Books and America

In America, books are becoming less mainstream. Its true! Based on some empirical data, I concluded this about two years ago, and have been corroborating this ever since. For instance, when is there ever any advertising around books? The closest TV and other mainstream media advertising comes to are probably the encyclopedia sets pushed half-heartedly to a very small sub-section of men near Father's Day. And for women, its mostly Oprah's Book Club - which has emerged as a powerful influencer of choices and the bestseller list. And at other times? I can't remember the last time I had a conversation with someone in the US about a book, out of context of education, art, technology or even business.

A survey by the National Endowment for the Arts, describes a downward trend in book consumption by Americans and a specific decline in the reading of fiction, poetry and drama. It's titled "Reading at Risk," and is based on data from "The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts," conducted by the Census Bureau in 2002. Among its findings are that fewer than half of Americans over 18 now read novels, short stories, plays or poetry; that the consumer pool for books of all kinds has diminished; and that the pace at which the nation is losing readers, especially young readers, is quickening. In addition it finds that the downward trend holds in virtually all demographic areas.

The survey found that men (37.6 percent) were doing less literary reading than women (55.1 percent); that Hispanics (26.5 percent) were doing less than African-Americans (37.1 percent) and whites (51.4 percent); but that all categories were declining. The steepest declines of any demographic group are among the youngest adults. In 1982, 59.8 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds read literature; by 2002 that figure had dropped to 42.8 percent. In the 25-to-34 age group, the percentage of literary readers dropped to 47.7 from 62.1 over the same period.

This constitutes a serious problem. In a world where there's a quantum leap in the amount of information around us through the web, we seem to become more and more accustomed to bite-sized chunks, instead of meal-sized portions. Will this progress eventually to a point where reading a book is as specialized a pastime, as much of a gift or a talent as writing one? I remember someone from college - he was a Physics major (no, he wasn't an engineer, he was really Something Else!), and he claimed to have never ever read a storybook in his life. And this was because he had a strong aversion to viewing pages with only words on them, instead of equations or numbers. I felt sad about that, in a manner only equaled by the envy I felt while watching him plow through simultaneous differential equations. And he confessed similar envy when seeing my bookshelf, loaded with books I owned, books I'd been given, books I'd borrowed from the library. Except that he also confessed fear - fear that one day it would catch up with him and he'd have to sit and read a whole bunch of books all at one go. Fear! Are we progressing in the same direction? Think about it, its not a trivial concern.

Read a book today!

The barber experience

There are great things in life for all of us to enjoy, and then there's the truly sublime - like the barber experience. Remember the barber? Before there were hair stylists, hair dressers and hair sculptors, there were...barbers. The barber was a comfortable father figure when you were a kid - distant enough not to tell you to to finish your vegetables, close enough to drum your head with his fingers till your ears rang!

Going to a good barber shop is a profound experience, and I collect barber shops like other people collect coffee shops - after all isn't a haircut far more personalized and critical than some daft concoction that's less coffee and more 21st century adult strawberry caramel mocha milkshake with whipped cream topping! Besides, the haircut stays with you longer. For me, the experience starts with admitting I have something growing on top of my head that only Monsieur Barber can address i.e. too much hair. Once at the barbershop, I have to give up control of my life for the next hour or so at least. First, in waiting for my turn on the chair and then, in completely ceding control of my head to the man with the scissors.

Something that is blissful at a base level ensues, as with the best barber I've ever encountered - an unnamed soul in a side-street of a small town who had come to recognize me whenever I showed up at his shop, at 830am on a Saturday morning. We'd nod at each other, and he'd go on shaving the elderly gent on the chair. A young boy, one of the master's apprentices, would silently materialize at my side and offer a steaming cup of sweet milky tea. While sipping the tea and reading the day's paper I would feel the pace of life palpably down-shifting to match the gentle snip-snip, scratch-scratch of expertly wielded scissors and razors. At some magically synchronized moment, I'd be summoned to the master's chair right around the time the tea finished. A brief pause, the crisp white sheet being slid to fit around my neck, and we'd be good to go. I'd lean back, close my eyes, but stay aware enough to respond to gently murmured commands or the firm pressure of careful fingers to tilt my head left, right or back, there, just so. As the sound of scissors continued, punctuating the soft conversation between the master and his acolytes, my mind would wander - thinking through work, love, life with immense appreciation and detachment at the same time. Bending my neck forward so he could form the back into a civilized shape. And then once the snipping ceased, so would all conscious thought - as the master began the ritual of the rapid head massage - palms squeezing fingers drumming till my head sang and my ears turned red. Once done, I'd be allowed to gather myself for a minute or two after this local nirvana, sitting there undisturbed while he went about cleaning up.

Just thinking about that barber makes me feel somewhat peaceful, despite being surrounded by hairstylists who are by appointment only (!), or Supercuts, where the Viet women do a swift, impersonal and terribly efficient job with the shears and clippers. A friend of mine prefers this route, and he's got it down to a science - all he does is say, "Number-3" (that's the clipper caliber or something), as he slides into a chair and three minutes later, he's done. I think he's missing out on something - this easily accessible renewal of the self, a local nirvana that's probably available in your neighborhood. Its a universal experience of sorts, present across the world in some shape or form...so wherever you are, remember to take time when you find a really good barbershop, and let me know so I can add to our collection, would you?

The watch post: Sinn uber alles!

So if you're a somewhat metro guy or just a fastidious gent, or maybe you're just into reading mens' magazines at the dentist/ barber/ doctor you'll know that the only really acceptable piece of male jewelry is the watch. (everything else tends to fall in the gray somewhere between gigolo-chic from the 70s to the bling-bling attitude of the last couple of years) Ah, the watch. And the must-have lists that are feverishly perused by the newly rich and/ or the freshly clueless include the usual suspects - the Bond Omega, the Tag Heuer, the over-wrought Rolex Oyster/ Submariner/ do-everything-er, or the bulbous Breitlings (including the truly remarkable one that has a 48 hour emergency signal gizmo built into it). But before one heads out to shop its worth considering some not-so-obvious choices.

The understated yet absolutely exclusive ones are the Breguet, Blancpain and Roger Dubuis - to own any of these to give up one's firstborn in a commercial transaction. But then there are the easier-on-the-wallet possibilities that are equally brilliant and out of the ordinary. So listen carefully, here are two old and two new of the best:
1. Sinn - Since 1961, specializing in instrument or tool watches. The Flieger 103 Ti Ar is an absolute standout, and a personal favorite (full disclosure - I own one, and after two years, it still feels special). Its a tasteful entry into the big-watch world, with some unique features - an argon-filled titanium case with an embedded copper sulphate capsule
http://www.sinnstore.com/index.php
2. Longines - Since 1832, the company has the oldest registered logo for a watch company. The Master series is excellent, the dials are particularly unique with a "barleycorn" pattern (I have the GMT model, and while it never fails to delight, I'm not thrilled by the inevitable wear and tear in the leather strap)
3. Chronoswiss - Since 1982, started by Gerd Lang - these are interesting "fat" watches with onion crowns and knurled bezels
4. Auguste Reymonde - Since 1898, and still family owned. Excellent value for characterful chronometers

All of these are mechanical automatics, the best kind there is. Some have power reserve models, most have crystal backs, so you can peek in the back and marvel at the movements, or entertain some hapless nephew with the same (I've tried it. The fascination lasts for about 45 seconds, after which there is an urge to open it - very dangerous!). If you need help in locating a credible seller, you'd be happy buying at Watchbuys, I've used them repeatedly and they are exceedingly dependable, besides having an absolute passion for the products they peddle.

Happy watch-ing!

The essential sports car

Of course I'm going to bring up the Porsche 911 Carrera! Not just the essential sports car, but the essence of a sports car. Its probably the only sports car that's been in production for such a long time (since 1964). As to why it is that a car built for competition had its engine hung behind the rear axle in defiance of conventional physics...well, apparently the good Dr. Porsche felt something like this, "It is easy to do things the conventional way. But to win while making things different, that is something." And how. Over the years, the 911's rear wheels swelled up, along with flared rear fenders. There was ballast in the front bumpers for a while to quell the beast. New driving techniques were invented to cope with the inevitable physics. And later the electronics were brought in as well, the whole alphabet soup of ABS, PSM, PASM and whatnot - some of which is actually good, driving-wise. All built to prevent the tail of the thing swinging around and sending the car into the hedges, tracing a glorious slow arc like a giant pendulum. This tends to happen less with the late-year models though. And then there's the whole debate between the air-cooled purists and the water-cooled progressives - since from 1999 onwards, the Carrera switched to water-cooled engines.

Another interesting yet mystifying fact - California has the highest concentration of Porsches in the world. Interesting definitely, but why mystifying? Well, if you're in California, think about the number of Porsches, particularly Carreras that you've seen driving down Highway 1 or zipping through the Santa Cruz mountains, the Sierras or whatever. Next to zero, right? Mystifying. Why? Because though there's a bunch of (mostly old, mostly modified) Porsches that are being used for track, most of them are poser-mobiles, hapless Porsches locked into silly little one year 7000 mile leases. Not good for the cars, but definitely good for the rest of us. You can get a nice 1999 Carrera with around 40k miles for anywhere between $30,000 to $50,000, depending on the exact model and condition. Not bad, eh? But remember, the best recipe to enjoy a Porsche is to strap in, put cellphone on mute, find a twisty mountain B-road and engage warp-drive!

Be a real country!

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
- Frank Zappa

Frank was probably more accurate than he ever thought he'd be! It is unfortunate though, that of the four possibilities he mentions, more countries have always focused on option #4 - nuclear weapons. What a waste?! What if the monstrous amounts of money put into nuclear weapons (the top ten countries in the cumulatively spend over a trillion dollars per annum, these are only estimates) year after year were spent on developing a new beer, an airline or a football team...?!

We'd all be better off with a beer that didn't build into a belly, an airline that always got in on time, or perhaps a football team that combined the experience of the French, the intensity of the Italians and the spirit of the Black Stars of Ghana...!
(all references from the 2006 World Cup teams)

Besides, there would be a lot more real countries. Hey, Lennon said Imagine but Zappa was more specific!