For those who have read it, I want to hear your reactions! There’s a discussion page here. Hopefully Bob will not be the only one to make use of it.
I didn’t and don’t really have a clear reason for doing this. It just felt like something I should try. Isn’t that enough?
It’s not a far stretch from what I do anyway. I write all the interesting or insightful ideas I encounter in my notebook, and I type them up later. The added effort for this project came from choosing the best of the bunch, re-wording them in a way that people can hopefully understand, organizing them into sections, and organizing them within sections.
The organization part I found to be remarkably rewarding, because “organizing” is really just an ugly way of saying “drawing connections.” Lots of ideas that were previously disconnected became connected in my mind, and those connections build a framework that “new” ideas can disrupt or build upon. In the end, it feels like I have a marginally stronger foundation for conscious thought.
One of the ideas from the masculine booklet comes to mind:
The importance of a personal worldview is that it helps us put information back into perspective, giving it an intuitive place in our minds like the books in the library.
And because I knew that people I deeply respect may read it, that provided a healthy dose of pressure to carefully consider the ideas and whether they truly say anything interesting or insightful. This is all to say that the personal mental benefits from doing this have been Large.
Has it benefited others? Hard to say. The people I’ve heard from seem to like it. A few people have sent me gobs of cash, which was both exciting and kind of embarrassing. I don’t feel comfortable accepting it, but since it’s going to a better cause than my bank account, I do.
I will probably do a survey later to get more systematic feedback. One of my biggest concerns was whether people would be able to understand these ideas given such little context or supporting evidence. Hopefully the survey will tell me something about that.
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Here are some scenes from the production:
(Side note: don't you love it when the camera should flash, but doesn't? Those are my favorites.)
The production room. (Annotated.)
Khan making sure everything smells okay.
Batch 1 of envelopes.
Yes, there are different colors, both for the envelopes and the masculine booklets. The reason was more indecision than anything. Can't decide which color I want? Fine, I'll take 'em all. Which combination you got depends on how much I like you, pretty much.
I have 8 masculine booklets left, and unless a huge new wave of orders comes in, that'll be all I print. Stragglers can put their address here.
