the head in
        order to make way for new experiences.

        Without writing we'd hold on to words at the
        expense of those experiences which happily (at
        times) give rise to them.

        Writing is letting go.

        To write is to let go.

        Writing is a way of getting younger.

        (It's a way of getting younger so that we can
        age.

        Gracefully.

        Gracelessly.

        Or otherwise.)