The Melody of Science

"Two times during the last few weeks, my wife has been asked to write a song. A very specific song that is, a song for special occasions when a person is celebrated e.g. for a 50th birthday or a Confirmation. The way to produce songs of this type is to use keywords from a person’s life that one way or other sums up his/her main events and achievements, and to fit it into the melody lines of a familiar song – often a very simple and somewhat traditional melody. I’m sure this must be common tradition in other countries too."

"Let me summarize the main ingredients that were gathered for one of these songs: “Childhood friends, the parents’ house, boyfriends, school, marriage, kids, working at X, likes reading and picking berries”. When I saw this list, I couldn’t help thinking: Is that it? My wife is good at this stuff, but even she protested about the apparent dullness and ordinariness of the keywords. There must be more to a life than that. The question is what the keywords for the song about your life would look like."

Read the rest of the post at the Blogosphere of the European Association of Geochemistry.

The Norwegian Mountain Literature Award 2012

My book Bergtatt ('In High Places') received the Norwegian Mountain Literature Award 2012 last weekend! The award to handed to me by the legendary Nils Faarlund during an event at the Litteraturhuset in Oslo, and included 10.000 NOK which I handed over to Gerda M. Pauler and the work that Autism Care Nepal do. Among the audience were famous climbers like Doug Scott and Aslak Aastorp.

Previous years' awards were given to: Knut B Lykken «Turglede med konger og kunstnere», Halvor Hagen «Toppturer i Romsdalen», Terje Kleiven «Dei gav oss ein arv», and «Troll Wall. The untold story of the British first ascent of Europe’s tallest Rock Face». Hurrungane Turlag and Mountain People are responsible for the award.

Photos: Marit Bakke