TMM's 'Man With The Plan'

As we continue with this virtual commemoration of our program's second anniversary, next up at the mic is Planning Editor Luis Clemens. In a nutshell, he is the man on board responsible for having (and keeping) ... a plan.

I'll let him tell you:

Lee, one of the blessings (and curses) of my job is the steady stream of books that arrive by post at my door. The best of the bunch I have read in five months on the job is Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden. It is an honest and literate love letter to an impossibly diverse continent.

It didn't hurt that Mr. Dowden proved to be a charming interview with some choice lines.

Of Zimbabwe's president, he said, "I think if Shakespeare was around today, I think he would have written not 'Macbeth,' but 'Mugabe'."

And it certainly helped that he was able to speak about a dramatic range of African countries — Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda — with equal ease.

But, I think what I most enjoyed was hearing him read an excerpt from the book. You could almost hear the writing process in reverse. That is, how he transcribed his inner voice onto paper and read it back aloud. I know that's muddled but it makes sense once you've read the book and heard the excerpt.

By the way, it is always such a relief when an author can effectively read their work aloud. I remember listening to a recording of Pablo Neruda reading his poetry. It was awful. I just heard another recording and he sounds even more dreadful than I remembered. Take a listen.

Thanks, Luis. And that reading by Pablo Neruda really is awful.