Off the Shelf: Loonshots

 

I am sometimes amused to see how my genealogy pursuits seem to mimic real life in current times. While I've been struggling to discover—if it is even possible—the origin of my father-in-law's Irish ancestors, James and Mary Kelly, I've been reading a book called Loonshots. The book comes with the subtitle, "How to nurture the crazy ideas that win wars, cure diseases, and transform industries." 

I'm not sure I'll ever be the one to cure diseases or transform industries, but one thing's sure: I often nurture crazy ideas—like pinpointing a Catholic family in Ireland with a name as impossibly common as  Kelly. Author Safi Bahcall defines a loonshot as "a neglected project, widely dismissed, its champion written off as unhinged." Yep, that would be me.

The book itself promises to talk about "a new way of thinking about the world around us." The author speaks to "any group with a mission." While I am not a group, I do have a mission—and it sometimes seems impossible.

Of course, the book delves further into the science of physics and what it can teach us about the importance of structure—rather than organizational culture—in transforming the capabilities of groups to succeed. While the business-oriented side of me sees the importance in this shift in thinking, I can't say it applies much to my genealogical pursuits. There's something about history that remains the same, despite the centuries. But I find it ironic that my book choice for this month involves thinking about one-in-a-million chances at success, and the project I had selected for myself for this month's research pretty much mirrors that.

The Kelly family? In Ireland? That may indeed be my genealogical "loonshot." With tenacity, I'll revisit this research problem again in the future. But I can't really say I'll see any more success, the next time around. Sometimes we need to be graceful about releasing some of these puzzles back into the wilds of history from whence we once found them.