Live and Learn

The main lesson I have taken away from hosting the discussion with Adam Gopnik at FireDogLake yesterday is that it's probably best not to host an online book salon on the weekend -- and esp. not a holiday weekend.

It went reasonably well, but the turnout was small. I had hoped the participants would include at least a few people who had actually read the book. That did not pan out. And naturally, the individual who knew the most about Darwin (and Wallace) only turned up after the whole thing was over -- by which point both host and guest were gone.

If you do something scheduled anytime M-F, you have the advantage of all those bright folks who are stuck at their desks at work -- while over the weekend, it's mostly though not entirely an audience that, at the moment, doesn't have something better to do.

(So notes the guy posting a blog entry on a Sunday afternoon.)

In any case, this was something it would be interesting to do again, if better scheduled.

While at the Chronicle some years ago, I held the unofficial title of King of the Online Colloquies, which would have been impressive had anyone else been interested in occupying the throne. But it does involve a skill set, of sorts, and I wouldn't mind a chance to make use of it -- albeit not necessarily pro bono.