Category Archives: Books

BOOKS: “Poems, 1965-1975” by Seamus Heaney

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Seamus Heaney: Poems 1965 1975Seamus Heaney: Poems 1965 1975 by Seamus Heaney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – McMillan FSG

This book gathers the poetry of the four Seamus Heaney collections that come out during the titularly referenced decade. This is his early work, his first four published collections, and includes: Death of a Naturalist, Door into the Dark, Wintering Out, and North.

I enjoy reading Heaney’s work. His poems tend to have a country influence and have a physicality that give them heft. Though in the latter half of the collection, there is increasing political influence — i.e. regarding the issue of Northern Ireland. Heaney’s poems often remind me of those of Robert Frost, though Heaney wrote much more free verse. Heaney had a love of words that some will adore while others find it distracting for the frequent visits to the dictionary with arcane words.

I’d recommend this collection for all poetry readers — especially if you love Frost (particularly for content, not form,) you’ll really enjoy the poems of Seamus Heaney.

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BOOK: “Bruce Springsteen’s America” ed. by Robert Coles

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Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, A Poet SingingBruce Springsteen’s America: The People Listening, A Poet Singing by Robert Coles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher Site

This book assembles ten reflections upon the role that Bruce Springsteen’s songs have played in the lives and thoughts of everyday Americans. It’s presented as the views of Harvard Psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Robert Coles, but while Coles contributed both front- and back-matter as well as editing, the bulk of the book consists of the thoughts of a diverse assemblage of Americans — a lawyer, a teacher, a police officer, a grandmother, a student, a salesman, etc.

The degree to which Bruce Springsteen’s music is central to the book varies both in Cole’s contributions and in those of his contributors. Sometimes, it’s heavily about those songs, but other times it drifts into territory in which Springsteen seems to have little relevance. That’s okay… unless one bought the book primarily to read about Springsteen’s cultural influence, and one might easily be forgiven for thinking that’s the book one was getting.

Few, if any, musicians have images more intertwined with what it means to be American than Bruce Springsteen. This is, therefore, an interesting topic, though it may have been more interesting with a bit more focus.

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BOOK: “Weirdnosis” by The Rogue Hypnotist

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Weirdnosis - Astounding confessions of a Rogue Hypnotist.Weirdnosis – Astounding confessions of a Rogue Hypnotist. by The Rogue Hypnotist
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Author Amazon Page

This book examines a range of strange ways that suggestibility is exploited, whether or not the usual methods of hypnotic induction are employed. Its contents range from advertising to generating emotional attraction to building a hypnosis busking act. It covers a lot of fascinating ground.

My view of how informative this book was roller-coastered as I read. On the one hand, the author debunked many a popular myth or misconception about hypnosis. This made his arguments sound more measured, tested, and valuable. On the other hand, he (I assume, he) was quite opinionated – often presenting an opinion or hypothesis as established fact – and this had the opposite impact, making his arguments seem ill-considered. At one point, he went on an extended rant against romance novel authors that seemed a bit personal, like maybe his wife left him for one (author or novel? not sure.)

If you are interested in suggestibility and how it is exploited, there aren’t many “games in town” (at least not books that have an ounce of veracity,) so you might want to check it out — but have your grain of salt ready.

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BOOK: “Tribe” by Sebastian Junger

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Tribe: On Homecoming and BelongingTribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author site

This book reflects upon how we are evolutionarily optimized to live in tribal communities, and how life in super-tribal societies (ones in which no one can know everyone else, where one has no shared fate, and where – for better or worse – one can easily end up invisible) is doing us in. The book sprang from an article Junger wrote about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD,) an affliction Junger found himself with after working as a war correspondent in Afghanistan (pre-911) and elsewhere. It might seem like there is a large leap from human social structures to PTSD, but it turns out where a community’s experience is all tied together, PTSD is relatively rare and / or fades quickly. It is because the afflicted soldier is going from the tribal entity (military unit) back to a decidedly conflicted super-tribe that trauma is so pernicious. Junger explores cases such as the bombing of London in WWII and the shelling and sniper attacks in Bosnia in the 90’s, where such afflictions were far rarer than one would expect because there was — to some degree — a shared experience of the traumatic events.

I found this book fascinating. It’s quite short. It has just four chapters. The first discusses the importance of tribe in human development, generally. It then looks at war, PTSD, and the challenge of returning home (and why so many soldiers have such difficulty doing so, though one would expect a peaceful world would be decidedly preferrable to a warring one.)

I found this book to be gripping and intensely thought-provoking, and I’d recommend it for all readers.

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BOOK: “A Poetry Handbook” by Mary Oliver

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A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing PoetryA Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry by Mary Oliver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher site — Ecco

This is an excellent soup-to-nuts primer on poetry writing. While it would be a great tool for someone just beginning their poetic journey — i.e. one who didn’t yet know iambic pentameter from trochaic tetrameter — it also offers some nuggets of wisdom for one who is farther down the road. Mary Oliver had some unique ways of thinking about, or expressing thoughts about, the art.

The book does cover ideas relevant to both modern and traditional poetry. In this regard it has an advantage over, say, Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Traveled in that Oliver considered both free and metered verse to be poetry.

The author uses the occasional poem or fragment from a variety of poets to make her points but doesn’t get bogged down in examples or analysis of poems.

Among the discussions that seemed better or more insightful than those in other such books were reflections upon the role of imitative exercises as well as exploration of the value of workshops and feedback.

I’d highly recommend this book for poets and serious poetry readers.

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BOOK: “Senjutsu to Ninjutsu” by Doshi Shigetsu (Trans. by Eric Shahan)

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Senjutsu to NinjutsuSenjutsu to Ninjutsu by Doshi Shigetsu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author’s Amazon Site

This essay presents thoughts about the practices of what Taoists would call “Immortals.” (The work was apparently created as a speech or lecture.) The translation used in the book is “mountain ascetics,” which might lead readers to believe that it is talking about Shugenja or Yamabushi. I don’t know a great deal about the Japanese language or those systems, but the character used — 仙 (Xiān, in Chinese) — is almost always translated as Immortal in the Chinese language. Shugendo is a syncretic tradition of Esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, Taoism, and folk religion, and it certainly has some overlap (mountain setting, Taoist influence, harsh training practices, etc.) but I don’t know that the two systems would be viewed as equivalent. (Though maybe they were considered so at the time and place of publication.) The author does try to clarify who it is he is talking about, largely by distinguishing them from Celestial Maidens (天人) and Tengu (天狗, crow-goblin-swordsmen.)

At any rate, the primary objective of the lecture / essay is to counter the tendency to be dismissive of these systems. The piece is dated 1901, and so there was an increasing proclivity to dismiss the supernormal as mere superstition. The author argues that practitioners who develop unwavering self-confidence through the practice of intense / death-defying activities (e.g. fasting) may be capable of things that would be unfathomable by ordinary people, leading ordinary lives.

The “ninjutsu” bit of the title results from the proposition of a linkage of the methods and approaches between Japan’s famous caste of warrior-spies, i.e. the ninja, and the ascetics / immortals discussed throughout most of the book.

This is an interesting read, particularly so because of its timing (after the era of Samurai and Ninja, but before modernity so advanced that the supernatural was entirely relegated to a societal fringe.)

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BOOK: “Health, Healing, and Beyond” by TKV Desikachar (Trans. by R.H. Cravens)

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Health, Healing, And Beyond: Yoga and the Living Tradition of KrishnamacharyaHealth, Healing, And Beyond: Yoga and the Living Tradition of Krishnamacharya by R.H. Cravens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – FSG / North Point Press

I was eager to read this book because I found Desikachar’s “The Heart of Yoga” to be one of the most important books for yoga practitioners. The book under review is in large part (but not entirely) a biography of T.T. Krishnamacharya — T.K.V. Desikachar’s father and arguably the most important figure in the development of modern yoga. Krishnamacharya was sponsored by the King of Mysore to build a school at the palace, and luminaries such as B.K.S. Iyengar (prop yoga,) Pattabhi Jois (Ashtanga Vinyasa,) Indira Devi (the Russian-born Johnny Appleseed of Yoga,) and others came to be his students.

The book not entirely a biography. It might more accurately be described as an exploration of Krishnamacharya’s philosophy that use stories from his life to elucidate his lived philosophy. Readers will find that the building and maintaining of health is a major element of Krishnamacharya’s philosophy, but perhaps not so much that they find the title apt. The book also spends a fair amount of time on other topics such as yogic ethics and an approach to teaching.

I continue to respect Desikachar’s candor and lack of dogmatism. He discusses his father as a teacher and parent, warts and all. The lack of dogmatism seems to reflect the apple not falling far from the tree. Throughout, Desikachar emphasizes that his father, whatever his faults may have been, was tolerant and saw yoga as a no-strings-attached gift to the world. Krishnamacharya did not require his students, not even his son, to adopt any particular religious belief – despite being a believer himself.

I’d highly recommend this book for all yoga practitioners.


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BOOK: “The Tao of Bill Murray” by Gavin Edwards

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The Tao of Bill Murray: Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party CrashingThe Tao of Bill Murray: Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing by Gavin Edwards
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher site – Penguin Random House

This book lays out Bill Murray’s philosophy of life as revealed by his quirky, daring, and spontaneous approach to living. Much has been made of the influence of the mystic philosopher G.I. Gurdjieff on Murray’s thinking. This background is discussed a little in Edwards’ book, but mostly this is a book that uses anecdotes from Bill Murray’s life to make a case for a philosophy of life that involves spontaneity, generosity, service, and connection. (Furthermore, it’s not clear to what degree Gurdjieff influenced Murray’s thinking, versus Gurdjieff’s ideas appealing to Murray because of the way the comedic actor already experienced the world.)

The author organizes the book around what he calls “The Ten Principles of Bill,” a set of ideas that Edwards argues can be seen cutting across Murray’s working and non-working life (and most of the stories are from his interactions with everyday people in everyday [but often unexpected] settings, and not from Murray’s acting work.)

I found this book to be highly readable and illuminating. The stories are funny but also offer a distinct approach to experiencing the world. I’d highly recommend this book for those interested in living a more spontaneous and rewarding life, or just those who like Bill Murray.

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PROMPT: Fictional Character

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Daily writing prompt
If you had to switch lives with a fictional character for a week, who would you choose?
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Sun Wu Kong. Unmitigated mischief might make a nice change. It’s obviously not for the immortality.

PROMPT: Longest Book

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Daily writing prompt
What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?
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I’m not sure. I’ve read a few north of 1,000 pages. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand leap to mind. I don’t read too many very long books as I generally find they are badly in need of editing. [That is certainly the case for Atlas Shrugged.] And, you know, they take a long time to read.

The fattest book on my physical bookshelf at the moment is Stephen Wolfram’s A New Kind of Science, but I’m pretty sure I never got through that one.