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Then Marco Polo spoke: “Your chessboard, sire, is inlaid with two woods: ebony and maple. The square
“Yesterday, before the meeting with U2, I took the precaution of putting tiny sections of each of the 44 pieces of music we have in hand on to a single tape. All this means is that when somebody says ‘Drum Loop 14’ and someone else says ‘Which one was that?’ I can readily go to it without having to change tapes (which takes only a few more seconds but is annoying). This little precaution (which however took me nearly three hours to put together beforehand) expedited the whole thing so much, and changed the whole quality of the decisions being made. I tend to spend more and more of my time thinking how to set up situations so that they work – so that they can actually take less and less time. My ideal is probably based on that story I heard years ago of how the Japanese calligraphers used to work – a whole day spent grinding inks and preparing brushes and paper, and then, as the sun begins to go down, a single burst of fast and inspired action.”
― A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary
― A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary
“The controls of a skilled activity generally function below the level of consciousness on which that activity takes place. The code is a hidden persuader. This applies not only to our visceral activities and muscular skills, but also to the skill of perceiving the world around us in a coherent and meaningful manner.”
― The Act of Creation
― The Act of Creation
“Nuclear weapons were a discontinuous change in human power. At Hiroshima, a single bomb did the damage of thousands. And six years later, a single thermonuclear bomb held more energy than every explosive used in the entire course of the Second World War.43”
― The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity
― The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity
“Questions for U2: ‘What record would you like to make – i.e. how would you like this to be read? How would you like to get there? Does it bother you if the result is ‘undemocratic’? How much cheating is allowed? How much me?’ Lincoln’s axe: ‘This is Lincoln’s original axe. The head has been replaced three times and the handle twice.”
― A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary
― A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary
“Records made ‘at one sitting’ sound so fresh now – because the rate of discovery and the emotional tempo match those of the listener. What’s infuriating, though, is how fragile those fabrics are. I’ve noticed that, trying to work on improvisations that have ‘something’, they very quickly dissolve into nothing the more attention they get. It’s almost like trying to reconstruct a very funny dinner party – you had to be there, and it’s impossible to isolate the chemistry of what really made it work.”
― A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary
― A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary
Stephen’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Stephen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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