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About the Book
As we approach the summit of our lives, Proust writes, "it is as if we are perched on living stilts which keep on growing, reaching the height of church-towers, until walking becomes difficult and dangerous and then finally we fall." A remedy for the inevitable collapse is to create works in which we reconnect thoughts, times, places and people. That is the aim of these essays. They are hyperlinks through time and space: attempts to recollect and reconnect scraps of thought. We need connected thought for good steersmanship, but it's not easy. Finding the right balance feels like an analogue, not a digital activity. As Zhuangzi's wheelwright points out (in Burton Watson's translation): "when I chisel a wheel, if the blows of the mallet are too gentle, the chisel slides and won’t take hold. But if they’re too hard, it bites in and won't budge. Neither too gentle nor too hard - you can get it in your hand and feel it in your mind. You can't put it into words, and yet there's a knack to it somehow." The essays in Thinking, Hard and Soft range from Proust, Homer and Zhuangzi to Cybernetics and AI and it's all washed down with a healthy dose of wine, just in case.
Here is what some readers have said about "Thinking, Hard and Soft" so far:
"Thought provoking. An example of how mankind can muddle through the opposition and find a way to do the right thing in the end."
Simon Dakin, Business Systems and Information Manager
"Very well written... Very few people publishing in LinkedIn can write like this. And that's probably a large understatement... a rare ability to fuse philosophy, science, technology, history and original thought..."
Stephen Cummins, CEO & Founder AppSelekt, CSO Academic Innovations
"Beautiful!"
Douglas Levin, Professional Sommelier & Wine Writer
