peacewalker
New Member
Hello all,
This will be my first post. I love to read. I need to read. I need to do so because I need to know and understand things. I need to see the world as it is. I need to know how to eat correctly, how to live correctly, and how to remineralize my teeth
. In many ways these natural things are written in the book of life, within, or the book of nature. But still, reading helps bring me back to my senses. I've been reading a lot about vitamin D, and it's opened my mind and helped me realize why the sun is so important and I love being in it so much. I've been learnign about serononin, and I've read how repetitite behaviors and motions, like chewing, or walking, or working with one's hands, can stimulate serotonin. Maybe that's why I shake my leg when stressed. These things explain why I like the things I like.
But getting back to the theme, books are like drugs in that they change consciousness, in a number of ways. I was at the used book store today, and I saw all of the sections, and books within each section. Each book is like an individual drug, with it's own unique properties, and it belongs in a certain family of other drugs that alter consciousness. The effect a book has also depends on the individuality of the reader, where his mind is at, his level of understanding adn maturity, etc. Some people might use books only to reinforce what they already believe, or to gain knowledge how to do something evil or self serving. A perfect illustration of this is Adolph Hitler. he read a lot, but only to learn more about military matters, or to reinforce what he already wantedt to believe, about race and mysticism.
Also one can read so much that one is insulated and walled off from nature or from culture or society, family and flesh and blood others. I read a lot and I feel the need to read, because I need to understand, and it takes a lot of time and energy, because I read every subject, but I run the risk of being separated from my self, nature, others, that I must be careful to maintain balance and not over-do it. Work and reading go hand in hand really well, because when I work I can think about what I've read, and when I'm reading I can rest from the work. I don't always have the ideal balance that I want in life. To me the biggest challenge in life is getting and keeping a balance in all aspects of life. I generally develop obsessions, but I think they are healthy obsessions because I think they promote overal balance. I think our whole entire culture and civilization and humanity itself is getting out of balance so a person who does have balance might seem in their eyes to be the peculiar one, the one himself who is out of balance.
Books definitely change conciousness. Books can trigger or help inspire thoughts, and thoughts can result in new behaviors and communications.
I've just read some interesting books lately
1. confessions of an economic hitman, by John Perkins
2. "Catching Fire" by Richard Wrangham- about how cooking our food might have made us human, resulted in smaller gut sizes and larger brains. Very fascinating as I myself come from a raw food background, which he profiles.
In general I'm getting interested in questions of human origins, and I'm reading "Before the Dawn" about our human roots when we branched off from primates.
You can see I generally read nonfiction (because I just don't have that much time or mental space) but I also read some nonfiction, especially classics. I've started reading "ishmael" by Daniel Quinn because a person Doug Graham in the raw food world likes it and it relates to a lot of the issues I'm reading about in other books. Sometimes I haev a book on the radar, which I've been wanting to read for a while, or at least I've seen it around in stores and libraries, and I finally get around to reading it. This applies to the John Perkins Economic Hitman book I've just read. I don't always finish a book if I don't like it. I don't feel that compulsion that greatly but I feel it a little, because I wonder if the book may get better. Sometimes I have trouble getting into a book but I know it may still be a good one but I'm just not in the right "space" to get into it, so I plan to come back to it later. Sometimes I read the same book several times, every couple of years and get more and more from it. I've read Think and Grow Rich and Fire in the Belly (by Sam Keen) several times each. Sometimes I go back to re-read a book I read in childhood. Some books, the writing I just want to memorize, and burn into my brain, because I know that could only be a good thing.
Some books I go out of my way to aquire. usually I don't buy any books but save money by checking them out at the library, or at the very least I get them at the used book store- or sometimes last minute at the airport. Some books I just pick up at random and then I find myself amazed by them and that they are hard to put down. Certain books I just can't put down, and they keep me up all night. These are rare. For fiction- Bram Stoker's Dracula was one of these. One book I just found on a ferry boat in thailand, without a cover, I read it and got really into it. I liked it so much, I later figured out from google what it was and who the author was. Shout At the Devil by Wilbur Smith, who isn't very popular here in america sadly. I've gotten really into him and read several of his fictions. I don't read a lot of fiction, and I don't even read a lot of good fiction like his, but i've enjoyed his reading because I learn a lot, about history and about places like Africa, which I've long wanted to learn more about, and because he is entertaining
I'm interested in languages, learning other languages and grammars and also reading books in the languages I'm starting to learn. I've read some Hermann Hesse in german and I try read some spanish, and very little polish, but very very little. I find learning another language and grammatical and phonetical system can also be consciousness changing. I've yet to learn a language with another script.
Books are definitely drugs. And I like books, real books, better than the internet for in depth learning, although the internet has aided my education a lot, thanks to google, the forums and to youtube. I have not really gotten into the kindle or anything like that. Maybe I will, who knows.
It's hard work to carry all of the books around that I like, and that is a real load on me, but they are worth it. Books are vital.
Since reading John McDougall and learning about healthy eating, I've tried this high carbohydrate whole foods approach to health and I feel really good, I feel satiated. I don't have to worry about getting enough fiber or vitamins and minerals. My problem is getting enough calories because I'm not eating factory foods like cakes and colas and candies and carnage, so I have to eat a lot of platefuls of rice, or a lot of bananas, along with vegetables. but when I do refill my glycogen tank, I'm set, I'm not thinking of food at all, it's amazing. No shame in eating a lot of food, that is a mistake that culture is pressing on us. Eat more to live more, more carbs to speed up metabolism, carbs don't make one fat if they are not refined. I think by the way that humans can thrive and survive on all sorts of different diets, as indicated by Weston A Price in his epic book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" (well worth a read). I think we thrive on meat eating and vegetarian and higher fat and higher carb diets provided the foods are whole foods, and not empty calories liked processed corn and cane fructose or oil and grease. Oil is also an empty calorie, depleted of fibre and nutrients. If you need oil you are likely not getting enough calories in your meal. From carbs. Ditto if you need to snack or desert later (although I think grazing may be equally healthy as meals provided the snacks are wholesome). So how this ties into books? I learned from "Catching Fire" book cited earlier, many things about our roots into food, how we have smaller guts than other primates, so we need energy richer foods for calories- i.e. sweet fruits, cooked foods or animal foods. Books have also been a huge influence on the last 5 years of my LIFE. Reading books by people like John Robbins, T Colin Campbell, John McDougall, Herbert Shelton and other food and health writers, have influenced the path I've taken in life. I've gotten into agriculture and community living for a time, travelled to foreign countries to try the fruits, to try durian.
Books expand the mind, but as far as science and health and nutrition books, it's easy to make errors in logic or errors in the data set itself, and that can lead to wrong conclusions. So the reader also has to be a thinker- an independent one. I've read books by other people as well, promoting an animal foods diet. Partly I think they don't get as equally amazing results, but that they do sometimes get good results, when they specialize it even further (Cure tooth decay by ramiel nagel) and not just say all meat and dairy is of equal value like others may, that's influenced my views as well.
I see myself somewhat as a detective or an investigator- definitely a researcher and a health researcher. I've lately consulted library reference and medical books. These are boring, dry reads, unless one becomes interested in a thing. I find that the most dry things can actually at a different time be the most interesting. I've read about individual nutrients, especially vitamin D. And let's not forget water - Batmanghelidj's books about water are classics and perhaps ought to be required reading in schools!
I have only skimmed the surface about how books have affected me. I've only talked about the more recent things I've been reading and even here I've limited my discussion greatly. Which is why now when I go into the bookstore, I think of it like the drugstore. my drugstore, because I don't take any drug like physical substances- for reasons of health and of principle- to maintain possesion of myself.
Lastly, I also read not because I feel the urgency, the need for knowledge, but also for comfort, or when there is nothing much else to do, but to sit by the fire, or by the window- some fire or some window somewhere, in the storm, or in the evening, or in the winter, and curl up to a book. It doesn't require a reservation. They are not a cure all and they can be used as a means of avoidance of dealing with other issues or people, and I'm sure I've used them that way. But they've definitely had a great direct influence on me as they've certainly had a great indirect influence on everybody.
happy reading
This will be my first post. I love to read. I need to read. I need to do so because I need to know and understand things. I need to see the world as it is. I need to know how to eat correctly, how to live correctly, and how to remineralize my teeth
. In many ways these natural things are written in the book of life, within, or the book of nature. But still, reading helps bring me back to my senses. I've been reading a lot about vitamin D, and it's opened my mind and helped me realize why the sun is so important and I love being in it so much. I've been learnign about serononin, and I've read how repetitite behaviors and motions, like chewing, or walking, or working with one's hands, can stimulate serotonin. Maybe that's why I shake my leg when stressed. These things explain why I like the things I like. But getting back to the theme, books are like drugs in that they change consciousness, in a number of ways. I was at the used book store today, and I saw all of the sections, and books within each section. Each book is like an individual drug, with it's own unique properties, and it belongs in a certain family of other drugs that alter consciousness. The effect a book has also depends on the individuality of the reader, where his mind is at, his level of understanding adn maturity, etc. Some people might use books only to reinforce what they already believe, or to gain knowledge how to do something evil or self serving. A perfect illustration of this is Adolph Hitler. he read a lot, but only to learn more about military matters, or to reinforce what he already wantedt to believe, about race and mysticism.
Also one can read so much that one is insulated and walled off from nature or from culture or society, family and flesh and blood others. I read a lot and I feel the need to read, because I need to understand, and it takes a lot of time and energy, because I read every subject, but I run the risk of being separated from my self, nature, others, that I must be careful to maintain balance and not over-do it. Work and reading go hand in hand really well, because when I work I can think about what I've read, and when I'm reading I can rest from the work. I don't always have the ideal balance that I want in life. To me the biggest challenge in life is getting and keeping a balance in all aspects of life. I generally develop obsessions, but I think they are healthy obsessions because I think they promote overal balance. I think our whole entire culture and civilization and humanity itself is getting out of balance so a person who does have balance might seem in their eyes to be the peculiar one, the one himself who is out of balance.
Books definitely change conciousness. Books can trigger or help inspire thoughts, and thoughts can result in new behaviors and communications.
I've just read some interesting books lately
1. confessions of an economic hitman, by John Perkins
2. "Catching Fire" by Richard Wrangham- about how cooking our food might have made us human, resulted in smaller gut sizes and larger brains. Very fascinating as I myself come from a raw food background, which he profiles.
In general I'm getting interested in questions of human origins, and I'm reading "Before the Dawn" about our human roots when we branched off from primates.
You can see I generally read nonfiction (because I just don't have that much time or mental space) but I also read some nonfiction, especially classics. I've started reading "ishmael" by Daniel Quinn because a person Doug Graham in the raw food world likes it and it relates to a lot of the issues I'm reading about in other books. Sometimes I haev a book on the radar, which I've been wanting to read for a while, or at least I've seen it around in stores and libraries, and I finally get around to reading it. This applies to the John Perkins Economic Hitman book I've just read. I don't always finish a book if I don't like it. I don't feel that compulsion that greatly but I feel it a little, because I wonder if the book may get better. Sometimes I have trouble getting into a book but I know it may still be a good one but I'm just not in the right "space" to get into it, so I plan to come back to it later. Sometimes I read the same book several times, every couple of years and get more and more from it. I've read Think and Grow Rich and Fire in the Belly (by Sam Keen) several times each. Sometimes I go back to re-read a book I read in childhood. Some books, the writing I just want to memorize, and burn into my brain, because I know that could only be a good thing.
Some books I go out of my way to aquire. usually I don't buy any books but save money by checking them out at the library, or at the very least I get them at the used book store- or sometimes last minute at the airport. Some books I just pick up at random and then I find myself amazed by them and that they are hard to put down. Certain books I just can't put down, and they keep me up all night. These are rare. For fiction- Bram Stoker's Dracula was one of these. One book I just found on a ferry boat in thailand, without a cover, I read it and got really into it. I liked it so much, I later figured out from google what it was and who the author was. Shout At the Devil by Wilbur Smith, who isn't very popular here in america sadly. I've gotten really into him and read several of his fictions. I don't read a lot of fiction, and I don't even read a lot of good fiction like his, but i've enjoyed his reading because I learn a lot, about history and about places like Africa, which I've long wanted to learn more about, and because he is entertaining
I'm interested in languages, learning other languages and grammars and also reading books in the languages I'm starting to learn. I've read some Hermann Hesse in german and I try read some spanish, and very little polish, but very very little. I find learning another language and grammatical and phonetical system can also be consciousness changing. I've yet to learn a language with another script.
Books are definitely drugs. And I like books, real books, better than the internet for in depth learning, although the internet has aided my education a lot, thanks to google, the forums and to youtube. I have not really gotten into the kindle or anything like that. Maybe I will, who knows.
It's hard work to carry all of the books around that I like, and that is a real load on me, but they are worth it. Books are vital.
Since reading John McDougall and learning about healthy eating, I've tried this high carbohydrate whole foods approach to health and I feel really good, I feel satiated. I don't have to worry about getting enough fiber or vitamins and minerals. My problem is getting enough calories because I'm not eating factory foods like cakes and colas and candies and carnage, so I have to eat a lot of platefuls of rice, or a lot of bananas, along with vegetables. but when I do refill my glycogen tank, I'm set, I'm not thinking of food at all, it's amazing. No shame in eating a lot of food, that is a mistake that culture is pressing on us. Eat more to live more, more carbs to speed up metabolism, carbs don't make one fat if they are not refined. I think by the way that humans can thrive and survive on all sorts of different diets, as indicated by Weston A Price in his epic book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" (well worth a read). I think we thrive on meat eating and vegetarian and higher fat and higher carb diets provided the foods are whole foods, and not empty calories liked processed corn and cane fructose or oil and grease. Oil is also an empty calorie, depleted of fibre and nutrients. If you need oil you are likely not getting enough calories in your meal. From carbs. Ditto if you need to snack or desert later (although I think grazing may be equally healthy as meals provided the snacks are wholesome). So how this ties into books? I learned from "Catching Fire" book cited earlier, many things about our roots into food, how we have smaller guts than other primates, so we need energy richer foods for calories- i.e. sweet fruits, cooked foods or animal foods. Books have also been a huge influence on the last 5 years of my LIFE. Reading books by people like John Robbins, T Colin Campbell, John McDougall, Herbert Shelton and other food and health writers, have influenced the path I've taken in life. I've gotten into agriculture and community living for a time, travelled to foreign countries to try the fruits, to try durian.
Books expand the mind, but as far as science and health and nutrition books, it's easy to make errors in logic or errors in the data set itself, and that can lead to wrong conclusions. So the reader also has to be a thinker- an independent one. I've read books by other people as well, promoting an animal foods diet. Partly I think they don't get as equally amazing results, but that they do sometimes get good results, when they specialize it even further (Cure tooth decay by ramiel nagel) and not just say all meat and dairy is of equal value like others may, that's influenced my views as well.
I see myself somewhat as a detective or an investigator- definitely a researcher and a health researcher. I've lately consulted library reference and medical books. These are boring, dry reads, unless one becomes interested in a thing. I find that the most dry things can actually at a different time be the most interesting. I've read about individual nutrients, especially vitamin D. And let's not forget water - Batmanghelidj's books about water are classics and perhaps ought to be required reading in schools!
I have only skimmed the surface about how books have affected me. I've only talked about the more recent things I've been reading and even here I've limited my discussion greatly. Which is why now when I go into the bookstore, I think of it like the drugstore. my drugstore, because I don't take any drug like physical substances- for reasons of health and of principle- to maintain possesion of myself.
Lastly, I also read not because I feel the urgency, the need for knowledge, but also for comfort, or when there is nothing much else to do, but to sit by the fire, or by the window- some fire or some window somewhere, in the storm, or in the evening, or in the winter, and curl up to a book. It doesn't require a reservation. They are not a cure all and they can be used as a means of avoidance of dealing with other issues or people, and I'm sure I've used them that way. But they've definitely had a great direct influence on me as they've certainly had a great indirect influence on everybody.
happy reading
