Hello! how are you all doing? My migraines have been of the annoyingly recurrent / chronic kind of late, and I’ve been having to take things very easy – especially over the past week or so, during which my vision has been very skewy and I’ve had to limit my screen time.
Not being glued to a screen is not a necessarily bad thing, however, and I’ve been able to work away on the design samples for my new collection, while enjoying listening to some new audio books. During this period of reduced activity, in which I’ve had to accept things slowing down a little (as I’ve had to do many times in many different contexts in the years following my stroke) it seemed appropriate that one of the books I read was Slowdown, by Danny Dorling.
Over the past few months I’ve found More or Less to be a rare beacon of sanity and clarity, and have rather enjoyed the way this programme prompts listeners to think critically about how we read, interpret, or (all too often) blindly accept statistical data. Perhaps I picked out Dorling’s Slowdown, then, because I was somehow in the mood for more statistics (this is certainly a book which features a lot of carefully analysed data) or perhaps I was simply intrigued by its premise – that the world is not, as we all now seem to think, speeding up, but is in fact beginning to decelerate.
In this book, Dorling, a geographer and demographer, reveals how, while the past couple of hundred years have undoubtedly witnessed a great acceleration by every social, economic and environmental measure you might imagine, rates of growth have now slowed significantly with only a handful of exceptions such as the rate of carbon pollution (which still doubles every couple of decades) and the globe’s surface temperature (which increases every year).
I’m not a natural reader of graphs and statistics, and this book necessitated quite a bit of thinking through and chewing over for me. But all of this slow reading and thinking time was definitely worthwhile.
This book introduced me to some genuinely new perspectives on a wide range of things, from the global effects of women’s control of their own fertility, to what technological progress or innovation might really mean. I found myself thinking differently about global demographics; wrestling with some issues about creativity, community and consumerism that I’ve long been mulling over; and reflecting on something I’ve long felt from a personal / small business perspective as well as a broader economic one: that sustainability is a far better measure of success than continual, unfettered growth (boo to GDP).
Dorling shows how the global slowdown is here to stay and that its progress (such as it is) is completely inevitable: humanity has no choice but to accept, and live with, deceleration and its effects. Dorling’s evidence is convincing, and I found the arguments he marshalls in light of that evidence deeply heartening and optimistic. Slowdown reveals a world in which we are all simply going to have to accept having much less stuff, but where that stuff is invariably better shared about. For me, this vision of a sustainable and much more equal future provided a very refreshing counterpoint to the one that’s presented in another book I recently read: Mark O’Connell’s Notes from an Apocalypse, which is full of the horrors of Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, preppers, disaster tourists, and millenarian fantasies of a hideous future of eternal youth and space travel that appears to be mostly white and largely masculine. O’Connell’s book is also worth reading (there are many moments of horrified fascination) but unlike any brief encounter with the ideas and activities of Peter Thiel, Dorling’s book left me feeling more positive and pragmatic than I’ve done for quite a while.
I’ve slowed down a bit in recent weeks, but that’s absolutely fine.
Summer continues with days of low cloud, heavy heat, and occasional rain. The chicks in the housemartin nest beneath our bedroom window wake me up each morning and every day I think I might have heard the last cuckoo, before I’m stopped in my tracks by a random single call (the last one just this morning). I think our swans haven’t bred successfully this year (perhaps the nest was found by foxes again?) but each evening the loch is dotted with goslings and tiny coots.
I’m enjoying my slow paced, slowdown walks. I’m enjoying the slow growing garden, with its tasty spinach, chard and salad leaves.
I hope you are enjoying some slow time too.
I’ll be back again on Friday, with (I hope) another design to show you.
Books mentioned in this post
Danny Dorling, Slowdown, The End of the Great Acceleration and Why It’s Good for the Planet, the Economy and Our Lives (Yale UP, 2020) (ISBN:9780300243406)
Mark O’Connell, Notes from An Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back (Granta, 2020) (ISBN: 978178378)
So beautiful place.
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Thanks
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Also wishing for slowdown forever. A shared thought on migraines: reading the wonderful Oliver Sacks’ seminal book on migraine helped me better understand and manage mine. Lovely posts, thank you, remind me how much I miss Scotland. Keep well.
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Beautiful pictures, very very interesting book and post. Definitely my friends and I are saying that we prefer this slower pace, here in northern California… in the meantime, keep taking your time, Kate, we will still be here, for whenever you are able to post. Your health is very important.. hugs
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I am reveling in this slow down. I wouldn’t mind if life continued along this path.
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You have been amazing, posting every day during lockdown with such varied and interesting posts. So appreciated!! So now have a well deserved rest.
I am enjoying knitting my blue seavaiger by the way!!
Frankie
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I just ordered this book—anything that talks about slowing down is a must read for me! Thanks for sharing this title. I am very curious to get reading it!
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I am another long term fan of ‘more or less’. They seem to be one of the few media outlets that presents statistics in a way that is both understandable and accurate. So many, including some on the BBC, pick up on a single report, and quote it out of context. I am never sure whether they are using the figures to try to support a point they wish to make, or whether they just don’t understand how statistics work.
Rant over! I hope you are still managing to enjoy a bit of ‘down time’. Like so many others, I find your version of slowing down is a lot more than my normal.
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Hi Kate,
I am sorry to hear you are still suffering, are you having ‘cluster migraines’? Very wearing and frustrating.
I read the first chapter of Danny Dorling book Slowdown on his website last night, very interesting, I will be ordering and have already recommended.
Thank you, i love my journeys through your blogland.
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Kate your words always uplift, educate and inspire me. Thank you!
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Sorry if I’m repeating a comment, something weird happening when I try to post – but wanted to say that I’m also a Danny Dorling fan. A real health inequalities research and thought leader. He’s been a feature throughout much of my public health career and I’m intrigued by his book stimulating your musings on creativity. Definitely this book next on my list. I’m so enjoying your eclectic mix of pandemic posts, but didn’t expect public health to feature! Also really enjoying the photos as ever – can’t wait to get back to the countryside. Thanks for all the stimulating reads!
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Great reflections on a different perspective emerging from the crisis, Kate, and I’m in awe of your ability to be upbeat despite the discomfort of migraine. I’ve been really enjoying your eclectic mix of topics in kdd’s pandemic posts and delighted about your recommendation for Danny Dorling. I didn’t expect that! I work in public health mostly on health inequalities one way or another and Danny’s work has featured through much of my career. I’m intrigued about his book stimulating musings on creativity so I’ll act on your recommendation for it. I’ve had enough of escaping the news through fiction and frivolity – time for some serious boundary spanning of work and play. And btw, love the photos as always – not too long now until we can get out of the city!
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Hello Pauline Craig – didn’t expect to meet you here!
Mhairi
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I’m glad for the opportunity to read your voice, and, as always intrigued by what you’re reading and thinking about. Thank you for sharing, and for Tom’s lovely, lovely photographs. Some part of my heart resides in the far north of Scotland, but I find the glimpses of your part soothe my longing quite well. I hope your head improves and gives you some time of ease. Migraines are awful.
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Great to hear from you again Kate. I do hope the migraines ease off now that you are having some slow time. I too am having some slow time just now and it is wonderful. Our normally busy b&b is of course closed and I have been spending my time walking mindfully along the cliff paths, gardening very slowly and noticing every little change in our large (mostly wild) garden, knitting of course and feeding my family with new food experiments. Glad too that you have been able to work on your new designs. Very much looking forward to seeing Friday’s pattern release. Look after yourself.
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Hi Kate…glad you are taking a slowdown..not so great that it has started being an inforced one with your migraines..it’s all too easy I find to want to do, do ,do…sometimes it takes our body to say Hey, stop, slow down stop , breath and enjoy just being , outside , and looking around us ..nice to absorb the peace of nature…I find with the stress of covid that I just can’t take in everything and anything. So I am putting some things aside for a more settled time
Love the photography’s, and as always enjoy your spoken word and life philosophy…hugs pat j
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Wishing you well Kate, I hope you get some relief from those horrible migraines soon.
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thank you for writing, Kate. I am sorry for your migraine, while also glad that you live in a peaceful place where you can go outdoors even when your head hurts. Blessings to you.
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Hi, Kate. I’ve only just been able to read this and your last post — due to my own migraines! For me, there has been no “getting past,” as I’ve had them since late childhood and am now into my sixties. Thus, your observations about living within limitations have struck a very friendly and pragmatic note. Yes, I’m a knitter and came here because of that, but when I found you quoting my favorite poets and pointing the way to new reading material, something in me sat up like Bruce on a fresh scent! Your philosophical essays since the outset of the pandemic have helped me link up what I always considered disparate elements of my life — the need to think abstractly while being absorbed in seemingly mundane chores. For me, the acts of weeding, kneading, knitting (simple stitches), and sanding are synonymous with pondering and imagining. Something about using muscles in a homely, familiar way seems to give the abstract, creative mind added energy. Thank you for sharing your own insights and making room for so many more.
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Good to hear you are good. Thank you very very much for this and for all your post blog.
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So glad you are still uplifting us but your slowing down is like me at full tilt! Every now and again I have to completely clear my brain and not worry about where the world is going. I’m reading (paper pages) Women Who Run with the Wolves and so far I have learnt that we need ‘to find out what it’s like to dance like a crazy chicken once in a while’. We must all take the greatest care of ourselves always not just in these times and maybe also become a bit more dog – and maybe chase that crazy chicken.
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Beautiful photos, as always. The colour in the last sunset is incredible.
I’m a More or Less loyal listener, too – it’s been more essential than ever the last few months. David Spiegalhalter’s The Art of Statistics is high on my (ever expanding) to-read list.
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As always, those photographs of your home area are stunning…just looking at them is relaxing and soothing to me, especially during these strange days. I do pray your migraine(s) back off and give you some relief and peace from them. They are awful, fortunately mine decreased exponentially when I left ‘corporate America: – funny how that worked !!
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Thank you for the book recommendations. I thought something might be off with your health because you hadn’t written for a while. I hope you feel better soon. Be well.
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Hurrah for More or Less, another long-term fan here too…. but then I’ve always loved stats, since A-level Statistics. I always thought I was a bit weird in my love for it, but it turns out a lot of my favourite people are also keen listeners. It’s been absolutely essential listening over the last few months.
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Wonderful photos of you and nature! I agree, BOO to GDP! I mention this to people on occasion and they look at me like I am NUTS……maybe so but I just don’t get the constant climb. Well, the virus put a slowdown on things, wonder how long that will last and to what affect. Yes, BAD that people lost jobs/housing/family. thank you for that post and may your migraines GO AWAY!
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I have definitely slowed down in the last month, having finished my work for this year of my degree course, and my mind is freer. It is sometimes tricky though, in today’s world (or yesterday’s really, before being confined) for your brain to allow you to slow down, you get in the habit of thinking you should be ‘doing something’, that slowing down or doing nothing is somehow lazy and unproductive. The fact is, though, that slowing down allows the brain to follow other paths, to reflect, to go off at a tangent, to discover truths that in the normal run of things just speed by unnoticed.
Go on living slowly, Kate, especially if you are unwell. There’s no rush…
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Your post today is most welcome..I have missed the invigoration of your daily posts and greedily expected them to be a gift I could continue to receive. So…the imperative to “Slow Down”in today’s post is very very timely. I tend to greedily gobble your posts, Google all sorts of links related to the post, bookmark them and wooosh, tomorrow appears with a new ” must research topic” and my bookmark list grows longer but my knowledge and understanding sit waiting to appreciate the wisdom.
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Lovely to have a post from you again Kate, I’ve missed your voice. I too am a massive fan of More or Less, I find it extremely soothing, even though I am not naturally drawn to numbers and often have to listen to the programme twice as my concentration tails off in the second half! Like me in maths at school….
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Hope you get past the migraines but it’s good to hear that you are recuperating in a very pleasant way. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Danny Dorling speak a few times as his work is in my field of health inequalities – he’s a great communicator. On another note, those sunsets are very special – the west coast has been enjoying a lot of these in recent weeks.
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