I just this minute finished listening to "Upheaval" by Jared Diamond and would highly recommend it.
I'll say more later.
Please do.
Have you read Yuval Harrari's "Sapiens," I would strongly recommend it. I think Rupert read it too if I recall.
If you like a bit of Fantasy
Not usually, but I am actually looking for something light. I've been reading a lot of dense, heavy stuff lately. Which is great, but I'm sort of in the mood for a page turner. I'll check it out. If not me, sounds like a good choice for my wife.
>> I am a slower reader
Me too. Quite slow. That is why I initially gravitated toward philosophy and paleography. Everyone has to read slowly in those cases. A long book is a big investment for me, so I often do not finish books. Many people have recommended David Allen's Getting Things Done. I just could not get it done. It was very effective at putting me to sleep though.
>>Krishnamaurti
I tried to read Krishnamaurti during a period of intensive reading of "eastern" philosophy and could never quite get into his writing. It always felt very in the "intellectual" register. But in perhaps a similar vein, I just heard a long interview with Jack Kornfield and it made me want to read "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry."
What did you get out of it? Why do you like it?
When I looked up the Krishnamaurti book, by the way, it had some suggestions in the "you might like" which reminded me... If you have any interest in poetry, I would recommend Marie Howe,
- What the Living Do
- Magdalena
She is literally my favorite poet since Homer. A few years ago when I decided to memorize a poem each month, I started with the title poem of What The Living Do.
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https://poets.org/poem/what-living-doThat has been bumped as my favorite now, though, but the publication of The Affliction.
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https://poets.org/poem/afflictionI think she is an utter genius.
Two books that are great as audio
1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, read by Sherman Alexie. His reading with his "Indian" narrator voice (not the voice the author usually has in interviews) adds a lot to the nuance of the language. It's a beautiful mostly autobiographical story of trying to escape the reservation and what he gives up to do it. Funny and heartbreaking.
2. Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk. Also very funny. Not heartbreaking. A great peek into the US. The whole novel takes place during the span of a Dallas Cowboys football game where Billy Lynn's unit is being honored because of a video of them that went viral. This was recommended to me by a West Point grad who was a US Army Ranger with combat experience and I suggested it to a friend who was a Marine enlisted man who served in Iraq. To me it felt true to life, but I have no way to judge, but it got their imprimatur. Again, the audio version is really well read.