The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I read this book about a month ago! Yikes, I had a lot more to say about it then..., thankfully Kathryn's post provided somewhat of a refresher for me (I made a brief comment on her post below).

Some favorites moments/thoughts/sentences:

(P 161) When the charming Ozu sends a book to Renee she describes it as "a fine edition bound in navy-blue leather of a coarse texture that is very wabi." And then goes on to define wabi as 'an understated form of beauty, a quality of refinement masked by a rustic simplicity.' I just loved the word wabi and what it stood for. Have you ever come across such objects? If you have, you know how perfect the word wabi fits in a way that no English word can. I think?

(p162) Paloma on intelligent people. Maybe this just makes me feel better about myself?

"I'm going to say something really banal, but intelligence, in itself, is neither valuable nor interesting. Very intelligent people have devoted their lives to the question of the sex of angels, for example. But many intelligent people have a sort of bug: they think intelligence is an end in itself. They have one idea in mind, to be intelligent, which is really stupid." I don't know... pointless thesis papers came to mind? Not all, but some. I like that whole paragraph.

(p. 188) Paloma on teenagers (this reminded me of the "cool" kids in high school).

"And secondly, a teenage who pretends to be an adult is still a teenager. If you imagine that getting high at a party and sleeping around is going to propel you into a state of full adulthood, that's like thinking that dressing up as an Indian is going to make you an Indian. And thirdly, it's a really weird way of looking at life to want to become an adult by imitating everything that is most catastrophic about adulthood... Lastly, teenagers think they're adults when in fact they're imitating adults who never really made it into adulthood and who are running away from life."

(p. 215) How toilet paper defines are wealth, from Renee (and whole-heartily agreed by me!)

"The toilet paper, too, is a candidate for sainthood. I find this sign of wealth far more convincing than any Maserati or Jaguar. What toilet paper does for people's derrieres contributes considerably more to the abyss between the classes than a good many external signs." So true, so true. And while we're speaking of the toilet, didn't you love the laughter between Renee and Ozu over his music-making toilet flusher? Made me love Ozu even more...

(p. 248) Renee on using intelligence to serve others. The whole passage is great, but...

"The only thing that matters is your intention: are you elevating thought and contributing to the common good, or rather joining the ranks in a field of study whose only purpose is its own perpetuation, and only function the self reproduction of a sterile elite -- for this turns university into sect."

Anyone else besides Kathryn and me read this one?

I kind of want to read it again. Like Kathryn, I started out thinking the book was pretentious and trying too hard. In the end, I loved it.