Essay – Read a Book, Get Out of Jail – NYTimes.com
Thinking yesterday about the twisted mind who could light another fire yesterday, after all the devastation we’ve seen in the last three weeks, I started thinking about the failure of imagination, specifically of being able to put yourself into someone else’s position and understand that other people are real, and not just bit players in your own drama.
So when I saw this study this morning, it seemed especially relevant!
(And these particular fires, by the way, were put out – the winds were not as strong as predicted, and the CFA were ready. I’m especially grateful, not just for my own home and those of my neighbours, but because Tom ended up in the middle of the small second blaze, on foot with a hose, in inaccessible terrain… things could have been a lot worse.)
Here’s the article:
Wendy Orr is a Canadian-born Australian writer. Her books for children and adults have been published in 27 countries and won awards around the world. Nim’s Island and Nim at Sea have also become feature films, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin (Nim’s Island) and Bindi Irwin (Return to Nim’s Island.) Her latest book is Cuckoo’s Flight, a companion to the highly acclaimed Bronze Age novels Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance. Read full bio
