2024 Reading List

02025-01-05 | Book, List, Reading

  1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
  2. Doppelganger – Naomi Klein
  3. Breaking Bread with the Dead – Alan Jacob
  4. The Little Drummer Girl – John LeCarré
  5. The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse – Red Pine and Stonehouse
  6. Master Dogen’s Zazen Meditation Handbook – Eihei Dogen
  7. Zen – the First Thousand Years – Red Pine
  8. Stonehouse’s Poems for Zen Monks – Red Pine
  9. Trusting the Mind – Red Pine
  10. Breath – James Nestor
  11. Double or Nothing – Kim Sherwood
  12. A Spy Like Me – Kim Sherwood
  13. Movement Matters – Katy Bowman
  14. Red Team Blues – Cory Doctorov
  15. The Bezzle – Cory Doctorov
  16. Listen – Michael Faber
  17. Slow Horses (#1) – Mike Herron
  18. Dead Lions (#2) – Mike Herron
  19. The List (#2.5) – Mike Herron
  20. Real Tigers (#3) – Mike Herron
  21. Joe Country (#6) – Mike Herron
  22. London Rules (#5) – Mike Herron
  23. Spook Street (#4) – Mike Herron
  24. Slough House (#7) – Mike Herron
  25. Bad Actors (#8) – Mike Herron
  26. Standing by the Wall – Mike Herron
  27. A Tale for the Time Being – Ruth Ozeki
  28. The Singularity – Dino Buzzati
  29. Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doerr
  30. Work – Robert A. Caro
  31. Playground – Richard Powers
  32. Karla’s Choice – Nick Harkaway
  33. Die Herzlichkeit der Vernunft – Ferdinand Von Schirach & Alexander Kluge
  34. To Catch a Thief – David Dodge
  35. The Dawn of Everything – David Graeber & David Wengrow
  36. And the Roots of Rhythm Remain – Joe Boyd

Books I especially enjoyed appear in bold type. Of those 36 books 2 were audiobooks, 3 were paper books, and the rest were ebooks. 18 of the books were borrowed from the public library.

Lists

02022-12-30 | List

It’s the end of a calendar year and thus best of year lists appear everywhere.

The Year in Cheer. 183 ways the world got better in 2022.
The Year in Cheer

New Atlas selection of photography of 2022:

Following another incredible year of spectacular photography contests, we’ve gathered a hand-picked selection of the best of the best. From curious polar bears to parasitic fungi, these are some of the most impressive images of 2022.
Link to the gallery.

Age

02022-09-07 | List, Ottmar

The older I become…

  • the more I enjoy finding that one musical note that fits the space that surrounds it. If I can find that one note, then I won’t have to play all of the other notes that I would only play because I haven’t found the one note.
  • the more I dig Laozi. I often pick up one of several translations of the Tao Te Ching I have and pick a random page to read. It’s always good.
  • the less I care about defining myself. Not eating meat, I would not call myself a vegetarian, for example. I am neither a drinker nor a tea-totaler. In my opinion every definition is a new border that has to be guarded in some way, which takes energy away from creativity. This is even more true in terms of music and art. Let the landscape show the lay of the land, rather than a bunch of fences that only make it more difficult to roam. Defining oneself is, perhaps, for younger humans who are figuring out who they are. I have had to live with myself long enough that I don’t need labeling. Religion, politics… the less labels the better. Look at issues and deal with arising problems. Simply create and worry about what it is that was created later…
  • the more I re-read a message or an email one more time before I send it off… and often I choose not reply at all
  • the more I feel that walking is my favorite mode of moving through a landscape. A car, a bus, and even a bike get you there much faster, but walking simply leaves one more open to encounters, with the surroundings and with other beings.