Dublin, Ireland
You can feel the weight of generations here at the Long Room in the Old Library at Trinity College. It's quite a place. One is reminded of the story of Umberto Eco's 30,000-volume library in which people often ask the great philosopher and novelist, "How many of these books have you read?" As the story goes, Eco tells his wide-eyed visitors that the more interesting question concerns how many books he has not read.
His point is that the celebration of curiosity is a joyous, never-ending pursuit and that libraries are living, ever-expanding things. Eco seems to suggest that it is healthier to acknowledge the vast majority of knowledge that eludes us than to cling only to the narrow limits of what each of us already knows - or thinks we know. Petrarch of Arezzo captured the humility of unknown or yet-to-be-known knowledge well when he wrote, "My library is not an unlearned collection, although it belongs to an unlearned person."
p.s. Connor McPherson's The Weir at The Gate Theater is marvelous, epitomizing the best of Irish theater in its ability to elicit tears and laughter at the same time. And as we entered the Tripod Club last night we were reminded by many fans that the Australian Tommy Emmanuel may be among the very best guitarists in the world. He is! See for yourself at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TX0eTp7SoNU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GZzUCuCosnE&feature=related
You can feel the weight of generations here at the Long Room in the Old Library at Trinity College. It's quite a place. One is reminded of the story of Umberto Eco's 30,000-volume library in which people often ask the great philosopher and novelist, "How many of these books have you read?" As the story goes, Eco tells his wide-eyed visitors that the more interesting question concerns how many books he has not read.
His point is that the celebration of curiosity is a joyous, never-ending pursuit and that libraries are living, ever-expanding things. Eco seems to suggest that it is healthier to acknowledge the vast majority of knowledge that eludes us than to cling only to the narrow limits of what each of us already knows - or thinks we know. Petrarch of Arezzo captured the humility of unknown or yet-to-be-known knowledge well when he wrote, "My library is not an unlearned collection, although it belongs to an unlearned person."
p.s. Connor McPherson's The Weir at The Gate Theater is marvelous, epitomizing the best of Irish theater in its ability to elicit tears and laughter at the same time. And as we entered the Tripod Club last night we were reminded by many fans that the Australian Tommy Emmanuel may be among the very best guitarists in the world. He is! See for yourself at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TX0eTp7SoNU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GZzUCuCosnE&feature=related