Why I "force myself to wander," and what I found off the beaten track.

One of my resolutions is to “Force myself to wander.” I tend to stick to familiar subjects and routines, so I want to push myself to pursue new experiences

For example, when I’m writing a book, I’m enthralled with that subject. At the same time, however, I have lesser interests--that I too often shove aside to concentrate on my “official” subject.

My resolution to “Force myself to wander” is meant to encourage me to follow wherever my interests lead, even if that effort doesn’t seem particularly productive.

One of these interests is the presentation of information.

I’m absolutely fascinated by the way in which the presentation of information shapes the way people learn and understand material.

This sounds dull, but if you read brilliant books like Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics or Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, you see how extraordinarily interesting this question can be.

One of the reasons that writing my own books -- Power Money Fame Sex, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill, Forty Ways to Look at JFK, and Profane Waste – was so thrilling was that I tackled the question not just of ideas, but of how to present those ideas most effectively. This is a very creative process, very satisfying.

So I got big jolt of intellectual happiness when I saw Lane Brown and Dan Kois’s chart in the November 19, 2007 New York magazine. Their subject? Your Preholiday Guide to Downer Films.

The way the information is presented does so much – it’s short and funny and perceptive. It makes a hundred different arguments on one page. I took the very rare step of cutting it out for my scrapbook (a happiness-project undertaking).

*
I like to visit Web Worker Daily and catch up. There's a lot of useful material there -- even for people who don''t consider themselves "web workers." But actually, seems like practically everyone is some form of a web workers these days.

*
New to the Happiness Project? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or sign up to get email updates in the box at the top righthand corner.
If you're starting your own happiness project, please join the Happiness Project Group on Facebook to swap ideas. It's easy; it's free.

Comments

[Bebek]

I have not read the book, but I have noticed a great improvement with a series of travel guidebooks that changed my life with their innovative, accessible style of providing information: Eyewitness Travel Guides. Using maps, graphics and commentary they brilliantly make getting around (they have guides to almost everywhere) easier. Before I went to Amsterdam, I studied the book "Eyewitness Amsterdam" for a couple of months and was able to walk around Amsterdam as if I had lived there all my life. The guides are three diminsional maps that integrate directions and historical facts. They orient you to the territory with ease and are also fun to read as a vicarious experience.

[Duncan]

When I read the title of this post I was thinking you meant physically wandering...

My first thought was about photowalking. You just walk around (with friends or alone) and take pictures of whatever you feel like. I find that it forces me to find beauty in the world and experience at least some joy even in my lowest moods.

Just look at all the stuff I found when I walked out my front door:

http://tinyurl.com/32nkrq
(my photowalking pics on flickr)

In terms of the visual presentations of ideas and information check this out:

http://infosthetics.com

Wander away!

[Helen]

I love www.presentationzen.com - his book will be out soon.

[Brendan Crain]

Ooooh, I love learning about the presentation of information. I am especially fascinated by the way that museum exhibits are organized. I've been reviewing exhibits that are part of a series here in Chicago for my blog, and I have to keep reminding myself to actually talk about the content instead of blathering on about the curatorial presentation, lol.

Wandering is good fun. Duncan -- have you heard of the Dérive? It's a concept that the French Situationists came up with, and it's all about the idea of wandering aimlessly around the city without preconceived notions about what different areas are used for or what they mean. It's pretty fascinating...you should Wikipedia it or something. :-D

[Jenn]

I think it's important to both physically wander and psychologically.

I went to Italy by myself. When I got to Venice I decided to wander. It was November during the "aqua alta" and I went through 3 umbrellas in one day. But I wandered, found many dead ends, many lovely churches, good glasses of wine and a bunch of Brits in a pub.

I didn't panic when I found a dead end in the rain, I just went on. I ended up having dinner with a British couple I met at a the pub and we went to a Chinese Restaurant. Yes...a Chinese Restaurant in Venice. Leave the possibilities open. You never know what you'll find

[LadyExpat]

I travel five months out of the year, so spend a lot of time physically wandering. I think that "information wandering" whether it is on foot or via your keyboard is fascinating. I agree that we often forget to move outside of our comfort zones, but when we do there can be so many wonderful surprises.