“The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order — not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through lists, through catalogs, through collections in museums and through encyclopedias and dictionaries. There is an allure to enumerating how many women Don Giovanni slept with: It was 2,063, at least according to Mozart’s librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. We also have completely practical lists — the shopping list, the will, the menu — that are also cultural achievements in their own right.”
other lists:
- thenearsightedmonkey:”Drawing tips from the great GARY PANTER!”
- Jack Kerouac’s 30 Beliefs and Techniques For Writing Modern Prose
- The 25 Greatest Quotes About Writing »
- 25 Principles
- A Liberal Decalogue: Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments of Teaching
- Tony Benn’s five questions to ask the powerful
- Five Resolutions for 2009
Paul Greer 