In âBeginners,â a Writer Takes Up Chess and Surfing and Singing and Juggling and â¦
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Not far into âBeginners,â Tom Vanderbiltâs tribute to the life-changing magic of learning new skills, he describes taking his young daughter snowboarding. At the time, Vanderbilt was nearing 50; he decided to approach the activity with an open mind, freed from all expectation, even if he was old enough to know what the risks were. âI had no goals other than avoiding the hospital,â he writes, after referring to the novelist Norman Rushâs comparison of being in love to going into an undiscovered room. âI just wanted to enter a new âroom.ââ