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Struinen, lezen en denken: Notities van een liefhebber
Welk verband bestaat er tussen God en de Londense wijk East Sheen? Hoe praat je jezelf een Albanese gevangenis uit? Waarom maken dictators zo graag stripboeken? Hoe kan een gemiste penalty tot een bloedige oorlog leiden? Theodore Dalrymple, een psychiater die als getuige-deskundige optreedt in moordprocessen, heeft een passie voor bijzaken en zijpaden. In dit nieuwe boek neemt hij ons mee op een geestige, erudiete reis langs de verborgen wegen die ideeën met elkaar verbinden.
Struinen, lezen en denken is even luchthartig als verhelderend; het is een amusante vlucht van de verbeelding, een boek over het toevalsgeluk van mensen die eindeloos nieuwsgierig blijven. Een must voor iedere boekenliefhebber.
Struinen, lezen en denken is even luchthartig als verhelderend; het is een amusante vlucht van de verbeelding, een boek over het toevalsgeluk van mensen die eindeloos nieuwsgierig blijven. Een must voor iedere boekenliefhebber.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Theodore Dalrymple
99 books646 followersAnthony Malcolm Daniels, who generally uses the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, is an English writer and retired prison doctor and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in the east end of London. Before his retirement in 2005, he worked in City Hospital, Birmingham and Winson Green Prison in inner-city Birmingham, England.
Daniels is a contributing editor to City Journal, published by the Manhattan Institute, where he is the Dietrich Weismann Fellow. In addition to City Journal, his work has appeared in The British Medical Journal, The Times, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, The Salisbury Review, National Review, and Axess magasin.
In 2011, Dalrymple received the 2011 Freedom Prize from the Flemish think tank Libera!.
Daniels is a contributing editor to City Journal, published by the Manhattan Institute, where he is the Dietrich Weismann Fellow. In addition to City Journal, his work has appeared in The British Medical Journal, The Times, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, The Salisbury Review, National Review, and Axess magasin.
In 2011, Dalrymple received the 2011 Freedom Prize from the Flemish think tank Libera!.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
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December 1, 2021Mother of God, what a pompous dullard. The title/blurb is, let's say ingenious in its attempt to make this book sound interesting and connected: actually it's just a series of thesis-free essays rambling on about book collecting and how rubbish modern life is (apparently everything's gone downhill since the invention of the biro) and wasn't it far better in the 1950s when British stiff upper lip empire tea and scones none of this health and safety nonsense bloody communists bloody dole queue shirkers moustache hump.
February 22, 2013
0.5
One of the most tedious, self-righteous, dipstickalicious books I've ever even held.
One of the most tedious, self-righteous, dipstickalicious books I've ever even held.
January 27, 2017
Livro 1°/Fev//7°/2017
Título: O prazer de pensar
Título original: The pleasure of Thinking: a journey through the sideways leaps of ideas
Autor: Theodore Dalrymple (GBR)
Editora: É Realizações
Páginas: 208
Minha classificação: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
_____________________________________________________
"Encontramos coisas em livros velhos: principalmente insetos mumificados, é claro, mas também manchas de sangue, flores secas prensadas, bilhetes velhos de ônibus, listas de compras, fichas de embarque, orçamentais de consertos a serem feitos, contas de açougue, marcadores de página de livros anunciando seguros de vida, festivais de arte e livraria e alguns chegam a chamar o leitor para a fé e o arrependimento."
O trecho acima citado é do livro O PRAZER DE PENSAR, uma espécie de manual bibliômano, obra do médico e ensaísta Theodore Dalrymple, pseudônimo de Anthony Daniels.
Este é sim um livro sobre livros, mas um livro que fala de livros não sob os já costumeiros aspectos, mas descreve com laivos de comicidade e de suspense os bastidores por trás do hábito de colecionar livros raros, não por ser uma edição extinta ou mesmo autografada pelo autor, mas por valorizar e dar um enfoque mais nos "maus hábitos" dos assim chamados bibliômanos.
Dalrymple, por meio de capítulos curtos vai discorrendo sobre muitos comportamentos excêntricos de pessoas que já mataram por causa de livros, outros que medem o valor dos livros pelas mais estranhas dedicatórias e anotações, traçando diversas e divertidas crônicas do cotidiano dos viciados em livros velhos.
Além disso, o autor narra suas próprias desventuras ao, por exemplo atravessar a fronteira de um pais da América Central carregando livros proibidos, fato que só gerou dissabores. Capítulos divertidos assim (pelo menos para o leitor) são bastante presentes nesse livro excelente, contados com maestria e humor digno de um autêntico britânico (
Título: O prazer de pensar
Título original: The pleasure of Thinking: a journey through the sideways leaps of ideas
Autor: Theodore Dalrymple (GBR)
Editora: É Realizações
Páginas: 208
Minha classificação: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
_____________________________________________________
"Encontramos coisas em livros velhos: principalmente insetos mumificados, é claro, mas também manchas de sangue, flores secas prensadas, bilhetes velhos de ônibus, listas de compras, fichas de embarque, orçamentais de consertos a serem feitos, contas de açougue, marcadores de página de livros anunciando seguros de vida, festivais de arte e livraria e alguns chegam a chamar o leitor para a fé e o arrependimento."
O trecho acima citado é do livro O PRAZER DE PENSAR, uma espécie de manual bibliômano, obra do médico e ensaísta Theodore Dalrymple, pseudônimo de Anthony Daniels.
Este é sim um livro sobre livros, mas um livro que fala de livros não sob os já costumeiros aspectos, mas descreve com laivos de comicidade e de suspense os bastidores por trás do hábito de colecionar livros raros, não por ser uma edição extinta ou mesmo autografada pelo autor, mas por valorizar e dar um enfoque mais nos "maus hábitos" dos assim chamados bibliômanos.
Dalrymple, por meio de capítulos curtos vai discorrendo sobre muitos comportamentos excêntricos de pessoas que já mataram por causa de livros, outros que medem o valor dos livros pelas mais estranhas dedicatórias e anotações, traçando diversas e divertidas crônicas do cotidiano dos viciados em livros velhos.
Além disso, o autor narra suas próprias desventuras ao, por exemplo atravessar a fronteira de um pais da América Central carregando livros proibidos, fato que só gerou dissabores. Capítulos divertidos assim (pelo menos para o leitor) são bastante presentes nesse livro excelente, contados com maestria e humor digno de um autêntico britânico (
October 26, 2015
I discovered Mr Dalrymple via Taki Magazine. http://takimag.com/#axzz3q0TBuHuL
Concerning 'The Pleasure of Thinking' :
It is a thrilling insight into the mind of a bibliomane. Thus, bibliomania spans the entire book.
Hell for the author would surely be just considering the ashing of The Library of Alexandria.
Experience working as a doctor, responsible for treating criminals has given the author an understanding of man unknown to most folks outside anthro-reality-heavy jobs. (E.g the police, prison wardens, psychologists etc) There is lots to be learnt about the human condition through T.D writings. This volume being no different.
Besides the endless musings concerning books, bookshops, booksellers and baddies, Mr Dalrymple's past adventures into the 'heart of darkness' offer comical and gloomy pictures of such places as Liberia, Honduras, El Salvador, once Communist Albania etc.......
I highly enjoyed the wit and anecdotes. It was painful to put down.
To follow unofficial updates concerning Mr Dalrymple's works join the following FB group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/23084...
Concerning 'The Pleasure of Thinking' :
It is a thrilling insight into the mind of a bibliomane. Thus, bibliomania spans the entire book.
Hell for the author would surely be just considering the ashing of The Library of Alexandria.
Experience working as a doctor, responsible for treating criminals has given the author an understanding of man unknown to most folks outside anthro-reality-heavy jobs. (E.g the police, prison wardens, psychologists etc) There is lots to be learnt about the human condition through T.D writings. This volume being no different.
Besides the endless musings concerning books, bookshops, booksellers and baddies, Mr Dalrymple's past adventures into the 'heart of darkness' offer comical and gloomy pictures of such places as Liberia, Honduras, El Salvador, once Communist Albania etc.......
I highly enjoyed the wit and anecdotes. It was painful to put down.
To follow unofficial updates concerning Mr Dalrymple's works join the following FB group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/23084...
March 31, 2013
The title could read 'The pleasures of book collecting". The book is about one man and the ideas he has from his collection of books. I didn't like it in the beginning, but then I got into it. It's so well written that it'll make you sigh when you finish it. Dalrymple has had a pretty amazing life. Doctor! Court poisoning and suicide authority (testifying in many cases) and traveler to crazy dangerous places.
December 22, 2016
Bom para quem já tem respeito e admiração pelo autor, por causa das obras fantásticas já publicadas.
December 31, 2014
Having recently read Charles Fernyhough's "Pieces of Light: the New Science of Memory", I expected something similar, judging only from the title of Theodore Dalrymple's ''The Pleasure of Thinking: a Journey Through the Sideways Leaps of Ideas''. Instead of being a book about how people think laterally, as I thought it might be, it turned out to be something rather different, but ultimately equally interesting.
If I believed I was a bibliophile before now, Theodore Dalrymple has taken that line much further than I had ever considered. He has a wide range of interests and enjoys hunting through second hand bookstores for unusual books on subjects which themselves frequently seemed unusual to me. He also seems adept at hunting down and picking up books that have been annotated or dedicated or otherwise marked by previous owners and he seems to enjoy exploring the history of such books as much as he does the books themselves.
What follows is a journey through Dalrymple's bibliomania. His interests are wide ranging, although perhaps tending more towards crime and medicine slightly more than other subjects. But his eye roves and you can never be entirely sure what direction his writing is going to take you in next. There is a part of him that seems to enjoy following the next idea that comes to mind for the sheer pleasure of seeing where it will take him, which certainly explains his choice of title. As someone whose mind works on similarly flighty lines, this meant that I also rather enjoyed the flitting nature of the book.
The tone is slightly lecturing, which frequently meant that Dalrymple sounded a little more like a tour guide than a writer. The tone made the book feel as if it would have been more at home as an audio tour, like you can get at many tourist attractions these days, to accompany a walkthrough of his bookshelves more than it did as something to read; perhaps ironically for a book about books. Although Dalrymple describes things well and his enthusiasm for his subject comes through very clearly, I felt a little disconnected for not being able to see what he was looking at as he wrote.
There were a couple of aspects of the book which I found detracted from the content slightly. I'm not sure how old Dalrymple is, but he seems keenly aware of his own mortality and makes reference to it on a number of occasions. This may be a natural preoccupation given his medical training and his occupation as a witness in murder trials, but it was mentioned frequently enough to be a distraction; seemingly to both reader and to writer.
My other issue was that in many ways, the book as a whole felt as if it had been written in instalments. The author biography states that Dalrymple has contributed to a number of newspapers and the segments often feel as if they may have originally been intended as a regular column. Whilst many do seem to follow on from each other, some of the changes of direction remind me a little of Chuck Klosterman's "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs", which was a series of articles published in book form. Indeed, much like that book, I found the highly educated nature of the writer in subjects I know very little about, to be slightly daunting at times. This presentation assisted with the sense of disconnect I felt going through the book as a whole.
I'm unsure as to how I feel about the book. The novel reader in me bemoans the lack of an obvious through line, but the quirkier side of my nature enjoyed the way it meandered through Dalrymple's collection. It may not give a reader any insight into the sideways leaps of ideas as I originally hoped it might, but it certainly makes you want to keep following the book through many of them. This is a book that may turn out to only be of niche interest, as many of the books in Dalrymple's collection also are, but it should certainly appeal to those with an abiding interest in books. For those who would be tempted to seek out something like this, it will be of great appeal, although it may sit better as a book to be dipped into occasionally, rather than read in several longer sittings the way I did.
This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
If I believed I was a bibliophile before now, Theodore Dalrymple has taken that line much further than I had ever considered. He has a wide range of interests and enjoys hunting through second hand bookstores for unusual books on subjects which themselves frequently seemed unusual to me. He also seems adept at hunting down and picking up books that have been annotated or dedicated or otherwise marked by previous owners and he seems to enjoy exploring the history of such books as much as he does the books themselves.
What follows is a journey through Dalrymple's bibliomania. His interests are wide ranging, although perhaps tending more towards crime and medicine slightly more than other subjects. But his eye roves and you can never be entirely sure what direction his writing is going to take you in next. There is a part of him that seems to enjoy following the next idea that comes to mind for the sheer pleasure of seeing where it will take him, which certainly explains his choice of title. As someone whose mind works on similarly flighty lines, this meant that I also rather enjoyed the flitting nature of the book.
The tone is slightly lecturing, which frequently meant that Dalrymple sounded a little more like a tour guide than a writer. The tone made the book feel as if it would have been more at home as an audio tour, like you can get at many tourist attractions these days, to accompany a walkthrough of his bookshelves more than it did as something to read; perhaps ironically for a book about books. Although Dalrymple describes things well and his enthusiasm for his subject comes through very clearly, I felt a little disconnected for not being able to see what he was looking at as he wrote.
There were a couple of aspects of the book which I found detracted from the content slightly. I'm not sure how old Dalrymple is, but he seems keenly aware of his own mortality and makes reference to it on a number of occasions. This may be a natural preoccupation given his medical training and his occupation as a witness in murder trials, but it was mentioned frequently enough to be a distraction; seemingly to both reader and to writer.
My other issue was that in many ways, the book as a whole felt as if it had been written in instalments. The author biography states that Dalrymple has contributed to a number of newspapers and the segments often feel as if they may have originally been intended as a regular column. Whilst many do seem to follow on from each other, some of the changes of direction remind me a little of Chuck Klosterman's "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs", which was a series of articles published in book form. Indeed, much like that book, I found the highly educated nature of the writer in subjects I know very little about, to be slightly daunting at times. This presentation assisted with the sense of disconnect I felt going through the book as a whole.
I'm unsure as to how I feel about the book. The novel reader in me bemoans the lack of an obvious through line, but the quirkier side of my nature enjoyed the way it meandered through Dalrymple's collection. It may not give a reader any insight into the sideways leaps of ideas as I originally hoped it might, but it certainly makes you want to keep following the book through many of them. This is a book that may turn out to only be of niche interest, as many of the books in Dalrymple's collection also are, but it should certainly appeal to those with an abiding interest in books. For those who would be tempted to seek out something like this, it will be of great appeal, although it may sit better as a book to be dipped into occasionally, rather than read in several longer sittings the way I did.
This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
July 12, 2018
Chapter 10, ‘Pools Full of Water’, took my breath away. I can count on one hand the number of writers who have so moved me.
I’d highlight the the whole chapter in fluorescent pink and then underline every paragraph in either red, green and blue biro, but Dalrymple would not approve.
Instead, I’ll leave a brief comment, made in fountain pen and in the most cultured hand I can manage, in the margin adjacent to these lines:
‘I am convinced that love is one of the very few things in life worth having or giving, but also - alas! - I know that I have had severe difficulties in this regard all my life. Passionately affectionate by nature, I had all expressiveness squeezed out of me as a child. What is not given with generosity is not received with grace, and what is received without grace rarely continues to be given with generosity.’
I’d highlight the the whole chapter in fluorescent pink and then underline every paragraph in either red, green and blue biro, but Dalrymple would not approve.
Instead, I’ll leave a brief comment, made in fountain pen and in the most cultured hand I can manage, in the margin adjacent to these lines:
‘I am convinced that love is one of the very few things in life worth having or giving, but also - alas! - I know that I have had severe difficulties in this regard all my life. Passionately affectionate by nature, I had all expressiveness squeezed out of me as a child. What is not given with generosity is not received with grace, and what is received without grace rarely continues to be given with generosity.’
October 28, 2025
Als fervente detailverzamelaar en zijpadbewandelaar kon ik moeilijk weerstand bieden aan dit boek en was ik meteen verkocht.
Het "verhaal" is een verzameling zeer belangrijke futiliteiten rond boeken en verhalen waar ik niets van ken, en hoogstwaarschijnlijk nooit iets van zal lezen
Theodore Dalrymple pleit voor meer boeken, meer omwegen en meer aandacht voor wat er misschien niet toe doet.
“Het is niet zozeer dat hij zichzelf wegcijfert, alswel dat hij zichzelf in een hoek boekt."
“Een auteur die ik niet beroemd durf te noemen, maar die goed bekend is bij de mensen die hem goed kennen.”
Het "verhaal" is een verzameling zeer belangrijke futiliteiten rond boeken en verhalen waar ik niets van ken, en hoogstwaarschijnlijk nooit iets van zal lezen
Theodore Dalrymple pleit voor meer boeken, meer omwegen en meer aandacht voor wat er misschien niet toe doet.
“Het is niet zozeer dat hij zichzelf wegcijfert, alswel dat hij zichzelf in een hoek boekt."
“Een auteur die ik niet beroemd durf te noemen, maar die goed bekend is bij de mensen die hem goed kennen.”
February 20, 2020
Uma coleção de textos interligados a páginas deixadas em livros.
O autor disserta, incluindo com pesquisas históricas, a respeito de livreiros, bibliotecas, assassinatos, pedidos de dinheiro... inspirado em papéis encontrados em livros.
Textos saborosos, mas para passar o tempo. Não encontrei algo que desse a sensação de "ahá", todavia, vale a pena ler ...
O autor disserta, incluindo com pesquisas históricas, a respeito de livreiros, bibliotecas, assassinatos, pedidos de dinheiro... inspirado em papéis encontrados em livros.
Textos saborosos, mas para passar o tempo. Não encontrei algo que desse a sensação de "ahá", todavia, vale a pena ler ...
May 6, 2020
More repetitive than other collections of his essays and mainly concerned with books. Bibliophiles will therefore enjoy it but I had to drop a star in my rating due to what felt like quite a lot of duplication in the essays.
January 3, 2022
Not so much about thinking but a string of observations from this dyspectic doctor and acidic critic of reckless and feckless humanity. It's about what he's found in books more than the titular promise. Ok, but after awhile, his privilege and preening got to me, of far humbler stock.
August 25, 2021
Gosto do autor. O livro é maçante em boa parte do tempo. Alguns ensaios bons, outros fracos…
Read
November 12, 2023DNF. What an arse.
January 10, 2014
Notities van een liefhebber... Dat Dalrymple een liefhebber is, is duidelijk. Maar waar noemt hij zich precies liefhebber van? Het is leuk dat je (overdreven veel) aandacht schenkt aan de notities of namen die aan de binnenkant van de boekkaft gekrabbeld staan... maar moet dat dan per se op zo'n elitaire, haut- en dédaine manier? Het lijkt wel pronken op den duur... en dan dat taalgebruik (zo opgeblazen statig, dat staat toch dwars met het maken van aantekeningen in boeken?)... Misschien ben ik bevooroordeeld beginnen lezen in dit boekje (het zijn niet mijn grote voorbeelden die dwepen met Dalrymple) en heeft dat mijn beleving ervan (het leesplezier dat ik volgens de achterflap zou moeten hebben) lichtjes verdraaid. Ik weet het niet - de onderwerpjes zijn vaak wel leuk, én boeiend, maar het schrijven van Dalrymple blijkbaar niet.
September 29, 2014
The author mentions a certain type of bibliophile who "goes into ecstaties over a missing comma on page 247". Well, that person would love this book, or at least the edition I'm reading, because it has so man typos it's quite distracting. Phrases are repeated, or omitted or the wrong word used, about every ten pages on average. The worst one is where a section marker is placed in the middle of a sentence, completely throwing the reader off the trail.
The distractions are annoying but not fatal, and all in all, it's a really enjoyable meander through his ideas and the books in his library, many of which are pretty obscure, and almost all of which seem to have interesting letters tucked away inside their pages.
The distractions are annoying but not fatal, and all in all, it's a really enjoyable meander through his ideas and the books in his library, many of which are pretty obscure, and almost all of which seem to have interesting letters tucked away inside their pages.
May 20, 2013
I'm not quite sure what I expected this book to be when I bought it (for a pound in the Kindle sale) - it's not really about thinking, per se, but about reading, and books, and bookshops, and book collecting, and annotations - and the various sideways lateral thoughts that recollections of them have led the author to.
Theodore Dalrymple is well-read, erudite, precise and opinionated. Sometimes I agreed with him, sometimes I didn't, but I enjoyed the book. I don't think the title (or the subtitle) really fit the book, but then I'm not sure what title would.
Theodore Dalrymple is well-read, erudite, precise and opinionated. Sometimes I agreed with him, sometimes I didn't, but I enjoyed the book. I don't think the title (or the subtitle) really fit the book, but then I'm not sure what title would.
June 14, 2013
As many have mentioned here, this book is not really about the process of thinking. Unless you work around the subject and title of the book in the same manner as a word linking game. As somebody who is getting into collecting their own library of older and rare book, it was interesting to read another persons story behind all their finds. Although he does not really say much about what he has learned from the books he has collected...or if he has read them. The reason this book only gets three stars is due to the title being misleading.
May 24, 2014
Two stars are deserved simply because the book's title bears no relationship to the title. It also contains some extreme examples of pompous arrogant writing from someone who can afford thousands on a single book, whilst the rest of us resort to scrabbling around in the corners of e bay and Amazon. However, I did finish the book, and did find amongst the self opinionated pontificating some excellent ideas, and well developed concepts about books and reading. With a new subtitle, and a critical re-look at the focus of the book this will be an wonderfully read.
Read
December 29, 2012Amusing enough, but the title and blurb bear scant relation to the contents. A collection of witty, rambling, occasionally thought-provoking anecdotes about second-hand bookshops, marginalia, markings, arranging one's book collection and so on. I rather assume the publishers thought this wouldn't sell and use the cover to advertise a book which they imagine will sell a little better.
January 29, 2013
A set of pieces on books, collecting and reading.
February 22, 2014
A book which reminded me of my love of books! What a wonderful little find!
November 19, 2015
zalvende en zalige lectuur; doet me vaak licht glimlachen, vooral bij het stukje over de categorie van onderstrepers (in boeken)
August 23, 2016
A book for those who love to buy and collect books.
Did Not Finish
November 8, 2019DNF at 75%
Maybe I'll come back and finish it someday in the future.
Maybe I'll come back and finish it someday in the future.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews