The stuff of thought

I was about to say that i'm the only person who would read a chapter of a book discussing the ins-and-outs of the difference between the words cut, hit and break . . . but there's the guy that wrote the book! The Stuff of Though by Steve Pinker. It's a great read so far.

The premise of his book is that we can see into the functioning of the human mind through language. As a linguist, he is looking at language to tell us about how the mind works and operates. so far it is a very interesting read. Not only do i find him to be an entertaining writer, i like the subject: words (did i mention that for like four months of my life i would go to bed late reading the thesaurus?)

Basically our thoughts are comprised of basic ideas, and words reflect combinations of these ideas.
The difference between 'hit', 'cut' and 'break' are that they do or don't include more elementary concepts like motion, contact, effects etc.

I don't know what the rest of the book is about, but i'm waiting to get to the chapter about metaphors, because Pinker takes to task one of my other favorite authors George Lakoff, who is the 'metaphor man' in the world of linguistics, and more recently in the world of political spin. look him up.

vampires vs. neteru

My new guilty pleasure is vampire novels by L.A. Banks. She writes a damn good series. So far it’s been about battles between Vampires and Neteru (variants of Egyptian dieties). I like it for a couple reasons. First I get to indulge in some ebonics and spirituality at the same time. Also, we’ve heard a lot a bout demons and evils spirits, but this is the first time I’ve read anything about angelic hierarchies and things like that. She has a pantheon for the newmillenium.

Her writing style is defnitely fast-paced when the action is flaring, but i think she gives too much backstory. Actually, it's not too much, it's too much. What i mean by that is that she has lots of sentences where if you cut off the last three words. Just kidding . . . if you cut off the last three words the sentence has more impact. other than that, i'm good.

I haven't read the series in sequence (who does?) and i'm going back to read the first couple novels to get the backstory.

Visual Artists Unite, or not

So, i've been on a little bit of an artist kick again. I just bought "art as experience" by John Dewey (which reminds me i lost a library book). This is a pretty cool book but i've only read the first two chapters. It's amazing how people from 100 years ago write so differently from today. It used put me off, i.e. i thought the works were too inaccessible, but now it's kind of seductive of how to put myself in that kind of thinking.

What prompted this book? A comic book no less. A few months ago when i was teaching myself to draw, i bought a book "Perspective! for comic book artists" by Scott McCloud. It was great. Most of the time in drawing books you see either a lot of words about a few pictures, or a lot of pictures with few words. So you're either inndated or starved for explanation. With comics as his medium of explanation, he shows you in frame-by-frame/step-by-step how to do everything you wanted with perspective. Then i realized that comics was simply the perfect medium for such instruction (art- and i say that with tongue in cheek).

So i later read his book (got from the Library- freedom ahoy!) "Understanding Comics" which was a tour-de-force (always wanted to write that) about comics as art, not just art's bastard child. He explored the medium, through the medium. For instance, remember how seductive it was in the Sound of Music when they would sing about music using music? Well, its kinda the same thing, only comics and comics, and the thrill is still there. So he examines comics with a depth and breadth i've never thought about. Apparently he does it with a depth and breadth that most comic artists haven't seen, hence the rave reviews.

So i'm on an art kick. So when i was in the bookstore browsing for something that would tweak my interest, I came upon this book "art as expereince". So far his main point is about how art has been abstracted and bastardized from everyday life. And only in the context of everyday life can we really understand art. Point seems cool, but it's a long book and i hope he has some other insightful stuff to say. incidentally this helps round out my philosophical readings, which has been a kick of mine for a while.

The Clash of Civilizations

i really wish i could be paid for being smart.So i'm reading "the clash of Civilzations" by som guy. It was written in 1996, so you'd think the stuff would be out of date. Actually, i heard about it before and i'm now mad i didn't read it before. In the past year or two i've read Thomas somone or other''s book The Pentagon's New Map and the more recent the Lexus and the Olive Tree. All three of them are good books in their own right. All three of them suffer from wanting to describe the 'one big ting' in international politics. But only clash of Civilizations comes close to identifying something meaningful.

The Lexus and Olive Tree seems to want everyone to think that with the world-wide communication systems being built that the world is going to be one big happy family. The Pentagon's new Map seems to think that the US should really become not only the world's police, but also its social worker, tyring to get everyone hooked up into the information age and employable. But both of these authors i think have read "Clash" (i remember Olive tree man saying so but i'm not so sure about Pentagon man) and try to put out their own point.

The thing i love about Clash is that it not only has great analyses of civilizational disputes, these disputes go back thousands of years, if not millenia. So the cultural analysis of conflict goes when core values of civilizations conflict. As a bachelored historian and a love of world history besides, i love this book. It does get a little redundant and you feel pressured into the abstract framework until he actually starts analyzing teh balkans, Turkey and other countries.

I guess i should finish the book before i go on. If i never mention it again, please read it anyway.

My recomended reading list

So I've read a lot. A blog from someone who doesn't read a lot better be from an artist or a conisseur or something, otherwise it'll be mindless drivel. So here's my recomended reading list:

Spirituality:
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
Tree of Life Meditation System by Ra Un Nefer Amen
The Metu Neter by Ra Un Never Amen
Angels Fear by Gregory and Mary Catherine Bateson

Philosophy:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirisig
Objectivism:The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff
Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology by Ayn Rand

Novels:
Lion's Blood; Firedance (both series) by Steve Barnes
Parable of the Sower (series) by Octavia Butler
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Self-Development/Psychology:
The Structure of Delight by Nelson Zink (gotta find it used)
The Craft of the Warrior by Robert Spence (gotta find it used)
Using Your Brain For a Change by Richard Bandler
Change Your Mind by Connirae and Steve Andreas
Transforming Your Self by Steve Andreas
***In this order, you can skip the first though

Thinking and Cognition in General
Metaphors We Live By by Lakoff and Johnson
Frames of Mind by Howard Gardner
Social Mindscapes by Eviatar Zerubavel
How the Mind Works by Steve Pinker

On Becoming a Warrior:
The Tao of Jeet Kun Do by Bruce Lee
www.rmax.tv
http://www.clubbell.tv/index2.html


History:
Many Thousands Gone by Ira Berlin
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
DK Atlas of Wold History
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes
Civilizations by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

Economics/Business
The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs
Natural Capitalism by Hawken, Lovins and Lovins
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando De Soto
Beyond Reengineering by Michael Hammer
The Pentagon's New May by Thomas Barnett

General Science:
Lila by Robert Pirisig
Mind and Nature by Gregory Bateson
Art and Physics by Leonard Shlain
The Ingenious Mind of Nature by George Hall
Consilience by Edward O. Wilson

Building a Movement/Revolution
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
The Power Principle by Blaine Lee
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferazzi
Linked by Albert Laszlo Barabasi
Changing Minds by Howard Gardner
The Hidden Power of Social Networks Rob Cross

and yes smarty pants, i have read all of these (except one-its on my to do list)