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The Giant's Causeway

View of the Giant's Causeway by
A View of the Giant's Causeway: East Prospect. Engraving by Susanna Drury
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James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, lived in an age in which titles were grand and letters and diaries were even grander. In a time of conspicuous literary splendour, Boswell wrote perhaps the greatest biography in the English language of one of the English language's greatest biographers: Dr Johnson.

Yet for all its soaring verse, The Life of Samuel Johnson can have a most sanguine effect on a humble author who, at the end of a frustrating day, feels drained of simile. Thus today's offload puts me in mind of the following anecdote:

BOSWELL: “Is not the Giant’s-causeway worth seeing?”

JOHNSON: “Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see.”

I trust tomorrow's offload will be more edifying, but for today... it is worth seeing, but not worth going to see.

Good night, and good luck.

A View of the Giant's Causeway by Susanna Drury is licensed under Public Domain.

This post is day 079 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. If you want to get involved, you can get more info from 100daystooffload.com.

Dr Robert N. Winter

Dr Robert N. Winter

Dr Winter writes on leadership, governance, and the conditions that determine whether either is practised well. His work draws on classical sources, organisational scholarship, and two decades inside the institutions he writes about.

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