This blog, explained; by somebody else
When I started this blog I knew (obviously) my reasons, but never could quite describe it coherently enough. Time passed, I started to write in it (less often than not) and this matter slowly vanished from the front of my mind.
Flash forward to last night, as I was reading through the books I bought this weekend. I read the minuscule preface of Jerome K. Jerome’s (I’m not linking any of his internet biographies, he deserves a little google-love) The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. It writes:
One or two friends to whom I showed these papers in manuscript having observed that they were not half bad, and some of my relations having promised to buy the book if it ever came out, I feel I have no right to longer delay its issue. But for this, as one may say, public demand, I perhaps should not have ventured to offer these mere ‘idle thoughts’ of mine as mental food for the English-speaking peoples of the earth. What readers ask nowadays in a book is that it should improve, instruct and elevate. This book wouldn’t elevate a cow. I cannot conscientiously recommend it for any useful purposes whatever. All I can suggest is that when you get tired of reading “the best hundred books”, you may take this up for half an hour. It will be a change.
Jerome K. Jerome
Brilliant. Not just the preface, which is, undoubtedly, one of the best I’ve ever read, but the way it fits with my philosophy about this blog. Here’s my adaptation for the blog:
One or two friends to whom I told some of my ideas in the beginning stage having observed that they were not half bad, and my parents having promised to read the blog if it ever came out of beta, I feel I have no right to longer delay its issue. But for this, as one may say, public demand, I perhaps should not have ventured to offer these mere ‘idle thoughts’ of mine as mental food for the English-speaking peoples of the world-wide-web. What readers ask nowadays in a blog is that it should inquire, amuse and deconstruct. This blog wouldn’t deconstruct a Lego Castle. I cannot conscientiously recommend it for any useful purposes whatever. All I can suggest is that when you get tired of reading “the very best blogs”, you may take this up for half an hour. It will be a change.
Now that I explained my philosophy for this here web log, all I have to do is get back to writing it. 