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So.

Anyone read anything good lately?

I just finished "It's Here Now (Are You?)" by Bhagavan Das, and I think I'll continue reading "The Four-Hour Work Week" next. Also very disappointed to have received my final issue of the now defunct magazine Business 2.0

I'm trying to remember how to read, but both of those book titles sound interesting.

Every magazine I've ever been rabid about has folded or moved to an online only version. Even with the exact same type of layout and content, I just can't hang with the online versions.

OK. I just checked out "The 4-Hour Work Week" at Timothy Ferris' site. I am reminded of the phrase "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." (Kind of like Dot Com 1.0, and now, Dot Com 2.0.) I try to be open minded, but first impressions count for a lot; Tim Ferris reminds me of one of those culty info-mercial guys who'd cut your throat in a heartbeat -- all the while smiling and talking in a sincere and earnest voice -- if it suited his life-purpose.

"It's Here Now (Are You?" sounds more like my book, and I'll probably read it.

Ferris' book is not without some braggadocio, but he articulates very well, and very precisely, what I have conceptually been moving my business towards for about four years. Specifically, geographic independence, outsourcing and reducing the information overload by focusing on what's important. It's a quick read with real examples, which I am finding valuable. One of the more fun business books I've read.

Bhagavan Das' "spiritual memoir" cracked me up. His adventures in India in the late sixties and then the US in the seventies and early eighties captures well the wanderlust, spiritual exploration and excess that is often associated with his generation. Name-dropping gurus like they were going out of style, Bhagavan has proved to be a spiritual survivor in a material world.

If I remember correctly Bhagavan Das put in a little time on Wall Street.

You gotta love it

AH!

Nothing exceeds like excess, and I still see plenty of it today. America still hosts an enormous culture that thrives on excess in all things, but as far as I can tell people just don't enjoy it as much anymore. Most of those who lived hedonistic lifestyles during the years you mentioned got it all out of their systems a long time ago. The ones who didn't are either dead or as good as dead.

I guess I'm still a bit of a protectionist, and wonder why it seems that we've given up on producing people here at home who can do the work that we're trying to outsource. I can't help but feel that outsourcing work -- at least to other countries -- is going to come back and bite us in the ass someday, much as will the notion that we should let other countries grow our food as well as provide for our energy needs. I guess I'm no longer in the clear majority with that kind of thinking, but I don't think I'll ever change my mind about it. It's an interesting experiment, however, and it'll be interesting to see how it all turns out. (It would be even more interesting to watch if I weren't watching the dollar fall a bit more each week.)

After returning to the United States from India, and having fame thrust upon him by Ram Dass in "Be Here Now", he retreats to New Mexico where he can pray, chant and explore peyote. He fathers three kids from two women and needs some money, so he goes into car sales, where he is an instant success. Other successful business forays include encyclopedia sales and insurance. As I was reading, I thought, NO! how can you possibly sell insurance and have a soul-sucking job?

But in the end, he realizes he is no longer Michael Riggs, but Bhagavan Das, and comes back to kirtans, chanting and being the spiritual figure that he is, which also supports him financially to this day.

That anonymous post at 7:47 was me.

I will definitely read Bhagavan Das' book. I need to share a laugh.

Thanks, Tyler.

Tyler-

Thanks for the correction.

It wasn't Wall Street, it was Auto Row, as you point out

He also lived up at Harbin Hot Springs for awhile where I chanted and yogad with him a bit.

JAI RAM
SRI RAM
JAI HANUMAN
JAI BHAGAVAN
OM SRI OM

which means (in Hindi)

damn, we're out of toilet paper again...

A book I'm reading is "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy," by journalist Matthew Scully. It is so eloquently written, insightful and impeccably researched, you can give this book to anybody, no matter what they believe. The author bases his argument for animal protection not on rights but on mercy. I wish all teachers, religious leaders and politicians would read this book!

Sounds like a good book, Suza.

I've had the "dominion" argument too many times with too many hard-right/hard-hearted people. I could use some new material, but then it's hard to argue with folks who believe that the Bible gives them the right to treat all life -- with the possible exception of their immediate family -- as a resource and a commodity, mercy being unnecessary.

I wish I could offer something great, but I've had a hard time reading lately. It's as much due to state of mind as it is to lack of good material. I can read technical tomes without any problem, but can't seem to get into anything else right now, and I really need to. I absolutely do not have the patience for fiction at the moment, and I really used to inhale fantasy & sci fi. (The last fantasy I read was the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman, loaned to me by a friend. It took her awhile to convince me that I'd like it, but once I started reading I couldn't stop.)

phalarope, I think you'd like this book Dominion. It's filled with Bible quotes, so you can safely pass it on to the folks you describe in your post! The author, Matthew Scully was a senior speechwriter for George W. Bush. His writing is at once conservative and humane, religiously grounded and scientifically sound. The Ojai library should have it.

" Go into the largest livestock operation, search out the darkest and tiniest stall or pen, single out the filthiest, most forlorn little lamb or pig or calf, and that is one of God's creatures you're looking at, morally indistinguishable from your beloved Fluffy or Frisky."

I'm aiming to convince my nephew, a local minister, to give a sermon based on this book!

Here are four recently read and passed on, one in the hand, and one on the shelf, waiting:
The Book of Salt, by Monique Truong…the beautifully written journal of the gay Vietnamese cook serving Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein.

Shakey, by Jim McDonough, …a biography of Neil Young (stunning and amusing for its look inside that odd life/mind/time.)

Motherless Brooklyn, your typical story of a limo driver detective with Tourette’s.

My nomination for the quirkiest and most enjoyable little tome of late is Alone In The Kitchen With An Eggplant, which addresses the great question of “What do you cook when you are cooking for one?”…the secret go-to meals of a collection of writers….and a great dinner party question. It comes with stories of unforgettable solo meals and includes recipes.

Just started The Worst Hard Time, by Tim Egan, on the Dust Bowl.
Bought, but not yet read: Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”.

At my current reading speed, I have now gleaned nearly a lifetime of books from this thread :)

Most interesting to me, based on what I've heard here: "It's Here Now (Are You?)" by Bhagavan Das; "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy," by journalist Matthew Scully, and everything Dennis suggested, although I would need to warm up to the journal and the biography. I'll read the cookbook first.

I can highly recommend Dennis' suggestion: "The Book of Salt". Just finished reading it and being a Francophile and a huge fan of that whole Parisian scene that Gertrude Stein headed up, I really enjoyed it. Truong's prose is lovely.

Speaking of wonderful prose, I also loved Janet Fitch's "White Oleander" (she has a new book coming out in paperback this week - "Paint It Black". Can't wait to dig into it).

I also can highly suggest "Middlesex" which I read when it first came out and I am planning on going back for a second read. I remember putting it down after finishing it, and just thinking "Wow!". The last time I felt that was after the last page of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (although nothing in recent memory can really live up to to Marquez' masterpeice, in my opinion).

Also, Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series was a wonderful discovery. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is wickedly delicious!!

Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" was delightful and makes me want to seek out his many other books.

I'd better shut up now - I can talk about books forever!!

Thank you, Phalarope for starting this line of thought!

LTOR-

I'm so glad you mention "The Talented Mr. Ripley" since you remind me and give me a chance to extol one of my fave movies.
Matter of fact I was so struck by the tale of that conniving weasel (Matt Damon) that I was a bit worried about my identification with such a sociopath.
(The vibrant colors of Italy- I think it was filmed there and the cast- Damon, Law, Paltrow and Hoffman, all super terrific)

But here is a shocking and highly embarrassing admission (I'm glad I'm anonymous to avoid the abuse and ridicule:

I don't believe I have read a book since the internet really got rolling. And we are probably talking 10 or so years here. I was not much of a reader before and I guess I unconsciously associate reading with my "formal" education. So I have to move through barriers to get to the "pleasurable" aspect of reading.

Anyway- there it is. If you figure out who I am please don't throw books at me.

Don't forget "Across The Universe" opening tonight at Ojai Playhouse

El Anonimo – then I think the book version would be a great way to re-enter the literary world! Make sure you set aside a whole day, because if it grabs you the way it did me, you won’t want to put it down. And don’t worry about reading it after you saw the movie; I did and it didn’t diminish the reading experience at all. Trust me, you will want to just pack it all in and move to Italy. Astonishing that this book was first published in 1955. (As a side note, Highsmith wrote “Strangers on a Train” which was subsequently turned into a fine film by Alfred Hitchcock.)

Did you see Ripley’s Game? The book wasn’t nearly as good as the first, nor was the movie as visually appealing, but John Malkovich was so perfectly cast!

Happy reading!

Ripley's Game didn't quite do it for me.
You expect Malkovich to ooze whatever is needed to pull off a role.
But the Matt-Gwyneth-Jude-Philip ensemble was overwhelming.

I'll try my best to literize myself

Ripley's Game didn't quite do it for me.
You expect Malkovich to ooze whatever is needed to pull off a role.
But the Matt-Gwyneth-Jude-Philip ensemble was overwhelming.

I'll try my best to literize myself

OMYGOD!!

i can't believe i omitted Cate Blanchett from the cast.

this is the movie where i fell in love with her (and Gwyneth, and Jude...??? hmmmmm)!!!

El Anonimo..you redefine fun!!!

i try...

LTOR:

Thanks. I really have been lost in a reader's slump, and have been looking for a way out. I collected a few promising titles here, and hope that we might do this again. I know that this kind of stuff doesn't exactly set the blog on fire, but I still enjoy it.

Perhaps this ritual will find a welcome place.

P.S: Thanks, Tyler.

25 comments and counting is en fuego! Maybe we'll do a once a week open book thread...

For Tyler and Phalarope: I have it on good authority (my son, no less) that Timothy Ferriss, despite his tango-ing proclivities and seemingly endless exhibitions of brawn, really does have the spooky smarts in gear. In person, his command of languages, alone, is pretty impressive......a step up from the "culty-info-mercial guy". Since I am retired, I really don't need a 4 Hour Workweek, but I got about half way through this book in an attempt to find what was so "stunning and amazing" about it. I think he lost me when he started "out-sourcing his relationship with his wife". My son, on the other hand, got half way through it, left Berkeley and went off to Central America with his laptop.
L.T.O.R., glad to hear that Janet Fitch has a new book coming out. White Oleander was one of my favorites.
The October Rolling Stone has a good preview article on Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour's new book about Hunter Thompson......not as fun as Gonzo himself, but a rather bittersweet read for his fans.
Now, back to Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States
Thanks for the thread!

qu'est que c'est "en fuego"??

oh, i get it.... "on fire"..... right?

gimaha:

I didn't read Tim Ferris' book, but perused his website. I, too, dropped out at the place where he started talking about outsourcing his relationships. At first I thought it was just great humor, but then realized that the guy wasn't kidding.

Meh.

Buona fortuna to all who read this book and do well with it. However, as with peanuts and strawberries, not all food is good for all who would consume it.

After I made my first post, I felt badly that I left the folowing off the list from my summer reading. They are each worth sharing, though each is not recommended for all. (It felt not unlike failing to mention deserving friends in some public moment). So here are a few more.
“The Law of Dreams”, by Peter Behrens, is a stunningly written and compelling landscape of one life rising out of the Irish potato famine. My life stopped while I finished it.

“American Purgatorio”, by John Haskell is probably too existential for most, but it somehow broke my heart and I am not sure whether I highly recommend it or recommend avoiding it to anyone who has suffered a deep loss. (It made me cry in an Airport.)

“Slackjaw”: Jim Knipfel’s memoir about depression and blindness that is actually humorous.

“The Glass Castle”, by Jeanette Walls, is memoir and character study, remarkable for not only its honesty but its total lack of self-pity. This one has hit the best seller list and deserves to be there.

I recently went to local author Alice Rene's book signing and lecture hosted by the Literary Branch at Ojai ACT. I just finished her book, "Becoming Alice," a memoir centered around her childhood starting with her memories of Nazi soldiers marching down her street in Vienna at age six. The stories follow her Jewish family's escape to the US and their struggles to fit in. Her voice is so clear and her memories impeccable, allowing for a unique perspective that follows her into her college years. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone! I for one definitely hope we can do this more often...

I know the thread is mostly about books, but I want to slip in a movie recommendation:

"Across The Universe" is superfragilisticexpialidocious.

If you dare go stoned or "lit up", i can guarantee you will laugh, cry and sing in self-abandon.

You will remember the 60s (whether or not you were there), you will be proud and happy that you lived then and/or now.

Everything since the 60s will seem like a dream.

The 60s will seem like the Quest for Truth Love and Happiness.

Convinced??

YES!! Never heard of it but on your superfragilisticexpialidocious recommendation my friends and I will make a point to see it!

btw, playing locally at our movie house.

i will refund ticket price to anyone who doesn't love it

(i'm such a liar...)

i knew there was something wrong.

the word is "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

su·per·cal·i·frag·i·lis·tic·ex·pi·al·i·do·cious

soo-per-kal-uh-fraj-uh-lis-tik-ek-spee-al-i-doh-shuhs

"a nonsense word meaning fantastic; also called supercalifragilistic

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious...

As a serious writer I need to know these things!

I am dismayed that the ojaipost is beginning to resemble any newspaper anywhere- mainly BAD news- genocide, torture, climate issues, etc.
I'm not wearing rosy-colored glasses or always see the glass half-full.
But is there a real trend here?
Has the the ojaipost become mainly a place to complain?

Still think we need a joke of the day column.

Peace

El Anonimo | November 6, 2007 11:12 AM

You know, you're complaining about the complaining.
Just sayin'.

I for one am bombarded with light-hearted emails and jokes all day long from friends and collegues. No offense, El Anonimo, but I don't agree that the Ojai Post is a place predominantly filled with complaints. I come here to hear what intelligient, passionate and civic-minded people in my community are doing and thinking. And quite frankly, it's amazingly refreshing considering all the mind-numbingly boring, meaningless and vacuous forums out there.

El Anonimo, your job is to help us laugh while we face the injustice and total absurdity of Life!

PS When I first tried to post this, got a message saying "this web site does not exist." I kid you not. I tried twice more, same thing. So I booted myself out, came back, typed in Ojaipost.com. Got a message to try "aupost.com". The Ojai Post had vanished into thin air! And then, just as mysteriously, a few minutes later, presto, it came back!

PPS What I don't like is that you cannot go back and erase stupid stuff!

"PPS What I don't like is that you cannot go back and erase stupid stuff!"

...and typos!!! How embarrassing to misspell (among other things) "intelligent"! Oh well...

PS When I first tried to post this, got a message saying "this web site does not exist." I kid you not.

This has happened to me before, too. I'm not sure, but I think it happens when an author uploads a new thread, or the website/blog is being worked on in any other way.
Or, I could be completely full of it:)

hate those typpos

Trivia Question:

Who made famous the phrase "I kid you not"? It became one of this person's trademarks.

jack benny?

ok i googled

jack paar

(jack benny was close)

all these El Anonimos.

I just got tired of being my (non)-self

Needed a (bunch of) new identit(ies)y

Are you a gemini?

Don't go to a psychiatrist. They will think you have Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)

Jack Paar it is. I kid you not.

(See? Not everything here is about kvetching.)

YES! I think our invertebrate friends in the house just got shocked into standing upright. The Repugs misplayed their hand and actually let a vote happen on the floor of the house on HR 333, Dennis Kucinich's resolution to impeach Dick Cheney, to send it on up to the Judiciary Committee to determine it's merits via debate and decide to recommend it to the full house or not! The Repugs seem to actually think the American public doesn't want Cheney impeached. They are seriously out of step. Here is Rep. John Conyers number. He is the chair of the committee that will decide if we can finally get some justice in this country.

(202) 225-5126

I pray for a miracle so I am posting this here too!

Dennis Kucinich: Standing Tall in the House as Cheney Impeachment Bill Advances

By Dave Lindorff

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination that the mainstream media like to ignore or belittle, stands head and shoulders above the moral midgets and shriveled sophists in that contest, especially today, after he successfully forced the full House to vote to send his bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney to a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

Kucinich, whose Cheney impeachment bill, despite having 22 co-sponsors, has been stalled for over six months thanks to the unconscionable machinations of the Democratic Congressional leadership and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, should now get at least a genuine debate in the House Judiciary Committee. With enough pressure from constituents, his bill might even go into hearings.

At first, it appeared that the Democratic leadership in the House was going to simply slap down Kucinich's attempt to move the bill-technically a member's privilege motion for a full vote of the House. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House majority leader and thus the number two member of the House leadership (and an insufferable hack), offered a motion to table H Res. 799, the impeachment bill. But Republicans, sensing an opportunity to embarrass the Democrats, began voting as a block against the tabling motion. In the end, caught completely off guard, even Democrats who had dutifully backed the shameless leadership in voting for the tabling motion, began switching their votes and opposing it. The final vote was 242 (164 Republicans and 78 Democrats) against tabling, and 170 (28 Republicans and 142 Democrats) for tabling.

A subsequent vote to send the Kucinich Cheney impeachment bill to the Judiciary Committee passed 218-194, with three Republicans voting with 215 Democrats in favor of the measure.

Republicans clearly don't want impeachment hearings, but have recognized something that the Democratic leadership, lame and tactically deficient as it is, does not, namely that particularly among Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning voters, impeachment is enormously popular. According to polls, some three in four Democrats, and a majority of all Americans, favor impeaching the vice president (a majority of Americans also favor impeaching President Bush). As long as the Democratic Party leaders keep blocking impeachment, they lose support and anger voters among this group. Clearly Republicans saw a chance today to further alienate those voters by forcing the Congressional Democratic leadership, which has stalled Kucinich's bill for over six months since it was filed last April 24, to more actively and visibly block it.

But Democratic leaders have an alternative. They can recognize the growing disaster of Pelosi's "impeachment is off the table" position-which has contributed significantly to Congress' record-low poll ratings (now well below Bush's)--and can turn around and get those impeachment hearings going.

If they were to do this, with just a year to go until the presidential election, they would electrify progressive voters and independent-minded voters, who are frightened and disgusted by what this administration has been doing to the country and to the Constitution.

I was just at a polling station today in my Republican-leaning area (Montgomery County, PA), and when a Republican activist standing outside the polling center saw my "Impeach Bush and Cheney" T-shirt, he said, "It would be great for Republicans too, if they could dump both those guys."

Clearly, the public, even including many Republicans, wants Congress to act.

Rep. Kucinich, who has been a consistent and bold opponent of the Iraq War from the start, and who was quick to expose and condemn administration moves towards a new war with Iran, deserves enormous credit for his lonely drive in the House to impeach the vice president. Maybe this bold move in Congress to push past the obstacles that the Democratic leadership has thrown up in his path will wake up primary voters to the fact that you cannot judge a candidate by his height.

If voters in the Democratic primaries make their decisions based upon actions, principles and courage, instead of on what the corporate media tell them, and if the impeachment movement will rally to back him, Kucinich should win by a landslide.

________________

DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His latest book, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky, is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net