About

I used to read a lot. Ever since high school for the most part and college definitely, I have not found much time to read at all. I decided that this would be different. I brought a fair number of books I have never read with me to town and resolved to read a few. And then lo! I landed a job at a used bookstore, so I resolved even harder.

The title, Otio Consecravit, is the last two words from the inscription above Montaigne's library--the room with over a thousand books in it that he isolated himself in for years, determined to finish them, and over which time he wrote his Essays. He "consecrated it to his freedom, tranquility, and leisure," and I have dedicated this space to the latter which has destroyed cities and kings. Montaigne had his tome tower, I have this, in which I, resolute, the sour elite, will explore outré lies--o! true lies nonetheless--my lore suite to leisure.

What I plan to read can widely be described as that which I have not yet read. More specifically, the modern works which I intend to devour are most likely of a scientific, mathematic, or philosophic bent, with authors such as Douglas Hofstadter, Martin Gardner, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennet (the latter few forming a list of authors whose detractors I also plan on giving ear to), or simple science fiction and fantasy including lots of Neil Gaiman and eventually someday possibly finishing the works of Piers Anthony and Terry Pratchett.

Older than that, I am most interested in the "trope makers." Classics that have so entered the popular culture that most people who reference them don't even know why. Some of these I've already started so will form the basis of my first few posts, but there should be a lot of Dickens as well as early sci-fi of the Verne/Wells type, and rounding out my Poe and Doyle.

So why am I writing instead of reading right now? Who knows.