Arpeggios Charged with Distant Lights
It occurred to me a few days ago that one of the most important books we’ve read together over the last few years was in a class we did before I got on Substack. So I didn’t get a chance to broadcast it to this larger audience. I really like being an advertising agent for great books and ideas and the people who write and think them.
No matter who you are or what your interests may be, you should read this book. If it’s not a work of genius, it’s damned close. I’m not going to “review” it. That would spoil the fun. But I will say that it can change your life. There is a lot of really deep thought in this text. But it’s also a delight to read. If you’re a poet or an artist, it will show you a way of imagining the cosmos that will thrill your soul. If you’re a scientist, an engineer, or anyone with a technical background, it will remind you of the beauty and mystery that lie at the heart of reality. This is a truly exciting book.
I think the main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe. That’s what music is to me. —John Coltrane, in Ken Burns’s Jazz