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John Waters’s spectacular RISD commencement address on creative rebellion and the artist’s task to cause constructive chaos – a fine addition to the greatest commencement addresses of all time.

history and literature culture and society though and opinion Maria Bustillos books George Orwell Henry Miller John Waters

Here is a sad reflection for the ordinary reader, faced as he is with lifetimes upon lifetimes worth of books on entering even a small public library or a reasonably well-stocked bookshop. Since we can’t have very many, we must husband our time and attention carefully. But how to choose? The melancholy may lift a little when we realize that so many wise souls who have come before have been willing to serve as guides. And by guides, let’s be clear that I mean fellow-enthusiasts, not poseurs.

The New Yorker’s Maria Bustillos on what George Orwell, Henry Miller, and John Waters taught her about what to read next – complement with this meditation on the osmosis of reading and non-reading as intellectual choice.