This quarter has seen the whole world shelter in place. This enforced isolation up ends decades of advocacy for more human contact.
In recent years, I have written a lot (a whole book) about Coworking as “a respite from our isolation” (Klaas, 2014) [1].
This is still true, but coworking is out for now–don’t do it. Stay home, no matter how unpleasant, until it is safe to meet again. Community will be back.
Lot’s of other people’s wisdom has to be put on hold for the duration as well.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (unknown, attr. to Edmund Burke)
must now be:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of COVID-19 is for good men and women to not do nothing.”
“The Art of Gathering” (Parker, 2018) must now be the art of NOT gathering. We’re all still trying to figure how to be artful about it.
“How to do Nothing” (Odell, 2019) All the more important, while we must all find the strength to do very little.
“Alone Together” (Turkle, 2011) [2] We have to be alone. Let’s try to be together about it.
The Usual Blog Fodder Interesting Topics
I seem to never get tired of some things.
Blockchain mania, the melting cryosphere, robots, dinosaurs, solar energy.
Some Ideas for Band Names
…torn from the pages of real scientific papers
Wing Heart
Scent Pads
Failed Squid Meal
Prey Seizure
Books Reviewed
As ususal, weekly book reviews. 12 fiction, 7 non-fiction.
Fiction
Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Trace Elements by Donna Leon
Processed Cheese by Stephen Wright
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Highfire by Eoin Colfer
The Feral Detective by Jonathan Letham
Hi Five by Joe Ide
Agency by William Gibson
Zed by Joanna Kavenna
Naked Came The Florida Man by Tim Dorsey
A Small Town by Thomas Perry
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Non Fiction
The Shadow of Vesuvius by Daisy Dunn
Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
Imagined Life by James Trefil and Michael Summers
Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
The Great Pretender by Susannah Cahalan
Island People by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
The Accursed Tower by Roger Crowley
- Zachary R. Klaas, Coworking & Connectivity in Berlin. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2014. https://www.academia.edu/11486279/Coworking_Connectivity
- Sherry Turkle, Alone Together, New York, BAsic Books, 2011.
Robert McGrath's Blog 