A Velocity of Being by Maria Popova

Author:Maria Popova
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chris Anderson was born in a remote village in Pakistan in 1957, and spent his early years in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where his parents worked as medical missionaries. He graduated from Oxford University in 1978, with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. Since 2002, he has been the curator of TED—a global platform for identifying and disseminating ideas worth spreading.

Dear Fellow Reader,

I still have on my shelf the very first book I made my parents buy for me. I was eleven at the time and the book I so urgently wanted was called Profiles in Courage: Young Readers Edition. In January of 1961, the author, John F. Kennedy, had just been inaugurated president of the United States, and at eleven it thrilled me that a president—my president, the one for whom I had campaigned the previous summer and fall by handing out leaflets around my neighborhood—was a writer too, as I hoped one day to be. All my favorite books were biographies of figures from the long-ago past, famous folk like Paul Revere, Robert Fulton, and presidents Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Now the new president had written a book with stories about the remarkable lives of his great heroes. I could hardly believe my luck.

Of course, your favorite books might not be anything at all like mine. One of the best things about books is that there are so many different kinds of them, books of every flavor and description corresponding to a wide array of personalities, tastes, and needs. Without first getting to know you, I could not begin to know what favorite book of mine might possibly become a favorite of yours. But what I can say is: if you know of a book that you feel you must have, tell your parents. Chances are good they will be as glad as my parents were to get you a copy. And don’t forget to pack it carefully each time you move. Not many things in life can be counted as “permanent possessions.” But a few things can, and our favorite books are among them.

Leonard Marcus

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