"Hamlet's Blackberry" - Review & Analysis

William Powers' recent book, "Hamlet's Blackberry" attempts to answer the question of how to build a good life in the digital age.  For some more enlightened folks, perhaps this is a silly question.  For myself, I feel like the digital tools that make our lives easier also encourage a more shallow and surface-level existence.

Like myself and others, Powers is searching for depth.  The difference between himself and many other authors on the subject is that he recognizes how valuable and useful the new technology is.  "Hamlet's Blackberry" is a search for a way to take the good of the technology, including the ease of access to information, ability to keep in touch with family/friends, work remotely, etc., and discard the bad.  The bad in this case is the constant stream of news and trivia, much of which is not useful, the ADHD-inducing brain fuck that the internet can be at times.

Powers takes a very unique way of exploring the subject.  Rather than just look at modern examples, Powers looks back on breakthrough technologies throughout history, including written text, the printing press, and wired telegrams.  At the time of each of these inventions, people worried about the effect that they would have on learning, concentration, and most importantly, depth.  Reading quotes from people who lived through this, the concerns were very similar to what we hear today about being "too connected," "too in touch with the crowd," and "not enough time for the inner self."  Take for example Thoreau's concern that the more wired people become, the more likely they are to fill up their minds with junk and trivia, even celebrity gossip. 

"We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to the New; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.  After all, the man whose horse trots a mile a minute does not carry the most important messages."

 The obvious follow-up here is that if everyone was worried about this stuff then, and it all turned out all right, why worry about the current technological advances?  Powers addresses this as part of his conclusion:

"One might argue that civilization always survives such transitions and moves on, so why worry?  Of course we'll survive.  The question is whether we will do more than that.  In all the earlier periods we've looked at, there were people who thrived and found happiness and people who didn't.  The former found something approximating the happy equilibrium Socrates was seeking when he prayed that his outward and inward selves might "be at one.:  The latter became hostage to their outwardness and never shook "restless energy of a hunted mind.""

 What then is the answer?  According to Powers, it comes down to creating distance, providing time for inner space, pushing for technologies that allow for inwardness, using old tools (such as handwriting) to ease digital overload, forming positive rituals, creating screen-free "Walden Zones," and consciously disconnecting, or "lowering our internal thermostat." 

What does the constant frittering between tasks, jumping from one screen to the next, and constantly interacting with people take from us?  In my opinion, the most poignant example is given in the first chapter.

Powers is driving to his mother's house, but gets a late start.  He needs to let her know that he will be late, so he picks up his mobile phone (a tool of interconnection in its own right), pulls her up on speed dial, notices the profile picture of her that he has on his phone, and lets her know that he will be arriving later than expected.  She laughs, as this is something of an inside joke, as apparently he is late often.  He hangs up.

Ill let Powers pick up here:

"Driving along, I feel an unexpected surge of emotion.  I'm thinking about how fun it always is to spend time with my mother, how lucky I was to be born to such a warm, companionable person.  Lately I've noticed shades of her humor in my son, and I wonder now if he somehow inherited that from her.  Have they isolated a gene for good-naturedness?"

 In the past (but not so long ago), this event would have been much more difficult.  Powers would have to pull the car over, look for a payphone, hope he had the correct change, and be sure he had his mother's number memorized.  Now, with a click of a button, he can do all of that.  Clear case of technology helping build on a relationship.  But something more was needed to create the depth of emotion that Powers experienced AFTER the call was over.  There was a gap between activities that allowed the author to consider what had just happened.  Rather than jumping immediately into the next twitter update or email, the fact that Powers was driving allowed distance between the act of calling and the deep reservoir of feeling that opened up as he thought about his mother.  In this case, technology helped created depth.

Rarely do we give ourselves these gaps.  We have too many screens open at once, too many email accounts to check, too many IM's coming in to stop and think and feel.  To live a good life requires depth, and to do so amidst so much distraction will require a conscious look at what we think about and how we spend our time.  William Powers' book, "Hamlet's Blackberry" is the single best resource that I have found to address how to create these all-important "gaps" in our lives.

Living Smaller

"He did each single thing as if he did nothing else."
 - Charles Dickens

Multi-tasking is vastly over-rated.  By focusing on one thing at a time, we can give that person, task or responsibility the attention and value that it/they deserve.  The only way to do this is by eliminating distractions.  Lately, I have been doing so.  I keep only one tab open online.  I changed the settings on my instant messenger services so that they do not log me in automatically.  For now, I have deactivated Facebook.  I consider that temporary, as it has become one of the best ways to keep in touch with friends.  For now though, I needed a break. 

By continuing to minimize my time and commitments online and in the real world, I can focus more effectively on what I do care about.  My work is more productive.  I write more.  I read more.  I box and run more.  I brew beer.  I make soap.  When I talk to my family, I only talk to my family.

Making Soap: The Tyler Durden Chronicles, Volume1

In response to my comment expressing the difficulties I was experiencing in making soap from scratch, my friend offered the following:

"Yeah, its too bad that society hasn't progressed to the point where such products are offered in readily available portions at affordable costs. Oh wait..."

He has a point.  But I think there are plenty of reasons to learn about and practice making soap from raw materials.  They are as follows:

1. Competence - learning how something is made is always worthwhile, especially if you can then duplicate this task.  You are never worse off for the knowledge.
2. Quality - Unless you are spending top-dollar, most soap that you buy is made from the cheapest of materials.  Much like brewing your own beer, making your own soap allows you to use the top quality materials, with the cost savings associated with doing the work for yourself.  For less money per unit than your average bar of Dial soap, you can have top-level artisan soap.
3. Fun - I love projects, and this is a good one.  Complicated and dangerous enough to be fully engaging, long enough to require focus over extended periods of time, and you get a usable and valuable product out of your efforts.  This is fun to me.

 First, a big, giant warning.  Making soap from scratch involves working with chemicals that are highly dangerous.  Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) will burn the living shit out of your skin, and god forbid that it gets in your eyes.  Protective equipment, such as heavy-duty gloves and goggles are a must.  Strict attention should be paid when handling raw lye.  Even when being careful, it is possible for lye to splash up, which would do you serious damage.  This Rugged Life is in no way responsible for your burned body if you injure yourself while making soap.  If you have not seen "Fight Club," or even if you have, it is recommended that you watch this scene from 0:30 - 3:00.  This IS what can happen to any part of your skin that the lye touches.  ALWAYS keep a jug of vinegar nearby to neutralize any burns.

Right then.  Despite the need for care, soap-making is common, and should be fine so long as you use proper caution.

While part of the fun of making anything is customizing it to your own standards, I would recommend using a already-perfected recipe for your first few goes.  These are readily available online, including this one from The Simple Dollar, which includes lot of good ingredients like coconut oil and oatmeal.

Soap is basically made up of oil(s) and sodium hydroxide.  Sodium Hydroxide is also used to make methamphetamines, so it can be difficult to find.  I purchased mine from Bramble Berry.  They will ask you to sign and email back a Hazardous Material form, which clears them from lawsuits if you burn the shit out of yourself.

Different recipes will include different types of oils and fats, but olive oil is commonly used, and a soap with mostly olive oil will make a Castile soap, which is fairly soft.  Lard, Coconut Oil and other fats can be added, or used as substitutes. 

Two basic mixtures will be created, one including all of the oils and fat, and the other consists of the lye and a liquid, such as water or milk.  Once both mixtures have reached the appropriate temperature, the lye mix is added to the oil mix.  The order of this is important.  Carefully monitor the temperatures of each.  My failure to do so made my life much harder than it needed to be.

I made a few mistakes on this batch, such as allowing my oils to get far too hot, and allowing my lye to get too cool.  Invest in a second thermometer to avoid a similar problem.

Lye/Milk Combination - the lye took frozen milk to over 140 degrees in seconds


I got creative with my soap molds, using a bunch of strangely-shaped items that I found at the Salvation Army store.  The problem was that I did not line the bottoms with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.  My failure to do so made it nearly impossible to get the hardening soap out of the molds, and I ended  up wasting a lot of precious materials because of it.  The soap that was not wasted came out pretty...rough-looking.  Its not the cool-looking ovals and rectangles that I was hoping for, but it should be functional.

Once the lye and oils have been mixed, you have a lot of stirring to do.  Hours, actually.  Unless you invest in a stick blender, which will cut the time to a half hour, or far less. 

Once you have removed the soap from the molds, it must be left for 3-4 weeks before using.  This allows the lye to continue mixing with the oils, settle down, and become something that you can actually use on your body.  You can lay plastic wrap over the bars, and then put a blanket or towel over it to let it cool down slowly.

Ugly soap


Be careful during cleanup.  While the mixture is now "soap," the lye is still wrestling around in the ingredients.  While it will no longer cause chemical burns, it can still irritate your skin, and would do worse to your eyes.  You should keep your gloves on while cleaning up your mess to be on the safe side.  Even with the gloves, some of the soap got onto my forearms, and the skin reddened up fairly quickly.

Safety, I has it


That's it for this volume of the Tyler Durden Chronicles.  The next segment will talk about the finished product, some fun information about soap, and possibly more of my fuck-ups.  Cheers.

The Great Book-Burning of 2010

I have been reading about the social movements of simplicity, minimalism and frugality lately.  The most influential book on the subject has been "The Circle of Simplicity," by Cecile Andrews, and was recommended to me by the Momma.

I was initially drawn to these ideas as a way to save money, but it has become quite a bit more than that.  I have always had a bit of distaste for the idea of shopping as a "hobby," and I never considered myself someone who had much of a need for "things."  After being inspired to go through all of my stuff and considering where I can reduce, I realize I am almost as guilty of consumerism as the girl with 20 pairs of shoes in her closet.  I just have different things that I spend money on.  Specifically, my search turned up four different pairs of boxing gloves, three different sets of sparring head gear, a pair of snow-shoes that I have used once, a snowboard that I have used once, a microwave that I never use, and most obvious, hundreds of books that I will not be reading again.

Getting rid of the books caused the most heartache.  I like having lots of books because it does good things for my self-esteem. 

See all those books?  Obviously, I am a learned and well-educated fellow, someone who probably has all sorts of interesting things to talk about.

I finally came to the realization that keeping all these books did not make those statements true or untrue.  If I read them, then I read them, and I do not need to keep them there as trophies to impress others (or myself.)  I was able to sell about 15 of them to a used bookstore for $40 (which really shows how much of a waste of money new books are), and most of the rest are going to be donated to my local library.  I am keeping one large shelf full of books that I have either not read yet or have not yet finished.  I will give myself until the end of the year, and then will get rid of anything that remains.

There are some books that I am keeping forever.  Some are very important to me, and I will be reading them again and again.  Others have good information or quotes in them that I often use for reference.  These will be spared.  More than anything, I am attempting to reduce the hold these objects have on me.  They are NOT symbols of my intelligence, nor an indicator of my worth.  They are only valuable for the information and stories within their pages, and I can access them for free at the library (almost) any time that I want.  Obviously, what comes with this purging is an emphasis on not buying new books to replace these in the future. 

Reducing the amount of things that I own allows me to refocus on people and experiences instead of material objects.  I think that I do this more than most already, but I can absolutely improve. 

I found it interesting, but I have been trying to define what living a "rugged life" means lately, and I have several drafts that haven't quite felt right.  Then I read this: "[Focusing on experience is] the core of the spiritual life - it is awe, wonder, and delight.  It is the path that brings us a feeling of life, the rekindling of our spirit, the sense of being on fire with excitement about life."

Sounds about right to me.