Dani Rodrik has a dream:
I once had a fantasy. I would devote a whole year, perhaps a sabbatical, just to reading and thinking, and would not write anything. I mean really nothing: no papers, no articles, no op-eds, no contributions to collected volumes. I would turn down all invitations to contribute papers to conferences or books by saying “Thank you. but I am just reading and thinking this year, not writing.” The idea was to force a fundamental correction in the balance of trade between what went in my head and what came out.
I see the appeal. But in the aggregate, I think a year long sabbatical from writing would make me a lot dumber. What I like about writing is it makes me smarter. As Joan Didion says, it’s the process of finding out what I believe. I tend to think in argument, and almost all of my good ideas come in dialogue (both verbal and written).
Which is why I like blogging. It forces me to synthesize a lot more information and consider a lot more counterarguments than were I simply alone in a room with a book. Having others point out the flaws in my arguments tends to be more efficient and comprehensive than figuring them out myself. And having to defend my arguments forces a lot more clarity in my thinking. Now, I do dream about being the kind of person who could walk away from the blog for a few days, or go down to one or two posts daily when I have other projects to do, but alas…
