If you're like us, you're a creative person, trying to squeeze too much into every day. And, let's face it, it's nearly
impossible to just sit down and start working (for us at least). So, naturally, we form habits and routines to help get us ready to work, get us ready to play, and eventually get us ready to sleep.
Ever wondered how the most creative and talented people work? How many times they need to walk around the block before they could sit down to write? Well, Mr. Mason Currey has some incites for you - a glimpse into the work-enabling routines of some of the greatest minds this world has known. From Pablo Picasso, to Truman Capote, to Mozart, to Albert Einstein - you can now get a peek into their private and intimate lives in the book
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.
One of our favorites from the book was the ritual of Nikola Tesla - who seemed particularly fussy and particular bout what, and how, he ate.
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)
As a young apprentice in Thomas Edison's New York office, Tesla regularly worked from 10:30 in the morning until 5:00 the following morning. ("I've had many hard-working assistants, but you take the cake," Edison told him.) Later, after he started his own company, Tesla arrived at the office at noon. Immediately, his secretary would draw the blinds; Tesla worked best in the dark and would raise the blinds again only in the event of a lightening storm, which he liked to watch flashing above the cityscape from his black mohair sofa. He typically worked at the office until midnight, with a break at 8:00 for dinner in the Palm Room of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel.
These dinners were carefully scripted affairs. Tesla ate alone, and phoned in his instructions for the meal in advance. Upon arriving, he was shown to his regular table, where eighteen clean linen napkins would be stacked at his place. As he waited for his meal, he would polish the already gleaming silver and crystal with these squares of linen, gradually amassing a heap of discarded napkins on the table. And when his dishes arrived—served to him not be a waiter but by the maître d’hôtel himself—Telsa would mentally calculate their cubic contents before eating, a strange compulsion he had developed in his childhood and without which he could never enjoy his food.
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| The caption speaks for itself. |
Excerpted from Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. Copyright © 2013 by Mason Currey. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
I love this book, not only does it remind me that we only have
so many productive hours during the day, but that we must do other things to enrich our creative passions (read, don't be so hard on thyself for taking a walk in the sunshine). Which reminds me, I should go outside, it's gorgeous out there.
Today we're giving away
two, copies of
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by our dear friend Mason Currey!
: : : THE GIVEAWAY : : :
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
by Mason Currey
Two Signed Copies - Two Lucky Winners!
: : : HOW TO ENTER : : :
1. Leave a comment on the post answering: Your Daily Ritual (keep it clean, folks)
2. *Extra entry* Tweet #DailyRituals @xxGastronomista and @MasonCurrey
3. *Extra entry* “follow” @xxGastronomista on Twitter and/or “like” us on Facebook.
The contest closes in one week (12 pm EST). Winner will be selected on Monday, May 20th, and will be emailed that day.
Good luck, and many thanks to Daily Rituals: How Artists Work author, Mason Currey!!
"Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are"
-Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
We couldn't agree more.
xx
emma
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