We’ve completed painting in the house, and I have been culling through boxes of books, deciding which ones to put back onto the shelves. Like many of you, I have been carting books from house to house since college. I am determined to give up some of these fading treasures to make space for other things. It started as a cleansing for the benefit of my local library book sale and the recycle bin. It has turned out to be a trip through my own personal intellectual history.
When I studied history, I was fascinated by the history of ideas. I studied the 19th century of “isms,” including Romanticism, Nationalism, Liberalism, Conservatism, Utopianism, Socialism, Natural Selection (a powerful non-ism), Utilitarianism, Impressionism. I liked learning who thought what in art, literature, science, how those thoughts were interpreted and led to actions. I was enthralled by anything that enabled me to use the word “zeitgeist.”
Many of the boxed up books are those I have read not for psychology or history classes but for my interest in leadership and organizations, launched while working on my MBA. There’s a Jack Welch book someone gave me, a smattering of fiction, many cook books, and gardening books. But do I really need – will anyone again read – that three volume set of Russian history from the late 1970s?
I was curious whether the older books are still in print or worth anything used. I felt the tug of giving part of me away when I considered removing or selling them. (Will people feel that way about their e-books?) The last time I had to move these books, Amazon was known more as a river than an online book store. Most of the titles I’ve checked have been worth all of fifty cents to a few dollars. One gem, however, was originally priced in the late 1970s at $3.95 and is now listed “used” for $50!
Little did I think the painting process would lead me to wonder how my personal intellectual history has shaped and influenced me. What I am reminded of from my culling is this: History progresses in stages just as people do. History repeats itself in some ways and we learn things again and again, just as individuals often do. New events take place and inventions occur and we react in different ways to them.
When I work with people to help them achieve positive, sustainable results, I have a broad place from which to consider what moves them. I am curious about what shapes their thinking, because that is what shapes their actions. I am not so much giving part of me away as acknowledging how it has become part of me and my tool kit for life.
How has your personal intellectual history shaped you? Please share and declaire yourself in a comment below. I’m curious.
Cathy
