So Peter Lin nominated me to share the 10 (ok, 11) books that most influenced me in my life. Now Im nominating the 10 of you now because I really enjoy the wisdom that we share in our conversations. Dao De Jing by Lao Zi. I read it when I was 9. A philosophy of absolute neutrality and desensitisation, which has been applicable and inapplicable at numerous parts of my life. Two things are for sure: Lao Zi professes a form of perfection, but I think that there is no such thing as an ideal perfection; there is only what humans can accept at a particular point in time. The second thing being my disdain for the dilution and bastardisation of Taoism and Buddhism in Asian countries. I borrowed the Mahabharata from the school library the following year. I was hot on my run, reading through books on the religions and folklore of every civilisation - Scandinavia to Melanesia. The book was really heavy for a 10-year-old boy to carry home, but I did it anyway, and I forced myself to finish reading the entire giant poem, despite finding it extremely boring. I fell gravely ill and almost died when I was 11. My aunt gave me The Life Of Buddha to read while most of my body was paralysed in hospital. I quite enjoyed it, but it also made me feel sorry for Buddha because of how misunderstood he is by most Buddhists. My cousin who lived with me would buy me tonnes of Marvel comics, sort of gratuities to my accommodating parents. He sowed the seeds of my interest in X-Men and the X-universe, and I expanded the collection by following the Spiderman titles and then The Darkness by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl. And then Thor and The Avengers and many more. I first read Bertrand Russell when I was 19. I had to check the dictionary for each page I read. I had to re-read every page I read. Most importantly, I learned many profoundly wise ideas from the great Russell. He remains till today my favourite author. Oddly, I dated a girl some years later who hated Bertrand Russell and loved reading Nietzche, who was the philosopher I liked the least. The Bible: I never finished it. After I befriended the fantastic, uncanny Martin Hammersma in Holland, I didnt know whether to believe it anymore. Bertrand Russell advises to always check if the truths in your head are but quick subconscious assumptions. Carl Jung says that he rather not use the word believe; something is proven or something is not. Oscar Wilde reckons that history is just rumours. Throughout college and university, I became known as the Rolling Stone boy, because I was always reading Rolling Stone, Time Magazine or Kerrang during lectures. I loved beautifully shot pictures and loved informative articles equally. Time was the greatest of them all, but has since mournfully fallen from grace. Ive been writing for magazines for almost 10 years now and I still love how they look. If you dont know me well, read Mike Careys Lucifer and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I completely relate to both characters. Lucifer reflects my desire to be more than what I was made to be, while Dorian represents my vanity and dramatism. Reading Dorian Gray was so weird because an almost exact same series of events befell me while I was reading the book, and The Picture of Dorian Gray story is about Dorians life playing out what he read of a man in a book! I really liked On Invisibility: or, Towards a Minor Jiu-Jitsu by Jeremy Fernando. Jiu-Jitsu is my heart and soul. Jeremys book summarises what Jiu-Jitsu is, how I felt about Jiu-Jitsu and opened my mind to his ideas of the art. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks lent a little insight into the human mind through captivating stories. Conversely, I read several books on Chinese mediums spirituality in 2005 and 2006 that grew my knowledge in the field of spirits. Other classics that I read that kinda sucked: War and Peace, The Tale of Genji and The 120 Days of Sodom.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 06:06:22 +0000
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