“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:
- Tony Benn’s five questions to ask the powerful
- Charles Darwin’s reading list
- Making Infinity Comprehensible – Eco
- Marilyn Monroe’s 1955 New Year’s resolution list,
- Tips
- “I….Sleeping (being a dream journal and parenthetical explication)”
- Making Sense of Language – Mr. Rogers Set of Rules for Talking to Children
