Michael Chabon - Manhood for Amateurs

The opening page starts with this quote,

"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."

Gotta love Chabon. His work has always enthralled me...this collection of true stories just made me laugh. It is very infrequently that I read a book and actually chuckle out loud. This one hit the spot in multiple occasions. To me the Legoland Station and The Wilderness of Childhood were right on. I disagree with his thought on buying a set and it being too rigid for children. I mean I loved following directions, building the set, playing with it as designed, then allowing entropy to take hold and have it slowly melt in to the rest of my legos. Months later some piece from that set would serve as a new centerpiece of some new finagled mashup that I made. Ultimately Chabon does get there with his essay saying essentially that is what happens with his kids creations but he was so harsh on the original model concept.

The Wilderness of Childhood served as a basis for my essay about risk aversion. Essentially when I grew up I had a huge (at least for me) forest right next to my house. Probably everyday I would venture into them. At first cautiously, then gradually with more confidence. I would venture further into them with less abandoned. Funny thing was there was this pseudo junk yard at the very end of it had that mysterious dog or you heard tales of being shot at. Well I never had the courage to venture too far into the junk yard, always staying at it fringes peering into the space wondering what could jump out and get me. Overtime in my mind a mental image of every nook and cranny in the forest became embedded in my mind and I would always know where I was. I truly believe the reason I have such a good sense of direction today was that I learn the ability to navigate those woods by looking for certain things and having that innate ability to always know where I was. Kids today have none of that. There are very few "voids" to travel and play in. Essentially they don't gain any confidence in their own abilities to manage their world. Going back to the Lego example we are managing their experiences to such an extent that their ability to "figure it out" becomes limiting. Yikes!

Being a fellow baseball lover, I loved this quote, "what's important was that baseball, after all these years of artificial turf and expansion and the DH and drugs and free agency and thousand dollar bubblegum cards, is still a gift given by fathers to sons."

Big Barda...who knew..

And finally in the short on Radio Silence he mentioned how certain songs can dredge up long forgotten memories of certain events. It is so true...in high school I used to listen to my Walkman continuously especially before track meets. Today when I hear a song, that was in vogue during that meet, it takes me back like a time machine and I can remember sights, sounds, smells...unbelievable

An in the end Chabon says, "life as a husband and father, those pursuits are no favorite subject to endless setbacks and the the stark exposure of shortcoming, weaknesses,and insufficiency - in particular in the raising of children." So true...