Book fans and reading lovers, today’s diary is best compared to tossed salad. Just to prove the Miami Book Fair International has something for everyone, this diary covers chess, wine, and the NYC restaurant business with David Shenk, Jay McInerney, and Danny Meyer.
If you’re feeling political, and missed Senator Obama’s diary of destiny, or need an injection of bright humor as only Nora Ephron can provide, try these links.
Possibly the universal appeal of chess is that you never know when you’re going to find yourself in the midst of an incredible game. Some liken the game to improvisational jazz. In 1851, a classic chess game for the ages, known as the The Immortal Game: a History of Chess began in the Divan in London, a chess café. The players were Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. Once underway, having drawn a crowd of afficianados, the moves were telegraphed around the world.
David Shenk’s book discusses that game at length, and touches on aspects of chess that provoke interest in casual or expert players. Chess, that 1500 year-old game, is not just a game, it is a metaphor for life war, and mathematics. During Medieval times, a monk writing about chess used the game to illustrate how one could find one’s way in the world, understanding that God’s intention is for every man to have a place and to remain within the confines of it. More recently, chess has been the analog to the science of the mind. Scientists have used the game as the model for considering how the mind works, and for designing computers. Alan Turing invented the concept of thinking machines using chess to “game out” how a person might think. Now we have computers that can consistently beat chess masters at their own game.
In the 21st C., chess is teaching us how to redefine what intelligence is. What used to be considered the privilege of the human is now being extended to the very machines humans have designed to take over some thinking chores. Truly intelligent machines are coming into existence; machines not necessarily intelligent in the same way as humans are, but in a whole new way. No matter, chess will be a game to delight us for millennia to come. Why? Because it is a game with easy set rules but no set style of play, allowing for evolutionary development in the way masters and the less skilled play it. If the subject of chess and its history appeals, and you have a philosophical bent, plus an interest in a close examination of one of the world’s great games, Shenk’s The Immortal Game is the book you’ll want in your stocking at holiday time.
Inside every chess player, may lurk the soul of a hedonist desiring to indulge in fine dining and wine drinking. Easily, if vicariously done. Jay McInerney’s A Hedonist in the Cellar: Adventures in Wine and Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business will give you insights into how to treat yourself right, and for the entrepreneur whose business acumen tends toward things concerning the palate, how to treat one’s customer (who should not always be right) right as well.
McInerney is most famous for his novel, Bright Lights, Big City (Made into a filmstarring Michael J. Fox). And Meyer for his New York restaurants, Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, and Tabla.
Friends for 21 years, Jay and Dan believe that one of the secrets to a great life is great wine and the great food that goes with it. Hedonism is about pleasure, and hospitality is the provision of pleasure. Hospitality can only exist if you (the customer) believe that the provider is on your side. In contrast, service is getting what you expect, when and how you expect it. Service is a monologue (“The customer is always right.”) but hospitality is a dialogue. Neither wine appreciation nor hospitality appreciation is objective. Mood, context, company, and in the case of wine, even barometric pressure impact our hedonistic experience. Fear not, if you think you’re ignorant about wine “niceties.” Wine people tend to be generous and the snobbery once associated with the drinking of it is just about passé. The same can be said for trends in restaurants – away from hâute and toward casual. So, wine and food need not lose quality, only unapproachability.
If you’re looking for the secret to enlightened hospitality, remember that “hope” is the root of the word and remember also these emotional skills are found in every beloved host: Optimism and kindness; curiosity and intelligence; an exceptional work ethic; empathy; integrity. Oh – and always keep a bottle of Beaujolais Village handy to douse the flames of your over-active bar-b-que. And it’s perfectly okay to think of wine as a condiment for food that just happens to give you a buzz