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I've been tagged... and you know, it isn't half bad.
A book that changed your life:
Path Notes of An American Ninja Master by Glenn Morris. The late Doctor Morris was quite a character, and opinions of his book are varied. My opinion of his book varies as well. I find some parts of it too nutty to believe, while at the same time I regularly practice some of the exercises in it (and I get results too). Basically it is a free form romp through esoteric practices, most of them but not all rooted in the Oriental martial arts. It was the book that introduced me to Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu - check it out if you don't know - and gave me a base of knowledge from which to begin studying Chinese qigong.
Other paradigm shifting books I've read and recommend are: Designing Freedom by Stafford Beer - very easy to read introduction to complex systems and cybernetics; Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky - very solid introduction to Chomsky's political thought; Hello My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery From Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning.
A book you've read more than once:
Just one? I guess the book I've read the most times would be Dune, by Frank Herbert. If you haven't read it, you must.
1 book you'd want on a desert Island:
Shen Ku, by Zeek... An odd book that has just about everything in it... I'm not sure without looking but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a section in there about building a boat and navigating by the stars, so I could find my way home. If not, the book would help me stay happy and healthy, and there's so much in there it could keep me entertained for a while.
A book that made you giddy:
I can't remember the last time I went giddy over a book, so I'll say it must have been something from Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.
A book that made you sob:
Again, Lord of the Rings. The movies sucked, by the way (at least compared to the books).
A book you wish that had been written:
I'd like to see a collaboration between Buckminster Fuller, James Lovelock, Ed Abbey, and George Orwell.
A book you wish had never been written:
The bible, in it's present form - along with the belief that this present form is somehow divinely inspired. I wish Jesus's words had been accurately represented with nothing added to them.
A book you're currently reading:
Critical Path, by Buckminster Fuller. I'd like to do a full post on this when I'm finished. Bucky is certainly unconventional, but I don't know why more of his ideas haven't been implemented. His logic should appeal to people of every political stripe.
A book you've been meaning to read:
The Communist Manifesto, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (on my shelf right now), Natural Capitalism by, eh..., The Sixth Extinction by Richard Leakey, Plan B by ... eh..., Homage to Catalonia by Orwell, some stuff by Tolstoy... there's more, I'm sure but I just can't think of it all.
I tag Andy, LC, and KR. Thanks to KA (the blogger formerly known as RA) for tagging me.
A book that changed your life:
Path Notes of An American Ninja Master by Glenn Morris. The late Doctor Morris was quite a character, and opinions of his book are varied. My opinion of his book varies as well. I find some parts of it too nutty to believe, while at the same time I regularly practice some of the exercises in it (and I get results too). Basically it is a free form romp through esoteric practices, most of them but not all rooted in the Oriental martial arts. It was the book that introduced me to Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu - check it out if you don't know - and gave me a base of knowledge from which to begin studying Chinese qigong.
Other paradigm shifting books I've read and recommend are: Designing Freedom by Stafford Beer - very easy to read introduction to complex systems and cybernetics; Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky - very solid introduction to Chomsky's political thought; Hello My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery From Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning.
A book you've read more than once:
Just one? I guess the book I've read the most times would be Dune, by Frank Herbert. If you haven't read it, you must.
1 book you'd want on a desert Island:
Shen Ku, by Zeek... An odd book that has just about everything in it... I'm not sure without looking but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a section in there about building a boat and navigating by the stars, so I could find my way home. If not, the book would help me stay happy and healthy, and there's so much in there it could keep me entertained for a while.
A book that made you giddy:
I can't remember the last time I went giddy over a book, so I'll say it must have been something from Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.
A book that made you sob:
Again, Lord of the Rings. The movies sucked, by the way (at least compared to the books).
A book you wish that had been written:
I'd like to see a collaboration between Buckminster Fuller, James Lovelock, Ed Abbey, and George Orwell.
A book you wish had never been written:
The bible, in it's present form - along with the belief that this present form is somehow divinely inspired. I wish Jesus's words had been accurately represented with nothing added to them.
A book you're currently reading:
Critical Path, by Buckminster Fuller. I'd like to do a full post on this when I'm finished. Bucky is certainly unconventional, but I don't know why more of his ideas haven't been implemented. His logic should appeal to people of every political stripe.
A book you've been meaning to read:
The Communist Manifesto, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (on my shelf right now), Natural Capitalism by, eh..., The Sixth Extinction by Richard Leakey, Plan B by ... eh..., Homage to Catalonia by Orwell, some stuff by Tolstoy... there's more, I'm sure but I just can't think of it all.
I tag Andy, LC, and KR. Thanks to KA (the blogger formerly known as RA) for tagging me.
posted by Will at 11:14 PM
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6 Comments:
Hey.
Path Notes of An American Ninja Master
What an interesting selection. I recall reading Hayes (Hatsumi), but that was back in the 80's. You do qiqong? Which kind?
Dune rocks. I liked the arabian parallels - fedaykin, etc.
"Fear is the mind-killer."
You're not the Kwisatz Haderach, are ya? ;)
Shen Ku? I've never heard of it. Intriguing.
"You can't change things by force, only by making the things you want to change seem obsolete."
-- Buckminster Fuller
Path Notes is a unique book. Like I say, it's pretty daggone nutty at times... but it introduced me to some very interesting ideas, and the intro to Bujinkan was the life changing part. Formerly I'd studied only the sport based, so called 'traditional' martial arts like Shotokan and Tae Kwon Do which have had most of their battlefield effectiveness stripped away.
Shen Ku is just interesting. It must have taken a decade to produce... packed with illustrations and info.
As for qigong, I am self taught. I can't knock people down with chi or anything, but I have experienced some interesting things... of course I think it might all be psychosomatic, but it's interesting nonetheless.
FG:
As for qigong, I am self taught. I can't knock people down with chi or anything, but I have experienced some interesting things... of course I think it might all be psychosomatic, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Yeah, I've seen those demos...oddly enough, the only people the teachers can knock down are their own students.
Unlike Tai Chi (or any other MA worth its salt), you can actually learn qiqong from a book and/or tape.
Bujinkan, ey? I don't blame 'em for changing the name.
You ever read 'Night of a million zillion ninjas' - the Tick comic book?
Must've read that thing a 100 times - I about split my side every time.
"And then he threw a chimney at us!"
You gotta read it.
Ah, now, see, though, tagging me on this will reveal me for the intellectual poseur I actually am ... I here clutter your blog since I don't have my own blog, and you asked ;). (Your answers were way more interesting than mine will be!)
But first: Aww, FG, I thought that Peter Jackson did an admirable job translating the LOTR books into screenplays and movies. I would never ever give up the books, but I'll probably watch the movies again sometime too.
---
A book that changed your life:
You know this one already:
When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone
A book you've read more than once:
Um, my entire fantasy literature collection. Especially Marion Zimmer Bradley (selected Darkover, some feminist historical fiction), Mercedes Lackey (Valdemar series) ... as a kid, Tolkien, McCaffrey (mostly Pern), Eddings (Belgariad), and the entire rest of MZB's Darkover series ...
... And, I end up rereading several books of the farking Wheel of Time series every time Robert Jordan manages to shove out another one, just so I can remember what the heck was going on.
(Nonfiction, I read for ideas and don't usually go back over much. Not emotionally satisfying, merely intellectually interesting. Which should rile LC if he reads this ;). )
1 book you'd want on a desert Island:
Oof. I think having just one would make me too sad for not having more ...
Maybe a good, deep, spiritual reflections book ... not that I have found one that has "spoken" to me yet.
Lacking that ... well, maybe a songbook from my church in the early eighties, with all the good guitar-folksy worship tunes. (Horrified ;) ? )
A book that made you giddy:
(I don't do giddy. Seriously. Giddy?)
A book that was both uplifting and brain-shifting (which is kind of close to giddy): Free At Last: The Sudbury Valley School by ? (I've loaned it out) ...
for those who truly believe in people, and especially in children: k-12 schooling that provides books, supplies, space ... caring, knowledgable adults ... and nearly no structure. Kids do whatever they find interesting, as long as it doesn't impinge on the rights and rules the children have had the opportunity to vote on with parents and staff (note that that puts kids in the majority unless an issue motivates all the parents to come to the meeting).
And yes, they all learn to read (somewhere between ages 5 and 10--and with NO observed incidence of dyslexia, which speaks to our too-early-"educating" our young children) ...
A book that made you sob:
Oh, I'm a sucker for a well written tearjerker. I reread them the most. Mercedes Lackey's Arrow's Fall kills me every time (but it makes no sense unless you've read Arrows of the Queen first). She is not loath to kill major characters; several of her books reliably cause me tears. But Arrow's Fall I have to put down the book and recover, instead of reading through my tears.
A book you wish that had been written:
Oh, I keep running into them. What hasn't been written?? Well, OK, that thing you suggested ;).
I've found:
An overall critique of Richard Wilbur's poetry.
Gap-fillers for my fantasy collections in random anthologies.
That Bible-history book Andy recently recommended.
AH AH AH!! I thought of one!!! (And this had _better_ get written in time for me to read it!) : An honest but sensitively written assessment of the first Administration headed by a female American President. :)! (Of course, both current Most Probables aren't going to lend themselves to honest, nor sensitive, assessment ... so I'll have to hope someone better shows up and beats them to this historical opportunity!)
A book you wish had never been written:
Oh, lots of potboilers and celebrity memoirs.
Just about anything involving vampires, yech (Andy's cat photos excepted ;) ).
A book you're currently reading:
(I love that this says "a book" instead of "the book"--so true.)
I just finally finished (years overdue) reading Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs-Meyers.
Actually, although I have several uncompleted reads, they have been ignored so long I can't say I'm "reading" them currently. I'm working on getting rid of my miscellaneous saved periodicals. (My task his year has been "learn not to insist on reading every word.") 'Doesn't help when I go to my parents' and import their unread Smithsonian (last week--sigh) or Science&Engineering Magazine.
A book you've been meaning to read:
Oh good grief.
The first one that comes to mind: that Linclon biography from this year about his ability to meld disparate people into a Cabinet that was very effective. There was a Ben Franklin bio that came out this year that looked good, too. And local author Diana Abu-Jaber looks fascinating, from the reviews.
I almost never pick up new fiction to read anymore. My two year old picked up Greg Bear's Moving Mars at a by-the-pound book sale (it was Big and Red) ... if I were going to read more fiction, I might read Greg Bear.
----
'K, that's sooo too long. I've cut some, but now I need to go ... so I'll post, lest I lose more days.
ps:
ka--
per the Ancient Egyptian concept, "ka"?
Hey, just finding this now...sorry, I've been a bad blogger in a deep slump. I'm not sure I can really answer these questions too well -- I'm not really all that much of a "book" person, actually.
I can't think of a book that changed my life. Actually I think I'm just too depressed to come up with any kind of interesting answers for any of these. I'll just say right now I'm reading Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" (finally! I've read almost all his other fiction works) and I really love it.
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