The Rolling Exhibition
Thanks to Gaynor for letting me know about this
Everyone tries to create a story in their heads to explain the things that baffle them. For the same reason we want to know how a magic trick works, or how mystery novel ends, we want to know how someone different, strange, or disfigured came to be as they are. Everyone does it. It's natural. It's curiosity.
But before any of us can ponder or speculate - we react. We stare. Whether it is a glance or a neck twisting ogle, we look at that which does not seem to fit in our day to day lives. It is that one instant of unabashed curiosity - more reflex than conscious action - that makes us who we are and has been one of my goals to capture over the past year.
posted by Rachel at 2:58 pm
Ah, story. It was part of the leap, prior to writing, that helped humans to where we are now: the legend around the camp fire, spreading the wisdom that enabled us to learn from other's mistakes.
Sadly, that lack of skepticism has led mankind into the crazy situation we're in now. From the press chasing a "story" rather than those meddlesome facts to the blindness of those who are supposed to be managing our financial markets.
Now reading "Black Swans" by Nicholas Taleb. It combines interesting observations on the dislocations in the markets with a thousand years of Lebanese (or Levantine as he prefers) history. It's all about the story obscuring the facts. Top bloke. Anyone who publishes papers with Benoit Mandelbrot as co-author is worth a read :)