Five Books is a recommendation I give with some hesitation. Basically, it’s a book recommendation website. The twist is that the recommendations come from recognized experts and relate to a specific topic. And there’s also the format: the experts’ five recommended reads appear in the course of a thoughtful interview—itself often conducted by another expert. … Continue reading On the danger of Five Books
Author: T Coe
On the basement
I swear—there was a time it was organized. When we first moved into our house three years ago, I took one look at our unfinished basement (800 square feet of empty space!) and was confident I could keep it under control. We didn’t have that much stuff to store, right? I was wrong. While I … Continue reading On the basement
On using the road, Part 2
Yesterday, I riffed on a common driving phenomenon: the premature merge. While I described the phenomenon, I didn’t bother trying to explain it. I spent the last day pondering this—why do we insist on the early merge? One reason it surprises me is that the typical reaction to future-task-that-must-be-done (merging lanes, in this case) is … Continue reading On using the road, Part 2
On using the road, Part 1
Traffic once seemed to me a natural phenomenon—like the wind or the rain. Traffic simply was; it existed as a thing apart, a force we had no control over. Now I don’t mean the traffic that comes of accidents or construction—I mean the traffic that emerges out of nothing, out of the vehicles and the … Continue reading On using the road, Part 1
On conversation as improvisation
I’ve lost the original thought, to my shame, but it’s the most helpful conversation concept I’ve encountered in a long time: Conversation as improvisation. It’s not the most intuitive framework for conversation. For me, my fallback structure for conversation is a different concept: Conversation as competition. That concept doesn’t imply that I try to “win” … Continue reading On conversation as improvisation
On drinking from the new job firehose
My brain is tired. I forget that the simple act of consuming information is still exhausting. That’s not to suggest that related mental activity—generating information, organizing information, analyzing information—isn’t likewise exhausting, too. It’s only to posit something special about the exhaustion of consumption. I’m reminded of those long, quiet days of focused work where I … Continue reading On drinking from the new job firehose
On 9 things from last week (11/27/23)
Watch Killers of the Flower Moon. Dir. Martin Scorsese. I enjoyed this film, but it was a bit of a slog, at over three and a half hours. Having just read the book, I was also in a position to consider the two side by side…and the book is better. Monsters, Inc. Dir. Pete Docter. … Continue reading On 9 things from last week (11/27/23)
On Rembrandt’s Lost Secret
I wouldn't normally do this...but here's an Amazon link. I'm willing to make an exception, because it's the best way to point you towards my most recent literary contribution: I served as editor (and sort of ghostwriter) for a friend's book. Part memoir, part art history, part screed against the attitudes of art conservation, the … Continue reading On Rembrandt’s Lost Secret
On when we stopped thinking of musical interpretation as art
I watched a couple clips of American Idol the other night. Miraculously, I've made it through 33 years without so much as seeing a snippet of the iconic show. I knew of it, of course—it was hard to avoid American Idol, especially in its heyday, when America still legitimately seemed to watch the same TV … Continue reading On when we stopped thinking of musical interpretation as art
On an introduction to alcohol
My introduction to alcohol was one of prohibition: Thou shalt not drink. My parents, more than a little Protestant in them, decried the temptation of alcohol in stern terms even as they—wait for it!—imbibed themselves. The nerve! But this is less about their imposed teetotaling attitude—which was really not the worst mindset to have in … Continue reading On an introduction to alcohol
Taylor Coe 