The adage states that we ought not judge a book by its cover. But what about its title? I have become increasingly aware of how literally I interpret the titles of things. And I realize I have done so for a long time.
As a child, I wondered why anyone needed a show called “How To Boil Water“. Seriously, people… you need someone on the TV machine to tell you how to boil water? Just get out of the kitchen.
When I first came to LoOG, long before I started commenting or writing, it was when Jason Kuznicki announced he’d be writing here over on Positive Liberty. I remember thinking, “I’ve never seen that movie, but I really don’t know what this blog has to do with it.”
As I started to explore the sub blogs, I was confused as to why Will and Burt felt the need to identify themselves as not being potted plants… I mean, obviously they weren’t… but isn’t that the case for all of us? And I got increasingly frustrated that Tim and Tom weren’t discussing the evolution of language on the site previously known as Notes from Babel, because that is a topic I’m interested in.
I guess it fits that I’ve ended up here, at Mindless Diversions, where we quite literally focus on mindless diversions.
Now, if only I could figure out why libertarians are so obsessed with a book about Greek mythology, I think I might have this place figured out…
OMG! Soul Train.
The title that launched a thousand different variations, all of which are totally awesome.
I thought this was going to be a post about sheets and blankets.
It’s not the libertarians who like the mythology books. That’s the objectivists. The libertarians like Heinlein.
No politics.
Heinlein didn’t write myths?
The Moon is a Harsh Mythtress
We’re getting into weird “technically, isn’t *ALL* archetypical fiction a form of mythology?” territory.
Actually, I’m referring to the series that RAH’s late books are part of, The World As Myth.
I was more thinking of Starship Troopers.
Yeah, RAH could do unreadable polemics too.
The only one that struck me as particularly deserving the epithet was the one in which we are introduced to the word “grok”.
Most of his very late books (e.g. the ones that are part of the World as Myth series) are unreadable, though only some are polemics.
Tru Dat.
I don’t recall which book it was in, but IIRC, he also recommended that any politician that voted for war would legally be compelled to be one of the first troops to “go ashore”. One of the best recomendations I’ve ever hear of.