Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Time Enough for Love

I am slowly re-reading one of my favorite books, Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein. I revisit it maybe once every ten years or so it seems. It is a very quotable book and I often resist the urge to quote it but I will give into it tonight.

Being flexible was always served me well in my career so far and I expect it will serve me well in the future. Not specializing to much in one area has always let me take on new opportunities when they present themselves. To quote Lazarus Long, the main character of this novel,
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
If you never become to specialized, you won't ever get to board with what you do either.