A warning from History

[JennyB]

From a delightful article on how historians organised their notes in the pre-electronic era:

It is possible to take too many notes; the task of sorting, filing and assimilating them can take for ever, so that nothing gets written. The awful warning is Lord Acton, whose enormous learning never resulted in the great work the world expected of him. An unforgettable description of Acton’s Shropshire study after his death in 1902 was given by Sir Charles Oman. There were shelves and shelves of books, many of them with pencilled notes in the margin. ‘There were pigeonholed desks and cabinets with literally thousands of compartments into each of which were sorted little white slips with references to some particular topic, so drawn up (so far as I could see) that no one but the compiler could easily make out the drift.’ And there were piles of unopened parcels of books, which kept arriving, even after his death. ‘For years apparently he had been endeavouring to keep up with everything that had been written, and to work their results into his vast thesis.’ ‘I never saw a sight,’ Oman writes, ‘that more impressed on me the vanity of human life and learning.’

Sounds familiar! 

[Paul Keith]

Thanks! Just the article I was searching for all my life. 

[momonan]

Reminds me of some conversations I have had while writing a book. A friend comes to me, all excited, with an idea for another book for me to write. I point to my file drawers and computer to explain that they are filled with ideas for books or articles to write.  Ideas are not what I need.  They are a dime a dozen and come fast and furious.  It's the implementation that's the problem; not the ideas.

[Paul Keith]

It's the implementation that's the problem; not the ideas.

Could you elaborate?

[Stoic Joker]

I'll guess,
  Thinking of something that could be done vs. Going forward and getting it done.

[Paul Keith]

How does that relate to book writing though?

[app103]

It's the implementation that's the problem; not the ideas.

Could you elaborate?

-Paul Keith (June 05, 2010, 07:09 AM)

I think what she means is that someone still has to do the work (and that's a lot of work).