Back in July of this year, I listened to two Ray Bradbury novels. Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. Most of the books I listen to and read are non-fiction, but I do like to take a break and listen to something more relaxing and entertaining at times. Especially science fiction and many of the classics that I have missed over the years. So far it’s been very rewarding.
The writing and story of Fahrenheit 451 were really enjoyable, and the narration was excellent. The main character Guy Montag is a fireman, not tasked with saving people's homes, but instead with burning all books, which in this dystopian future are banned. Eventually, his world opens up and he starts to question his actions, his society, and the value of the knowledge he’s destroying.
When I am listening to books, if a phrase resonates with me, I will bookmark it and then later transcribe it into a document on my computer. The idea for this habit came from a few places. One is my desire to retain as much that is relevant to my life as possible and not just read or listen and forget everything. It’s interesting to me that I’m talking about trying to save this information from books, when at the end of Fahrenheit that is the overriding goal of the survivors, to remember literature.
Author Ryan Holiday is a big proponent of something called the commonplace book. He describes it as a “central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations, and information you come across during your life and didactic pursuits. The purpose of the book is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life, in your business, in your writing, speaking, or whatever it is that you do.” So now I bookmark my books and have started carrying around a pen and field notes memo book in my back pocket to make sure I remember and record all of my ideas and observations. I always think I will remember but I don’t. My phone would work but that’s not as fun. The trick is then coalescing all of those notes and ideas into something greater.
