Do you live in a place that has proven itself to be a hotbed of creativity and genius? Can a geographical location foster creativity and genius? Should I stop asking stupid questions pertaining to creativity and genius? If you’re perpetually perusing for interesting reading material I recommend, The Geography of Genius, by Eric Weiner.

I don’t know the author, I’m not on his payroll, and I have no conflicts of interest to divulge in this completely unsolicited reading recommendation. It’s just a good read, but then with books, like with most everything, “good” is subjective to the taste of the consumer.

For instance, if you were to say that your grandma’s sweet rolls are good, without even a taste, I could, with great confidence, tell you that although I’m sure your grandma is a lovely lady, her sweet rolls are surely akin to the north end of a south bound mule in comparison to my grandma’s sweet rolls.

Or, if I’ve seen a movie that my wife hasn’t, and she asks me what I thought of it, if I respond that I thought it was “good” she hears, “fake blindness and avoid”. Even if there is a tornado and the theater is the safest place to seek storm asylum, do not enter if that film is playing. If your pants are on fire and the lone fire extinguisher is in that theater, find an alternative means to dampen the flames.

I read somewhere that we are less likely to watch something that has been recommended by a friend, than if the friend kept their mouth shut and just waited for us to watch it when we were good and ready. Does this mean that those that do watch what we recommend aren’t really our friends? Maybe we just need friends with better taste, but then friends with better taste probably wouldn’t be our friends. Quite a conundrum.

I don’t know if this applies to books as well, but I thought I’d throw my recommendation out there in case anyone’s battery is dead on their smartphone and they need something to hold while it recharges. “Idle hands are the devils workshop”, this saying obviously wasn’t coined by anyone that had a teenage daughter dating a teenage punk, with teenage hands, being controlled by a teenage brain, but I digress.

The book that I recommended, that we now know nobody will read, because it’s been recommended, unless you’re not my friend, in which case you won’t know any better than to blindly follow my recommendation. I just came to the realization that “friends” keep knuckleheads around so they know what movies not to watch and what books not to read. I feel so used. So it goes.

Now it all seems like a bad idea. You know what, just forget about the recommendation, read what you want. Sometimes it comes off as a bit pompous to make a reading recommendations, besides, life’s too short to be spent running around reading and watching everything your friends with poor taste think you will adore. If they were any sort of friend they would just tell you what the book was about and save you the time.

What has creativity and genius ever gotten anyone anyway? Chronically mismatched socks? Prom dates with close relatives? Stay safe this prom season. Idle hands…idle hands.