Which books sit on your nightstand?

[manitou]

(Or Kindle, as the case may be).

 

We had a good time with this when a wonderful entity named Songs of Distant Earth used to participate here. I still have a hole in my heart because he no longer does. But the thread was fun.

 

The ones I've got lined up (or am reading all at the same time, actually) are:

 

 

TROPIC OF CHAOS; Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence (Christian Parenti)

 

THE AVATAMSAKA SUTRA (Cleary translation)

 

GREAT EMPIRES: Exploring the Power Civilizations that Changed Our World (A wonderful TIME publication that you can probably find next to the National Enquirer when you check out at the market)

 

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE RIDER WAITE TAROT (Fiebig & Borger)

[silent thunder]

Currently

 

Opening the Dragon Gate

Roadside PIcnic by the Strugatsky Brothers. (my favorite sci fi movie Stalker by Tarkovsky was based on this book)

The Hobbit (quick revisit before seeing the final film)

The Root of Chinese Qi Gong

[manitou]

CRoadside PIcnic by the Strugatsky Brothers. (my favorite sci fi movie Stalker by Tarkovsky was based on this book)

 

 

Was that the recent movie with Jake Gyllenhall? That was quite a movie.

[silent thunder]

Was that the recent movie with Jake Gyllenhall? That was quite a movie.

No, Stalker is a Russian film made by Tarkovsky back in the 70's. But I saw the one I think you're referencing and that was an interesting take on near death experiences... (shudder).

 

Stalker is nothing like today's standard sci fi. It's a slow, deeply contemplative film about what is at the core of human desires. The Two main characters have approached a Stalker, who can sneak them into 'The Zone' where it is reputed that a room exists, that will grant people their greatest wish. Problem is, do you even know what it is you want more than anything else? And once you have it...

 

The way Tarkovsky presents it, it carries a similar vibe to some of Chekhov's plays. Deeply brooding, with characters rendered mostly broken by experience and lost in cynicism.

 

Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, an allegorical science fiction film like his earlier Solaris, was adapted from the novel Picnic by the Roadside by brothers Boris Strugatsky and Arkady Strugatsky. The film follows three men -- the Scientist (Nikolai Grinko), the Writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn), and the Stalker (Alexander Kaidanovsky) -- as they travel through a mysterious and forbidden territory in the Russian wilderness called the "Zone." In the Zone, nothing is what it seems. Objects change places, the landscape shifts and rearranges itself. It seems as if an unknown intelligence is actively thwarting any attempt to penetrate its borders. In the Zone, there is said to be a bunker, and in the bunker: a magical room which has the power to make wishes come true. The Stalker is the hired guide for the journey who has, through repeated visits to the Zone, become accustomed to its complex traps, pitfalls, and subtle distortions. Only by following his lead (which often involves taking the longest, most frustrating route) can the Writer and the Scientist make it alive to the bunker and the room. As the men travel farther into the Zone, they realize it may take something more than just determination to succeed: it may actually take faith. Increasingly unsure of their deepest desires, they confront the room wondering if they can, in the end, take responsibility for the fulfillment of their own wishes.

 

The film has only one special effect, in the last shot of the film. It's one of my all time favorites.

Edited December 17, 2014 by silent thunder

[manitou]

And I'll bet the last special effect was his death and some sort of swirly, colorful journey, because he finally realized he wanted peace of heart more than anything else? Just guessing...

[C T]

That J Gyllenhaal movie is Nightcrawler. Sounds like a horror movie, but turns out to be a movie about ambulance-chasing for sensational tabloid news, or something like that.

 

Anyway, my current bedside book, bought just today, is entitled 'The Inconceivable Emancipation' by Sangharakshita. It centres around themes from the Vimalakirti-nirdesa. Just started reading it. Quite good.

Edited December 18, 2014 by C T

[silent thunder]

And I'll bet the last special effect was his death and some sort of swirly, colorful journey, because he finally realized he wanted peace of heart more than anything else? Just guessing...

Nope, it's nothing so heart warming I'm afraid.

 

The last shot is of the Stalker's daughter sitting alone at their very humble kitchen table...

[silent thunder]

That J Gyllenhaal movie is Nightcrawler. Sounds like a horror movie, but turns out to be a movie about ambulance-chasing or something like that.

 

Anyway, my current bedside book, bought just today, is entitled 'The Inconceivable Emancipation' by Sangharakshita. It centres around themes from the Vimalakirti-nirdesa. Just started reading it. Quite good.

The movie I was thinking about is called Source Code. Came out in 2011. Ugh, it was rather nasty.

[C T]

The movie I was thinking about is called Source Code. Came out in 2011. Ugh, it was rather nasty.

O yes, Source Code rings a bell, although i dont recall watching it.

[manitou]

 

Anyway, my current bedside book, bought just today, is entitled 'The Inconceivable Emancipation' by Sangharakshita. It centres around themes from the Vimalakirti-nirdesa. Just started reading it. Quite good.

I'm waiting for one I just ordered: 'Time, Space & Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality', (Nyingma Psychology Series). Steve and I were having a discussion about space and the nature of matter, and he said he'd thumbed through this book a while back and it looked very good. If Steve says it looked good, I'll bet it's good...

[ChiDragon]

I have new online printouts, on my nightstand, for the next subject to be discussed with the TTB bums.

[Aetherous]

Mastering Type (typography book)
Left of Bang (military book about how to detect threats before they happen)

Chinese Nutrition Therapy (TCM style diet...haven't been experiencing the best results with it)
...and just ordered these:

Lord Liu Chun's Secrets of Longevity (Chinese healing based on an individual's experiments on inmates)

Secret of the Shining Toad (about Daoist practices)

[Astral Monk]

Skillfull Grace, a book dealing with meditation practices based on visualization of Tara, om Tare Tutare Ture Svaha!

 

Three Pillars Of Zen, Kapleau, which is actually transcriptions of talks by his master, but really looks at the reality of zazen practice, the heart of traditional zen training.

 

On deck is Biso's Bagua Circle Walking Neigong which connects typical 8 palms with meridians.

 

Also going to review again Thich Nhat Han's translation and commentary on the Heart Sutra, after having half a realization recently how form and emptyness are one.

 

8)

[Yasjua]

Insectopedia - an anthropologist's very interesting and creative discussion of how humans and insects live in parallel and interconnected universes, but hardly ever notice one another.

 

Seeds of Consciousness - I like to keep Nisargadatta near me. It's an outdated habit, I haven't read much of him in the past year and a half.

 

Real Magic - Apparently a little known book by Wayne Dyer... it's an older book, and I feel he's still in a discovery and wonder phase himself. I think his more recent books are a little too market-y.

 

Mahmoud Farschian's book of miniature paintings - Beautiful artwork by a master artist

 

Radical Awakening - A very interesting interview with Stephen Jourdain by Gilles Farcet

 

The Book of Awakening - Anadi came along in my life about 4 years ago. He's a pretty humorless guy, so I don't deal much with him anymore, but he's got some very interesting insight into how meditation works.

[Nikolai1]

A Course In Miracles

[Taomeow]

Currently

 

Opening the Dragon Gate

Roadside PIcnic by the Strugatsky Brothers. (my favorite sci fi movie Stalker by Tarkovsky was based on this book)

The Hobbit (quick revisit before seeing the final film)

The Root of Chinese Qi Gong

 

Roadside Picnic! Don't know how it came out in English, but in the original, it blew my mind, so long ago, so far away... I read it as a teenager, picture this -- winter break, no schedule, no parental supervision, silent heavy snow behind the dark window, a tray on my bed with a large cup of tea and a plate of buttered chocolate cookies (yes, I have always buttered my cookies) -- and this book, through the night. And knowing that I'd sleep till 3 pm and ice skate the rest of the day. And praying that they don't screw up the ending, because there's so many books that fizzle out, way more than books that don't. Happily ever after won't work here, how will they do it?.. And they did it right, and I go, Yesss! on the last page -- and it's seven a.m., good night... Hated the movie though. Maybe I should see it again, now that I'm quite a bit older and quite a lot different.

 

On my coffee table now (I don't read in bed anymore, so, no nightstand):

The Voynich Manuscript (well, it's been there for a year, and will be there for years to come I fear)

Amazon Magic: The life story of Ayahuasquero and Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez

I Ching Numerology, by Da Liu

I, Claudius, by Robert Graves

Edited December 18, 2014 by Taomeow

[Seth Ananda]

lol, my bedside table is crammed with not just my books but my daughters as well. Ill just relay mine

 

A Deed Without a Name, by Lee Morgan. An awesome book exploring folkloric and traditional witchcraft.

 

Apocalyptic Witchcraft by Peter Grey. A call to arms against the social illnesses of our times

 

The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram. Incredible work on Animism

 

The Wakeful World, by Emma Restall Orr. More good Animism

 

The Black Toad by Gemma Gary. Cornish traditional witchcraft.

 

Talking to the Spirits by Filan & Kaldera. Top notch so far, on spirit work topics.

 

Letters from the Devils Forrest by Robin Artisson. Traditional witchcraft, spiritual ecology and provenance traditionalism. His best work so far.

 

The Return of the Dead by Claude Lecouteux. On ghosts, ancestors and Pagan thought on these topics.

 

The Journey into Spirit by Kristoffer Hughes. On Pagan views on dying, loss and bereavement.

[manitou]

Insectopedia - an anthropologist's very interesting and creative discussion of how humans and insects live in parallel and interconnected universes, but hardly ever notice one another.

 

 

Interesting! I have wondered about this sometimes too! In the Avatamsaka Sutra, there is much mention of zillions of what they refer to as Buddha-lands. It was very hard to envision (and keep reading) until I thought that maybe this included all sentient beings, including insects. After all, we're all part of The Life Force. I think of ants, and the incredible feats they are able to do compared to their size, and how they all work toward one goal. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the entire world could do this? The Sutra refers to specific good qualities as Adornments - and certainly the ants have this adornment of mutual cooperation. And dogs - with their capacity for unconditional love (with some exclusions, obviously, but I think they seem to have loyalty as an Adornment unless they have been abused or contorted.)

 

I love the glimpse that we're getting of each other through our books.

[RiverSnake]

Currently reading these few and lots more on the way.

 

Serpent Songs by Nicholas de Mattos Frisvold

 

Warrior Mind by Dick Morgan

 

A Deed Without a Name by Lee Morgan

 

Ancient Art of Life and Death by Rick Bauer

 

-Cool list Seth. I was already looking at Abrams Spell of the Sensuous. Now I'm definitely gonna check it out.

Edited December 18, 2014 by OldChi

[joeblast]

books? on a nightstand? I have baoding balls, singing bowls and tuning forks on mine.

[forestofclarity]

The Ceasing of Notions by Soko Morinaga. I keep coming back to this one again and again.

As it Is, by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.

 

What I need: good fiction.

[dust]

A paperback The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

 

And on the Kindle..Walden, A Tale of Two Cities, the Upanishads

[tara]

Yijing

Road to Heaven, encounters with chinese hermits, by Bill Porter

City of lingering splendor, John Blofeld

Ling Bao Tong Zhi Neng Nei Gong Shu

The Cold Mountain Poems, translated by Gary Snyder

(to name just a few)

[Eric23]

A friend loaned me a box of older Sun Magazines. Been slowly working my way through them. Beyond the night stand... Just finished reading Dale Pendell's Pharmako trilogy.

[Nungali]

At the moment;

 

Riddle of the Pyramids by Kurt Mendelssohn (from a logistic and engineering perspective).

 

The Way of the Animal Powers by Joseph Campbell (very big and full of amazing pictures).

 

The Japanese Art of War by Thomas Cleary

 

Singing the Coast by Margaret Somerville and Tony Perkins ( history and stories of local Gumbaynggirr indigenous people ).