हम सब अलग-अलग तरह के इंसानों को देखते हुए बड़े होते हैं।किसी घर में कोई बहुत बोलने वाला होता है, कोई चुप।किसी को नियम पसंद होते हैं, किसी को सवाल पूछना।कोई परंपरा से चलता है, कोई अपने तरीके से।फिर भी हम यह नहीं कहते कि “ये इंसान गलत है”  —हम बस कहते हैं, “इसका स्वभाव अलग है।”इंसानों का अलग होना कोई नई बात नहीं है। नई बात तब लगती है, जब कोई फर्क हमें असहज कर देता है। आजकल बहुत लोगों को ऐसा ही…

Above my desk, there is a comic adaptation of what is referred to as Jack London's "Creedo".  The passage closes with a statement that I believe becomes quite evocative remixed as a question: "How will I spend my time?"  

As I consider the allocation question, my thoughts become divergent with possibilities yet increasingly narrowed as I consider the threads that tie my story together.  The option to be purposeful is the choice to act even as outside forces act upon me.  One of the privileging affordances of being back in school is time to pause and carefully consider potential pathways and processes. Not that every possibility can be anticipated but, as Samantha Bennett puts it, to create the predictable so that the unpredictable can happen.  With pathways comes the humbling realization that we often walk on roads we did not pave; iconoclasts thank those who taught them as well as those who gave in other ways. Processes call for investments like time and energy and the mustering of virtues like patience and vulnerability.  

As I consider how I want to spend my time, this space will serve as a place to perform one of the tasks I am striving to improve upon:  a penchant for thinking out loud.  At this point, it is not completely clear to me what thinking out loud will look like. . .but I am excited to see what this space becomes. 

To those of you that read these posts:  it is a privilege to share a part of myself with you.  

To those of you that choose to interact with me:  I thank you in advance for the chance to think out loud with you.  

To those of you bothered by the errors in judgment that I will inevitably make:  please charge it to my head and not to my heart.  

In celebration of the launch of community highlights, we're pleased to share an excerpt from Clive Thompson's recent book, Smarter Than You Think (Penguin 2013). Clive predicted that "the pages of e-books are themselves likely to become the sites of conversations," so we couldn't think of a more fitting work to read together.

This excerpt is adapted especially for the Readmill community, and we can't wait for you to mark it up with your highlights and comments. If you'd like to write directly to Clive, simply mention @clive5 in your comment.

Add the excerpt to your library now, and don't forget to check out the full book.

See you in the margins,