Stuff I’ve Been Reading -- February 2018

Books Bought
12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick - Philip K. Dick
Greatest Of All Time: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali
Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words - Randall Munroe
Bob Dylan: All the Songs - the Story Behind Every Track - Philippe Margotin
Big Vegan - Robin Asbell
The Daily Show: An Oral History - Chris Smith
The Spooky Art: Thoughts on Writing - Norman Mailer

Books Read
Net of Being - Alex Grey
Billy Joel - Fred Schruers
Discipline Equals Freedom - Jocko Willink
12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson

Welcome back to Stuff I’ve Been Reading, the world’s most exciting monthly book column. First some housekeeping. I bought some very big books this month. Maybe it was a competition, maybe I secretly knew about World Book Day and forgot… or maybe I just like buying books. The first heavyweight I purchased was Philip K. Dick’s Exegesis. It’s a long drawn out story, but PKD had some visions. Maybe they were real. Either way he sat down and wrote automatically like a machine for thousands of pages about the experience -- exploring it from all sides. The more you read it, the more you want it to be true. Although, no one else ever heard from V.A.L.I.S., what PKD called a Vast Active Living Intelligence System, again… Next I bought the Bob Dylan song explainer. Saw it in a discount bookstore for $30, but then found it online for $15. It probably cost them more than that to print the book. Truly comprehensive and weighing 5.9 pounds, it’s a very impressive book. On any other day, that book would truly take the cake -- but not today. I’d had my eye on this book for a long time. Really it’s not even the greatest book of all time. There’s an even larger version that costs more than $1600. I did not get that version. This book is merely a tribute to that even larger version. Still this tribute weighs 17.4 pounds and usually costs around $140. I got it for $40 shipped. I don’t know how much it cost them to send it here, but it was a lot. Unlike books shipped directly by Amazon, the seller actually packed the book correctly, even protecting it in plastic wrap before setting it in a box filled with paper to completely stop the book from moving, to avoid damage. This is not the way Amazon shipped Net of Being to me, a beautiful Alex Grey book filled with artwork and damaged by those fools three different times before I received a decent copy. Even then it was only because they were lucky and it wasn’t damaged. Each time the book was put in a box too large for it, with a single piece of bubble wrap. The books banged around the box damaging their corners and with one even bending some of the pages. For a company that used to do nothing but ship me books, Amazon is really losing its edge. I also purchased a large Vegan cookbook because I hope to find some non-dairy dessert recipes. So far I mainly eat Graham crackers. Picked up the Daily Show book and Mailer on Writing for cheap at used bookstores in SF. Thing Explainer is also quite large but thin. I threw it in my cart when making another large purchase at Amazon. Any time I buy a TV or a Camera, I always like to throw some books in as well. Books may seem expensive when bought individually but when priced against a camera or a TV -- who cares. But enough about the books that I bought and didn’t read, let’s talk about the books I did read. It’s time to start the spree!

Net of Being - I’d long admired this book on Amazon, but had a hard time pulling the trigger because of the cost. In the end it was well worth it, not just for the large full color reproductions of Grey’s incredible mystical art, but for the stories he told and the way he talked about his art and what it means. Even though it’s an art book, I read it cover to cover, learning more about the young Alex Grey and his wonderful partnership with his wife Allyson. Reading his words helped me to think more not only about his art, but about all art. I was fortunate enough to visit Alex’s camp at Burning Man and see him paint live. I was most impressed by his tub after tub of paint supplies. I’ve had his buddha painting on my wall for years, but this book really inspired me to visit his gallery in upstate New York. It sounds like quite a hike, but it’s definitely on my list of things to check out.

Billy Joel - Always been a fan of his music, pretty sure I was introduced to it without my knowledge through it’s inclusion in the Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon, but regardless of where it comes from, for me, Billy has always been there. I was fortunate enough to see him in concert during one of his Face-to-Face shows with Elton John. It was a magical experience. Reading about Joel’s troubles with women, troubles with money and how he grew up in a home without a television only made me like him more as he continues to make music and overcome these obstacles. Personally I’m still sad that he stopped making pop songs after River of Dreams, especially as he was being rediscovered by all those who had dismissed him early on and was really starting to have mainstream success. I was surprised to learn of the Joel family history which included many factories and a large business stolen from them by Nazi Germany. Lucky to escape with their lives, Billy Joel’s life could have been very different as World War II raged on. America was once a truly great place for immigrants where anyone, even Billy Joel could do what he wanted and achieve towering success. I hope it will be again.

Discipline Equals Freedom - I bought this book for a variety of reasons. I liked the title, the simple black and white style of the book, I thought I’d heard the guy talk on the Joe Rogan show and it was on sale. The book, which is just as strong as its title is more than a self help book, it’s a self discipline book. As Jocko explains, it really does all start with you. You are the one who can make the decision not to eat the junk food, which he rightly calls poison. He also admits that there is poison all around us and the other people are eating it. It doesn’t matter if the donuts are free -- they are poison. Jocko was a highly decorated Navy Seal and doesn’t take any shit. He sees your weakness as something that can and will be overcome. It’s not a very long book, but it is one that I’d like to read again. The strength of Jocko’s words really fly off the page and as I continue to let them marinate in the background, I think I’ve really learned something and know that I can and will do better in the future. I recommend this book for anyone and everyone who’s trying to get starting and is struggling with motivation. Remember -- action comes before motivation -- it doesn’t make sense but it’s true. I convinced myself to start this column by laying out the books I read. Real simple task to get me started. Once I’d laid it out, the column started to take shape, so I became motivated to write it. Now it’s almost done, so I’m motivated to finish. As it says on the back cover “There is no shortcut. There is no hack. There’s only one way. So get after it.”

12 Rules for Life - Like most everyone I know, I’m inspired by the words of Jordan Peterson. He made such a strong showing on YouTube and the Joe Rogan show standing up for logic against true madness. In this book, Peterson plots a course for self improvement, but is much more thoughtful than that, really talking about the larger issues behind things. With a mix of personal stories, stories from his patients, Simpsons references and a fair amount of Biblical stories, Peterson makes the case for self improvement and offers reasonable common sense ways to improve without coming off as preachy or holier than thou. While I don’t know if this book will be accessible to most people, it is unlike most self help books in its length and detail, I for one enjoyed spending some time with the Professor. Having seen him on YouTube many times, I read the book in his voice and it seemed more like spending time with an helpful old friend than a stuffy unknown narrator. I hope this personal connection will help me internalize and truly learn from his lessons. While it may seem simple, one of the most important lessons he imparted was to tell the truth. Not in a mean way, but in an accurate and factual way. He relates a story where a patient in a mental hospital wanted to know why she couldn’t line up with the psychology students. There were many ways to answer her question, most of which probably would have caused her pain or amplified the differences between the two groups. Peterson went to his default and told the lady the truth. They were psychology students there for training so they had to line up together. She was initially disappointed, but because his answer was the truth she didn’t feel any pain and understood the situation. It may be a simple cliche worthy of a Billy Joel song, but honesty really is the best policy. Not brutal honesty, designed to hurt, but factual honesty designed to explain the situation and lead to a better understanding. Simple lessons that I think we could all take to heart. Thank you Dr. Peterson, for your thoughtful book.

I guess that’s about it for this episode of the Stuff I’ve Been Reading a.k.a. the polysyllabic spree, my monthly book column and continuous homage to Nick Hornby and his column of the same name. I’m still working on catching up from my 2017 backlog, even though I wrote a few long columns trying to catch up this month. I almost didn’t read any books, but at the last moment sat down and read the last ⅔ of Alex Grey, Billy Joel and Jordan Peterson. It turns out I really can read when I need to, even though I’d probably be better off reading a little bit each day before bed rather than all at once at the end of every month in order to meet some silly deadline that I’ve assigned myself. But that’s how the book column works. You read more to write more, to write more to read more. Or something like that. Until next time… this has been the polysyllabic spree!