Making Room For Old Stuff.

 

I am cleaning up my "writing" room. The one that has all the books in it. I need to make some space for a new printer/scanner/coffeemaker/toaster. I think the last one I owned was a matrix printer that actually made more noise than a power drill. Not that I have ever owned a power drill. Although I am sure that the printer I will buy in ten years has one integrated.

"You can print the photos of your children and drill a hole in the wall at the same time!"

I have to move books from one spot to another. Hoping that in some magical way rearranging my library will create an oasis of unused space. This is also the room where we hang up the laundry. So every little free spot will magically be filled with my socks. I have to move the books fast, cram the printer in the space I just created, before my shirts will occupy it.

So I want to move the books fast.

I pick one up. Look at the cover. And there I go …. "Oh yes. I remember this one. I bought it when I was traveling the first time .. "

Ok. This is not so bad. It's not fast. But it seems fast enough. Haven't seen one piece of laundry yet.

I see the corner of some pages folded. Earmarked. I do that. When I read, I read with pen, underlining stuff I find important, and earmark the page.

I open the book. Flip to a marked page. And there I go …. "Oh wow. I don't remember this. This is an incredible insight. It took me years to come up with an answer myself, but this conclusion is so much better!"

I repeat this with every single book.

The room is filled with laundry.

Am I the only one that has this?

For me reading these books is one big eye opener. Because it helps me to remember where a lot of the thoughts I currently hold come from.

An example of what I mean.

In "The Flight Of The Creative Class" Richard Florida writes about a study by Gary Gates concerning economic growth and diversity of the group:

"He also examined the effects of of two kinds of social capital (…): "bonding", or within-group social capital, and "bridging" social capital, the strength of ties between different ethnic, racial or social groups. In every measure Gates applied, he found diversity to be significantly related to economic growth."

Related in a positive way that is.

And now I remember. Florida showed me the link between creativity and diversity. Between diversity and problem solving. And in the end, between diversity and economic growth.

This is important to me. After 4 years I couldn't remember the source of this insight. I use it. I use it a lot.

And I can see the logical reasoning behind this. But I could not remember the reference and broader context.

It is like opening some mental door.

All of a sudden, a lot of connections to other concepts are highly visible. I have had these connections in my brain for some years. But if you put a lot of stuff in year brain, old connections have to move away for new ones. There is just not enough room to put them all in.

But if you just pick one and move it around, it seems all of a sudden there is enough room for these thoughts after all.

You only have to make sure the free space doesn't get occupied with stuff you don't want in there.

Great the sun is shining! I'll move the laundry outside to dry.

Bas de Baar is a writer who draws about people in transition. He loves to make visual maps and travel guides for the collaborators of our brave new world.