FORUMS
I like a lot of things about Stereophile. JA's measurements. The thought-provoking "As We See It" column which kick-starts each issue. But I've come to look forward to Art Dudley's column with regularity. Sure my interests kind of align with his audio interests, but more than anything, he's just a flat-out good "writer." Sometimes I'm startled by the quality of the prose in some of his "Listening" columns. This following paragraph starts his column #61 -
"Whenever my family and I travel together, I catch a glimpse of how the human mind works. Immediately after checking into our hotel, my wife goes to work distributing the contents of our suitcases among the room's various cabinets, closets, and drawers. Then, the next morning, I discover the location of my underpants heuristically: seeking without knowing, in the hope that some newly learned pattern will be imprinted on my brain. Thus do I earn the luxury of complacence: Every morning thereafter, my things are right where I know they should be.
That procedure is useful not only in the location of underpants but in any number of other tasks: making coffee, mowing the lawn, driving a car, writing checks, knotting a tie, long division. I can do all of those things and more because I know how."
I read it twice because it was just terrifically written. The rhythm of the prose is stately & measured, reflecting the content & idea of the sentences, but there are tender & funny personal insights in there, too, as we see the writer carrying on with his mundane tasks, driving a car, mowing the lawn... doing long division: "earning the luxury of complacence" (a fantastic phrase & idea!) Good stuff. I wouldn't mind reading a novel which starts out this way. (Actually, I can think of a novel that's about this 'luxury of complacence' and routine... Nicholson Baker's 'Box of Matches' if anyone's looking for a new book to read...)
