jacki long: Bibliophile

Monday, February 28, 2022

Day 3480: Bibliophile.

"Sunflower": altered photograph, crayon.

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2GN2S

Sounds familiar to me ...

Lorna Goldstrand Klefsaas didn't want her then 12-year-old son Sivert spending all of his time on social media. She'd raised three daughters who'd used the platforms so much that it was like a "depressant," she said. So she offered her son a deal: If he stayed off social media until his 18th birthday, she'd pay him $1,800. That was in 2016.

Today, Sivert is 18 – and $1,800 richer after successfully avoiding all things Twitter and TikTok (among many other platforms) over the last several years. Lorna's happy that her son didn't spend his middle and high school years staring at a screen, but Sivert said he didn't even think about it: "I wouldn't say there was ever a time where I thought I was about to break." He's planning to spend his winnings on some items for his college dorm room. Oh, and he's finally on social media now — the first app he joined was Instagram.

In a different era, at age 10, my Dad offered me a $100. payoff (an astronomical amount back then) eleven years later, if I wouldn't smoke before age 21. It seemed a no-brainer to me, as I didn't like the look or smell of it, so at 21 I did receive $100 from my Dad for not doing what I didn't want to do. Win-win.

just recently completed, was great! Highly recommended. It grabs you in the first pages and doesn't let go even after the last page. I still think about it almost daily. I give it 5 stars.*

But now, I am reading ...

To be honest, I didn't know the work when I bought the book? Anthropcene is just the current geologic age, but people may think I am smarted than I am when they see the title. I bought and first tried to get into this book before American Dirt. It was a no-go. Have you done that where you start and think not now? So it went on the shelf. But, when I finished American Dirt, I was in a vacuum and needed a book. This time, a go.

The fly-page says "In this remarkable symphony of essays, best-selling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale*. That's a wordy but accurate take. I am highlighting again, as is my habit with good (in my opinion) writers. I'll share a couple ...

Each chapter is a different subject. Quirky, fun but I also learn along the way, and he finishes with his 5-star rating scale for the subject. I like it, you might too. To be fair, I am only on page 51, ready for the Velociraptors and more.