Notes on Reference Materials

The 84 Laws was a miraculous find. I enjoy selecting books, taking interesting titles off the shelf, reading the back cover, and flip through the pages. I find Chinese bookstores frustrating, the experience is something like shopping at Cosco - books in bulk, stacked high, shoved together on tables, and I spend more time wandering the store looking for the right section than actually selecting the product. I don’t own many calligraphy manuals, because I never know what to buy. The 84 Laws was the only manual I’ve ever picked out. I was drawn to the simple layout: four characters per page and a few short lines of text below them. The calligraphy was beautiful, the layout was simple, and unassuming. I discovered the title weeks later after showing the book to my dad. That was the first time I seriously looked at the cover. I am using this manual above all others, because I found it, by accident, but it speaks somewhat poignantly for all of the major decisions I've made in choosing reference materials for this thesis. I picked paintings and treatises instinctively, based on what felt right or made sense for me. It's not very scholarly I know...