Ryanware

About an hour ago I said the following in response to a question: “very rarely.”

Rare is already pretty rare, as the word itself implies. So to be very rare it’s gotta be, well, very rare.

While I don’t know for certain, I think ‘very rare’ is overused. In fact, the cases where it’d be appropriate are rare.

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
– C. S. Lewis

I am far beyond guilty of this.

See? I just did it again. It’s a disease!

Does this really matter? I think so. It extends beyond words, reaching into our lives and sucking out everything good. Maybe.

It’s really easy to start things. New goals, projects, 12 course meals.

The last piece of pie after a 12 course meal is tough.

Not that I’ve ever tried.

I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to trying, though.

Anyone know of any good restaurants I should check out?

“Outlier” is a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience. In the summer, in Paris, we expect most days to be somewhere between warm and very hot. But imagine if you had a day in the middle of August where the temperature fell below freezing. That day would be outlier. And while we have a very good understanding of why summer days in Paris are warm or hot, we know a good deal less about why a summer day in Paris might be freezing cold. In this book I’m interested in people who are outliers—in men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are as puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August.
– What is Outliers about?

I’ve been waiting for this book, Outliers, to come out for, well, as long as I’ve known about it. I don’t know how long that is, but it’s felt like a long time.

It finally came out today.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
- On Audible
- On Amazon

I bought it in both audio and paperback. If you like audiobooks at all I highly recommend the audio versions. He reads them himself and does a fantastic job.