Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00246)

Dear Paul,

I strongly agree with you when you say that it is
healthy for us to read widely. Ties in with what Eldon
has been saying about Maya and over coming Maya by
being able to recognise different perspectives. So
I'll join in on your little exercise and let you know
about some of my reading interests. I haven't
recognised a pattern to my reading as distinct as
yours appears but I have found that the next book I
read usually follows on, in one way or another, from
the book which I have just read. It is almost an
evolution in reading interests. And like the
evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium my
personal evolution in reading interests goes through
periods where I'll pick a book that is about something
that has never before caught my curiosity. This could
subsequently lead to a new interest in life or I
simply revert back to the evolutionary path that I was
travelling before. 

So what is the nature of my current evolutionary path?
Well right now I'm reading The Basic Writings of C.G.
Jung and after this I plan to read another
psychological book, perhaps one by Goertzel. But
seeing as it is the cricket season I'll probably end
up reading about this for the next six months.

Mic

--- kpauljohnson <kpauljohnson@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Stranded without power yesterday, I did a lot of
> reading but also 
> thinking about books read recently. It used to
> bother me when I read 
> only a couple of books in a month, rather than 3 or
> 4, but on 
> reflection I realized that I average about 800 pages
> per month and 
> how many books is mostly a function of how long they
> are. Moreover, 
> I realized that there is a pretty consistent pattern
> to what I read, 
> a pattern that was not consciously chosen. Still,
> reading whatever I 
> feel like reading next tends to break down
> consistently:
> one book on North Carolina, usually history,
> sometimes environmental 
> or travel books, sometimes fiction, but always with
> the intention of 
> deepening my understanding and appreciation of the
> immediate world 
> around me. (Currently reading a history of the
> Civil War in coastal 
> NC.) One book with a specifically American focus,
> often social 
> science, biography, current events, history. (Just
> finished The 
> Emerging Democratic Majority, an analysis of voting
> patterns over the 
> last four decades.) One that is international or
> abstract, either 
> travel, religion, philosophy, science, but something
> that transcends 
> national or local interest.
> 
> The book of international interest this month was
> one that readers of 
> HPB might find of value. It's called Travels with a
> Tangerine by Tim 
> Mackintosh-Smith. The author, a Briton transplanted
> to Yemen for 
> many years, follows the route of Ibn Battutah, a
> 14th-century world 
> traveler whose exploits far exceeded Marco Polo's. 
> He was from 
> Tangier, hence the title. The author starts there,
> and follows his 
> historical mentor to Egypt, Syria, Oman, Turkey, and
> the Crimea. 
> Since many of the places visited were also in HPB's
> travel itinerary, 
> anyone who has wondered what those places are like
> now will find it 
> of interest. 
> 
> Sometimes I get the impression that no one here is
> interested in 
> reading anything other than Theosophy books over and
> over, but that 
> can't be right. I'm curious as to what other
> reading interests 
> anyone may care to reveal.
> 
> Paul 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 


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