About 'Dizionario Minimo'

Welcome to my new and improved blog, aka the 'ideas garden'. Since I’ve started to write more regularly, I would like to share some thoughts on the meaning of specific words and their relationships.

What do we talk about when we talk about… X?

This loose constraint — unpacking ideas word by word — reflects a preoccupation with using language with greater precision. Many of these words are commonly used in our culture, and often abused or misunderstood. I write to help myself think, and to make sure I understand each word as clearly as possible in the context of use. The first of these posts is about Design.

I identify (tag) these posts as entries of a 'Dizionario Minimo', a Minimal Dictionary. Besides sounding nice in Italian, it evokes ideas that inspired me from writers I admire. Italo Calvino’s parting gifts were six words — core values — for writing in (this) ‘next millennium’.^[1] Umberto Eco collected his very enjoyable musings on society and culture in a couple of volumes titled Diario Minimo.^[2] David Whyte, blurring the lines between poetry and prose, wrote one of my favourite books of all time: Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words.^[3] Haruki Murakami wrote a beautiful book about running, which is not really about running.^[4]

I hope you enjoy them, and please do let me have your comments if you do. Or even if you don't. Either way I hope you may come across the work of a writer or an artist you didn't know among these and the many more who inspire me.