billskip
Well-known member
Great minds.....
Philosophy and yachting
- Thread starter Wansworth
- Start date
rotrax
Well-known member
I have just re-read - and not for the first time, it IS a particularly good book - "Coasting" by Jonathan Raban.
Lots of interesting comment in those pages, as well as a bit of sailing.
He went to Hull Uni. His tutor was Phillip Larkin.
Raban theorises about Larkin's poetry. He says "If poems can teach one anything, Larkin's teach that there is no desolation so bleak that it cannot be made habitable by style. If we live inside a bad joke,it is up to us to learn, at best and worst, to tell it well."
I rather like that.
Better than the chalkboard in the gents lav at the Turf in Oxford early 70's. For some weeks it bore "Life is like a $H1t sandwich. The more bread you got, the less $H1t you eat".
This was replaced by "Life is like being a pube on a bog seat. Sometimes you get pissed off".
Yes, Raban says effectively the same thing, but with far more sensetivity.
Lots of interesting comment in those pages, as well as a bit of sailing.
He went to Hull Uni. His tutor was Phillip Larkin.
Raban theorises about Larkin's poetry. He says "If poems can teach one anything, Larkin's teach that there is no desolation so bleak that it cannot be made habitable by style. If we live inside a bad joke,it is up to us to learn, at best and worst, to tell it well."
I rather like that.
Better than the chalkboard in the gents lav at the Turf in Oxford early 70's. For some weeks it bore "Life is like a $H1t sandwich. The more bread you got, the less $H1t you eat".
This was replaced by "Life is like being a pube on a bog seat. Sometimes you get pissed off".
Yes, Raban says effectively the same thing, but with far more sensetivity.
LittleSister
Well-known member
Since retiring a while back I sometimes describe my occupation as 'Freelance Philosopher'.
(I am open to commissions!
)
(I am open to commissions!
)Wansworth
Well-known member
Can you supply a kit?Since retiring a while back I sometimes describe my occupation as 'Freelance Philosopher'.
(I am open to commissions!
LittleSister
Well-known member
I suppose that is one way I might be able to make this occupation remunerative!
Wansworth
Well-known member
Or Descartes in the home,handy thoughts to brighten your day………….I m sure there’s a future there
RunAgroundHard
Well-known member
Can be bought. What's the worst that can happen!
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1611584577/mental-health-box-for-stoic-philosophy?gpla=1&gao=1&
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/120...&click_sum=e494674c&ref=related-3&pro=1&sts=1
RunAgroundHard
Well-known member
Sir RKJ wrote a chunk of philosophy to encourage Pete Goss. You can read it at the start of Goss's book "Close to the Wind", which also contains a lot of his philosophical thoughts. I wrote it out for both my kids at the start of their independent lives.
Blueboatman
Well-known member
One of my sisters did a bit of PR work for Pete Goss . After some lecture/meet n greet they came out to the car park and he quipped :” I can find my way around the world and back to rescue someone , so why can’t I find the car.?”
Or words to that effect
You know you can sail with someone so self deprecating yet effortlessly capable.
Or words to that effect
You know you can sail with someone so self deprecating yet effortlessly capable.
michael_w
Well-known member
Problem is most sailing books are terribly dull. Most are good for a nap after a page or so. An exception is Motessier's Sailing to the Reefs which is quite funny in some parts. Ought to be titled Sailing on to the Reefs, as he wrecks two boats.
Biggles Wader
Well-known member
I sink therefore I am?
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
If he saw rocks, he had plenty to occupy his mind! I once wrote about 500 words describing the lithology and diagenesis of the stone floor tiles in my sister-in-law's apartment. It was quite fun! And they were quite straightforward granitic rock. Imagine the fun of considering a complex metamorphic terrain! If there are rocks, there's plenty to exercise your mind. And then we can consider the fascinating statistics of wave heights, the imponderables of weather systems, the biology of the sea and much more!
Stemar
Well-known member
I'm no philosopher. Socrates said, 'By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.'
I'm very please to say I got a very good one.
I'm very please to say I got a very good one.
billskip
Well-known member
I'm a philosopher twice, I'm not going fot thr hat trick.
justanothersailboat
Well-known member
I notice your second link features a card encouraging the person reading it to undergo voluntary discomfort. Boat ownership provides a number of ways to fulfil that criterion!
capnsensible
Well-known member
Sailors are known to like a drink. But what about philosophers?
mattonthesea
Well-known member
I tried in the prologue to my book. You can read that page for free on Amazon
Amazon.co.uk
Not on such a grand scale I got lost on St Mary's, Scilly, after navigating a north Atlantic Circuit!One of my sisters did a bit of PR work for Pete Goss . After some lecture/meet n greet they came out to the car park and he quipped :” I can find my way around the world and back to rescue someone , so why can’t I find the car.?”
Or words to that effect
You know you can sail with someone so self deprecating yet effortlessly capable.
But I am in no way effortlessly ca, ca ca thingy
TiggerToo
Well-known member
I am 2/3 of the way through. A truly impressive book. Obviously biassed by the fact that its about one's own back yard. But the interleaving of coastal reminiscences and the diaries of 1980's England are truly worthwhile.
(NB, I will forgive him the references to granite off Yealm)
Wansworth
Well-known member
Also rereading the book .Raban died a while back .I think the book was written about the trip which took place over a period of four years
TiggerToo
Well-known member
His reminiscences of his parents are particularly moving