No blogging yesterday because school was stressing me out a little bit. The class, human-computer interaction, is not exactly what I thought it would be. I was expecting more psychology and it is more technical and design oriented. There are only three women in the class including myself and only a couple library students. The rest are information science and computer science students. It makes for an interesting perspective but the IS and CE people talk tech way above my head about systems I have never even heard of but they either know about or work on.
In spite of this I am keeping up and managing not to be intimidated because I have experience to contribute that they don’t even if my tech-ese is not up to their level. Still, when we are being asked to come up with design and system failures, these guys can talk about fighter jets and nuclear power plants and I have to work to find things like light switches and clunky research database interfaces.
Since I’ve been feeling in such unfamiliar territory in class, I did what any sensible reader would do, request books from the library. Today I brought home Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh because Grad told me to and other bloggers have been saying good things about it as well. I also brought home a comfort book, Reading in Bed: Personal Essays on the Glories of Reading edited by Steven Gilbar.
When I got the book it looked so darn familiar I thought I had read it before and just forgotten. But after looking at the table of contents I know I haven’t read it before even though I have read a couple of the essays in other places.
At my lunch break I decided to read an essay and did what I don’t usually do, choose one from the middle of the book. The essay, “The Magic of the Book” by Hermann Hesse, was perfect: smart, thoughtful, a little funny, and affirming. In the essay Hesse writes about how books and reading used to be sacred because generally only priests were literate. But now, with democracy, being able to read is no big deal; there is nothing magical or sacred about it anymore. Unless, of course you are a reader. People who are readers form a sort of secret society in plain sight. We are like the priests of old who knew just how powerful and magical reading is.
Hesse writes about books and life and spirit and then mentions the ever increasing number of books that are being published. He follows this with something I think we can all relate to:
Every true reader could, even if not one new book were published, spend decades and centuries studying on, fighting on, continuing to rejoice in the treasure of those already at hand.
Isn’t that so wonderfully, beautifully true?
I keep forgetting that the approaching weekend will be a three-day one because of the Martin Luther King Day holiday on Monday. I think I know one of the books I will be spending time with. And of course I will make myself snug in bed, cocooned in flannel and blankets while I read it.
That sounds like a great book…and hey, Powells has a cheap copy. Score!
Good luck with your class…it sounds like you’re holding your own, though.
I think I’d really like that book too.
Thanks for the review of Reading in Bed. It sounds like one I would really enjoy. I’m posting a link on my blog.
Stay warm!
Oh I love Hermann Hesse! He was one of my first great literary infatuations. Oh dear – I have only just received the essay collection about mentors and muses through the post – don’t tell me you’ve found a new one for me to lust after!
It might be because I was a computer science student, but I absolutely loved HCI. In fact, it was one of those courses that I aced with minimal effort/maximum blagging.
Sea of Poppies has been on my wishlist since 2008. I really should read it one of these days.
I love the sound of that book! Ah, essays about how great it is to read. Thanks for mentioning it. I hope you enjoy your three-day weekend.
That sounds like wonderful comfort reading! I’ll have to look the book up myself. I liked the Hesse essay in The Story About the Story as well. I didn’t know Hesse wrote such good essays; I’ve only known him as a fiction writer. It sounds like you’re doing fine in your class even if it is an unexpected challenge — I hope it continues to go smoothly!
Books on reading are the best comfort food of all. This book of essays sounds really lovely and I’ve added it to my list. I love the quote – sometimes the sheer amount of existing literature is overwhelming, but he’s right to remind us that all those unread books out there are something to be treasured.
“People who are readers form a sort of secret society in plain sight. We are like the priests of old who knew just how powerful and magical reading is.”
I loved this line! I hope you enjoy all those essays just as much.
And for what it’s worth, it’s possible that light switches are just as important as jet engine switches.
Sounds like you have a wonderful weekend ahead!
I understand your fish-out-of-water feeling in your HCI class. I work in technology, but approach it from a business-process perspective, not a tech one. I get looks like I have 3 heads and am speaking a dialect of ancient Egyptian from programmers all the time. But, by asking lots and lots of questions, I learned the techy side. Still after many years of prgrammings, my approach is different than many of my peers – I think it is a way of thinking, rather than an accumulated body of knowledge. There is an over-abundance of people of a certain personality type being techies — it isn’t just a stereotype and I think it is one of the reasons that there are so few women in IT. But, one thing that has helped me is that many tech-oriented people love to share their knowledge, so ask them questions and soon you’ll be noticing those design flaws everywhere without even having an assignment.
Good luck in your class, it does sound challenging, but I bet it’s go much smoother than you think. I may have to check out that essay collection since this is my year to read more of them. Hope you had a nice day off and haven’t been dealing with all the fog we’ve had.
Softdrink, thanks! The book is continuing to be great fun. I hope you enjoy it!
Jeane, I think you would. It is a lot of fun.
Judy, it’s a fun book. Thanks for the link. Love your blog title btw
Litlove, I am thinking of establishing a flirtation with Hesse at the moment. Enjoy Mentors! You might have to get Sleeping in Bed too
uncertainprinciples, HCI is interesting and I have been looking forward to the class. For some reason it’s got me a little off balance though.
Rebecca, it is hard to go wrong with essays about reading. I am enjoying the long weekend. I hope you are too!
Dorothy, I didn’t know Hesse wrote essays let alone how good they are. I’m going to have to look for more. Thanks for the good wishes.
Verbivore, I agree, there are few things as comforting as books about books.
Maire, thanks! And the book is going along swimmingly.
Isabella, indeed. Unfortunately all weekends come to an end.
Cam, I’ve never had trouble being in small groups of techie people but I didn’t expect there to be so many in this class for some reason. I think you are right about there being different ways of thinking and about the stereotype. And thanks for the suggestion to ask lots of questions. It has been my experience too that really techie people love to share their knowledge, but for some reason I forgot that!
Danielle, it probably is going smoother than I think, I just am hesitant to trust that for some reason. Definitely look for this book at the library. It will go wonderfully with your essay reading project! I hope you had a nice day off too. We’ve not had too much fog but we’ve got air quality warnings out. No wonder my allergies have been bothering me.