Divorcing Your University | sebastianknowles.com

The University of Life

An occasional blog to encourage those who are considering retirement that the water is fine, and to reassure those who have already retired that it was worth it. To begin, start by clicking the book on the right.

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Top Ten Treehouse Books

Someone sent me the New York Times list of the top 100 books of 2020 and I thought I was being punked. I'd never heard of any of them,...

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Dec 1, 20207 min read

America's Guy Fawkes

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November / "Gunpowder, treason, and plot." Growing up in a small village outside of Oxford, the...

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Nov 6, 20204 min read

The Ruth Stone

It was the evening of Friday September 18. Jen and I had found perhaps the best glaze for lamb chops of all time: bourbon, brown...

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Sep 23, 202026 min read

Starry Night

At the end of Ulysses, Stephen and Bloom go outside to take a leak. This is the moment in "Ithaca" of homecoming, when the personal,...

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Aug 31, 202010 min read

The Sex Issue

It's about time, some of you must be saying. When is he going to admit that playing music is the only satisfactory substitute for sex? ...

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Jul 31, 20206 min read

The Queen Stage

I've had occasion to compare Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier to the Tour de France before. Some stages of the Tour are so difficult that...

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Jun 30, 20207 min read

Goldengrove

It's June, and the A-flat/G# Sequence in Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Klavier is up. I'm recording four pieces each month - last month...

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Jun 1, 20209 min read

Barley Break

The G Sequence in Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Klavier is up. I'm planning to record the 4 in each set (Major Prelude & Fugue, Minor...

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May 1, 20203 min read

A Day at the Races

One of the many blessings of this quarantine season is the discovery of virtual musicianship - the sight of 69 members of the Royal...

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Apr 14, 20203 min read

Out on a Limb

On Sunday, The Observer ran a story on a Finnish man who had to cut his tree down. He dressed his two brothers in images of celebration...

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Mar 23, 20206 min read

Escape from Helsinki

Update: A week after these events, the author left Finland himself, and is happily at home with his quarantined spouse. It all starts...

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Mar 17, 20204 min read

2020: A Bach Odyssey

First half finished! For links to the music recorded in February 2020, click on the image above. The recordings are now available as a...

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Feb 3, 20201 min read

The Well-Tempered February

Update: For the music and commentaries to this project, go here: "The Well-Tempered February" You'll find a recording of each piece and...

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Jan 31, 20204 min read

Top Ten Reasons to Live in Finland

TOP TEN REASONS TO LIVE IN FINLAND 10. They Color Code Everything When you pay for a bus pass they ask you to choose between an entire...

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Jan 19, 20204 min read

Left Behind

The Icelandic people are fed up with me leaving things behind in buses. This time it was a hat and a turtle (a kind of circular neck...

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Jan 9, 20204 min read

A Christmas Carol

The 12 Days of Retirement On the first day of retirement, my new life gave to me: A puzzle of Notre-Dame in 3-D! On the second day of...

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Dec 23, 20192 min read

A Perfect Spy

I have bionic ears. I can hear the song on the car radio three streets away. The bass two seats down is actually singing in tune. I...

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Dec 6, 20195 min read

Prelude in C

The first of a series of short essays based on the 24 Preludes and Fugues in Book I of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. The rest are...

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Nov 21, 20196 min read

The Return of the King

On November 2, 2019, our cat went missing. On January 11, 2021, fully one year, two months, and nine days later, he showed up again at...

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Nov 5, 20196 min read

Breaking News

This post has been found in copyright infringement and has been withdrawn on 7/29/24.

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Oct 17, 20191 min read

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