Così’l maestro; e io “Alcun compenso”
dissi lui “trova, che ‘l tempo non passi
perduto”. Ed elli: “Vedi ch’a ciò penso.”
Dante, Inferno, XI, 13-15
I can’t sit at a desk, if not for short periods: sitting drastically reduces my cognitive performance. This corner is where I spend my days, during summer.
In general, having such a heterogenous display of books at hand (from biology to math, from anatomy for arts to computer science, etc.) is not good, if you have to focus on a project. But in my case, I find that when I am too sick to do mathematics, I may still have some energy left, to spend on drawing or reading.
So, if I want to minimize the time lost, I have to continuously switch activities, according to how I feel at that particular moment. And still, most of my life goes wasted, despite my best efforts.
I have calculated that the total amount of good days per year (the ones during which I can think) is of about two months, on average. Some years I had more days than that, several years I did not improve at all. This has been my life since I was 20-22.
paolo maccallini 