14 Shelves
Which possessions matter?
With one notable exception, I’ve never considered myself a fancy kind of person. Things do come and go in my life and that’s ok with me — however, my ever-evolving book collection defines and grounds me.
Here’s my story-to-date in 14 bookshelves.
1. Women Authors
First the picture — it’s Norwegian rosemåling, something I learned to do as a girl, while working summers at Bonanzaville, as a tour guide. The second picture is MTM.
The books are a set that I re-read periodically, all written by women — all profound. I recently re-read Quiet and find it so validating for the introvert in me and in so many of my closest friends. I wish more women would ‘click publish’ more often, myself included.
2. Words and Thinking
The object is an orb — created by an artist friend for me “Lynn’s Own World”. The print is Das Erdtelephon (Earth Telephone). I saw the original in Germany, when I was there studying in my 20s and it struck me then as it still does now.
The books are ones that I re-read around words, thinking and absurdity. I recently re-read Catch-22 and found it sadly still relevant given the current wars.
3. Visualize It
The print roughly translates as ‘crisis as opportunity’. So much of life it this, isn’t it?
The books represent various concepts (maps, dimensions, colors…) as images. I always have to have a notepad for doodling when I re-read any of these — especially the Escher on Escher book. Visual understanding is the precursor to language and I have had a lifelong fascination with visualization and art — also music, but that’s another article.
4. Do Math
The wooden mini-drawers are symmetrical, and empty. The award is for work I did at Microsoft.
The books are math, math, math and more math. Yes, I really did read the majority of the huge Wolfram book — and I pair-programmed with Steven Wolfram (well, really more watched him code) at a StrangeLoop conference. All this for a gal who was told BY HER MATH TEACHER at 12 years of age, ‘Oh honey, girls don’t do math’.
5. Everyone is an Artist
I think you know what the object is. Here’s its history.
The work of conceptual artist Joseph Beuys affected me deeply when I first saw it on show in Germany. It still does. I can’t get enough Beuys. I re-read Jeder Mensch ist ein Kuenstler (Everyone is an Artist) and still find it compelling. Conceptual art makes me think, laugh and dream.
6. Provoke Me
The print is my name (‘Langit’) in the traditional Filipino script of Baybayin. I got the name from an ex-husband. And, yes, I do know that Langit means heaven or sky in Tagalog.
The books, like my ex, provoke me. Have I got all the way through Infinite Jest? It’s like a mental marathon isn’t it? But, then that’s the fun. Of course, everyone should re-read Zen and the Art of… every 10 years or so. You just should.
7. Zen Out
Objects — black globe and character globe because we imprint our names on the earth.
These books reflect my introduction to the way of zen when I lived in Los Angeles. I attending the opening of the fantastic Pavilion for Japanese Art and visited frequently. I also frequently return to the wabi sabi book — celebrating imperfections, accepting decay…so many important ideas in this small book.
8. Reading Now
The object is one of many puzzles. Love to do a puzzle together when a far-away friend visits.
Since moving back to the Midwest, I’ve been adding books by local native authors to my library. The Seed Keeper and many others have much to teach us about how to live with the land rather than on it.
9. Genomics
I have a dream, my dream is to transfer my 12 years of cloud architecture experience into the heads of people who are looking for solutions to the most difficult human health challenges so that they can ask any question of their data and get the answer back in near real time. Incredibly, I am working on that now with several teams at Mayo Clinic in a long-term contract in their journey to the cloud. For what we’ve done so far, one team, gave me the little coin on this shelf.
The other print combines two favorite things, Scrabble, and a delightful outdoor sculpture garden.
Why is Invisible Women on this shelf? It’s a book about bias in data. Guess what, this matters, a lot, in health research too.
10. Autographed Authors
The object represents what we Minnesotans live for Up North — if you know you know. Also a struggling veteran made it.
I have it bad for authors, meeting them in person and gushing is a character flaw. But, heck, I do have a nice collection of signed books. I recently re-read The Last Aloha — the work we did (arranged by the author) on Molokai changed lives (ours and the kids we taught).
11. Classic Tech
More Minnesota prints — why not?
I have read many technical books, most age-out, but some don’t. Everyone who codes should read Refactoring and then read it again.
12. Zambia and More
The basket is from Macha, Zambia. After 5 flights, including the final one in a medical rescue plane, we arrived at a center of the HIV-AIDS crisis in a country where, at that time, the life expectancy was 35. I made 5 trips to Africa (annually each August) in those years. We worked with the local development teams in Lusaka on an EHR.
Linguist me consulted the little Zambian Phrase Book and learned to say a few words in several of the local dialects — Bemba, Tonga and Lunda, much to the amusement of the local dev team there. More than 10 years later, we still keep in touch.
13. Dialects and Places
The Gear is from a local place — it seemed to fit in my loft. My building is 100 years old after all. The shadow box is my mom’s “party days” memories. She’s 86 and doesn’t dance much anymore, but she does tell a good story if you ask her in the just the right way.
I recently re-read The Almost Nearly Perfect People. So apt, living here in Minnesota, explains, among other things where MN Nice really came from.
14. German Language
The picture is of my daughter. The simple vase is made by a local artist. The complex vase was a gift. So many gifts, such a rich life…
The Oxford-Duden was also a gift. It combines several of my favorite things — German language, precise visualizations (in this case technical diagrams) and order. I find this dictionary comforting and humorous. I mean, deliciously long words like der Drehmomentschluessel or torque wrench — which one is more accurate? which one is more fun?
15. The Best Book
Speaking of language, I’ll finish with my favorite book ever, which is in a different room in my home. It IS by Douglas Hofstadter, but it’s NOT Goedel, Escher and Bach. While that is a terrific book, his book which I return to over and over is this one. If you’ve read this far, you can probably understand why I cherish this book so much.
Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language
Our current hysteria over LLMs reinforces the importance of this book. It’s a guide and an inspiration and it provides example after example that reveals a prescience of how language and, by association, large language models actually work.
Final Thoughts
What about you? Which possessions define you? Why? How have they evolved over the years? Comment and share.
