Weekend Reading

Writing worth reading - 21st/22nd January 2023

• Poetry and Ambition by Donald Hall

  • “True ambition in a poet seeks fame in the old sense, to make words that live forever. If even to entertain such ambition reveals monstrous egotism, let me argue that the common alternative is petty egotism that spends itself in small competitiveness, that measures its success by quantity of publication, by blurbs on jackets, by small achievement: to be the best poet in the workshop, to be published by Knopf, to win the Pulitzer or the Nobel. The grander goal is to be as good as Dante…”

• The Man Who Saw America by Nicholas Dawidoff

  • “As he walked through the immaculate Zurich city center, with its many statues, gilded shop signs and fountains, Frank was just amazed how well organized everything is, how perfect everything is….”

• How To Be Successful by Sam Altman

  • “I’ve observed thousands of founders and thought a lot about what it takes to make a huge amount of money or to create something important. Usually, people start off wanting the former and end up wanting the latter....”

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Upcoming meals with 9others

• Wednesday 25th January — London — details and signup here.

• Wednesday 22th February — London — details and signup here.

• Wednesday 29th March — London — details and signup here.

Please book in & share with good people you know in the above cities.

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