It has been quite some time since I published anything on this website. To tell the truth, I have been occupied with a hobbyist programming project for the last few months that I have dedicated all the time left over by work, relationships and wasting time in general. Today I found some time that I’d rather dedicate to writing these scribbles again rather than producing loops, statements and variables.

But  what should I write about this time? When I glanced at my Google Docs folder, I saw two unfinished scribbles, one of which never got further than the title. I don’t feel like continuing on either of them since they were not interesting enough to finish in the first place.

This is probably going to be a short one, but I’d like to talk about this system I came up with last fall around the time I took a break from writing. I like to read a lot, right? In high school I used to consume a lot of fantasy; Harry Potter, Witcher, Althalus and the entire Redwall series to name a few. During my college years my reading habits grew faint, mostly because of the amount of academic writing I had to wrap my mind around. Now that those days are in the past and I’ve found myself with a stable job and adulthood responsibilities, I’ve taken up reading again.

The problem with reading as a hobby is that there are so many books one can choose from. There are some freaks who are able to read several books at once, switching from one to another on a day-to-day basis, but I am not one of them. I pick up a book, finish it in several short sections and put it on my shelf. Therefore I have to dedicate my time to a single book at a time, and choosing which book to pick up can be quite the hassle. Sometimes I’m interested in one kind of topic, such as historical true crime à la David Grann of Killers of the Flower Moon and the Wager fame. Sometimes I feel like improving myself as a person so I pick up a book by Thich Nhat Hanh. The problem is to select a book to stick to for days at a time and not lose interest in the topic before finishing it.

For this problem I did create a system: Every time I order more books to read, I order three books, one for each category I devised. The categories are Heart, Mind and Soul. The Heart category comprises books that cause emotions, whether they be joy, sadness, fear, et cetera. The Mind category comprises books that teach me something, such as books about programming, history or natural sciences. The Soul category comprises books that develop my psychological side for the lack of a better wording, such as philosophy books and certain publications with spiritual subtexts. After I acquire the three books, I finish them and start the process from the beginning.

I have done this now for a few months, finishing three very different books at a time. Just for example, the first three books I started out with were:

1. For the Heart: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys

2. For the Mind: Narconomics by Tom Wainwright

3. For the Soul: The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh

I chose Flowers for Algernon for my Heart book for I had read that the book is very touching. I did know the book by its reputation beforehand and I had heard it’s a common reading assignment in American schools. It’s one of the great novels one should read in their lifetime, so I bought it and had a go at it. I must agree it is very moving and the last page managed to squeeze some tears out of me. It actually resonated with me more than I had expected; the book is about Charlie, a mentally handicapped person who gains great intellect through an experimental surgery, previously having been performed only on a laboratory mouse named Algernon. Charlie finds himself alienated from his former relationships because of his intellect and confused by his emerging sexual feelings. The way the book is written, in the form of a self-written journal by Charlie, really emphasises his progress as his grammar and writing style improve paragraph by paragraph. Charlie’s conclusion in the book also really touched me, since the thoughts and fears he goes through in the end are really similar to mine. As I said, the Heart category must not be only about joy; sadness is a feeling too and not in any way worse.

I heard a recommendation for Narconomics in a now-finished podcast I sometimes listen to called Hello Internet. The book is about the drug trade, its causes and results. The book was published a decade ago so some of the data it refers to might be outdated, but it really grants the reader a great insight into why modern policies to restrict illegal drug trade fail so spectacularly, since the policies have not really evolved since the 1930s. Wainwright himself did the investigative journalism and writes about his journey through South America having visited cocaine farms and talked to cartel members. The book really gives you the basis you need to understand why criminalising some substances is not always the best solution and which actions could lead to the best results.

Last but not least, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching was the second book by Thich Nhat Hanh that I’ve read, the first being Peace is Every Step. This book is a bit more technical than the latter and it provides more direct insight into the Buddhist faith than any of the other books of his that I’ve read since. Let me be clear; I’m not into Buddhism as a religion, but I do appreciate the message it teaches and especially the lessons Thich Nhat Hanh brings across. I like his writing style, even if translated from Vietnamese to English, and I like how he does not act as an authority in what he teaches. Instead of commanding as many religious texts do, he suggests, which is a very important distinction. I’d imagine The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching to be a handy pocket guide to Buddhism if you’re a practitioner, but even a non-committed layman such as I got a lot out of it. The Four Noble Truths and the Three Doors of Liberation, for example.

After finishing these three books, I did order more following the same pattern. Maybe sometime in the future I’ll write about them, who knows. I do like to write about what I read, for it allows me to process the books in a way I can’t do without an outlet, and that’s what this website is for.