new books

There was a big booksale on today, which I went to, and bought some books. But not as many as I thought I might.
My attitude to books has changed interestingly over the last few years.
Now that my reading list is longer than I can reasonably expect to ever get through, and there is so much reading material freely available, and other media that I want to absorb, it no longer seems worth just buying anything vaguely interesting looking. I've come to realise that the probability of actually reading the book, or being able to use it some other way (such as giving it away, or lending it out) is very important too.
So, this is what I came out with today, along with why:

• Collins Gem Weather - a guide to interpreting the sky, and what it's done, is doing, and is likely to do. This would be a nice skill to have, especially as I never watch the weather, and I like to cycle. I bought this book in order to increase my natural intepretive skills.
• The Tough Guide To Fantasy Land - This is basically a glossary of roleplaying terms and culture I think. I bought this book because it looks simple to read, reasonably entertaining, but mainly because it should give me a better understanding of role-playing, and hence one of my best friends. I bought this book in order to understand someone else.
• Nobody's Child - This is a book of Kate Adie's experiences of orphans. I have a lot of respect for Kate Adie, and I don't know much about orphans. I bought this book to learn more about Kate Adie, and through her, humanity.
• The Kindness of Children - The premise of this book is: 'Are children wiser about the nature of kindness than we think they are?' I don't think my society has the right attitude to children, hence books like this that challenge the social outlook seem likely to me to be good sources of truth and wisdom. I bought this book to learn more about humanity, and what humanity could be.
• The Christmas Mystery - Jostein Gaarder, writer of Sophie's World, writes well, thoughtfully and entertainingly. I haven't been reading enough fiction lately either, which has been tiring me out I think. Also, Sophie's World connects back to an important time in my past: reading this might reveal/grow some important links, and enable some sort of progression. I bought this book to relax with, and help set my life in better context.
• Salam Pax, The Baghdad Blog - A text that I'd like to have about me simply because I think it has historical importance: the emergence of independent internet journalism via blogging. Also, I expect there's some pretty interesting stuff in here concerning the situation in Iraq. I bought this book as a historical memento, and to flesh out my impression of the Iraq conflict.
• Teach Yourself PR - I bought this book because having a better working knowledge of PR should let me interact with PRed organisations more effectively. In a world where big organisations impact our lives a lot, this should be a useful skill.
• Tales From Earthsea - This was on my to buy list already: I read the first three Earthsea books already, and loved them, and they influenced me significantly. I bought this book to continue an ongoing thread of my life, be entertained and thought provoked. Ursula K Le Guin is an awesome writer and thinker. Anything she's written is on my reading list.
  
• Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance - I loved Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and I am involved with keeping chickens, so this seems like a nice book to have. I bought this book to see how I align with the rest of the chicken keeping community, and hopefully to get a better feeling for the relationship between humans and other animals.
• Sufi - Family friends raised Sufism in my consciousness recently, and got me interested. I know next to nothing about Sufism, so I bought this book to increase my awareness of humanity, and its customs.

So there we are. A whole bunch of books, motives, and future reading for me...

Martial Arts, Games and Learning

A common criticism of martial arts (as studied by the layperson, rather than the military etc.) is that 'the moves would never help you in a real fight'. This has never been a problem for me. My reason for training is not to obtain fighting skills as quickly as possible, but to gradually obtain movement skills and gain mastery over my body (in a less domination-centric terminology: to unite my mind with my body) over a long timescale.
So although the things I'm learning currently won't help me out in a mugging, they might help me use my body with more awareness and care, for myself and others. Perhaps I'll drive more safely, not push myself or others beyond our limits, and grow older with better health, etc.
I'll be fitter, mentally and physically, and a more effective member of society than I otherwise would have been.
So, my message to the martial artists who want to fight: Give up martial arts. Get out onto the streets and get into fights. That's how to learn to fight. You'll make the 'right' friends, and be engaging in the right activities to do 'well' in real fights.
To the martial artists: Perhaps you will be a better fighter eventually. But I think that's missing the point. Your martial art can be of far more value to you in your everyday life.
I'm sure many people understand this, but I think many don't as well.
The reason the moves we learn (at the beginning stages) in martial arts wouldn't help in a real fight is that they're very contrived. Both parties have to cooperate a lot in order to make the first steps in learning. What do these contrived moves do? They give us a sense of what's possible, extend what's possible, and allow us to practice and develop fundamentals that will be useful in a freer context.
I am discovering the same thing in maths and Go. Although a game of Go is almost infinite in its possibilities, without a study of the fundamentals, the range of accessible possibilities is much reduced. And maths is so open-ended that you can wander round in circles forever unless you impose some sort of order on your endeavours somehow.
And to take it to its extreme: life is the most open-ended chance anyone ever gets. To fail to transfer the lessons learned from more restricted activities would be to close off the possibilities of the universe!
I never knew a board game could be so illuminating. Perhaps it takes a board game like Go. (And stepping stones, in the form of maths and martial arts...)

lines of enquiry

Yesterday I visited Kettle's Yard to see an exhibition called 'Lines of Enquiry', containing images created by non-artists for various purposes. It really opened my eyes to the value of drawing and related skills. And the vast array of purposes that such skills can be put to. It's easy to think that artistic activities are segregated from clearly utilitarian, practical and scientific endeavours. This exhibition really showed how both can really benefit from each other. Perhaps it's simpler to see that the distinction is actually artificial, and that by doing away with it, freedom of expression is increased.
It's easy to miss out on visual representations in every day life. Browsing through this exhibition gave me the resolve to get back into drawing again.
One thing I am sure of is that failing to communicate visually is missing out on a dimension of life with huge potential.
What role does visual representation play in your life?
Definitely a line of enquiry to follow up.