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So what are you reading NOW?!?!


Lee Knight

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I'm enjoying reknowned atheist writer San Harris' Waking Up - A Guide To Spirituality Without Religion. This subject appeals to me greatly. I've always been very interested in higher consciousness, insight, mindfulness etc... and I've always been an atheist. Since being a little prepubescent Catholic school boy, this guy right here has rejected religious dogma of all varieties. Much to the chagrin of my dear departed, devout Catholic mother. Love you Mom! Miss you!

 

Sam Harris explores the lack of contradiction in the idea of spirituality with no religion. Gosh bless Sam Harris!'''

 

How about you? Whatcha reading?

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Henderson The Rain King by Saul Bellow. wow, wow, and wow some more.

 

Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats - no matter how many times I dip into Yeats, I find new amazing things.

 

The Sea by John Banville - a very intense main character - as is Henderson in the Bellow novel. Another Irish word master...what do they do over there to produce all these incredible writers?

 

I'm going to take another stab at Ulysses (Joyce not Homer) next - more Irish! Maybe this time I'll finish it.

 

David Crosby's (heavily assisted) autobiography Long Time Gone. Pretty durn good for a rock star bio. Another intense main character! Dylan called Crosby an "obstreperous companion" in Chronicles. Now I see why.

 

nat whilk ii

 

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Practical Real Estate Law…. work related… its a college textbook that I`m voluntarily reading. What a concept, huh?

 

The Future of the Mind… another voluntary read…. fascinating book actually.

 

Cash: The Autobiography… night stand reading… good stuff. Cash has a nice rhythm to his writing and speaks to the reader as if it were just you and the man in black in a room just talking.

 

 

 

 

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And what about books on CD. I turned my nose up for years. But... DRIVING IS A WASTE OF TIME!!! I highly recommend "The Great Courses". http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/all-formats/cd?ai=52512&cmp=PS_Branded_google_US&gclid=CjwKEAiA4YGjBRDOxa3XvfTnvSASJACC3bLBOJ-cHm10aiq4bB0RRvOg8OLCHt3R2Qyz30Qz3RCEphoCtBrw_wcB&mkwid=snCJUIcai_dc&pcrid=37263672662&pkw=the+great+courses&pmt=e&ps=923

 

I finished a 10 CD course of How to Listen and Understand Great Music. Essentially a history of "serious music". From Gregorian chants and before to Philip Glass. Heavy, deep, and a hell of a lot of fun. This is an instructor and his class being taped. No production values save for direct music into the program thank god. It's first gen music on the program, no ambient classroom recording of that. But other than that, no production values. Just content. Serious content. Great stuff.

 

And currently I'm making my way through a course on The Art of War. It is not the text of a translation, but rather a teacher's take on the importance of it, how it can be misread, the core ideas within. I've tried to read the book a few times, a different translation each time and... I can't help wonder how studying the wind patterns of Northern China is going to bring me insight. But this course? The text is brought into its original context and reinterpreted for you and me. How we can use these time honored principles in our lives. Really cool. So... I study the Art of War on my way to and fro making a living.

 

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And what about books on CD. I turned my nose up for years. But... DRIVING IS A WASTE OF TIME!!! I highly recommend "The Great Courses". http://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...s&pmt=e&ps=923

 

I finished a 10 CD course of How to Listen and Understand Great Music. Essentially a history of "serious music". From Gregorian chants and before to Philip Glass. Heavy, deep, and a hell of a lot of fun. This is an instructor and his class being taped. No production values save for direct music into the program thank god. It's first gen music on the program, no ambient classroom recording of that. But other than that, no production values. Just content. Serious content. Great stuff.

 

And currently I'm making my way through a course on The Art of War. It is not the text of a translation, but rather a teacher's take on the importance of it, how it can be misread, the core ideas within. I've tried to read the book a few times, a different translation each time and... I can't help wonder how studying the wind patterns of Northern China is going to bring me insight. But this course? The text is brought into its original context and reinterpreted for you and me. How we can use these time honored principles in our lives. Really cool. So... I study the Art of War on my way to and fro making a living.

 

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Lee,

 

Yes, absolutely. I love The Great Courses as well. I have quite a collection, including the course you mention. I find myself listening more and more to audio books as well. I spend a lot of time in the car commuting during the week, sometimes up to 5 hours a day so its a great way to spend all that time. Also, I enjoy listening to NPR but thats not a book either...

 

 

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The Bible

 

I don`t know if you were serious but I read it often and find it very inspiring. It may be outdated, archaic, and misunderstood in many places but I still find the stories very relevant and it does, at the end of the day, bring me some peace of mind and guidance for the present and future.

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Same here. However, I think it's essential to have some help in reading the Bible - historical, interpretative, theological help. Protestants did such a bang-up job of bringing the Bible to the masses that the masses got the idea that the Bible can be instantly understood read as ignorantly as possible, even taking the uninformed approach as the "spiritually pure" approach. " However, just me and the Bible" in reality translates typically into "just me listening to just me".

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http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession/dp/1400078458

 

I've been reading "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon" by David Grann, which is difficult to put down. Really fascinating account of his attempt to figure out where famed explorer Percy Fawcett went, whether he discovered the mysterious large city he was looking for deep in the Amazon, and whether this place really existed.

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It's kind of funny that this topic came up again. I had a drummer friend in college in the late 60's. I'd long since lost contact with him, but since the internet came along, I'd been unsuccessfully trying to find him for a very long time. It didn't help that I remembered his first name incorrectly. Well, out of the blue, last month, he was looking at some school related web page, saw my name, Googled me, found my web page, and contacted me. He’s taken up novel writing in retirement, and has a written a few books. I’m not much a a novel reader, and the I’m not really in his target audience, but since he wrote them, I’m reading them. https://www.facebook.com/The.Village.Drummer

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http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession/dp/1400078458

 

I've been reading "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon" by David Grann, which is difficult to put down. Really fascinating account of his attempt to figure out where famed explorer Percy Fawcett went, whether he discovered the mysterious large city he was looking for deep in the Amazon, and whether this place really existed.

 

Gonna have to read that one myself after hearing about it on NPR this morning. It sounds fascinating.

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Just finished How To Control Your Anxiety by Albert Ellis. Ellis; the originator of REBT therapy and its offshoots. Cognitive therapy et al. That was book on iTunes/Audible for the ride to and fro. Ellis never ceases to inform me with stuff I already "know", but he has a way of putting it in your pocket for ready usage. Highly recommended. Not for the anxious as much as for the human. All hail Ellis!

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Just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Pulitzer winner, FWIW. Fiction novel with some roots in reality - multi-generational tale of a Greek family in Symrna in the 1920s, emigrating to Detroit and ends in the late 70s more or less. Lots of fascinating history about Detroit, Greeks, and of all topics, hermaphrodites. Ties into the sexual revolution in the 70s but it's no stereotypical coming-out tale - very thoughtful, balanced.

 

My grandfather was a big corporate higher up in the Detroit auto industry in the 20s - the family had property in Grosse Pointe and all that. Grandfather lost his fortune in the Depression, and my dad was a bootstrap guy who put himself through Michigan State, served in WWII, and had a long career with one mega oil business corporation. So all the Detroit stuff rings very true - a lot of the nightmare side of the American Dream has played out in Detroit.

 

It's long, but pretty easy style to lighten the trek. You'll learn something I guarantee.

 

nat whilk ii

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