Thought it would be worthwhile to start a thread about our favorite books/essays/articles/journals or whatever. Reading is a huge and important influence alongside music. Just list what has influenced you. Themes ranging from life and death to the end of the world to religion to money. Whatever you like.
Aesop's Fables - The Crow and The Pitcher
Currently reading: 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck
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i just finished a book called " The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. Very good read. in the fantasy vein.before that it was the road which i thought was wonderful.
The Shack was pretty awesome
any classics are always good as well.
I just finished reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
this book is rather depressing but is just awesome!
Breaking Open The Head, by Daniel Pinchbeck
This is one of the most important (not to mention eminently readable) books I've ever read. I would love to chat it up with the author.
+Anyone who's ever partaken of mind-altering substances in their past, must read this book: the sooner the better
+Anyone currently involved as a psychonaut of any stripe cannot afford to miss out on this book, and its small and great revelations.
+Anybody who has pragmatically refrained from "polluting" their bodies w/such substances - - should really look into this endlessly fascinating subject, and reading PInchbeck's Breaking Open The Head is as good a place as any (and better than most) to start. He writes clearly, lucidly, and convincingly.
In short, there isn't anyone alive who would not benefit from reading this. At the very least - - the descriptive prowess of the author would suffice as entertainment, even on a superficial level.
I personally found plenty of depth and meaning in Pinchbeck's alternately humorous and harrowing accounts. I find his specialized historical and psychonautical, autobiographic book to be among the few most coveted and painfully human narratives produced this decade.
It is a tour-de-force. Written w/uncompromising courage and clarity, this non-fiction book is a clarion call to not only those ears who would ordinarily be closed to its inherent message, but to all the people of earth. As these are far from 'ordinary' times, I urge everyone w/ a spark of human curiosity in them to at least check this one out from your local library. It encompasses a wide range of scientific fields, anthropological, astrophysical, neurological, and psychological to name but a few, and is a straight up trip to read.
I am all primed now to studiously track down the bulk of Terrence McKenna's writings - - most prominently, Food Of The Gods, apparantly his most popular, or classic work.
I just don't see how any human reader alive today could possibly be "exempt" from finding the subject matter of this book inherently fascinating. Regardless of your stance on drugs and/or mind-altered experiences, this is a riveting read and tackles some of the most important themes of our current age.
I urge everyone to make the time to track this book down and read it.