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I spent about an hour last night writing a long blog post about research techniques. Why did I bother?

At the time, I thought it was because I’m still processing all I learned, and it would help to set it down. Late last night, I realized that there was another reason:

Isaac would have loved this.

What I’m doing is basically original historical/biographical research. I’m not reading what someone else has written about Isaac and writing a report; I’m going to the source materials and actual people, gathering data, coding it, analyzing it, and drawing conclusions. What would Isaac have given to speak with a paleopagan Druid, or at least someone who’d known one, instead of trying to piece together the truth from the writings of others?

What I think he’d love even more is learning new research techniques. I enjoy it; that’s why I gush about it. There’s a question I’d like to answer: Did Isaac ever know about techniques of historical research? Hmm… I’ve got his college transcript in the files somewhere…