What are you reading? Options

[Kalisurfer]

Once, I climbed up to a pulpit in an empty church to explore other angles with my camera. A venerable old Bible lay there, as if waiting for a preacher to come and begin his sermon. That Bible was from 1703! It wasn't behind the glass, it wasn't fastened in any way, and I don't think there were any surveillance cameras in there. It was from the times of the warrior King Charles XII.

I think I remember the photo that Ek posted of you in a pulpit shooting photos, that would have been that spectacular church that had paintings on almost every inch of available space, if memory serves me correctly. Standing in a pulpit with your camera and then looking down to see a Bible from 1703 would be amazing, like having free reign inside a museum with no guards or crowds to bother you.

[Dhyana]

Once, I climbed up to a pulpit in an empty church to explore other angles with my camera. A venerable old Bible lay there, as if waiting for a preacher to come and begin his sermon. That Bible was from 1703! It wasn't behind the glass, it wasn't fastened in any way, and I don't think there were any surveillance cameras in there. It was from the times of the warrior King Charles XII.

I think I remember the photo that Ek posted of you in a pulpit shooting photos, that would have been that spectacular church that had paintings on almost every inch of available space, if memory serves me correctly. Standing in a pulpit with your camera and then looking down to see a Bible from 1703 would be amazing, like having free reign inside a museum with no guards or crowds to bother you.

Yes, it's wonderful to be able to time-travel like that! The spectacular painted church was in Habo. The Bible there was not that new either. But this church was another one, not far from Habo. I won't even say the name, it would be too easy to just walk in and take the Bible. Here go some pictures. The ones of the Bible are not very sharp because I only dared open it a little bit. Note the number XII on the two metal elements that keep the book closed. They stand for Charles XII, king of Sweden. (He had to advertise for himself on the front page!)









The rather weird bell-shaped pulpit is on the left. The crucified Jesus sculpture on the wall looks even older than the Bible.

[ePiTau]

I revisited our excursion to the church with that ancient Bible. It was August 6, last year. We had just finished a shootout at an amazing waterfall, Silverfallen, is its local name:

The Silverfall


with many geologically interesting, colorful rocks



one could say Dhyana stepped right from the woods into a church


where she discovered an ancient Bible


taking a few shots, single-handedly, as it were

We are soon again going on a little excursion, hopefully with some nice photo opportunities.
And I have the best intentions to post some pics here, if the occasion arises.

[Brainiac]

Wow, those are some excellent photographs!

Phew! I couldn't imagine reading such a heavy book (that Bible!). I have one book about half that size and it is such a strain to hold it!

[Kalisurfer]

Love the story that goes along with these photos Dhyana, the typeface and layout in the Bible's Title page is exquisite, not to mention the architectural space of the Chruch itself, simple yet open and attractive.

[Kalisurfer]

I revisited our excursion to the church with that ancient Bible. It was August 6, last year. We had just finished a shootout at an amazing waterfall, Silverfallen, is its local name:

with many geologically interesting, colorful rocks




taking a few shots, single-handedly, as it were

We are soon again going on a little excursion, hopefully with some nice photo opportunities.
And I have the best intentions to post some pics here, if the occasion arises.

It is always interesting and fun to see a photo of the photographer shooting the photograph that you have already seen, puts 360 degree perspective on the whole process of shooting with the end result in mind. The rock formation is amazing, the kind of photo that makes you feel cool even on a hot day!

This is the time of year you and Ep usually travel somewhere, so have a safe journey and bring back more photos to contemplate and talk about, especially the teamwork photos that eventually show the photographer shooting any given photo that is shown,.... saying all that can be tongue twister of sorts, show, shown, shoot, shot, photo, photographer, photograph, photos, photog, photogenic, photocell, photobiotic, photosensitive, phototype, photopathy, all leaving me with a sense of photophobia concerning the process of explaining the art of capturing images on cells.

[Kalisurfer]

Anti Fragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
There was no way I wouldn't pick up that book.
I had been waiting for his next book ever since I read The Black Swan in Jul 2007.

An interesting letter from composer Brian Eno to author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, concerning the subject of long term thinking in the area of nuclear power.
-----------------------------
From: Brian Eno, London
To: Nassim Nicholas Taleb, New York 

30 April 2013

Dear Nassim,

We're all used to the idea that actions and thoughts take on different values when we expand the 'picture' within which we frame them. We realise that something which makes sense in a local frame may make less sense in a broader frame: dumping your waste in the river is fine as long as you don't think too much about the people downriver. When you do, you might decide to stop dumping. Government ought to be the process by which such overlapping 'bigger picture' considerations are negotiated: good government should make empathy practical.

Indeed our geographical 'circle of empathy' grows decade on decade: a hundred years ago it would have been impossible to imagine millions of people raising hundreds of millions of pounds for tsunami victims on the other side of the world - people they didn't know and would almost certainly never meet. In terms of geography, we inhabit a much bigger picture than we used to, and we sense our interconnectedness within it.

In terms of time, however, the picture seems to be narrowing. Public attention is increasingly focused on very near futures: businesses live in terror of the bottom line and the quarterly results, while politicians quake at tomorrow's opinion polls and formulate policy in terms of them. We've heard tales of farmers planting olive trees or vineyards for their grandchildren to harvest, or of foresters cultivating groves of oaks to replace a chapel roof hundreds of years in the future, but by and large, we don't do that anymore. We have less active engagement with our future than our ancestors did.

This diminishing future horizon is mirrored by an equally shrinking backwards view. We find ourselves left with prejudices and opinions that were hastily and emotionally formed at the time and not revisited and re-evaluated, drowned under a relentless stream of new stories and panics. We seem to be so thoroughly submerged by new impressions that we don't have time to digest our own history.

The whole letter from Eno to Taleb

[ePiTau]

Interesting and well-written thoughts by Eno. It sure seems like he read Taleb's book, which is no mean feat. Sometimes it surprises me that people still read, and even comprehend. Many persons I meet IRL and online can't handle well more than two sentences, and understand both correctly (I will not explain, ever, what correct understanding entails). If I write a message containing more than one question, only one question gets answered, usually the first or the last in the list, and more often then not it's been misunderstood. And still, we get along. Nothing short of amazing it is.

[zanardi]

I am presently (amongst some other books) reading a book called "Philosophers behaving badly" by Nigel Rodgers&Mel Thompson. Entertaining, if nothing else.
ps. wunderbar pictures and that Biblia looks heavy indeed