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Read this today:



I was slightly disappointed... Not with the book, but by Confucianism itself... It comes across as little more than an exercise in "good manners". It is understandable that such restraints on behaviour might have been sorely needed in the chaotic Warring States Period in China... But as a philosophy Confucianism seems overly shallow compared to Buddhism (which it has also competed with throughout the imperial history of China). The book is thankfully rather short, though (about 200 pages), so it doesn't try to "sell" Confucianism as more than it actually is...

Oh, and even though the author tries to rehabilitate Confucianism somewhat, it is still - in my opinion - a deeply misogynistic philosophy. It may not have been responsible for the most egregious practices like foot-binding, but there is certainly not much to be found in support of gender equality within Confucianism...

Etiquette Guide To Japan: Know the rules that make the difference! (Third Edition), by Boyé Lafayette De Mente, revised by Geoff Botting

Sea Spell. The final book in The WaterFire Saga.

Almost done with Quirkology by Richard Wiseman.
I need to hurry up because I need to return it to the library tomorrow...

Carl Sandburg's life of Abraham Lincoln. It's a bit on the hagiographical side, and the prose sometimes veers into the purple. Easy to read though.

Read this today (started on the first one yesterday, but took some time off reading to go shopping)



To me, it was a somewhat underwhelming read (once again, not the author's fault). Like many who have grown up in Western Europe I was already aware of a lot of the Communist history, including the power struggles between the early Communist leaders, the subsequent rise and fall of Khrushchev after the death of Stalin and the out-of-control events caused by Gorbachev's Glasnost which eventually brought down the Soviet Union.

And the pre-Communist history of Russia seemed rather bland to me; Russia may have had rulers with impressive titles (Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Ivan the Terrible)... but other than territorial conquests (often lost subsequently) these rulers failed to change the fact that Russia was a backwards country compared to most of Europe well into the 19th century - Largely due to the continued persistence of serfdom among Russian peasants.

Oh... and to summarize the book in a single line:

Communism is a disaster and Joseph Stalin was a complete as*hole.

Then I read this:



I can highly recommend this book... It is short (only 215 pages) and highly structured, describing the history, practice and community if the Baha'i in 3 separate sections.

It is also amazing that such a progressive religion could emerge from such fundamentalist Islamic origins (The Baha'i initially evolved from Twelver Shia Islam, but it has now become a completely distinct religion which isn't even squarely "Abrahamic".

While the Baha'i is not above criticism (it's does not accept homosexuality, and it's policy towards "Covenant-Breakers" is harsh), it's dedication to education, gender equality and social justice is perhaps only matched by Liberal Quakers and Reconstructionist Judaism.

It is also a rapidly growing religion. The author actually estimates that there are already more than 10 million Baha'i adherents worldwide, and with a strong footing in India (with the largest Baha'i community in the world - the Lotus Temple on the cover is in New Delhi) and Africa, it is not unrealistic to assume that it will grow larger than Judaism (and perhaps even Sikhism) in a few decades.

Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism. How to Think Smarter about People Who Think Differently. Steve Silberman.

John le Carre: The Biography, by Adam Sisman. Very juicy, learning a lot about one of my favorite novlists.

And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks.

A previously unpublished novel by William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, that my wife got me for Father's day, which I am about to read. The book is a fictionalized account of the relationship between two members of the early Beat movement, which ended in murder.

And The Weak Suffer What They Must by Yanis Varoufakis.
It's about the history of European currencies since the second World War, and also mentions some of his experiences as Greek Finance Minister.

Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by Alexander Bennett

The Chance by Karen Kingsbury

Finished Grease Monkey a graphic novel by Tim Eldred

The Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. And everything else by him.