Murtaza, can’t say enough about how much I have enjoyed your book selection and thoughts over the years ever since I found your takes on Goodreads. Bookmarked just now a lot of these.
Two questions for you — what have you thought of William Dalrymple’s travelogues and musings on the Indian subcontinent?
Also curious if you’ve had nietzsche’s critique of the ‘idle reader’ in mind when thinking about the ideal balance made up of reading in one’s life? It’s one that I admittedly felt personally attacked by when I first encountered lol but have over time began to understand the thrust of its argument. There’s certainly something to be said about excessive time spent in passive taking in of media (even reading no matter its literary merit) if it takes away from one’s ability to more actively engage in the world, since there is no substitute for the latter.
I think maybe there’s a healthy balance between more experiential practice and more passive engagement via reading/lectures etc, one suffers through that balance being skewed in one direction or the other.
It reminds me a bit of the symbolic interpretation of heaven vs earth as expressed by someone like Jonathan Pageau, that reading can be sort of like receiving a pattern from ‘heaven’ (something like a Platonic form of sorts that undergirds how the world works) but that that pattern is useless unless it is embodied by us actively within the world which come with our engagement and experience in general w/ the latter through quotidian and nonglamorous work and communion w/ our fellow man. Hopefully that makes sense a little and doesn’t come off as too abstract :)
So glad to hear that John. I have had the same thought myself, so much time spent in abstraction is no substitute for active engagement. But I find that reading a lot ends up deepening my appreciation of the experiences I do have, so I get a lot more out of them even if they are necessarily briefer. Plus, most people, including myself, unfortunately don't have the resources to travel as much as we'd ideally like so reading is also "the cheapest vacation money can buy," as someone once famously put it.
I like that idea from Pageau. I have an abiding belief that everything happens for a reason and all our experiences are intended to prepare us for the next step in life, although you need to focus inwardly to see the patterns. I like to think no book I've read has ever been wasted and all of them have contributed to making me who I am.
Love your selections, curious what else didn’t make the post. I’m also thinking I’ll try to read less. I realized I read 70 books this year, which seems excessive.
Yes, I’m probably at least 50% novels. Maybe I’ll check the actual percentage. Definitely I read a mix of genres. And I have about an hour drive a day if I add it up when I listen to audiobook novels. Still, seems like a lot.
Can I send you a gift copy of a new book from our imprint for you to read in 2024? The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam https://a.co/d/ilxWLhR
Murtaza, can’t say enough about how much I have enjoyed your book selection and thoughts over the years ever since I found your takes on Goodreads. Bookmarked just now a lot of these.
Two questions for you — what have you thought of William Dalrymple’s travelogues and musings on the Indian subcontinent?
Also curious if you’ve had nietzsche’s critique of the ‘idle reader’ in mind when thinking about the ideal balance made up of reading in one’s life? It’s one that I admittedly felt personally attacked by when I first encountered lol but have over time began to understand the thrust of its argument. There’s certainly something to be said about excessive time spent in passive taking in of media (even reading no matter its literary merit) if it takes away from one’s ability to more actively engage in the world, since there is no substitute for the latter.
I think maybe there’s a healthy balance between more experiential practice and more passive engagement via reading/lectures etc, one suffers through that balance being skewed in one direction or the other.
It reminds me a bit of the symbolic interpretation of heaven vs earth as expressed by someone like Jonathan Pageau, that reading can be sort of like receiving a pattern from ‘heaven’ (something like a Platonic form of sorts that undergirds how the world works) but that that pattern is useless unless it is embodied by us actively within the world which come with our engagement and experience in general w/ the latter through quotidian and nonglamorous work and communion w/ our fellow man. Hopefully that makes sense a little and doesn’t come off as too abstract :)
So glad to hear that John. I have had the same thought myself, so much time spent in abstraction is no substitute for active engagement. But I find that reading a lot ends up deepening my appreciation of the experiences I do have, so I get a lot more out of them even if they are necessarily briefer. Plus, most people, including myself, unfortunately don't have the resources to travel as much as we'd ideally like so reading is also "the cheapest vacation money can buy," as someone once famously put it.
I like that idea from Pageau. I have an abiding belief that everything happens for a reason and all our experiences are intended to prepare us for the next step in life, although you need to focus inwardly to see the patterns. I like to think no book I've read has ever been wasted and all of them have contributed to making me who I am.
Love your selections, curious what else didn’t make the post. I’m also thinking I’ll try to read less. I realized I read 70 books this year, which seems excessive.
Including novels I think 70~ could be ok
Yes, I’m probably at least 50% novels. Maybe I’ll check the actual percentage. Definitely I read a mix of genres. And I have about an hour drive a day if I add it up when I listen to audiobook novels. Still, seems like a lot.
I want to read less and better books but the problem is its so hard to know whether a book is worth it or not until you actually start reading it!
Can I send you a gift copy of a new book from our imprint for you to read in 2024? The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam https://a.co/d/ilxWLhR
Of course!
Wonderful! Could I trouble you to email me your mailing address at grace@usuli.org? 😁