Beginners
The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning
(Sprache: Englisch)
"This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf"--Title page verso.
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"This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf"--Title page verso.
Lese-Probe zu „Beginners “
PROLOGUETHE OPENING GAMBIT
One Sunday morning in a crowded room in New York City, I sat down to a chessboard with my heartbeat elevated and my stomach on the boil.
My opponent and I shook hands, as is the custom. Apart from stating our names, which we duly jotted in our notation pads, we exchanged no words. While I set the time on the clock twenty-
five minutes for each player he methodically centered each piece on its square.
Nonchalantly, as if to appear faintly bored, I did the same. I tried to arrange my pieces even more symmetrically, as if seizing some minute advantage (a ploy undermined by momentary panic that I d incorrectly placed the bishop and knight). An expectant hush fell about the room as we waited for the tournament director to give the start signal.
As we sat, I tried to size my opponent up. He idly rolled a pencil between his fingers. His eyes drifted to the neighboring tables. I peered at him with what I hoped looked like remorseless pity. I was trying to project as much feral menace as one could while sitting in a library chair. I wanted to channel a feeling that had been described to me by Dylan Loeb McClain, the former chess columnist for The New York Times, when, in 1995, he d played the then world champion, Garry Kasparov, in an exhibition game.
I didn t feel like he wanted to beat me, McClain said. I felt like he wanted to reach across the board and strangle me. He intuited that Kasparov, hunched like an angry bear and channeling unbelievable psychic ferocity, would not be happy gaining some minor positional advantage, or even simply winning. Something more personal, more disturbing seemed to be driving him.
This is a common sensation in the world of chess. I like the moment when I break a man s ego, the mercurial champion Bobby Fischer once put it.
I looked again at my opponent. Could I, through tactical finesse and the withering power of my merciless gaze, slowly
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dismantle the core of his being?
Just then, a woman appeared at his side, bearing a small carton of chocolate milk. She kissed him on the head, said, Good luck, and flashed me an owlish smile. Ryan, my opponent, was eight years old. With admirable composure, and an occasional sniffle, he dispatched me somewhere after the thirtieth move. I congratulated him, and as I went to inform the tournament director of the result, I saw him in the hallway, ego intact, proudly relaying the news to his mother.
Ryan and I were among those gathered for a Sunday morning Rated Beginner Open at New York City s Marshall Chess Club. Occupying several floors of a historic town house on one of Greenwich Village s most handsome blocks, the Marshall is a delightful anachronism, a relic of the days when any number of chess teams, collegiate and otherwise, battled across the region, their exploits recorded in the sports sections of newspapers.
That it exists here today, nestled amid some of the most expensive real estate in the country, is only thanks to a plot twist worthy of Dickens.
In 1931, at the height of the Depression, a group of wealthy benefactors, chess enthusiasts all, bought the building on behalf of the club s namesake, Frank Marshall. A grandmaster and U.S. champion who d once operated an oceanfront chess emporium in Atlantic City where he sometimes played passersby for money Marshall had for decades piloted his eponymous club through a number of iconic Manhattan locales, from Keens Chophouse to the Chelsea Hotel. The Marshall now had a home for life.
The place has lost a bit of its old-school luster there are no longer jacketed waiters to serve coffee or tea but playing chess at the Marshall today, you s
Just then, a woman appeared at his side, bearing a small carton of chocolate milk. She kissed him on the head, said, Good luck, and flashed me an owlish smile. Ryan, my opponent, was eight years old. With admirable composure, and an occasional sniffle, he dispatched me somewhere after the thirtieth move. I congratulated him, and as I went to inform the tournament director of the result, I saw him in the hallway, ego intact, proudly relaying the news to his mother.
Ryan and I were among those gathered for a Sunday morning Rated Beginner Open at New York City s Marshall Chess Club. Occupying several floors of a historic town house on one of Greenwich Village s most handsome blocks, the Marshall is a delightful anachronism, a relic of the days when any number of chess teams, collegiate and otherwise, battled across the region, their exploits recorded in the sports sections of newspapers.
That it exists here today, nestled amid some of the most expensive real estate in the country, is only thanks to a plot twist worthy of Dickens.
In 1931, at the height of the Depression, a group of wealthy benefactors, chess enthusiasts all, bought the building on behalf of the club s namesake, Frank Marshall. A grandmaster and U.S. champion who d once operated an oceanfront chess emporium in Atlantic City where he sometimes played passersby for money Marshall had for decades piloted his eponymous club through a number of iconic Manhattan locales, from Keens Chophouse to the Chelsea Hotel. The Marshall now had a home for life.
The place has lost a bit of its old-school luster there are no longer jacketed waiters to serve coffee or tea but playing chess at the Marshall today, you s
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Autoren-Porträt von Tom Vanderbilt
TOM VANDERBILT has written for many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Popular Science, and Smithsonian. He is the author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) and two other books. He has appeared on a wide range of television and radio programs, from the Today show to the BBC’s World Service to NPR’s Fresh Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Tom Vanderbilt
- 2021, 320 Seiten, Maße: 13 x 20,1 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: VINTAGE
- ISBN-10: 0525432973
- ISBN-13: 9780525432975
- Erscheinungsdatum: 13.01.2022
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
An entertaining read. . . . Beginners provides a primer of sorts for re-engaging with life. . . . We could do worse than to find new pursuits to embrace with the open-minded zeal of a child; to rediscover the intrinsic wonders of the world through the eyes of a beginner. The New York Times
This is Vanderbilt s great revelation that in a world where apps constantly rate us and measure our performance . . . we should enjoy the process more and worry less about the product. . . . This book conveys that pleasure and is itself a pleasure to read.
The Guardian
Vanderbilt is a winning and insightful guide to the mechanics of mastery. But Beginners is ultimately about more than learning. It s about the possibilities that reside in all of us.
Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of When
Vanderbilt is good on the specific joys and embarrassments of being a late-blooming novice, or kook, as surfers sometimes call gauche beginners. . . . I was entranced. . . . If learning like a child sounds a little airy-fairy, whatever the neuroscience research says, try recalling what it felt like to learn how to do something new when you didn t really care what your performance of it said about your place in the world, when you didn t know what you didn t know. It might feel like a whole new beginning.
Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker
[Vanderbilt] describes frankly (and humorously) the embarrassment that comes with repeated failures as well as quiet triumphs. . . . The joy is transcendent.
Christian Science Monitor
Accessible and highly informative, the book is a fast-paced exploration of the science of skill acquisition and a delightful account of journalist Vanderbilt s personal adventures among fellow new learners. . . . Despite the inevitable setbacks, his is an empowering story that will have adventuresome readers eager to head off in search of some new challenge the
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moment they ve put it down. An engaging perspective on the joys of embarking on the process of learning something new. Shelf Awareness
Vanderbilt makes a compelling case that learning something new has myriad advantages, including promoting the brain s ability to rewire itself, connecting you to new people and new communities, and reengaging our innate curiosity and open-mindedness.
Outside
Tom Vanderbilt takes up pursuits that are actually fun surfing, chess, even juggling and finds power in being a novice.
Bloomberg
Vanderbilt s book is, above all, a call to action.
CNN Health
Beginners belongs with David Epstein s Range on the list of books that have changed the way I understand my own limitations.
Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of Outliers
Tom Vanderbilt s book explores how to learn completely new skills, how to change our world even after we re supposed to be done with schooling. This is a book about how to become a beginner again, and it makes you want to plunge in with both feet.
Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better
A thoughtful and stirring look into the art and science of lifelong learning. Currently, I m learning Gaelic, dressmaking and how to lay floors. Last year, it was knitting and coding. I m 50, and not supposed to be a beginner any more according to society s conventions but Tom Vanderbilt turns that flawed assumption on its head with the grace with which he learns to reach a high note or surf a wave.
Rose George, author of Ninety Percent of Everything
A great book about the power of being a beginner.
Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
Tom Vanderbilt shows us why it s never too late to be a beginner, and that there should be no shame associated with the word dilettante. Now I m off to learn how to play the trombone, speak Portuguese and bake soufflés
A.J. Jacobs, bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically
A wonderful and inspirational book. The only thing that will make you put it down is a burning desire to try something new. It s full of the sort of encouragement and wisdom that bridges the small, tricky gulf between enthusiasm and action. A book that will launch thousands of journeys that might not otherwise have happened and prove life-changing for many who take those first steps.
Tristan Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator
You don t have to try all the activities that Tom Vanderbilt took on in his heroic, self-sacrificial effort to persuade us of the benefits of learning throughout life. After you read this invigorating book, you might want to take a nap. But then you ll get up, refreshed, ready to learn a new skill. You ll be ready to begin.
Carol Tavris, Ph.D., co-author of Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)
An uplifting, fascinating book about the value and addictive pleasure of returning to the status of a beginner. Vanderbilt is a fantastic writer. . . . Delightful.
Barbara Oakley, Ph.D, co-author of Uncommon Sense Teaching
Witty, well-researched, myth-busting and curiously of the moment. Vanderbilt tells a compelling tale. Eighty pages in, I joined a choir.
Robert Penn, author of It s All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels
It s impossible to pick up a book by Tom Vanderbilt without learning something. An engaging and fascinating mix of the personal and the general. I never thought I d read a book that could persuade me to take up juggling, but this one did it.
Robert Colvile
[Vanderbilt] composes lucid prose and explains concepts . . . with relative ease, and his thesis is practical and worthwhile. . . . Compelling. . . . A solid beginner s guide to beginning.
Kirkus
[A] charming celebration of lifelong learning. . . . [Vanderbilt] makes a persuasive case for the benefits cognitive, physical, emotional, and social of being a beginner. This enjoyable reminder to embrace the small acts of reinvention, at any age, that can make life seem magical will appeal to those who enjoyed Robert Pirsig s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Publishers Weekly
Vanderbilt makes a compelling case that learning something new has myriad advantages, including promoting the brain s ability to rewire itself, connecting you to new people and new communities, and reengaging our innate curiosity and open-mindedness.
Outside
Tom Vanderbilt takes up pursuits that are actually fun surfing, chess, even juggling and finds power in being a novice.
Bloomberg
Vanderbilt s book is, above all, a call to action.
CNN Health
Beginners belongs with David Epstein s Range on the list of books that have changed the way I understand my own limitations.
Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of Outliers
Tom Vanderbilt s book explores how to learn completely new skills, how to change our world even after we re supposed to be done with schooling. This is a book about how to become a beginner again, and it makes you want to plunge in with both feet.
Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better
A thoughtful and stirring look into the art and science of lifelong learning. Currently, I m learning Gaelic, dressmaking and how to lay floors. Last year, it was knitting and coding. I m 50, and not supposed to be a beginner any more according to society s conventions but Tom Vanderbilt turns that flawed assumption on its head with the grace with which he learns to reach a high note or surf a wave.
Rose George, author of Ninety Percent of Everything
A great book about the power of being a beginner.
Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
Tom Vanderbilt shows us why it s never too late to be a beginner, and that there should be no shame associated with the word dilettante. Now I m off to learn how to play the trombone, speak Portuguese and bake soufflés
A.J. Jacobs, bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically
A wonderful and inspirational book. The only thing that will make you put it down is a burning desire to try something new. It s full of the sort of encouragement and wisdom that bridges the small, tricky gulf between enthusiasm and action. A book that will launch thousands of journeys that might not otherwise have happened and prove life-changing for many who take those first steps.
Tristan Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator
You don t have to try all the activities that Tom Vanderbilt took on in his heroic, self-sacrificial effort to persuade us of the benefits of learning throughout life. After you read this invigorating book, you might want to take a nap. But then you ll get up, refreshed, ready to learn a new skill. You ll be ready to begin.
Carol Tavris, Ph.D., co-author of Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)
An uplifting, fascinating book about the value and addictive pleasure of returning to the status of a beginner. Vanderbilt is a fantastic writer. . . . Delightful.
Barbara Oakley, Ph.D, co-author of Uncommon Sense Teaching
Witty, well-researched, myth-busting and curiously of the moment. Vanderbilt tells a compelling tale. Eighty pages in, I joined a choir.
Robert Penn, author of It s All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels
It s impossible to pick up a book by Tom Vanderbilt without learning something. An engaging and fascinating mix of the personal and the general. I never thought I d read a book that could persuade me to take up juggling, but this one did it.
Robert Colvile
[Vanderbilt] composes lucid prose and explains concepts . . . with relative ease, and his thesis is practical and worthwhile. . . . Compelling. . . . A solid beginner s guide to beginning.
Kirkus
[A] charming celebration of lifelong learning. . . . [Vanderbilt] makes a persuasive case for the benefits cognitive, physical, emotional, and social of being a beginner. This enjoyable reminder to embrace the small acts of reinvention, at any age, that can make life seem magical will appeal to those who enjoyed Robert Pirsig s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Publishers Weekly
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