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I'm already feeling torn what to pick up next. There are books that keep getting neglected, but this was ever so. Sometimes it gets to the point where, rather than going for what appeals most, one behaves counter intuitively and heads for what is least appealing to the momentary heart. Bearing in mind that once upon a time you did want to read this, and may still do, if you can put aside the sexy dalliance that the newbies are proffering a leg to. But, this is what the pile is currently composed of at present.
BERNARD McGINN - THE MYSTICAL THOUGHT OF MASTER ECKHART
In the realm of medieval Christian mysticism Master Eckhart is thought to be somewhat seminal. McGinn's book comes highly rated as an introduction to his controversial, but none the less influential writing. I am quite looking forward to getting round to reading this. But I suspect I will really have to be in the right headspace for it.
Christmas Present
I've heard interviews with him and got the gist of some of his ideas. This book is in part an exploration of 'panpsychism' which is an idea I want to know more about. It is in essence that everything is conscious, and guides how everything in the world presents itself. It's present in absolutely everything, including in us. It sort of is and isn't God like.
Birthday Present
BYUNG CHUL-HAN - NON THINGS
Jared Henderson recommends this author highly. So I'm dipping a toe into the world of Byung-Chul Han's philosophy. We live in a constantly expanding realm of 'non-things'. The 'infosphere' is not really a tangible object we can touch and comprehend with our full sensory capacities. And this is affecting how we relate, not just to the world, butmost importantly to each other.Birthday Present
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE - THE COMPANY QUARTET
These four volumes are Dalrymple's magnum opus on the British East India Company. In India it became the world's first Corporation to own and run a country. It had its own army, numbering upwards of 200,000 troops, almost double that of Great Britain's own army at the time. The quartet encompasses is rise, the scurrilous individuals who ran and made a fortune from it, who eventually were forced to hand India back for The Empire to run.
Birthday Present.
Vuong's second novel, following on from his debut On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, builds on further his capacity for wonderfully evocative prose writing. Here you get a vibrant sense of the town of East Gladness as a place, in which his central character Hai, lives in a ramshackle house with Grazina, an old lady who once prevented him taking his own life.
Library Book
Currently Reading
DIARMAID Mc CULLOCH - LOWER THAN THE ANGELS
McCulloch is always a really peachy historical read. This one has the theme of sexuality in Christian theology and how it's terribly oppressive response is not always supported by what you actually read in the biblical source material. McCullough is quite used to writing the epic overview. This is punctuated with his usual dry wit, and you can tell he has really enjoyed writing this one.
Christmas Present
Currently Reading
Currently Reading
YUVAL NOAH HARARI - SAPIANS
Another book which I'm looking forward to getting around to reading. I've been impressed with the clear headed nature of his mind when interviewed. So I'm hoping he writes in a similar vein.
Waterstones
BELL HOOKS - THE WILL TO CHANGE
I've read a few books on the masculinity crisis written from a male perspective. I came across this book by the famous feminist Bell Hooks. So far I'm quite impressed with the depth of her understanding. Her central theme is that men do not understand, and are often running away from the full capacity of their ability to love. Afraid of discovering and hence allowing themselves to love being who they actually are.
The Book Hive - Norwich
I've read a few books on the masculinity crisis written from a male perspective. I came across this book by the famous feminist Bell Hooks. So far I'm quite impressed with the depth of her understanding. Her central theme is that men do not understand, and are often running away from the full capacity of their ability to love. Afraid of discovering and hence allowing themselves to love being who they actually are.
The Book Hive - Norwich
Currently Reading
NEIL POSTMAN - AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH
First published in 1985, and subtitled Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness, Postman's book was reissued by his son in 2005, twenty years later and found itself a new audience. Though focused on the effect of TV on not just people's lives but their minds, his essential idea is that in the consumption of some technologies 'the form of it excludes content', rather than stimulating us, it puts our minds to sleep, turns us into passive receptors of image and amusement. And in the age of the internet this struck a chord.
Birthday Present
DAVID GRAEBER & DAVID WENGROW - THE DAWN OF HUMANITY
Graeber is an anthropologist and Wengrow an archeologist, in this book they examine how human society developed. They critique of the traditional view of the linear progressive view of human evolution, and say this is more a philosophical view, unsupported by any evidence in anthropology or archaeology. I came across this through an interview with David Wengrow.
Birthday Present.
DAVID GRAEBER - THE ULTIMATE HIDDEN TRUTH OF THE WORLD
Came across David Graber through an interview with his frequent collaborator David Wengrow. Graber who died in 2020 was a social anthropologist and anarchistic thinker out of all the usual boxes. And I was intrigued enough to want to read something by him. This is a collection of essays on a variety of subject matters.
The Book Hive - Aylsham
Came across David Graber through an interview with his frequent collaborator David Wengrow. Graber who died in 2020 was a social anthropologist and anarchistic thinker out of all the usual boxes. And I was intrigued enough to want to read something by him. This is a collection of essays on a variety of subject matters.
The Book Hive - Aylsham
LAMORNA ASH - DON'T FORGET WE'RE HERE FOREVER
I saw her being interviewed on The Sacred podcast, and thought she seemed really open and frank in her investigative writing. Here she is examining what a new generation of young people might be seeking from religion. That in the end became her own journey of discovery.
The Book Hove - Aylsham
I saw her being interviewed on The Sacred podcast, and thought she seemed really open and frank in her investigative writing. Here she is examining what a new generation of young people might be seeking from religion. That in the end became her own journey of discovery.
The Book Hove - Aylsham
KAZUO ISHIGURO - THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
I've not read any Ishiguro before. This is of course his most famous, and reputedly his best novel. I just saw it going for a pound in a Nottingham charity shop, so couldn't resist buying it.
Charity Shop
GEORGE ORWELL - NOTES ON NATIONALISM
I am interested to read this short book, just to see what Orwell has to offer by way of analysis of nationalism. As part of my own reading around this subject to see what value nationalism may or may not have, and what causes it to rise up in people's need of it.
Birthday Present
