Jason R. Fruit stay-at-home father and computer programmer

Literature

Two Accounts of Early Flight

In my reading of late I encountered two interesting accounts related to early aviation. The earlier one, from 1920, is by the violinist Ovide Musin; he recounts his experience in about 1873 ascending in the balloon of one of the Godard family, probably Eugene. (Musin's autobiography, My Memories, is full of amusing and aggravatingly vague anecdotes, of which I've previously posted one.) The other account is a second-hand report of an aspect of Wilbur Wright's personality by Claude Grahame-White, . . .

Lord Chesterfield on Effort and Poetry

I've been reading Lord Chesterfield's letters to his illegitimate son, and I came across the following passage in the first of the letters from 1746:

Without the desire and the pains necessary to be considerable, depend upon it, you never can be so; as, without the desire and attention necessary to please, you never can please. Nullum numen abest, si sit prudentia, is unquestionably true, with regard to everything except poetry; and I am very sure that any man of common . . .

The Nook

I got a nook. This is an admission of which I'm not particularly proud. I did not expect to want an e-book reader until recently. I've always thought paper was the only worthwhile reading experience, and that I couldn't possibly enjoy a book on a screen. That was not just an idle opinion, but was a conclusion based on many attempts to read books on LCD computer screens, which always led to a headache and a half-finished book.

E Ink

The nook (the original, not the color one with the backlit . . .

The Little Red Hen

I occasionally read my eldest daughter The Little Red Hen --- but only occasionally, because I simply can't sympathize with the title character. The little red hen asks all the other animals for help every time she does the tiniest bit of work, with no suggestion of there being any gain in it for them; no wonder they say, "Not I!" Then, when she finally offers an appealing option --- "Who will help me eat the bread?" --- and they accept, she says, "No --- I will eat it myself!"

With that sort . . .

Watty Piper and The Little Engine That Could

One of my daughter's favorite books is The Little Engine That Could, as retold by Watty Piper and published by Platt and Munk. It's such a good story that I have been inspired today to find out more about it --- from what it was retold, when it originated, and who this Watty Piper person is.

To be strictly honest, I had looked for more stories by Watty Piper a few months ago; I found them disappointing, however, and not at all in the same style --- so much so that I had a hard time believing . . .

Alexandre Dumas

I've been reading Alexandre Dumas recently. I finished The Three Musketeers, which was perfect: it swashbuckles with panache and the best sort of chivalry, and the writing has a deliciously arch wordiness that is irresistably charming, even in translation (I don't read French).

I moved on to Twenty Years After, which is admittedly a less-perfect story, but equally well-written. It is from it that the following excerpt comes; it is a taste of Dumas' wit, but the real joy of the works can only . . .

Little Golden Books

My daughter loves books, and that's something we haven't held back on purchasing. A number of them were my favorites when I was little: Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, The Little Engine that Could, Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, and of course a selection of Little Golden Books.

I have special affection for the Little Golden Books, and several of them are among Helena's favorites. I recently got from the library A Family Treasury of Little Golden Books, and I was interested to read . . .

Samuel Johnson's Essays

I've been reading Samuel Johnson's essays recently, and they're brilliant. First, they're impeccably written; he carries a line of reasoning so clearly that it's easy to forget you didn't think of it. Second, they're morally inspiring; many of them not only show the reader how to be a better person, but unlike much other moral writing, they make it seem easy.

Finally, though they were written 250 years ago, they seem up-to-date and relevant. That's partly because Johnson's striving for clarity . . .