Two Lines in Some Manner About a Book! #2

The continuing saga of reading continues the saga:


Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman

IQ isn't the only measure: EI, emotional intelligence, though unmeasurable, really, plays a significant role in the use of our intelligence intelligence; but it's not taught in schools. Next time a pen rolls off the table and your hand flicks faster than gravity, catching the pen, you'll recognize your amygdala, and action without thought.


Meditation Yoga, Masahiro Oki

Yoga isn't stretching; it's the universe and everything in it. Read this book, and others like it.


The Sickening Mind, Paul Martin

Stress not only fascilitates sickness, it can make you sick. Through a somewhat complex mechanism called the nervous system, your very body may suppress your very immune system to help deal with stresses; just try not to allow it to persist--that's the trick (note: emotional intelligence, meditation yoga, Gurdjieff can help).

Gurdjieff, John Shirley

Gurdjieff seems a madman, perhaps was, but his history and methods are startlingly persuasive. Thinking back on it now, everything seems so clear: people are sleeping machines; so am I, so are you-- shock!

Learning to Bow, Bruce S. Feiler

A great insight into Japan, from a teacher in the early days of English teaching--he speaks Japanese too. Felt like he was telling my story; I'm sure you'll feel similar--check it out: a great look into the culture that's still relevant today.

Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky

The world is not as it appears; the surface we are shown is generally a mistruth, a deceit even. Read this and be saddened, and hopefully compelled to compassionate outrage--a great work by a relentlessly thorough and straightforward reader of the things we should all know.




Twilight of the Idols, Friedrich Nietzsche

This book is about more than can be said in two lines. But, indeed, can we all agree that the twilight looms and it's finally time?

Blink!, Malcolm Gladwell

Trust your instincts, so long as you've honed them to a fine point by the fires of experience. Learn to listen to your guts by training it's voice--if you want quick decesions, you must know what you're doing; who knew?



Technopoly, Neil Postman

Technology takes us over as we become more and more dependant on technologies, and do we wonder: how much benefit do we gain, and what do we lose--he makes a funny point about computers (those who profit from them come up with good arguments for their existence, but what do we gain really?). Progress is measured in technological terms, and we have access to more information than we could ever need; informed and smart, or just overwhelmed and unaware--what about human development?



Supernatural, Graham Hancock

What cave paintings, faeries, and alien abductions have in common: they are different manifestations of the same other worldy reality existing just out of sensory reach. Reach the other side through a variety of psychadelic means, trance states, or just by a natural burst of excess DMT from your brain; apparently a lot of people see the same things, and not just hippies--cavemen and europeans and ancient greeks alike (what they all have in common: DNA; humans have shared the same form for potentially 200,000 years, passing on the same information all along)!

Two Lines in Some Manner About a Book! #1

Partly for my own memory, partly for sharing, I present to you the first installment of "two lines in some manner about a book"! This series may take many years to complete, and many weeks or months may pass between, however, embolden yourselves for the journey and maintain only vague attention to the purpose. In most-recent-to-least-recent reading order:

Half-way, and so far:
Terrorism and War, Howard Zinn
An interviewed Zinn describes the tremendous disappointment he feels in this modern age by reasoned intellectual insults toward the Bush administration, and also... to you! ... and me.
The Best American Non-Required Reading, 2004, ed. Dave Eggers
Eggers takes this not-cool-unless-it's-not-known anthology and makes known some decent fiction, though I bought it purely (and after much searching) for the Poor Sailor comic strip by Sammy Harkham.
Introducing Postmodernism
Got over my elitist refusal of introductory books, and found that this book is laid out well, is intelligent, and is indeed, hardly for beginners at all. I don't get it, oh just did; now it's gone.

Cover to Cover:
The Rum Diary, Hunter S. Thompson
The S. stands for smile, see entry below.
Fingerprints of the Gods, Graham Hancock
Wonderful non-fiction detective story tracing the cultures of pre-history ancients in Egypt, South America, and Antarctica (Atlantis is buried in 2 miles of ice) whom were likely smarter than us, though they still all died out and left only vague fingerprint smudges; though, keep in mind that the Mayan calendar wraps up a 5125 year cycle in six years: yes, mark your calendar for December 23rd, 2012. Antarctica was recently free of ice, the Earths crust slides around, the last-ice age was hell for early people, and the Noah story? There're hundreds more alike.
The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
What can I say about this book? A great read as a foreigner, as a human being, with an interest in literature, reading, from a word magician. Take up a new interest in Islam, understand that nothing is perfect, especially history, and fall from the upper atmosphere, or Mt. Everest, you choose.
On Jung, Anthony Stevens
Nothing can be said of Jungian psychology and theory without mentioning something of the man; this is perhaps the greatest achievement and the slightest flaw for Jung or anyone else, but if archetypes, dreams and the unconscious keep you up at night, then give the shadow reign for the evening and seek out your animus or anima.
Profit Over People, Noam Chomsky
So steadily and intensively researched that I became overburdened with grief, but I think most of us know how badly most of us get fucked by a system hidden behind a democracy. You have two votes: the ballot and the dollar.

Special Japanese reading list:
Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
Double narrative, strange tale, makes taking the subway scary, wonder anew about the science of acoustics, and then forget all about it. Unicorns skulls and dreams...
Underground, Haruki Murakami
Murakami interviews survivors and participants of the Tokyo Gas attack; I take the Marunochi line every day! Fascinating read into the mind of Japan. Murakami, though man, keep your voice down...
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Better than Hard-boiled, travel journey, mind trip, though am I alone in thinking Murakami pretentious?
Confessions of a Yakuza, Junichi Saga
Born in 1901, this tattooed and dying old man takes us through a life of everything, especially gambling; again, great glimpse into cultural Japan behind drapes that were pulled down and replaced long ago.
Monkey Brain Sushi, ed. Alfred Birnbaum
A once-a-day conversation with a different Japanese writer. Murakami appears here, among, notably, Amy Yamada and Yoshinori Shimizu.
A History of Modern Japan, Richard Storry
Good read, but too short. Modern Japan: Samurai or Yakuza? mmm, neither.

Next installment will be in the future!