A Reading Trip
Gary was supposed to be in Munich Monday. He wasn’t—somewhere in Rio by then, or maybe he wasn’t anywhere at all. Either way, Ana and I had the next couple days to ourselves. We spent them at Hugendubel bookstore, basically just sitting there for hours.
She was digging through nutrition and psychology books. I grabbed whatever looked interesting from everywhere—fiction, essays, design, whatever was there.
The first one I picked up was also the only one I actually bought. Paul Arden’s It’s not about who you are, but who you want to be.
He’s this former advertising genius, and the title is exactly the kind of self-help garbage that made me embarrassed at the register, standing between the guy with the coffee table Amazon book and the Karl the Great fanatic, holding this thing. But he’s genuinely good. He didn’t tell me anything new, but he said the things you need to remember if you work creatively. Things like Find your inspiration in unusual places
and Change your tools—it might free up your thinking.
My favorite: Anyone who insists they’re right is stuck in the past, stubborn, boring, self-satisfied. Don’t waste time with those people.
And: If you never make mistakes, you’re probably not doing much.
Worth it for that alone. I love this guy.
I shift my position—my back was already killing me—and pull the next book. Look at This City: New Stories from Barbaric Berlin.
Perfect, Berlin stories. I’m flipping through and completely let down. The stories I expected—daily life, regular stuff from the capital—are just one complaint after another. One guy’s afraid of cyclists. Another’s afraid of kids. The next one’s afraid of a beggar. I put it down before I start thinking every Berliner except Bushido is a coward.
Maybe the mythology book will land better. Popular Myths About Berlin.
But I’m not in the references deep enough. Don’t know who Bolle is, don’t know the other local names. The stuff about the hidden U-Bahn stations was interesting though. And the whole history of the curfew wars between East and West.
Day two. I’m on my side now. Ana’s deep in a book about why modern food is making people sick. I’m back in my pile—books about why the next economic collapse is coming, why the 68ers are still sexually frustrated, how to fix a stupid ice cream commercial. Information I didn’t need, but you never know. The book about the art of ruthless manipulation I’m saving for another time. Or I’ll just chicken out and never go near the erotica section next to the café. Who knows.
Arden has this line I should probably tattoo somewhere so I don’t forget it, even though I already know it: If you can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re following the rules.