Generation X by Douglas Coupland

Generation X

by Douglas Coupland

Note the format of this edition. Wider – not std paperback. i mention this as the graphic design of the book enhances the post-it notes…ps. remeber to have a life. It’s like a webpage, it’s like a childrens book – stuffed with little drawings and sub stories and paragraphs. It lifts the lid on the clockworks and dreams of the new info-age teenagers….one that was becoming savvy that the new technical wonderland also had it’s darkside.

Gen-X is soundbitey and rightly so when there are 3 statellites and 20,000 routes that could be selected at any one time.

The Outsider by Colin Wilson

The Outsider

by Colin Wilson

“It is repetition of Van Gogh’s problem  – the day by day struggle for intensity that disappears overnight, all interrupted by human trivialities and endless pettiness”.

I tend to agree.
Wilson wrote this book while skint and living in a library – not as tough as the protagonists he examines,  the beatific, those that were mad to live and of course the pain.

It’s passionately written and it really drags you into the subject matter of real and fictitious archetypes of man’s struggle –   from Beowulf legend to Albert Camus existential woes and the internal ouchn’ess of being.

Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World Revisited

by Aldous Huxley 

This return to look at his earlier work, Brave New World, shows Huxley as a capable stateman. He lifts the metaphors from the first book to peel back a sociological and technical dynamic multifaceted view of the world…

“By cunningly associating the lowest passion with the highest Ideas so that atrcocities are perpertrated in the name of god and the most cynical land of realpolitic becomes a matter of religious principle and patriotic duty”.

Sophies World by John Rawh

Sophies World 

by John Rawh

 This book is a look at the development of Western philosophy through the eyes of a little girl Sophie (Sophos is Greek for knowledge) and her grandfather who teaches her in simple terms the meaning behind the ideas of Greek and Europes philosophers. We are of course asked to take the place of Sophie and the tone of this book is everyman’ish. In truth all philosophy books or concepts must be illustratable to a child and not dependant on being propped up with sub-sub concepts or jibberish. This book is fun and a lot less dry than the dustier books on Philosophy. Here’s a quote :

“A council to make the lamp for the future society obliged to consider every detail.When agree on all they drop dead then come to life again in the society they have legislated for.They will also have no foreknowldge of their new sex or passion in the society”

NAD – Understanding Raga Music by Sandeep Bagshee

Sandeep Bagshee’s book is a wonderous achievement and was my number one manual to reach for when studying Indian music. Indian music is a daunting artform and it’s easy to drown in the concepts. The book breaks down the structure, meaning and traditions of Indian classical music aswell as providing excellent technical illustrations of the instruments used in it’s development. For those who would like to take the study furhter Sandeep breaks down a number of ragas (improvisational frameworks) in great detail. This book will suit a hungry musician like a glove while casual readers will still find jewels of insight into the vast and powerful continent of asia through her music.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World  

by Aldous Huxley 

Not so much a novel as a thinly veiled sociological horoscope for humanity. Huxley is factual and dispassionate in pre-supposing the effects of scientific ‘advances’ and emerging social control mechanisms. Orwell’s ‘1984’ illustrated a society under control using force while Brave New World’s hypothisis that we will be controlled by over-pleasuring seems much more plausible.

Great book/warning.

The Art of Seeing by Aldous Huxley

The Art of Seeing

by Aldous Huxley

A radical look at how we use our eyes in both physical and cognitive terms. This book was written out his need to repair his eyes from an infection that was slowly claiming his sight. The book provides excellent resources for flexing the muscles in our eyes and testing our mental perception. Halfway between health and holisicm.

The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley

The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell

Huxley takes mescaline (mind altering drug similar to LSD) and documents his findings. This book is an alternative to the drug recordings of the more stereotypical counter-culture types. A short book and well worth a read. The Doors named their band after reading this book.

The Perrenial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley

The Perrenial Philosophy

by Aldous Huxley

Huxley is a statesman of the mind and soul. Huxley looks at the major religions on the planet and highlights the parallels between them all. Impeccably researched and structured this book is indeed an almanac on relgion and all it’s flavours. Huxley is very subtle on his own views in this particular book and prefers to clinically highlight similarities.

The Dice Man by Luke Rhineheart

The Dice Man

by Luke Rhineheart

This book caused an uproar when it was released and has since went on to be a cult classic. There was even a follow up called ‘Beyond the Dice Man’ (I think) that is equally as good.

The main premise of the book is that we can change the course of our lives by using arbitrary means – such as a dice throw. Each number has an action with at least one of them something either radical or something we don’t want to do. In fact we NEED the dice throw to force us to take bigger risks because by default we don’t have the balls. The more Luke Rhineheart throws the dice and himself into unlikely, strange and weird situations the more we question the unwavering predictability of our own life decisions. This one is a page turner. When I read this I bought a set of green dice

Little wonder this book started a cult that still exists today.