Lion, tiger, Bowie... oh my.

How knowledge compounds over time                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 September 14, 2023 | [Read Online]( Lion, tiger, Bowie... oh my. How knowledge compounds over time [Cole Schafer]( September 14, 2023 [fb]( [tw]( [in]( [email](mailto:?subject=Post%20from%20The%20Process.&body=Lion%2C%20tiger%2C%20Bowie...%20oh%20my.%3A%20How%20knowledge%20compounds%20over%20time%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.getthesticky.com%2Fp%2Fbowie-reading-list) The first time somebody tried to describe a lion to your adolescent mind, it was probably difficult to understand. But, after you understood the concept of a lion, you were likely able to understand the concept of a tiger in a fraction of the time. You saw the unfamiliar concept that was the tiger and pretty quickly gathered that it was kind of like the lion-thing, except it had black stripes. This is the beauty in knowledge, it compounds. When we are introduced to an unfamiliar concept, our minds reach for a familiar concept somewhere stowed in the deep, dark depths of our mental grab-bag to help us better understand what is in front of us. It’s not unlike a flashlight knifing through the darkness. In this way, the more concepts we can familiarize ourselves with and stockpile, the better we can understand the more difficult, unfamiliar concepts we’re bound to come across while existing on this giant space rock. The fastest and most efficient way to acquire knowledge and hoard concepts is to develop a diverse reading palate. The antithesis of this is the “businessman” that spends so much time in the business section of Barnes & Noble that he should be charged rent. While the businessman thinks he is getting ahead with the heap of business books as tall as the Leaning Tower of Pisa collecting dust on his nightstand, he isn’t. If the businessman was truly hoping to get ahead, he would read the 10 greatest business books ever written every 3-4 years and then dedicate the rest of his reading time rifling through books that focus on new, previously unexplored topics. Successful businessmen (or successful anyone for that matter) don’t just read business books. They read books about writing, psychology, history, philosophy, creativity, art and, occasionally, business. David Bowie wasn’t a businessman per se, but he was a magnificently successful and original artist. And, it was no coincidence that Bowie was also a voracious reader… “ I’m a real self-educated kind of guy. I read voraciously. Every book I ever bought, I have. I can’t throw it away. It’s physically impossible to leave my hand! Some of them are in warehouses. I’ve got a library that I keep the ones I really really like. I look around my library some nights and I do these terrible things to myself… I count up the books and think, how long I might have to live and think, ‘Fuck, I can’t read two-thirds of these books.’ It overwhelms me with sadness. ” Before Bowie passed on, he compiled a list of his [100 favorite books of all time](. What fascinated me most when I first perused this list was that no two books were the same. On Bowie’s list you will not find 100 books about songwriting but instead everything from Vladimir Nabokov’s Loita to a collection of interviews with the painter Francis Bacon. When you experience Bowie’s art or watch old interviews of him shooting the shit on late night talk shows, you witness a man who sampled books the way an orange lion with black stripes samples the unlucky beasts that share his domain. Read. Remember to read. By [Cole Schafer](. P.S. If this newsletter left you feeling inspired, do me a huge favor and tell one person to [subscribe](. [tw]( [ig]( [in]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here]( © The Process 228 Park Ave S, #29976, New York, New York 10003, United States [[beehiiv logo]Powered by beehiiv](