Creativity: a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
— Arthur Koestler (1964)
The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Poet" (1844)
I bought this book in second hand in the Strand bookstore. The book is quite new. To my amusement, the previous owner (or maybe one of its previous owner) smokes pipe. The smell of pipe tobacco evokes the following image, a Holmes-looking old scholar, smoking a pipe in his study, which is laden with ceiling high books.
This book is the encore of "The Discoverers", with much the same erudition and insight. I am quite enthralled in his writing.
An Oxford educated historian, an accomplished scholar, Daniel J. Boorstin also directed the Library of Congress from 1975 to 1987. He taught history in the University of Chicago for twenty-five years, directed the National Museum of History and Technology. He is also a lawyer, a member of Massachusetts bar, visiting professors at Sorbonne, University of Rome, University of Genoa, etc.
His other books include: "The Americans: The Colonial Experience (1958)", "The Americans: The National Experience (1965)", "The Americans: The Democratic Experience (1973)", "The Mysterious Science of the Law (1941)", "The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson (1948)", "The Genius of American Politics (1953)", "The Image (1962)", "The Republic of Technology (1978)", "Landmark History of the American People", textbook "A History of the United States (1980)". He is the editor of "An American Primer (1966)" and the thirty volume series "The Chicago History of American Civilization". A quite long and impressive list.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) is credited as the inventor of essay. French "essayer", means "to try". Montaigne tried to express himself, undisguised, revealing himself as what he is. He wrote about every aspect about his amusement, his thoughts, and his lament. Before him, people wrote for moral percepts. Since him, people began to explore themselves. Self is itself a cosmos, it calls for meditation and exploration.
Even though Montaigne invented essay trying to express himself, deviated from the Moralia tradition, nevertheless, much of the later authors chose to embrace Plutarch's Moralia tradition. Quite naturally, moral percepts are such a tenacious and respectful. In Chinese, there is a saying "Writing is a vehicle to carry morality (Wen Yi Zai Dao)".