“Sit in a room and read--and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
There are many parallels between the 1930's and the political and economic upheaval we are witnessing right now. When the Great Depression reared its ugly head, Grandpa Joe ditched society and spent the next five years (1929–1934) living in a rented shack in Woodstock, New York. There, he contemplated the next course of his life while engaged in intensive and rigorous independent study.
In his words:
I would divide the day into four four-hour periods, of which I would be reading in three of the four-hour periods, and free one of them ... I would get nine hours of sheer reading done a day. And this went on for five years straight.
I believe in books. I am fascinated by them, mesmerized by the worlds they contain and the never-ending source of wisdom they might provide to those who give their time to the practice of reading.
I read every day. Fiction. Non-fiction. Good books. Not so good books. I am going to use Hive as an avenue for sharing the insights, lessons and knowledge I glean from the books I read.
Time For Reflection And Right Action
This is the perfect time to, at least partially, follow in Joseph Campbell's footprints and decide to reflect on our lives, examine them, and decide how we want to proceed. And to read. And then read some more.
What follows next is a time of great change and transformation on our planet and in our society - getting wisdom and contemplating what lessons we can learn right now sounds like a good move to me.
The Book Club
I hope you find it worthwhile. I can only promise to put everything I have into it, like a metaphysical book detective:)
I don't know yet what the format of my posts will look like, but for starters I was thinking of doing one non-fiction book review per week, plus additional posts with major insights from the reviewed book. Also, I am thinking of doing a Fiction Friday and Reading List For The Month posts.
The reviews will be like Philosopher's Notes in a way, getting the best ideas and dissecting them fully.
I am hoping for participation and interaction, but I'll settle for at least a few nuggets of wisdom here and there.
Suggestions for my first book?
My ideas:
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Antifragile by Nassim Taleb
The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Hive on,
Joe Lingo (@joelingo)
For what it’s worth, I’m reading Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses as my main book and savoring Proust slowly as a treat.
Given how the world is going, I might have to read more books about vegetable gardening and homesteading.
Thanks! I love getting book suggestions:)
I've been avoiding Cormac McCarthy for a long time(No Country for Old Men and The Road are sitting on my book shelf, waiting for their turn), and I don't exactly know why.
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