Think Tank: A Worthwhile Book

Sorry, this post published accidentally. Blogger has a new feature that I hate, which is that the tab key takes you from the title immediately to the publish button. Since I play with and edit my post titles during and after the writing, I forgot to tab twice. So, this one, not the one that showed up first in your RSS is the right one.

Another book is out, this one by Clara Parkes of Knitter’s Review. It’s called the Knitter’s Book of Socks. 
This is not a review, because I don’t have it in my hand yet, but instead a sort of prediction. Which is this: I think I’ll like this book. The reason why is that Clara is a knitting geek. She’s also a geek’s knitter. She loves to dive deep and find out why and wherefore and likes words like “tensile strength.”  I’m interested in stuff like that, plus I really like socks.

There are SO MANY books out there, with new ones coming out all the time. I really have to think carefully about buying every one that comes out. But based on the fact that Clara’s other books, The Knitter’s Book of Yarn and the Knitter’s Book of Wool are among my favorite bedside reading, this one appears to be a home-run in the making for me.

But here is the big HOWEVER…It may not be so for you. With the explosion of information that is available to all of us today, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to access and process everything that comes across your radar screen. You’ll learn and retain more if you apply some selective neglect to things that aren’t really strongly useful to you. A famous author, a pretty cover or gorgeous photography are not the only important things. Seek out the things that will actually live and breathe in your real knitting world.