April 07, 2008

Round Table

One of my What if? (April 4th post) comments got me thinking:

Eamon said...

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to sit around a table with a group of genius such as Leonardo, and have a good chat about stuff. Who would your group be around the table?

image from here

I'd like to have a discussion with:
Leonardo da Vinci
Stephen Hawking
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Jane Goodall
and
Robin Williams (for levity)

What about you?

23 comments:

Rosebud Collection said...

What a good question..

Unknown said...

Albert Einstein
Picasso
Janis Joplin
e.e. cummings
and
Martha Stewart :)

High Desert Diva said...

T-
I kept thinking of Janis Joplin, too

Ed Mahony said...

I would go with T on Einstein and Picasso too, as well as e.e. cummings:

Not Even The Rain Has Such Small Hands (by e.e. cummings)

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what is is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

letitiah said...

Jane Goodall is a good choice!

I'd invite Stuart McLean -- not sure if he's known outside of Canada!

Ed Mahony said...

Mozart and Hawking would be good too (although just passed maths at school ..).

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

Oh, for heaven's sake, how can I narrow it down to 5!?! I'd probably throw in someone I don't even care to meet just for the adversary effect.

More than anything I'd want people with a good dry humor. And those who can easily express their ideas, but don't necessarily feel the need to convince people of them.

High Desert Diva said...

More than 5 would be great...throw in as many as possible

Anonymous said...

Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman... both my early inspirations to become a writer. But my all time favorite is Odgen Nash who really inspired me and I would love to sit down at a table with him. I would love to hear him recite "Song of the Open Road" my alltime favorite.
Thought provoking this is!

BaldyLocks said...

I'd like to chat with Einstein, Beatrice Potter, Emily Carr and Bif Naked.

(Bif Naked is a singer)

High Desert Diva said...

I've looked up Stuart McLean,
Emily Carr and Bif Naked. Getting an education out of this...

Unknown said...

It would take years to narrow down my list, but I'd have to include Alexander the Great, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Beethoven, Stephen King, Galileo, Da Vinci, Paul McCartney, Mother Theresa, Edgar Allen Poe . . .

Gosh, I'd need a very BIG table!

Anonymous said...

Hawking!!!YES!!!! oh my yes... I didn't see Raymond Burr mentioned anywhere. No Perry?! Of course I see I didn't make the cut, either.

OMB said...

what a great question... gee I don't know. The list would include Racheal Ray, Joan Steffend (from HGTV), Steven Speilberg, and emeril (got to have a great chef in the mix).

Simply Me Art said...

Hmmm, I had to think on this one,
Bono
Barrack Obama
Martha Stewart
Alicia Keys... No particular order... Great question

amy said...

That is an awful question, only because it is so hard to chose. I would feel so intimidated by the people that I'd want to choose that I'd just clam up, then I'd feel like a failure for not saying something witty or clever enough.

Unknown said...

dear charmaine, i dont know...i'd rather have a round table with jamie oliver, not so much on discussing but help him clean up the food...yes, yes, i am that cheesy when it comes to food, that's why i have more than 1 love handle..and i did a post on your giveaway :)

picciolo said...

wow that would be an interesting conversation!
I agree on adding in Oscar Wilde, and then I think I would also add in Cezanne, Checkov, and then just because II still think he is gorgeous, Morton Harkett (who was in the band AHA)
: )

Sarah McBride said...

what a great question.
excluding the obvious(jesus) I would choose
Beethoven, Henry VIII, Jimmy Stewart, Mother Teresa, Lady Diana, Walt Whitman, Jane Austen and maybe Elvis.

Unknown said...

Awesome list of characters, it would be quite the interesting time with Robin Williams making all kinds of crazy comments in between the more serious topics at hand that may arise (imagine the conversations between Hawking & Williams, lol). I have never heard of Jane Goodall but will be doing research on her now.

Even though you changed from "famous" to "genius" I think my answers will remain the same :)

Hey Harriet said...

Oh...lucky I read the comment above me before listing my 5. My top may not fit the 'genius' category as such. Geeez, & it took me long enough to think of that 5! Now I'll have to alter my wish list & get back to you. Grrr.

Hey Harriet said...

Oh I forgot to think of my 'genius' list, but while visiting I'll post my original list. My list of amazingly inspirational people I'd like to meet with...

The Dalai Lama
Dorothy Parker
David Lynch
Miranda July
Jesus Christ

...anyone who knows me would likely be surprised by the inclusion of Jesus on my list because I'm not at all a religious type. However, I do believe HE was a Great man.

Anonymous said...

If it were living people I'd add Thomas Friedman, Lynne Twist, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Bill Clinton, Jill Boldt Taylor.

On a completely different note, I'd like to have a long chat with Jane Austen.