The Last Issue of Three Things (For Now)
A final Miscellany to say Au revoir.
Welcome to Three Things.
Perhaps you’ve noticed our silence over the past few months. It’s certainly not for lack of available Things for your reading, listening and engagement. It’s simply that life has proven very full, especially for our curator (Phillip) who writes 90% of the issues and whose attempts to tap out this newsletter each month while first being a present husband, father-of-three, church leader and friend were proving very difficult indeed.
And so, after much thought, we’ve decided to put Three Things to bed.
This newsletter might emerge in some new form at a later date. If you want to know about that, there is nothing you need to do. Your contact details will remain on our list. Paid subscriptions were stopped a few weeks ago.
The following Miscellany is our way of saying Au revoir. Which, as Mary Poppins would remind you, does not mean Goodbye but ‘Til we meet again.
With sincere gratitude,
Phillip Johnston (Curator) & Andy Patton (Instigator)
Phillip spent his birthday in Cambridge this weekend at a conference on postliberalism (the good kind) called Political Economy and the Good Life. The range of speakers across disciplines and the political spectrum in the same room and getting along was striking. It felt like a front row seat to a some kind of hopeful realignment. And a seat it was, for Phillip was but a spectator and understood approximately 20% of what was said. A career in politics and academia for thee, but not for me! Thank goodness for that.
Reading: As Phillip steps back from his Curator role, he looks forward to spending less time trawling the internet for worthwhile articles and more time with quality printed material curated by others. At the moment, this means Plough Quarterly, Mere Orthodoxy, and The New Atlantis. Care to join?
On another front, two children’s book discoveries delighted Phillip while he wasn’t writing Three Things this autumn. First, the extensive oeuvre of the late Tomie dePaola. Wow, this guy did everything and Phillip has only scratched the surface. Some highlights: The Quilt Story (historical), The Baby Sister (autobiographical), The Story of the Three Wise Kings (for Epiphany), and best of all, Petook (which Phillip is saving for Easter). Used copies are dirt cheap!
Second, Babar the Elephant. NOT the Canadian TV show from the 1990s but the original six French children’s books by Jean de Brunhoff from the 1930s that “forever changed the face of the illustrated book” (according to Maurice Sendak, who ought to know). There are honestly no picture books Phillip enjoys reading more. Give me Babar over princesses any day of the week. Plus, Poulenc was a fan.
Finally, Phillip will hop back into preaching Genesis in January, opening up chapter three for a slow walk around. A new-ish resource has proven especially illuminating for the kind of teaching Phillip is doing: Genesis 1-11: A New Old Translation for Readers, Scholars and Translators by Samuel Bray and John Hobbins. If Genesis seems like old news, this will help it breathe. It’s like eight interesting commentaries, each with a different focus, condensed into one standard-size book.
Listening: This year’s seasonal music discovery is Christmas Without Words from Camerata Tchaikovsky, a rich collection of carols and popular tunes for every part of the season interspersed with extracts from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The tracks have made their way onto Phillip’s December, Advent and Christmastide playlists.
Also, the music at the re-opening of Notre Dame. Talk about resurrection!
Finally, scroll down for Andy’s recommendation of the best audiobook you’re likely to encounter in the coming year…
I would like to give a digital round of applause to the Curator of this newsletter. As my title “Instigator” indicates, I’ve been the driving force behind the marketing and infrastructure of 3T, but Phillip is the reason 2,000 people have subscribed to this newsletter over these past six years. His (impossibly) wide reading, intellectual integrity, and ability to distill large, complicated ideas into the space of a few paragraphs has blessed many, this Instigator included.
If you want to keep up with what Phillip is reading, thinking, and preaching about, you can listen to the sermons he gives to his tiny, but beautiful congregation at Hope Church in Greatham, UK.
Phillip, my friend, it has been a pleasure. Thank you for taking me up on this idea.
Now, on to the rest of the Miscellany.
The past few months have been full of reading, so here is a long round-up of the latest books blowing Andy’s hair back.
Twenty-five years after the publication of The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell is revisiting the question of social epidemics in Revenge of the Tipping Point. In the intervening quarter century, Gladwell has become a one-man cottage industry of unexpected ideas. Even if you haven’t read The Tipping Point, you have probably heard the often misunderstood maxim that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to perform something at a world-class level. That idea was not original to Gladwell but has become associated with him; however, it originated in the research of Anders Ericsson (Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise). Both Ericsson’s book, Peak, and Daniel Coyle’s book, The Talent Code, shed light on what is really going on when it comes to the famed 10,000-hour rule. Hint: if you aren’t practicing in a certain, deliberate way, the 10,000 hours don’t do it for you.
Modern people do not need help staying glued to our devices, but we do need help setting them aside. If you want some help in that effort but don’t know where to begin, here are a handful of books to steep your brain in: Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism, Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation, John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, and Abraham Heschel’s classic Sabbath.
Also, check out the new round-up newsletter editions that Ekstasis has been doing. This will help fill the gaping void left in your lives in the absence of Three Things.
Marsh Moyle’s excellent book Rumours of a Better Country is out on audio now (we published an excerpt when it came our last year). Andy has heard it said that Marsh’s sentences change lives. In years of friendship he has experienced that to be true time and time again. Rumours is the fruit of long pondering on the Ten Commandments, modern culture, and what the world would be like if it was filled with the foundational beauty of righteousness. After you read it, go visit the English L’Abri, sit down in Marsh’s office, and start talking.
And, of course, we’d would be remiss if there was no mention of litRPGs in the last Miscellany…
Last year, Andy wrote a post for the Rabbit Room called “The Actual Top Five LitRPGs.” The article was about a sub-sub-genre of fantasy literature that features stories set in game worlds or involving game dynamics. For some bizarre reason, it has become one of the most-viewed articles in the history of the Rabbit Room. Andy does not know why. There is nothing about litRPGs that suggests mass appeal. When people find out that Andy reads these books, their most common reaction is, “Sorry… what?” These books are as nerd-niche as it gets. What could explain the popularity of this post? Is it a case of the universal captured in the particular? Probably not. Is it some weird quirk of Google’s search algorithm? Most likely. However, on the off chance there is a teeming sleeper community of litRPG fans out there who care about what Andy’s top picks are, he now offers five more recommendations of the best stories out there. Here you go… all the leveling-up, dungeon delving, and interdimensional portaling you can shake a level 40 Abyssal Longsword at:
And with that, we’ll say goodbye for now.
Thank you for all the good Things! Au revoir!