Thursday, September 07, 2006

YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ

I got memed by SH at My Free Thoughts
http://www.myfreethoughts.com/blog.aspx
and I am willing to be her Huckleberry but I also enjoy killing memes and it ends here...
unless you want to list some of your favorites in the comments.

#1 The Book that changed your life

THE CULTURE OF NARCISSISM
by Christopher Lasch

Subtitled
American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
this 70s phenom forced me to look at WHY people are so cynical and filled with self doubt.
Lasch explains the Culture of Consumption and why we passively rely on so-called experts (consultants) and question our own skills.
As a Historian and a social critic, Lasch exposes the roots of our Meritocracy and why 'selective elevation into the elite' replaced competence and respect.
This book is my rosetta stone and my inspiration for reclassifying modern man as HOMO ESCAPEONS.


#2 The Book(s) that you have read more than once

LIFE ON EARTH
by David Attenborough
THE NAKED APE
by Desmond Morris
BEGINNINGS;
The Story of Origins of Mankind, Life, the Earth, the Universe
by Isaac Asimov
This triumverate forms the core of my intellectual existence. My entire cosmological persona was reformed on the information gleaned from these marvelous books. It is why I am completely satisfied that we humans know

WHAT we are
WHO we are,
HOW we got here,
WHERE we came from,
WHEN we started and
WHY we act the way we do.

I am (finally) content with the realisation that we may never know anything past the BIG BANG and my personal conclusion is that perpetuating religious inventions, instead of exploring with science, will be a death sentence for our species.
My resolute determination to expose, extinguish and jettison the false hope and promise of Religion in my personal life was formed within these pages and I have never felt more comfortable in my own skin. Who knew?

... that you would want on a desert Island;
NERD ALERT! The Penquin ATLAS OF WORLD HISTORY
Bite size snippets of history with colourful maps and graphs...perfect!
or
ON THE HUMAN BODY AND THE HUMAN BRAIN
by Isaac Asimov
Comprehensive explanation of our miraculous physical structure!
or
THE STORY OF ENGLISH
by Robert MCrum, William Cran & Rober MacNeil
Fascinating account of why and how English became the dominant language!

....made you excited;
THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED
by James Burke
Wonderful examination of historical incidents and inventions that elevated our species from the chains of unquestioned submission to authority. Brilliant.

THE BOOMER BIBLE
by R.F.Laird
80s Punk writing!? You have to read it to believe it..Wikipedia has a blurb..more fun for believers, non-believers & ex-believers than a barrel full of evolutionary monkeys!

..made you sob;
THE DAVINCI CODE
by Dan Brown
Why, because I had not read a novel since Jaws or Cain and Abel and I was so happy that I could read something just for fun. It was filled with enough half baked historical notions to make it interesting and such bite sized chapters that I could whip through it.

...that you wish had never been written;
Hmmm..I do not adhere to censorship because that slippery slope turns into an avalanche..

..currently reading;
THE SELFISH GENE
by Richard Dawkins
Long overdue.

..meaning to read..
A HISTORY OF GOD
by Karen Armstrong
WHY DARWIN MATTERS
by Michael Shermer
and about 100 others.....but who has time to read when you BLOG?




12 comments:

  1. The only one of those I've read is the Da Vinci Code.

    But the History of the Universe book sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Homey, wrote all of the titles down and will read them. I can always count on intelligent posts on here! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You were...ahem...MEMED????

    Ar Ar Ar. Arse.

    Well, this is outstanding.

    Although I question the following:

    1. That you have an intellectual existence.

    2. That you have a "cosmological persona" (GAG! COUGH!!! SNICKER!!!? PEE MY PANTS!)

    Truth is, of course, that I will never read these books ('cept for DaVinci Code) because you HAVE.

    And you dictate passages out of each and every one of 'em to me every week, even if I fall asleep.

    If you live vicariously through me for my experiences with single females and other creatures, I live vicariously through you for all that matters in the mundane matters of the world.

    That was a brilliant discussion last night. We need to get back into that.

    You're a fascinating Human Been.

    ReplyDelete
  4. u sure have read alot mate. Good on ya!

    I used to read alot bakk in the school and Uni days. Not anymore. Now I blog hehehehe. But my fav books are 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Wuthering Heights'.


    Keshi.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:42 pm

    the book that changed my life was The Uncanny X-men, issue #96. I was only 9 at the time but man, it rocked! It started the whole comic thing for me.
    2 - read more than once - Batman/Judge Dredd team up, illustrated and painted by Simon Bisley, the best and funniest book illustrator out there.
    3 Desert Island- The Bush Dyslexicon - you can trun to any page in this book and either pee your pants laughing or cry in hopeless despair, depending on your outlook (it makes me laugh).
    4 hmmmm, have to think about that one.
    5 The Notebook - yeah, i know, but I think it was the first time I really thought hard about getting old.
    6- hmmm....
    7 currently reading old supermans and batmans. got them out for the kids to see. holey moley they suck! Unlike the X-men, which, during the same era, was like carl jung by comparison.
    I've been meaning to read any book that will teach me how to speak italian and arabic (not necessarily in the same book).
    Laura just read A History of God and another Karen Armstrong book this summer. She said they were brilliant.
    Can you define excited? I'd hate to embarrass myself here, but perhaps Greg Palast's 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'. He makes fun of all the right people for their arrogance and disrespect of every other human on the planet.
    The book I wish had never been written doesn't exist, I don't think, but if it did, it would probably be The Lord of the Rings trilogy, just because it's so damn long, with all that painful detail at the beginning, I'll never, ever get through it.
    Maybe I should have that as my desert island book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. parsimoniousblogger,
    Who hasn't read that book? I am sure that you would enjoy Asimov's rendition..very matter of fact but chock a block loaded with interesting facts and opinions.

    carmenzta,
    This was a good way to explain my behavior. I am not quite as geeky as I make myself sound..well, come to think of it maybe I am a total nerd..oh well.

    aidan,
    I knew from your posts that you were well read. Bravo for finishing War and Peace that's a 5 pounder! I have read the Gulag Archipelago that was heartbreaking. Those Ruskies know misery and despair don't they?
    HA on Dan Brown...I think that I was more curious about how far he was going to stretch the Jesus mythology..mygoodladywife went on to read angels and demons and many other people have told me that it was a much better book.
    Hey every decade a Jonathan Livingston Seagull comes around...timing is everything.

    withinsky,
    1.Hey I do..sort of.
    2.That means that I have a worldview doughhead!
    I know that I should apologise for constantly disscusing these books but they helped to define my search for the Grail. I like to connect the dots..and combined I can muster a half ASSed defense of my ASSessment of the human condition.

    We do have great discussions and I really appreciate the opportunity to massage my brain cramps while you feign interest.

    Thank You for reminding me that I am a Human Been and not a Human Doing..I'll take that as a compliment.

    keshiroo,
    I just watched the new Pride the other weekend and I have always loved Wuthering. When they remake it they MUST use Kate Bush's fantabulous eponymous song!

    "Out on the wiley, windy moors
    We'd roll and fall in green.
    You had a temper like my jealousy:
    Too hot, too greedy.
    How could you leave me,
    When I needed to possess you?
    I hated you. I loved you, too.

    Bad dreams in the night
    You told me I was going to lose the fight,
    Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering
    Wuthering Heights.

    Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I´m so cold,
    let me in-a-your window.

    Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I´m so cold,
    let me in-a-your window.

    Ooh, it gets dark! It gets lonely,
    On the other side from you.
    I pine a lot. I find the lot
    Falls through without you.
    I'm coming back, love,
    Cruel Heathcliff, my one dream,
    My only master.

    Too long I roamed in the night.
    I'm coming back to his side, to put it right.
    I'm coming home to wuthering, wuthering,
    Wuthering Heights,

    Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I´m so cold,
    let me in-a-your window.

    Heathcliff, it's me, your Cathy, I've come home. I´m so cold,
    let me in-a-your window.

    Ooh! Let me have it.
    Let me grab your soul away.
    Ooh! Let me have it.
    Let me grab your soul away.
    You know it's me--Cathy!

    Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I´m so cold,
    let me in-a-your window.

    Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I´m so cold,
    let me in-a-your window.

    Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I´m so cold.

    AHHHHHHH YAAAAA YAAAA OHHHH YAAAAAAA"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Reyspoutinoffatthemouth,
    Welcome back Kotter!
    No kidding I loved the Silver Surfer and Thor and the Submariner.
    There was a real mythology to those comics. I was too old to catch X-Men but I had the Avengers and Turok and the Fantastic Four.
    I must confess that I actually learned most of the Classics by reading the Classics Illustrated..amazing way for a kid to learn. I actually read Moby Dick after the comic...I was curious to see what it was really like.
    I guess that makes a Comic the GATEWAY book!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous11:14 pm

    ack, how could I have forgotten the silver surfer? Not because of the surfer himself, but because in the back of reprinted issues of his books, they featured a series of reprints of Warlock, who in a masterful miniseries that was like the comic version of Shogun, met his alter ego the Magus, and Thanos, all illustrated by the amazing Jim Starlin. I was so enthralled I had to go out and buy the original Warlock issues. Time travel, epic battles of self, good and evil, within and without, oh, it was fabulous. I don't think I cried, but man, was it cool.


    uh...yeah, and the silver surfer was pretty groovy too. Actually, Galactus showed up later in the X-mwn books.

    oh, and I've been around. Just no time to comment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous9:07 pm

    Thank you for responding, homo escapeons. Out of all the books you've listed I only read "The Selfish Gene." It's a very good book. Beside other things, Dawkins introduces the concept of meme at the end of it. :-) Armstrong's "A History of God" is sitting on my bookshelf, awaiting its turn, for the last year or so.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I seem so out of the loop. Having kids can change a person quick. I used to be such a philosophy, religion and history buff, now I feel so dumb. I have got to check out some on your list. Sounds good.

    ReplyDelete
  11. books i've read more than once-
    douglas adams: the hitchhikers guide (all of them)
    anne rice: all her books over and over
    terry pratchett: almost all of his, over and over!

    ReplyDelete
  12. okay- so what does that make me?

    ReplyDelete

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