Griffin Speaks

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Since I was nine years old I have been an avid patron of libraries. I love to read. Books are one of the best ways to acquire common knowledge. You can learn a lot about different places by reading fiction. It is very rewarding to read a book with a friend.

I highly recommend these novels written by Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1841), Barnaby Rudge (1841), Dombey and Son (1848), David Copper field (1850), Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854), A Tale Of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1861), Our Mutual Friend (1865).

Most brilliant people would agree that experience is the best teacher. We can get a lot of much needed experience through the written page. You only have one life to live; however you can share the experience of many lives by reading books.

When you read you open yourself up to change. I am currently reading former President Bill Clinton’s autobiography, “My Life”. It is very good. He speaks honestly about his love for fast food. As a result of that bad habit he is now facing heart surgery.

If you want to learn something about big city life I suggest that you read Tom Wolfe’s, Bonfire of The Vanities, written in 1987. The book is set in New York City and filled with absorbing facts about big-city life.

My parents are avid readers. My parents visited me in Boston, Massachusetts while I was in pursuit of my Masters of Law in Taxation at the number two tax program in America, Boston University School of Law. I gave my parents a reception and invited the Law School Deans, fellow law students and law professors. The turn out was magnificent at my brownstone located at 96 Mountfort Street. I baked a turkey, ham, fried some chicken wings and bought several jugs of cheap red and white wine. My dad was the life of the party. The following day several law students, professors and one of the deans told me that they enjoyed meeting my parents and listening to my dad’s conversation. They admitted that much of what he was talking about went above their heads. My dad was able to pull this off because he is well read. One of my classmates told me that my dad was making up a lot of the words that he was using because he couldn’t find them in the dictionary. When I asked him what words could he not find, he quickly said: “Freomortel”. I told him that it was an immunity for committing manslaughter. He looked in Webster instead of Black’s Law Dictionary. My dad had apparently studied Black’s Law Dictionary before his visit.

Well I guess I’ll pick up a copy of Ulysses or Remembrance of Things Pass.

Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com