The other day Alex referred to me as a “grandiose nerd”. I think that about sums it up.
I will now give you a tiny glimpse of what I did for about an hour this morning:
I read Robert Conquest’s The Great Terror. To cross-reference certain events, I took out Volume I of The Gulag Archipelago. I looked up the Bukharin trial, read about it THERE, then went back and read about it in Conquest’s book. I also had, on hand, my copy of 1984, because I wanted to double-check again, for myself, what that “secret book” had to say about totalitarian regimes, “closed systems”, if you will, and how they operate. This dovetailed in quite nicely with the other two books. And lastly, I had on hand my copy of The Prince. Conquest uses quotes from Machiavelli throughout his book, and Stalin was a big Prince fan (Little Red Corvette?), so I kept that nearby, just to cross-reference the sections Stalin took particular interest in.
This kind of behavior is, I must reiterate, FUN for me. I think it qualifies as GRANDIOSE NERDINESS to the extreme.
I should get paid for this shite.
Can I just say that I am envious of your book collection.
I too have a tendency to let a subject consume me. The whole Stalin era is just so easy to lose yourself in. Don’t you find yourself taking detours unexpectedly? I hope you will write about it.
AND don’t EVEN get me started on the history of food/cooking or the subject of linguistics. I’m getting hot just thinking about it.
Guess I’m a nerd too.
A nerd in action is the most glorious sight I can imagine. The earnest look in the eyes, the whirring an clicking of the mind making connections, asking questions, “getting it” maybe(?) a little, hmmm, and then the blinding light of the bulb when it ficks on above the nerd’s head!
(big sigh) I love nerds. Mmmm.
I prefer the much more scientific term geekifus maximus.