Addicted to reading since shortly after age of three. Didn't read that much during those intense few years that occurr before graduating. Lived in many parts of the world. Some had really good public libraries, some good bookshops, some both and more. The shelf here shows what I can find on these pages - or remember names of. During the last over half a century, I have forgotten much .......
(The quotation originally from a poem was used for the title of a much loved book, where I picked it up; what I have used is the other half.)
The days of leisurely walks along roads on footpaths (sidewalks) in Mumbai and perusing the booksellers' treasures along the way on those sidewalks, of finding wonderful old second hand absolute treasures and finds of books for very little, are long gone now in India - now they too have fresh copies of hot new books, for perhaps a little less than you might pay in a bookshop, but it might be a runoff for all that.
Old classics, alas, are not so readily available any more, unless either on academic curriculum or republished for some reason, and then there are not always enough copies after a while in the stores - eveything has to be fast, including movements of books off the shelves, these days.
But this is completely opposite to the spirit of books and of reading. For good reading one requires more of leisure, of a calm mind, and less of a restless spirit chasing after one goal or another every moment of the day, driving one or others up the wall. That is equally true for art, whether for pursuit or for appreciation.
Even science at higher levels needs a quiet mind and a time free of other chases to reach out into the core.
Come to think of it most of inner achievements can only be reached by a calm and focused spirit, without the restlessness and the turmoil that is taken for drive - if you cannot sit still and wait for results while going on working for your goal, you might not know the way to the goal or pretty much anywhere else, for the dust you are raising quite unncessarily.
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I don't know if life is long enough to go through all one wishes to do, whether reading or travelling.
If wishes were a currency we would be very affluent indeed, since life would be too short to spend all of the wishes.
One can only do one's best.
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The days of living with an island mentality are long gone, and so are those of colonial occupation, and physical power and domination as evidence of superiority. Now, various threads bond and weave the world closer, and the internet in one of them, while the threat to the planet - from various sources - is another. It is more than ever the era that Donne seems to have been envisioning and almost prophetically written of in his famous lines -
"No man is an island
.. .. ... ..
And therefore
Do not send to know for whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee".
He wrote in another time, and could not possibly have foreseen, in how many ways and how dire, his lines would come to be true.
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I see this forum as for use in communication about what one has read, what one thought on a book, or an issue that might rise from that. Any friendships formed or invited or accepted are on that base with that intention.
For personal or professional I do not look here, but of course this is not to say I judge those that do, each one tends to one's own comfort levels.
But any answers, to any questions asked me by anyone directly or even innuendos on discussion posts, shall remain unanswered if they involve an identification or a pinpointing of my identity or a matter of privacy.
Thoughts shared and information exchanged with courtesy is my vision of this site.
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Some people have been taking this as a challenge for some reason and have tried by various means to find out details of the personal identification or privacy nature. They are highly uncomfortable about an exchange on a level higher than chat groups and one wonders why they are on this site. If they knew the usual details they are more comfortable, and free to ignore what is important - thoughts, reflections, insights.
There are two ways one might attempt to reach their level of comprehension - one is higher and obvious, and most that are capable of seeing that level do not require explanations or identifications on a site meant for books and thoughts anyway. They see that this, a deeper vision of a person, a perception on a higher plane, carries far more truth that the usual formats allow, and the usual familiar ones in fact veil the inner, deeper truth. In short, if you can see thoughts you are seeing the person that truly is.
The other way is that they go watch "truth about cats and dogs".
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