[Reader-list] [Fwd: The Enthusiast -- Britain's fastest growing non-literary literary magazine... ]

[Vivek Narayanan]

just got bigger:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4158884.stm

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>From BBC ONLINE: Thursday, 18 August 2005

IN PRAISE OF ENTHUSIASM
By Denise Winterman,  BBC News Magazine

The first annual Enthusiast of the Year Award has been launched, but
in a culture where enthusiasm is often viewed with suspicion, does
anyone care?

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm," wrote the
American author, poet and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
And according to Aldous Huxley, the secret of genius "is to carry the
spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your
enthusiasm". High praise indeed for the trait, but enthusiasm is a
quality that nowadays is underrated and often considered downright
weird.

Consider the words anorak or geek - modern-day euphemisms for
enthusiast, but equally light-hearted terms of abuse. And when written
in a school report, "enthusiastic" is usually code for "well done for
trying but you're not very good".

But in a bid to reclaim the word, The Enthusiast magazine has launched
the first annual Enthusiast of the Year Award. The aim being to
celebrate great enthusiasts of our time.

"Nowadays enthusiasm is considered nerdy and implies amateurism, but
we want to remind people that at different points in human culture it
has been more highly regarded," says a spokesman for the magazine,
which is produced in Northern Ireland.

"At a time when the British public is repeatedly criticised for its
apathy, we want to celebrate and applaud enthusiasm whenever and
wherever we find it. The winner will get a certificate, gold cup, a
huge pat on the back and the general high regard of the public at
large."

The list of people who have been nominated by the public so far is
certainly eclectic and includes Jonathan Ross, Thierry Henry, Alan
Titchmarsh, Sam Taylor-Wood, Mary J Blige and Amir Khan. Ordinary
members of the public can be nominated too.

Author Marcus Berkmann says he has made a career out of writing about
his enthusiasms - quizzes and cricket.  "I truly believe enthusiasm is
the essence of happiness," he says. "It is often deemed uncool and we
are all supposed to be nonchalant and not care about stuff, but being
enthusiastic about something is the secret to a long, satisfying life.

"Be it stamp collecting or football, enthusiasts are the happiest
people I know. I am a fan of enthusiasm and not enamoured of cool."
But philosopher Dr Julian Baggini says sometimes there is good reason
to be suspicious of enthusiasts.

"A real monomania can give someone a very blinkered view on life," he
says. "Society has lost respect for the narrow enthusiast because we
live in a have-it-all culture.

"Most people don't understand why they want to devote most of their
time to one thing. But that is a reflection on us now being a broader,
shallower society, not a narrow and deep one."

A shortlist of the nominees for the award will be published on The
Enthusiast's website (see Internet links, right) in September and the
winner announced at a later date.

And if the nation continues its enthusiasm for voting for anything but
a political party - be it the Greatest Briton, next Pop Idol or latest
Big Brother winner - the vote count should be high.

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Read this story on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4158884.stm

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Where can we go now?:

http://www.theenthusiast.co.uk
Plain Living and High Thinking