Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
91
There was joy in concentration, and the world afforded an inexhaustible wealth of projects to concentrate on. There was joy in effort, and the world resisted effort to just the right degree, and yielded to it at last. People cut Mount Rushmore into faces; they chipped here and there for years. People slowed the spread of yellow fever; they sprayed the Isthmus of Panama puddle by puddle. Effort alone I loved. Some days I would have been happy to push a pole around a threshing floor like an ox, for the pleasure of moving the heavy stone and watching my knees rise in turn.
a year ago

Improve your reading experience

Logged in users get linked directly to articles resulting in a better reading experience. Please login for free, it takes less than 1 minute.

More from The Map is Mostly Water

Growing a Hornbeam Hedge

What's involved and the cost

2 months ago 27 votes
creatures of temperament

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing:

3 months ago 29 votes
Why make something beautiful?

on starting a rose garden

4 months ago 34 votes
Love Grows

The world is covered with a thin film of inertia.

4 months ago 35 votes
Resist Summary

painfully quick thoughts about AI

6 months ago 65 votes

More in life

Podcast: How To Get The Most Out of LLMs

Part II Of My Excellent Conversation With Jasmine Sun

yesterday 2 votes
Record Labels Are Running on Empty

The latest news is ominous

2 days ago 3 votes
The Good Sides Of Nepotism

It is very largely bad, to be clear. But the good sides are worth thinking about.

2 days ago 3 votes
Diaries of Note: 366 Lives, One Day at a Time

A diary is a rare thing: an unfiltered space where a person can meet themselves without judgement, without audience, and (for most, at least) without performance. In an age of constant sharing and curated lives, the diary remains stubbornly private, gloriously unedited. It offers us something we rarely find elsewhere: truth, in all its flawed […]

3 days ago 5 votes
The 30 Most Intriguing Musicians of 2025

Today I’m sharing the third (and final) installment of my guide to the 30 most intriguing musicians of 2025.

4 days ago 4 votes