Work on the book is progressing nicely and I’ve been compiling old and in-progress work and starting on a few new interviews as well… I’d say that I have around three hundred pages right now of text, with another two hundred on the way, to say nothing of a few hundred pages of pictures, so it’s going to be a big book, even with editing! I think I will narrow the focus of this book on male genital modification since that’s what 99% of the current interviews are about. It will also be primarily interview content, rather than photos and personal commentary. I have a second book on the go as well but I’ll talk about that later.
Nefarious’s swimming and chess both continue to improve. On chess, I play her as if she was an adult, so for now she can keep up but not win — I think that when one dumbs down a game of skill for a kid (that is, let them win), you produce someone that falls short of their potential… I do however explain all of my moves and strategy to her as we play, so she “gets” the game better every time. We’re taking the next two weeks off summer camp for various adventures before school resumes in the fall so that should be fun.
This is a family of giants out for a walk in the rain.
5 Comments
Shannon,
I cannot wait to hear when the book will be ready for purchase. :)
Also, I agree about you playing Nefarious on an adult chess level: not only will it help her to learn the game properly, it will also help her understand that things dont always go as planned (as in winning all the time). Learning from not winning will allow her to hone in her chess playing skills too :)
I see a lot of kids who want to win, but don’t want to work for it. It’s annoying, yet comforting that when they get to the work force, I won’t be so easily replaced… which is also unsettling, because we’re probably doomed.
I too would love to see the book published. I’ll buy a copy. :)
To this day, I still can’t win a game of chess but I do put up one hell of a fight while playing. I regret not learning how to play to win and commend you for teaching your daughter how to do so.
Send me your address – I’ll send you Carcasonne or Settlers as a gift for Nefarious and you!
My dad taught my son to play chess, and he picked it up very fast, and my dad always played to win. But when/if he won, he’d sometimes let my son make a “cheat” move to keep the game going. Normally this meant reversing the last couple of moves to see what he could have done differently to prevent losing. It worked well to reinforce strategy I think. My dad was always impressed by my son’s lightening fast, yet well thought out moves.
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