Resolved: To Wise Up, a Little Bit

By Ann J. Loftin

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. —Mark Twain

I resolve to tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time. —James Agate (British diarist, 1877-1947)

Editor Ann J. Loftin

A wise friend once said: “Never make any important decisions in December or January,” and I try to live by that advice. The darkest months of the year—and especially in this economy—are not a good time to sell a house, get married or divorced, lose ten pounds, or throw out that box of old photographs. Better to huddle inside, light a fire, and maybe go back to a book you haven’t read since college. Or make a list of the subjects you’ve always wanted to learn more about, and just start at the top. One New Year’s I made a resolution so simple even I could follow through: Read one real book (not magazines, not essays, not reviews), cover to cover, every week. You’d be surprised how many weeks can go by without finishing a book.

This month’s Fine Books & Collections can point you in many different directions: British maritime journals and literature; 19th-century American history; the 20th-century fiction of Evelyn Waugh and Jack London; or the writings of naturalist Roger Tory Peterson. Whatever your interests, it’s worth remembering that dark days—and dark economic times—are bright days for the life of the mind.