- 'A Whore's Profession' by David Mamet
-
This is a collection of other collections of essays on a variety of subjects. There is quite a lot of stuff early on in which Mamet recalls his childhood and early career in Chicago and New York. But the essays on acting, writing and directing interested me most, and these are what I took occasional notes on. Although, as he says, his thoughts on directing came after directing only two movies, at which point he thought he knew it all, but didn’t know how much he didn’t know.
In Acting books, Books on 10 May 2007. Add a comment. Permalink
- 'Literary Theory: An Introduction' by Terry Eagleton
-
It took me forever to read this, but mainly because I was taking fairly detailed notes; it’s not too tricky a read really. I took notes because I knew I’d forget so much of it straight away, but I’d like some of it to stick, or at least be ready to hand for when I forget. It was a good grounding for someone like me whose English Literature study stopped at sixteen.
In Books on 7 May 2007. 4 comments. Permalink
- Paul Morley's 'Words and Music'
-
Nearly three years after a Pepys reader kindly gave me a copy, I’ve finally got round to reading Paul Morley’s Words and Music. I enjoy seeing Morley on TV clip shows (I Love the Third Week of 1978, Top 100 Singles with ‘B’ in their Name, etc) where he’s one of the few to say something that has been thought about, even if it doesn’t make sense. I found 300 pages of that tough going at times though — when he’s writing about music, or writing about writing about music, it’s good stuff, but when it’s page after page describing how shiny Kylie Minogue is as she drives a car toward a city made out of music I end up skimming, looking for something interesting.
In Books, Music on 28 November 2006. Add a comment. Permalink
- 'True and False' by David Mamet
-
This was a blast after reading drier, technique-based books on acting. It's a rant, as if Mamet got back from a bad rehearsal with amateurs, got pissed, and hammered away for 120 pages. His view of an actor is largely from the author's point of view; if an author does his job, the actor doesn't have to do much at all. A one paragraph summary would be:
You'll learn more by going on stage than you will by studying. Most acting teachers are frauds. The Method's techniques are worthless tools for amateurs. An actor must simply deliver the lines given by the author. And be brave.
In Acting books, Books on 28 June 2006. 1 comment. Permalink
- 'Sanford Meisner on Acting'
-
We did a bit of Meisner in my acting classes but it wasn't doing much for me. I'd heard it could be very effective so I read the book to find out what wasn't working. It's a good read. Like Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares it describes Meisner teaching students, which is an effective and enjoyable way to deliver ideas (the only difference being Stanislavski's was narrated by a student, while Meisner's is described by a neutral observer). Meisner is all about being truthful — stop acting, stop being polite, and start doing what feels honest. Inspiring stuff, but I need to do it rather than just reading about it for it to sink in…
In Acting books, Books on 9 May 2006. 1 comment. Permalink
- 'Respect for Acting' by Uta Hagen
-
I made these notes last summer, but it's taken me nine months to get round to typing them up. My notes on Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares seem to be useful to plenty of people, so maybe these will too. Hagen's book was the only required read for my Foundation acting course at the City Lit, and we've had to do some of the solo exercises she describes.
In Acting books, Books on 8 May 2006. 3 comments. Permalink
- 'An Actor Prepares' by Constantin Stanislavski
-
Because I'm usually immersed in web stuff, it's interesting to read a text whose ideas are still relevant to its target profession 70 years on. It was mostly a more enjoyable read than I expected — it's written as if by a student of acting, reporting on a year of training. It makes clear how much more there can be to acting than just “pretending to be someone else”. Unfortunately I kind of lost it around two-thirds of the way through, when he starts talking about transmitting “rays” to each other, and things get a bit hazy and repetitive. Maybe that stuff makes more sense when the preceding chapters have been properly absorbed and used. (Also see my notes on Sanford Meisner on Acting and Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting.)
In Acting books, Books on 27 May 2005. 71 comments. Permalink
- Lorca: A Dream of Life by Leslie Stanton
-
I scanned a couple of biographies of Federico Garcia Lorca to look for information about Blood Wedding, and specifically anything that might relate to the part of Bridegroom, which I'm currenly trying to get the hang of. If I had more time I should probably read the whole biography…
In Books, City Lit on 20 May 2005. 2 comments. Permalink
- Piano Notes by Charles Rosen
-
Fascinating insight into the world of professional piano-playing. I think you'd get even more out of it if you either play the piano (something I haven't done for years) or have been to a lot of concerts. Made me realise how far away I am from really understanding and knowing the few works I'm vaguely familiar with.
In Books, Music on 15 April 2005. 2 comments. Permalink
- Mind Hacks by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb
-
Finally got round to reading it and wasn't disappointed. Very dense with interesting nuggets. The notes aren't a summary of the whole book; more the bits that I found most interesting or that were most new to me.
In Books on 15 April 2005. Add a comment. Permalink
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
-
Toward the end of last year I felt the need to take stock of everything I was doing (or, more likely, supposed to be doing) and get on top of things. Given that half the people I read online these days were raving about Getting Things Done (not least 43 Folders of course) I thought I'd give it a go. On the downside, it would be hard to write any kind of American, self-help, business-oriented book without coming across as a bit of a jargon-crazed maniac. But Allen doesn't do too badly; despite the occasional lapses I was surprised how practical and pragmatic about his ideas he was. Along the lines of “some of this will work for you, but some of it won't.”
You could sum the book up in two words as “be organised”, which isn't much help: Anyone would feel more organised if they set some time aside every week to get on top of things (the Weekly Review) or were as punctilious about recording their actions as GTD (as it's known) requires one to be. I'm not convinced this or any other system will help the perpetually scatterbrained and illogical.
Some of the specifics get a bit blurred for me among the complex arrangements of lists, folders, calendars, etc: I still don't understand what one should do with all the Actions that make up a Project, or when/if they should be transferred to the “Next Actions” list. Seeing examples of how others manage their lives using GTD would help greatly.
But it's definitely inspiring, and it does contain enough tricks and tips to make me think it'll make a difference. Hopefully I can keep some of this going and I'll definitely be returning to the book in a few months to see what I've forgotten, looking for more tips.
In Books on 3 January 2005. 15 comments. Permalink
- Barbican: Penthouse Over the City by David Heathcote
-
Most of the book is a detailed look at the various stages of planning the Barbican went through — a lot of local politics, which can get tedious if you're more interested in the buildings themselves. But this is all good background info, and while I'd have liked more details about the finished estate, buildings, flats, fittings and culture it's recommended if you happen to be fascinated by the peculiar place that is the Barbican.
In Books on 2 January 2005. 3 comments. Permalink
- How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand
-
It's taken me years to get round to buying and reading this book (and months to type the notes up), but it was worth the wait. It made me look at buildings and the building process differently, and I've had to re-evaluate what I think of as good design when it comes to architecture. The pictures (one or more on almost every page) are invaluable. Go read it.
In Books on 24 October 2004. 8 comments. Permalink
- Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
-
To be honest I was a little disappointed by Amusing Ourselves to Death, although this may have been due to high hopes raised by having heard the book mentioned a lot. Much of it seemed either blindingly obvious, or like the moanings of a killjoy who can't bear that TV is entertaining and that people don't listen to long speeches any more. However, it's still very much worth a read for its main point: TV is good at entertainment and anything that tries to rise about that level will fail and be worse than useless. Serious TV is thinly disguised entertainment and there is little need for authorities to censor the media when we so willingly take in the froth that's fed us. Given that this was written pre-internet, many of its ideas could do with updating to critique a whole new media — it sounds strangely quaint the few times it mentions “computers”. Postman's How to Watch TV News (UK, US) is probably a good read too.
In Books, Television on 26 September 2004. 22 comments. Permalink
- The Art of Fiction by David Lodge
-
I read this when it was a series of columns in the Independent on Sunday. Nice to read it again. Short, manageable chunks of stuff that makes me want to read lots of classic novels, which can't be bad.
In Books on 29 July 2004. Add a comment. Permalink
- The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo by Saskia Sassen
-
While the book is undoubtedly oriented around cities, very little of it is about the structure or sociology of urban places. The bulk of the book is about the global financial markets' relationship to these cities and it's packed with statistics — not the most fun read ever. There is some discussion on “softer” topics that were more interesting to me, such as growing inequality due to the change in nature of the financial markets, and, briefly, the effect on urban structure (eg, gentrification). But, while it has interesting points, the weight of the economic stats meant it took me two months to get round to finishing the thing.
In Books on 1 July 2004. Add a comment. Permalink
- The Balkans by Mark Mazower
-
The fact that the recent troubles in the area only get a couple of the 135 pages shows what a complicated history it is. It's almost a shame then that it's crammed into such a short book. A real whizz through a fascinating region.
- Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web by David Weinberger
-
I never expect much from net-related books, assuming I'll have heard it all before elsewhere. But I was pleasantly surprised: packed full of interesting thoughts that have made even jaded me look at things differently.
In Books on 7 April 2004. Add a comment. Permalink
- Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World by Kevin Kelly
-
Reading this for the first time, ten years after publication, it's a mix of comfortingly out-of-date technologies and amazingly ahead-of-their-time thoughts (eg, peer-to-peer file sharing among private groups). Covers a vast amount of ground, from ecosystems to 3D graphics to evolution. I so wish I'd read it in 1994.
In Books on 28 March 2004. Add a comment. Permalink
Writing on Books
Writing archives by category
- Acting (3)
- Acting books (5)
- Education
- City Lit (25)
- LISPA (38)
- Method Studio (3)
- Productions
- Lilia Litviak (8)
- Byliner (8)
- Mac (26)
- Misc (142)
- Music (25)
- Newton (4)
- Notes
- Books (19)
- Periodicals (13)
- Talks (6)
- Pepys' Diary (13)
- Personal (126)
- Recipies (3)
- Television (22)
- Web Development (41)
- Movable Type (22)
Writing archives by date
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
