Daily Rituals by Mason Currey
Daily Rituals by Mason Currey is incredibly fantastic, offering a peek into the lives (and perhaps minds) of great cultural figures. The project started as a blog, so it has that same short, easy-reading format. The book covers authors, composers, poets, artists, scientists, mathematicians, inventors, and filmmakers; and the huge variety in how different people create. Some toil waiting for inspiration, others chug ahead day after day. There are early risers (like W.H. Auden who said, "Only the 'Hitlers of the world' work at night; no honest artist does." Harsh!), night owls (Jackson Pollock said, "I've got the old Eighth Street habit of sleeping all day and working all night pretty well licked. So has [my wife] Lee. We had to, or lose the respect of the neighbors."), and nappers (Buckminster Fuller practiced "high frequency sleep" where he slept for 30 minutes after every 6 hours of work). There are many parents who write while their children are napping (Alice Munro and Sylvia Plath are two) and civil servants and blue collar workers who work after a full day on a job (like Anthony Trollope and Joseph Cornell). And their eating habits! Holy moly, their eating habits! Soren Kierkegaard would pour sugar into his coffee cup so it was piled to the rim, and then slowly pour coffee in until it dissolved. He would down that concoction swiftly, then chase it with a sherry. Beethoven counted the beans in each cup of coffee (60, if you're interested). Patricia Highsmith didn't care much for food - an acquaintance remarked that "she only ever ate American bacon, fried eggs and cereal, all at odd times of the day." Currey focuses on the ritual, not necessarily the product. All of these individuals produced great work, but with wildly varying levels of productivity. People have quested for the perfect routine since the beginning of time, and this book is evidence that there are as many productive ways to work as there are people getting work done. This book can also serve as inspiration for people looking to change up or tweak their routine. As a sneak peek, here is Benjamin Franklin's daily routine as outlined in his Autobiography. Allie @ Central
