David H's Story

Interviewer: What obsessions have really captivated you throughout the years?

David: I think I purposely like to look at them as obsessions. I mean, passion is pretty much synonymous, not 100%. But I like to look at them as obsessions because it gets people's attention. One obsession is personal computers, which I became fascinated by in 1982.

And my means of obsession has always been as an autodidact, which just means self taught. auto, didact, teach. So that's what I do, I delve into learning.

My passion with computers led me to leave my job and book publishing to work at a computer store. And working in the computer store was one reason why when a computer magazine was hiring, they hired me. It was just a question of following something that fascinated me. It's just a deep fascination.

Interviewer: Other fascinations that you've talked about include photography.

David: My father took photographs all the time. Maybe that even amplified my desire to be like him in some way. We had like boxes of photographs that my father took or other family members took. I just loved sitting down looking at all these photographs of the past, of relatives or situations.

So a combination of just the objects themselves, the photographs being something that drew me in that history, that story, it was just stories being told and the fact that this was an influence, or interest I should say, of my father, who I admired.

One of the things I've always loved about computing is you can try stuff without breaking anything. I always make a copy of a file if it's important and then work on the duplicate. Because you can always cover your ass, and therefore then you can experiment. And that experimenting is a form of freedom, and that, that attracts me.

Interviewer: One other obsession that you talk about very fondly is biking.

David: It's funny, to a degree it goes back to my father who, I just have all these memories of him, you know, doing various things with hand tools in our garage and, you know, helping me with my bike and bikes. Even by the time I was like 12, 11, 12, I had about 3, 4 bikes.

Learning how to put it together. And some of the learning is feedback. When you're an autodidact, when you're self taught, you need some kind of feedback, otherwise, how are you learning? Now with these machines like cameras or computers, the feedback is built in. If it works, it's done right. If it doesn't, try to figure out why. Same thing with bicycles, although the breakage isn't protected. You also learn from experience, for example, my hand knows how tight to make something, a bolt.

All my obsessions, behind them is a pleasure in learning, but a pleasure in learning outside of school. From the late 90s through 2007, I was a leader of the New York Bike Club for 10 weeks. Each year, we had, you know, 15 people and we would teach them bicycle skills.

Here I mention that another obsession I've had is astrology. I got involved with astrology my sophomore year of college because I ended a relationship with my first real girlfriend. Things weren't good, and I was trying to figure out relationships. Astrology is actually a form of psychology. It's a tool for looking at the psyche. And so I became obsessed, because I was in a not good place and I wanted to figure out more.

Take a few years more into the future, that was like 1969 or so. I go to a friend's house, uh, where he's having a party and he invites somebody I don't know. And that somebody I don't know brings his girlfriend who becomes my first wife.

Later on, I’m talking with her and she said something about where she's lived. And I said something to her, oh, an astrologer would say something about that. And she said, oh, I'm an astrologer too.That's how Judy and I, we spent the rest of the evening describing each other to each other in astrological terms, which is almost like a language. Through astrology, was a large part of my connecting with somebody who is a soulmate.

Interviewer: Are there other ways in which your obsessions have connected you to others?

David: Well, here I mentioned the computing leading me to be a computer magazine editor. And there's something about a group getting together each month to put out a magazine. The group part is really important to me, working with others. If it can help me connect more with myself, it helps me connect with others.

And realize that behind this thing I'm labeling as obsession is curiosity. I have a very deep curiosity. Things I love, like I mentioned bicycling or photography, I learned even more, but that's because my emotional state about it is stronger. Other things, curiosity helps me from feeling depressed. These obsessions and thoughts combined lead me to actual connections with others, and lead me to greater knowledge.