Turn and face the strange….. Today’s TTT is about bookish jobs.

Well, I work as a reference librarian, so that’s a little on the nose. Of course, my job isn’t very bookish. My library is very social-services oriented, so I spend most of the day helping patrons with the computers, or faxing/scanning, that sort of thing. On Saturdays I hang out at a local downtown book store to get my fill of time with bookish people, and when I was a teenager I wanted to work at a bookstore. In retirement I could definitely see maintaining a cozy spot like Broad Street Books, using it less as a way of earning an income and more as a way to hang out with people, just as the founder and operator of BSB does now. I love thinking about and discussing the themes and ideas of books with people, and some of my favorite authors are in fact people who do just that — like Brad Birzer and Joseph Pearce, both in books and on podcasts. Finally, as with many people who read books, I harbor yearnings to write one myself — I think it’s telling that whenever I play myself in The Sims, he’s invariably a self-employed writer who lives in a little cabin and doesn’t work save for the books he publishes and the garden he tends…

And now, a Trio of Teases!

“You’re about to die. I really don’t think this is the time to be makin’ wisecracks.”
“Personally can’t think of a better time to be makin’ wisecracks than when you’re about to die.”

Firefly: Life Signs, James Lovegrove

“Your past is far more intriguing than either your present or your future. Both of those are completely programmed.”

The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner

“I’m telling you, these platforms are not designed for thoughtful conversation,” Wu said. “Twitter, and Facebook, and social media platforms are designed for: ‘We’re right. They’re wrong. Let’s put this person down really fast and really hard.’ And it just amplifies every division we have.”

Tim Wu, as quoted in The Chaos Machine: How Social Media Rewired Our Brain