Skinny Books

There are few things that I find so utterly satisfying as reading a good book from cover to cover. Heck, even reading a not-so-good book in its entirety brings a sense of accomplishment that I enjoy.

I'll admit, for me, it's sometimes a feeling akin to another notch on the cerebral bedpost. I enjoy walking into another man's library, checking out his collection, and then pointing out certain titles and saying, "Oh yeah, I read that one. It was good."

So, when I'm in need of that special feeling of completion and don't have a lot of time to give, I turn to the skinny books. They're easy like that. :-)

When I went on the Road to Oprah tour with The 1 Second Film and the Evangenitals, all I took with me were skinny books. This was partially an attempt to pack light, as well as a desire for different readings depending on my variable moods, and I felt I was more likely to finish at least ONE skinny book in the midst of a crazy month-long tour.

On that trip, I had Howard Zinn's Just War, The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery, Jean Luc Nancy's Hegel: The Restlessness of the Negative, as well as Nancy's The Muses.

I said they were skinny books... I didn't say they were light. For a less life-shattering skinny read, I'd recommend Henry Miller's The Smile At The Foot Of The Ladderor any of the short stories in JD Salinger's Nine Stories. Though, those are both pretty f*ck'd up in their own way. I'm pretty sure anyone else out there who has read "A Perfect Day For Bananafish" is with me on this. Right?

I only finished 2 of the 4 books out there on the road (Just War & The Dreaded Comparison), however, I was pretty friggin' stoked to have finished TWO BOOKS during our band's FIRST MAJOR TOUR! Not bad. Not bad at all.

Word of The Mouth

I love it when people recommend books and music to me. It opens up new worlds and associations that I may not stumble upon by my lonesome, and it also gives me insight into what other folks are into, which is fascinating. For example, I have discovered so much awesome music from folks who came to an Evangenitals show and then rattled off a list of bands that they feel our music in some way is akin to. That's how I found out about Freakwater, Fear, Silverjews, Lavender Diamond, and so much other good stuff.

So, now that I've started this blog, the book recommendations are starting to trickle in, which is SUPER exciting! (Not that I don't already have enough to read! Sheesh!) I am, however, a great believer in "god speaking through other people" and following the wild and winding river of whateversoever shows up in your path to guide you. "SAY YES TO LIFE!" That's my (occasional) motto. Along with "FOLLOW YOUR BLISS!" and "GIRD YOUR LOINS FOR THE RECKONING!" :-)

I will always be eternally grateful to photographer John Fitzpatrick for turning me on to Bulgakov's The Master and Margaritaand Heart of a Dog. Composer Jeremy Zuckerman for sending me Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Costume Designer Irina Kruzhilina for giving me Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Actor Michael Blackman for bestowing the curse of Kipling's The Light That Failedupon me.

And now, the ridiculously talented and awesome composer and musician Kubilay Uner has hipped me to the writings of Luciano De Crescenzo. I very much want to get down with his two books on classic Greek philosopher's, however, it's gonna be a little tricky to find them in English. If anyone has any leads, please let me know! :-)

Kubi also suggested that I read Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophysince I'm on the overview tip. I've been wanting to get down with Russell ever since reading about the love/hate relationship he had with Wittgenstein in the ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE Wittgenstein biography by Ray Monk Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius(given to me by jazz saxophonist Masahiro during my NYU days). Of course, after having such an amazing experience reading THAT biography, I really think I need to add Monk's biography of Bertrand Russell (in two parts: The Spirit of Solitude and The Ghost of Madness) to the list, too. :-)

Words, words, words... Lord, help me. :-)

Book This Week: December 1st - 7th 2008

It's almost embarrassing to admit this, but what the heck...

The book I'm reading this week is Philosophy for Dummies by Tom Morris, PhD (author of "If Aristotle Ran General Motors") :-)

It might seem ridiculous for a PhD student in Philosophy to be reading such a book; I gotta admit, though, I am friggin' loving it! I came to Philosophy via experimental theater & playwrighting with absolutely no formal background in Philosophy proper. I've never taken an "intro to philosophy" class, and my reading of philosophy books has not been comprehensive in any way. I follow my whims, love the passionate guys, steer clear of the dry and boring stuff, and make no claims of being an expert on the topic at all. So, a clear, concise, funny overview of the ENTIRE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY is a very welcome trip for my brain.

Also, one of my great objectives with my dissertation is to write something PROFOUND (of course) yet also PROFOUNDLY SIMPLE. It is my belief that the truth can be explained to a 5 year old, and that it doesn't require high-fallutin' lingo and an in-depth knowledge of Heideggerand Kantto be able to get the gist of the meaning of life.

So, thank you Tom Morris for being one smart mofo who knows how to lay it out simple. :-)

The Plan: One Book, One Week

So, here's the idea:

I have a dissertation to write for my PhD in the Philosophy of Media and Communication at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland and in order to do this with any degree of thoroughness, there are a TON of books that I need to read to really get in deep and grapple with my topic. So, I'm going to read one book every week... for a year. At least.

And what, you might be wondering, is my topic? NOTHING. That's right... not "nothingness"... I'm talking about straight up unadulterated NOTHING. I'm sure I'll be explaining more about that as I get on with the reading, research, and writing.

Attempting to read at least one book a week, considering some of the heavy-duty works that I'm looking to dig in to (like Deleuze's A Thousand Plateaus, Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Jean Luc Nancy's Being Singular Plural, Badiou's Being and Event, Simone Weil's The Need for Roots, etc) is, I'm expecting, a formula for mild-to-severe insanity. That's kinda what I'm hoping for. Jamming all that exposition of ideas in my body and soul should break me... and that's exactly what I'm looking for: a breakthrough. A new thought. Nothing less. :-)

I've been warming up to this One Book/One Week pace already. In the past few weeks I've read Rollo May's The Courage to Create, Peter Brook's The Empty Space, and Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Okay, the Murakami book was more just for fun... and for some writer's inspiration. Clearly those books are more on the "light" and "skinny" side, especially when laid next to something like Kierkegaard's Either/Or or Nietzsche's The Will to Power. Obviously the big, bad bastards are gonna require that I pick a week when I don't have any Evangenitals or Cash'd Out shows and can really just give over to immobility, bed sores and voracious reading.

A VORACIOUS READER. It is something I have always wanted to be, and I'm really excited to have finally backed myself into a corner that gives me no other choice but to become that which I've always wanted to be.

Of course, there is ALWAYS a choice... :-)