Who do you read?

[satay]

namaste,
I am curious aside from texts on Hinduism what else and who do you read? e.g. do you read biographies, books on philosophy, leadership, management, technology, astronomy etc. Would you like to share titles of books/ names of authors?

[wundermonk]

I would love to but with family there is no time for such activities.

The last novel I read was a few years ago - a novel by David Baldacci - do not remember which.

[Shuddhasattva]

Namaste

I am not able to read as much as I did in previous years due to my current work responsibilities, but a lot of my reading has been occupied exactly by that - books and articles related to my professional field.

Occasionally time allows for other academic subjects I find interesting.

Otherwise, I enjoy science fiction, particularly that which I believe is useful in presaging and influencing the future. My favorite author of recent times is Howard V. Hendrix, I highly recommend his book "the Labyrinth Key" for all those interested in transhumanism and its spiritual dimensions.

There's also Iain Banks for a rather interesting view of post-humanity.

On the non-fiction side, Drexler and Kurzweil are excellent authors.

The most important readings for understanding our world, as we face it, are in my opinion those which deal with ecological and sustainability issues.

Some good authors here are:
Daniel Quinn
Murray Bookchin
Michael Polan
Paul Hawken
Jared Diamond

Hope this is helpful

Namaste

[McKitty]

Hello,

Hm well...I don't really have the time to read now with all the work But I got interest everywhere, and I love to read and study Gustav Jung's books (psychology) and Campbell "the hero with thousand faces' (sociology/ethnology) that relate and analyse the myths and gods of all around to world, with the theory that every single of them come from the same point.

This may be boring for some, but I personnally have a great interest studying the culture of all around the world.

Aum

[Arjuni]

Namasté,

...aside from texts on Hinduism...

Well, you've just axed 90% of my reading right there. Dang it!

Since upping my work hours, I've been reading books composed of short individual pieces - a lovely volume of Kangra folk tales called Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon, for example, or a book of W.B. Yeats poetry - items which can be read one by one on the bus, and then bookmarked for later without dropping a main story thread.

Other authors I'm reading, you've never heard of - yet! I can't give my friends much by way of companionship - unless they want to get together for a 5 a.m. coffee sometime - but I try to support their work by reading and giving constructive criticism. My goodness, it's such a blessing to know some really talented people. In the last year I've read and helped edit countless drafts of a friend's (soon-to-be-published, yay!) novel (as well as some of her other projects), kept up with another friend's story-in-progress, and am excitedly reading/working with a third friend, who has just completed a play that is a masterpiece. Publishing is a business, after all, and there are some phenomenal writers out there who are no less brilliant for the lack of store presence.

Indraneela
===
Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.

[Believer]

Namaste,

You might have already seen/read some or all of these classics:

What is Man - Mark Twain
Letters from Heaven - Mark Twain
The Prophet - Khalil Gibran
Essays by Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience, Walden Pond and other essays)
Works of Walt Whitman

All of them should be available at your local library.

The ultimate aim is to see what resonates with your thinking and how much of what you read can be made part of your everyday life. Reading for the sake of reading is the same as watching the grass grow.

Pranam.

[Eastern Mind]

In the last year I've read and helped edit countless drafts of a friend's (soon-to-be-published, yay!) novel (as well as some of her other projects), kept up with another friend's story-in-progress, and am excitedly reading/working with a third friend, who has just completed a play that is a masterpiece. Publishing is a business, after all, and there are some phenomenal writers out there who are no less brilliant for the lack of store presence.

Indraneela

Vannakkam: From what I've seen on here, I'm sure you are an incredible editor. An editor makes a story, or anything for that matter. I am working on short stories ... spiritual ones where a problem is dealt with via a Hindu technique, meant for upper teens use. It's realistic fiction, but challenging to get both the pizzazz of a good story and the subtleties of the technique into it. We (more or less co-authored) 'discovered' a really good editor right under my nose in the name of my daughter who lives in your city.

Then there's the humour column, the light Hindu travel stuff (India Abroad article, etc.) and my pet, the childrens' novel series, yet to find a publisher.

So other than the daily sadhana readings, I too don't read. But write, yup.

Congratulations to your friend on actually getting something published. That's amazing, given the state of the industry.

Aum namasivaya

[Seeker]

Book read recently - 'Elegant Universe' by Brian Greene
Next book on the list 'Shadows of the mind' by Roger Penrose.

[Twilightdance]

namaste,
I am curious aside from texts on Hinduism

Buddhism
~~~~~~
The words of my perfect teacher - Patrul Rinpoche
Emptiness Appraised - David Burton

Atheism/Sam Harris
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free Will
The moral landscape
Letter to a Christian Nation
End of Faith

Novels - all time favorites
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy & sequels
Catch - 22

Business
~~~~~
Fooled by Randomness & Black Swan
Financial Math textbooks

[Arjuni]

Namast�,

EM, thank you for the compliment, and yes, my friend is ecstatic to have been published after very long efforts.

Kudos to everyone who's suggested Gibran, and I'm also with Believer in the corner of Mark Twain and the transcendentalists.

If we can just make some general recommendations, then I'll throw a few out there:

Stephen Harrod Buhner, The Lost Language of Plants. I honestly didn't know half of the things about the natural world taught in this book. It's a reverential and beautiful work.

Coleman Barker's translations of Rumi's poetry are lovely. Seamus Heaney's Beowulf: A New Verse Translation is vigorous and captivating, especially if you need some good ol' dragon-slaying in your day. Robert Fagles' translations of both Iliad and Odyssey are magnificent poetic works in their own right.

And Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is my favourite novel ever.

Indraneela
===
Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.