Real talk: I generally let on that I’m content that my work remains marginal, but I gotta say I’ve been really frustrated all this summer.
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@adamgreenfield I've read and recommended Lifehouse, and it has definitely played a part in me becoming more active in my local community. Thanks for your work!
@Ansimorph That is awesome to hear, thanks so much. I’m delighted you found it useful.
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It’s not the right message, or I’m not the right messenger, or the time simply isn’t right (though if not now, then I have trouble imagining when the right time would be). I think accepting all this, and really internalizing it, is the healthiest thing I can possibly do.
But on the off chance that you enjoyed “Lifehouse,” and especially if you were able to put it to work in any way, please do me this favor?
Talk about it. Post about it – here, or on Instagram or TikTok, if you post in those places. Share it with your friends. Ask bookstores to carry it. Recommend it to your book club.
Give it the chance to find its people. I’d appreciate it more than I can possibly say.
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It’s not the right message, or I’m not the right messenger, or the time simply isn’t right (though if not now, then I have trouble imagining when the right time would be). I think accepting all this, and really internalizing it, is the healthiest thing I can possibly do.
@adamgreenfield (Not having read it) Out of curiosity: do you find a continental split in audiences, since you're US/UK? I've read many books (currently "Braiding Sweetgrass", previously "No Straight Road Takes You There") which gave me the strong feeling of "This is all pretty wise, and good, but all the examples are US-centric and I feel my attention waning"
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Real talk: I generally let on that I’m content that my work remains marginal, but I gotta say I’ve been really frustrated all this summer.
I’ve seen *so many conversations* where people are expressing their grief and helplessness and anguish about the big heat and everything it implies. And I keep wishing someone in these conversations would pipe up and say, “You know, I read this really good book about *just this situation*, and what we can do about it,” and it just. never. happens.
At this point, it’s hard to conclude anything other than that “Lifehouse” has failed to find the readers it was meant for, and do the work it was meant to do. And it’s not for want of me trying – I’ve exhausted my organic means of calling attention to it. *I’m* exhausted. I need to let it go.
@adamgreenfield Do you ever see examples of e.g. "Here are 10 books to get you through the polycrisis?" I have a hunch that this sort of secondary journalism could help a lot to mainstream the conversation.
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@adamgreenfield (Not having read it) Out of curiosity: do you find a continental split in audiences, since you're US/UK? I've read many books (currently "Braiding Sweetgrass", previously "No Straight Road Takes You There") which gave me the strong feeling of "This is all pretty wise, and good, but all the examples are US-centric and I feel my attention waning"
@danstowell The book shares stories from the US (Black Panthers, Common Ground, Occupy Sandy), sure – but also Greece, Spain, Hong Kong and Rojava, and I wrote it from London.
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@adamgreenfield Do you ever see examples of e.g. "Here are 10 books to get you through the polycrisis?" I have a hunch that this sort of secondary journalism could help a lot to mainstream the conversation.
@danstowell Not so much, no. Even my own publisher tends to forget it, when they do climate-related promotional posts.
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Real talk: I generally let on that I’m content that my work remains marginal, but I gotta say I’ve been really frustrated all this summer.
I’ve seen *so many conversations* where people are expressing their grief and helplessness and anguish about the big heat and everything it implies. And I keep wishing someone in these conversations would pipe up and say, “You know, I read this really good book about *just this situation*, and what we can do about it,” and it just. never. happens.
At this point, it’s hard to conclude anything other than that “Lifehouse” has failed to find the readers it was meant for, and do the work it was meant to do. And it’s not for want of me trying – I’ve exhausted my organic means of calling attention to it. *I’m* exhausted. I need to let it go.
@adamgreenfield considering there are 30k deaths by car accidents in the u.s. and we still get into our cars like nothing, if i were you i wouldn’t be so hard on myself and prob try to understand that people are terribly crappy at understanding the dangers they’re into, and iur beain is stupidly prone to minimise any feeling of risk, so prob that is why people have missed the importance and relevance of your book, thinking “well, i’m not on that perilous path” you know, like you see in the news.
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@adamgreenfield considering there are 30k deaths by car accidents in the u.s. and we still get into our cars like nothing, if i were you i wouldn’t be so hard on myself and prob try to understand that people are terribly crappy at understanding the dangers they’re into, and iur beain is stupidly prone to minimise any feeling of risk, so prob that is why people have missed the importance and relevance of your book, thinking “well, i’m not on that perilous path” you know, like you see in the news.
@adamgreenfield hope my reply does not sound patronising, it was not written with that idea, i’m just trying to help and i see the value and appreciate the effort
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It’s not the right message, or I’m not the right messenger, or the time simply isn’t right (though if not now, then I have trouble imagining when the right time would be). I think accepting all this, and really internalizing it, is the healthiest thing I can possibly do.
@adamgreenfield I was not familiar with your book, just sent a request to my local library.
Without having read it, the first feeling I had when reading the description was wondering how many of us might have lost / atrophied /never developed the skills it takes to take care of ourselves collectively? I'm not sure if the current world teaches those skills to children. And for those of us who are older, skills (physical, mental and emotional) can be lost after experiencing trauma and much of the current world subjects people to trauma.
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@adamgreenfield I was not familiar with your book, just sent a request to my local library.
Without having read it, the first feeling I had when reading the description was wondering how many of us might have lost / atrophied /never developed the skills it takes to take care of ourselves collectively? I'm not sure if the current world teaches those skills to children. And for those of us who are older, skills (physical, mental and emotional) can be lost after experiencing trauma and much of the current world subjects people to trauma.
@marsiposa This book is, in large part, anout the work of repair – both what it looks like, concretely, but even more so the good news that it *works*, empirically and consistently.
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@marsiposa This book is, in large part, anout the work of repair – both what it looks like, concretely, but even more so the good news that it *works*, empirically and consistently.
@adamgreenfield I'm looking forward to check it out.
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Real talk: I generally let on that I’m content that my work remains marginal, but I gotta say I’ve been really frustrated all this summer.
I’ve seen *so many conversations* where people are expressing their grief and helplessness and anguish about the big heat and everything it implies. And I keep wishing someone in these conversations would pipe up and say, “You know, I read this really good book about *just this situation*, and what we can do about it,” and it just. never. happens.
At this point, it’s hard to conclude anything other than that “Lifehouse” has failed to find the readers it was meant for, and do the work it was meant to do. And it’s not for want of me trying – I’ve exhausted my organic means of calling attention to it. *I’m* exhausted. I need to let it go.
@adamgreenfield which way of buying it gets the largest share in your pocket?
Asking for a friend.
(it's me, I'm the friend) -
Real talk: I generally let on that I’m content that my work remains marginal, but I gotta say I’ve been really frustrated all this summer.
I’ve seen *so many conversations* where people are expressing their grief and helplessness and anguish about the big heat and everything it implies. And I keep wishing someone in these conversations would pipe up and say, “You know, I read this really good book about *just this situation*, and what we can do about it,” and it just. never. happens.
At this point, it’s hard to conclude anything other than that “Lifehouse” has failed to find the readers it was meant for, and do the work it was meant to do. And it’s not for want of me trying – I’ve exhausted my organic means of calling attention to it. *I’m* exhausted. I need to let it go.
My experience of reading Lifehouse (which I paid for and everything):
1) read first one half to two thirds of the book, which was an interesting historical summary of previous attempts that all failed
2) binding of book fell apart (I was reading it in my car) and I never got to last third which was about what we should do. May find loose pages and put them in order some time
My advice: smaller online piece that skips history part
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My experience of reading Lifehouse (which I paid for and everything):
1) read first one half to two thirds of the book, which was an interesting historical summary of previous attempts that all failed
2) binding of book fell apart (I was reading it in my car) and I never got to last third which was about what we should do. May find loose pages and put them in order some time
My advice: smaller online piece that skips history part
@richpuchalsky Search “ill will” “beyond hope”
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@adamgreenfield which way of buying it gets the largest share in your pocket?
Asking for a friend.
(it's me, I'm the friend)@lavaeolus HAHAHAHA ordering directly from verso. but really, raising visibility/perceived salience is *much* more important to me than $. thanks so much!
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@lavaeolus HAHAHAHA ordering directly from verso. but really, raising visibility/perceived salience is *much* more important to me than $. thanks so much!
@adamgreenfield will do
But I'm a bit confused because I found versobooks.com, versolit.com, as well as versobookhub.com -
@adamgreenfield will do
But I'm a bit confused because I found versobooks.com, versolit.com, as well as versobookhub.com@lavaeolus versobooks.com
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Real talk: I generally let on that I’m content that my work remains marginal, but I gotta say I’ve been really frustrated all this summer.
I’ve seen *so many conversations* where people are expressing their grief and helplessness and anguish about the big heat and everything it implies. And I keep wishing someone in these conversations would pipe up and say, “You know, I read this really good book about *just this situation*, and what we can do about it,” and it just. never. happens.
At this point, it’s hard to conclude anything other than that “Lifehouse” has failed to find the readers it was meant for, and do the work it was meant to do. And it’s not for want of me trying – I’ve exhausted my organic means of calling attention to it. *I’m* exhausted. I need to let it go.
@adamgreenfield It is always a problem for authors that if we are trying to change the dominant discourse on a topic, even when everyone is complaining about the poor quality of the discourse, there is deep resistance to internalizing a different way of thinking, and I struggle with this frustration too.
A while back, I was talking to someone lamenting the total lack of X in our field. I said, I do X! She says, forthcoming? No, I said, in the article you cited in your work six months ago.
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@adamgreenfield It is always a problem for authors that if we are trying to change the dominant discourse on a topic, even when everyone is complaining about the poor quality of the discourse, there is deep resistance to internalizing a different way of thinking, and I struggle with this frustration too.
A while back, I was talking to someone lamenting the total lack of X in our field. I said, I do X! She says, forthcoming? No, I said, in the article you cited in your work six months ago.
@adamgreenfield But even though it can take a while before people find, read, learn from, internalize, share, cite, and promote new ways of thinking, you are still laying groundwork for change, and many of the people who learn from you don't yet have the platform for putting those ideas into action. Fruits take a long time to ripen.
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@adamgreenfield It is always a problem for authors that if we are trying to change the dominant discourse on a topic, even when everyone is complaining about the poor quality of the discourse, there is deep resistance to internalizing a different way of thinking, and I struggle with this frustration too.
A while back, I was talking to someone lamenting the total lack of X in our field. I said, I do X! She says, forthcoming? No, I said, in the article you cited in your work six months ago.
@carrideen lolsob the struggle is real
