Fortunately, so do others, including two people whose work we appreciate and admire, Tim Ferriss and Kevin Costner. Which is why the latest episode of the Tim Ferriss’ Experiment was such a pleasure to listen to.
Ferriss, an exercise in deliberate lifestyle, is a true champion of the long form. His own podcasts typically hover around two hours in length, and he often speaks to the benefits of long form writing for the web, where a piece may remain preserved in obscurity like undersea treasure, gaining value that, while only revealed upon discovery, actually existed throughout. Through his investigation of the fundamental essence of success, he teases out and touts the “evergreen” works, material that retains eternal relevance because it contains the thread common to all human experience.
Costner, for his part, casts a similar, albeit longer, shadow. His own momentus expressions of cinematic brilliance, films such as Dances With Wolves and JFK, are quintessentially epic in both nature and magnitude, mainstays of the common American’s intellectual lexicon. To date, much of his best work is rendered in the long form, which bodes well for his collaboration with author Jon Baird and illustrator Rick Ross.
The result of their creative marriage is a beautifully crafted tome called The Explorers Guild: A Passage to Shambhala, a throwback adventure tale in the spirit of TinTin and Allan Quatermain. Costner describes it as the ideal stocking stuffer, the type of book one might pass on to a nephew or grand-daughter. And while the chandlers at Simon & Schuster may have legions of Hogwart graduates in their sights, we suggest sitting down with this exceptional work, beside the fireplace and a glass of whiskey, either before or after you share it with yours.
