The Art of the [_____]: A Life in [_____]

I just finished reading a great book, but I don’t want to tell you what it is.

Or rather, I don’t want to share the full title or the name of the author of it, just yet. I think the full title distracts from what the book is really about, which is the part of the title I am sharing as the title of this post: The Art of the [_____]: A Life in [_____].

Because, while the book is technically about a thing that I love, and that thing is what made me notice and acquire the book in the first place, it turns out it’s really about something much bigger than that thing.

It’s really about Art. And Life.

Or a life made artfully out of something that you are passionate about.

In other words, it’s about being human.

Which made me realize again, and on yet another level, why I love books so much. I’ve recently had a lot of conversations about humans as social beings, about the importance of relationships and relationality, on how to retain connection in a virtual corporate world, about the need for social connection for a healthy life, so many variations on the theme. But there is often a bias or an assumption that such things can only happen “in real life.” Now while I agree that there’s nothing quite like a face to face conversation, I will also argue that it’s not the only way humans can connect and relate.

Which is maybe why I’ve never had much trouble maintaining a sense of social connection across platforms like email and text and all things virtual. My social connections have always crossed time and distance asynchronously, I would even say in the majority of cases, for my entire life.

Because I’ve been a reader for my entire life.

Which brings me back to this latest book.

I have never met the author, and the odds are good that we will never meet. We are separated by distance at the very least, and by so many other factors above and beyond. But I do in fact have a genuine human connection with him now, one that is perhaps even more intimate than any that I might have had had I had a chance to meet him in person. In this book, he shares deeply personal stories about his struggles with depression, the evolution of his romance and life with his love and her children, overcoming his imposter syndrome, the highs and lows of being a professional artist. This book, like so many books, is a connection – my connection – to the thoughts and experiences, ideas and feelings, mind and perhaps soul of another human being, across time and space.

I felt his struggles, see them in some of my own. I felt validated in some of my own feelings, provoked to challenge others, inspired to continue on my path. I strangely felt heard and felt seen, even though the communication and connection was entirely one way.

Or maybe somehow it is two way?

All of which got me wondering… so what words would I use to fill in the blanks in the title of my book?

A quick step back here to say that the exploration of personal identity has been a central theme of my life. I even tried, and continue to try, the thought experiment of distilling one’s life down to a single word. This new variation on the experiment gives me the luxury of two.

So my life… it’s a life in what? And from that or in that, what is the art I have created?

The Art of the Tale: A Life in Stories? The Art of Curiosity: A Life in Discovery? The Art of the Book: A Life in Pages?

As for the actual book that sparked this all, its title is The Art of the Brick: A Life in LEGO, by Nathan Sawaya. I highly recommend it, whether you are a fan of LEGO or not.

I debated even including the title, and am holding the line on not showing the cover. But I will share one image from the book below, the one that struck me most, in part, but not only, because of the meta of it being a book made of LEGO depicted within a book about LEGO. It also led me to this closing thought that, maybe, I will have to “cheat” and fill in more than just two words into the title of my book… perhaps A Life in Books and Bricks?

Or perhaps it will ultimately be The Art of the Question: A Life in Curiosity… in support of which I will end this particular article by asking: with what will you fill in the blanks for your book title?

Happy reading and exploring!

– Winston