In a nutshell — “I found a lot of time to read in 2020”. Here are pictures of my print and kindle readings, along with a bit of commentary.
My favorite reads were the tribute to Joanna Macy for her 90th birthday “A Wild Love for the World – Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time”, and “Sometimes Brilliant” by Larry Brilliant. The tribute to Joanna Macy provided a ton of context for me about “activism in the western world”. Wow! She is inspiring. That also goes for Larry Brilliant’s “Sometimes Brilliant” — very inspiring. He was part of the eradication of “Small Pox” in India, and so this book is timely in our Covid time. And for spiritual seekers, it’s great because he is another voice of Westerners in India. And for me I like that he was a “reluctant seeker”. I get that. Also, his meetings with Lama Govinda inspired me to read a Lama Govinda book.
For pure entertainment I loved “Good Omens” by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. So much fun. It inspired me to give Terry Pratchett another chance, and I ended up reading 4 of his books in a row. I also watched the TV Series “Good Omens”.
And one always needs a P.G. Wodehouse book. I found this one at a used book store a month ago.
On the Dharma book front, my main take-away continues to be that one needs a living teacher to navigate these books and practices. I found support for that view in the “Enlightened Vagabond” where author, Matthieu Ricard, notes many times that Patrul Rinpoche would only teach what he’d learned along with a teacher. He didn’t believe he was worthy of teaching works he’d only read. That reading is part of the process.
I enjoyed a couple of Chogyam Trungpa’s tomes. “The Path of Individual Liberation” and “The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion” edited by Judith Lief. They are collections of talks given at his annual seminary retreats arranged into stages of the Tibetan Kagyu path. Absolutely beautiful reads.
Matthieu Ricard’s “Enlightened Vagabond” is a collection of stories and snippets of Patrul Rinpoche. It’s simple and powerful. Here is a glimpse into the book. https://www.lionsroar.com/simple-man-extraordinary-yogi-the-life-of-patrul-rinpoche/
Margaret Wheatley’s new Songline was a great experience. She and Jerry Granelli combined to create an Audio recording in the form of an indigenous culture songline. I listened to it many times. The book is a support for that audio recording.
Byron Katie was a great find this year. My friend Roger recommended her for a couple years, and I finally read her this year. “A Mind at Home With Itself” combines her home-grown ideas coupled with the Diamond Sutra. It’s very practical.
I read many of Tarchin Hearn’s books as part of my Kindle-izing project. The most surprising was “Growth and Unfolding”. At this moment it’s my favorite of his books.
I was pleasantly surprised that in “Welcoming the Unwelcome” Pema Chodron quotes from Tarchin Hearn’s book “True Refuge”.
I found Tiwaiwaka to be a fascinating experience. In reading it, and in witnessing other people’s reactions to it. I labelled this booklet as a “manifesto” – that is – it talks about a vision. It’s not the cookbook with practical details. I attended a weekend workshop with Rob McGowan in February, and it was mostly a love-in for this vision. Then this booklet was part of the 2020 readings, and the reception was mainly resistance to it. Interesting that there was a lot of resistance to it when Rob was not present.
And lastly, I try to read a couple heavy university style books every year. This year I took on Thomas Piketty’s latest book “Capital and Ideology”. I took the short cut he offers and only read that last quarter. And that was worth it, he always expands my awareness.
I’m currently reading Stephen Pinker’s “Enlightenment Now”, and it is messing with me <smile>. One of my favorite authors is Nassim Taleb, and he calls Stephen Pinker a “Bullshit Vendor”. And yet, I’m mainly agreeing with Pinker. So this is proving to be a wild ride.
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