Month: August 2024

I love books. I really do love all books, but I have a soft spot for fantasy. There are so many authors who have created a universe so immersive it feels like I never fully left, nor do I want to. Unsurprisingly, Tolkien has created one of those universes for me. In my most recent re-reading, I came across a particular passage in The Fellowship of the Ring that spoke to me not only as a Tolkien junkie but as a technology research moderator.

I’m the first to admit that I can’t carry a tune. And my dancing skills…well, let’s just say Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes and her infamous dance-floor contortions come to mind. While my husband and son may tease me for my lack of coordination, there’s someone in my household who accepts me completely for who I am — off-key voice, off-rhythm boogying and all.

It’s not often you hear T.S. Eliot mentioned in connection with qual research. But there’s a quote from his Four Quartets poem I find particularly relevant to the work we do: “The end is where we start from.” Granted, Eliot’s poem is more about existential quandaries than market research, but it does speak to one important aspect of how we approach our work here at Thinkpiece: beginning at the end.