Entry Twelve: Reflection

These past twelve weeks have certainly been a big learning curve and I genuinely feel like my brain has been expanding week on week. I have had many a lightbulb moment along this process whilst being given the task of taking on these difficult texts. I have found some readings more gripping than others but have found great interest in each one of these stimulating texts and have definitely learnt something different and developed my own thoughts and opinions on architecture, society and human nature.

It has been difficult to keep up with the texts as they take on specific hurdles each time and I felt as if I 'unlocked' different parts of the text each time I came back to reread which was often days/weeks after the initial reading. I am also learning techniques to be able to get into the right headspace for taking on the readings and being able to extract information, critique and form my own opinions alongside a busy 30hr working week.

Goethe's Faust- 'The Tragedy of Development' was definitely a big turning point for me, I had to reread it about two or three times and sleep on it before I could start to critique it properly. I liked how it was broken down into three sections to show the different stages of Faust's development and the problems he and the other characters faced at each 'stage' of development. I saw many links between this text and others; reluctance of society to change ('The Fountainhead'), what happens when we develop ('A Case for Working with Your Hands- Matthew Crawford), the opposition faced from 'the establishment' and 'traditions' ('The Foutainhead' again, 'Howl') and the problems faced when development consumes everything and power and greed leads the way ('The Rational Case for Panic', 'Tin Lizzie' from the U.S.A trilogy).

It has been difficult jumping between different writing styles, different eras, different societies within and between the texts but I am so happy I've overcome these difficulties and come out the other side a much more confident reader and 'critiquer' (new word). I'd been out of practice from this kind of written work for a while and now feel compelled to continue to blog and to try to set aside reading time within my weekly schedule.