Recently I read Brad and Kristi Montague’s new book Circles.
Then I went and read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s old essay, also called “Circles.”
I decided to review them both by making a compare/contrast chart. I couldn’t figure out how to make it a circle, so it’s going to be a rectangle, okay?
CIRCLES |
CIRCLES |
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Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1841 |
Written by Brad and Kristi Montague in 2021 |
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Is about circles |
Is about circles |
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Written by a genius, probably performed a lot by him too I dunno I wasn’t there |
Written by a genius, illustrated by a genius |
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Has no drawings or color |
Has lots of drawings in color |
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Can be endured aloud for about 30 minutes |
Can be read in 5 minutes |
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No circles. You’re just expected to picture them in your head. Which is cool. You do you, Ralph. |
Has 355 circles (I counted them) |
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English only, no greeting |
Includes greetings in 36 languages! |
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At times incomprehensible |
Comprehensible for ages 3 and up |
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Author goes by all 3 names, like a boss |
Just first and last name for the authors |
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Subject: philosophical implications of the circular shape in nature applied as metaphor of limitation, growth, and the inevitability of change |
Subject: individual identity and individual growth as defined by both boundaries against others and overlapping influence of others across boundaries |
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talks a lot about “men” and “man” |
Depicts children, women, and men (plus a few animals) |
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References Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Cromwell |
Has an astronaut |
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Takes no stance either way regarding persons with disabilities |
Inclusive of persons in wheelchairs |
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Doughs not have any donuts |
Has donuts |
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Assumes that we are the center of our own circle |
Assumes that we are the center of our own circle |
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Suggests that good things can happen when our spheres of influence overlap |
Suggests that good things can happen when our spheres of influence overlap |
Emerson said that “the life of man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outward to new and larger circles, and that without end.” Brad and Kristi say pretty much the same thing. At first there’s “nobody in this circle but you.” But “there’s a difference we can make and a love we can all show…for the rest of our days.”
I mean, sometimes “our moods do not believe in each other,” and other times “a man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.”
And you gotta grow sometime, right? So read both the book and the essay if you have that kind of time, but if you have to pick one, definitely pick the colorful book.
The takeaway:
“Draw a new circle.” “Let’s create bigger circles!”
Check out Brad and Kristi Montague’s new book on Amazon!
CALEB COY 
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