June 2020 Book Recap
Books can provide ballast for the mind, and incite existential dread from all the things we do not yet know—the ultimate catch-22. The search for "security" is the fundamental problem from which arises insecurity.
Written 70 years ago, Alan Watts's *The Wisdom of Insecurity* transcends time and speaks to the ultimate human struggle, for sanity, wholeness, and inner peace. Like a Rubik's cube for the brain, Watts discusses mental feedback loops and is equal parts frustrating and insightful. I will definitely be revisiting this book in the future.
Thought to Ponder:
“Time itself is a creation of the restless mind; space has been created by the same mind to give itself room to wander when in fact there is no space beyond a mental construct that, like all constructs, eventually turns into a prison.”
— Alan Watts, *The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety*
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*White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism* by Robin DiAngelo (NF) // [Race; sociology: “The key to moving forward is what we do with our discomfort. We can use it as a door out—blame the messenger and disregard the message. Or we can use it as a door in by asking, Why does this unsettle me? What would it mean for me if this were true?”] GoodReads
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*The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety* by Alan Watts (NF) // [Philosophy; psychology: “To put it still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing. To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet.”]
*The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It* by Robert B. Reich (NF) // [Politics; economics: A wholistic case for reform.]
*Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower* by Brittney Cooper (NF) // [Feminism; race: "Real radicalism implores us to tell the whole ugly truth, even when it is inconvenient."] GoodReads Review
*Cujo* by Stephen King (F) // [Thriller; horror: 200-pound Saint Bernard bitten by bat goes bad.]
*The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires* by Grady Hendrix (F) // [Paranormal; horror: “Sometimes she craved a little danger. And that was why she had book club.”]
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*Dead Astronauts* by Jeff VanderMeer (F) // [Sci-fi; dystopia: Bizarre and breathtaking sequel to Borne.]
*The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done* by Peter F. Drucker (NF) // [Business; management: "If there is any one 'secret' of effectiveness, it is concentration."]
