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hadash1

From Dunedin, Otago New Zealand
Age 67
Joined Monday, March 15, 2004
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Extended Profile
What better way to introduce myself than by listing the books I consider formative in my life?
Here goes:


'Rupert Bear Annual' circa 1963
Were we in the Panama or the Suez? All I'm definite about is that my father spent literally hours following the origami instructions to fold a paper plane. He launched it from the deck of the ocean liner and... it plummeted straight down into the sea. Years later I discovered and purchased, second-hand, the very Rupert Bear volume those instructions came from.

'Kruimeltje' by Maria Peters
I didn't speak English until I had to go to school. A year later the family went overseas. I forgot my English - had to relearn it when returned 18 months later. In the interim I won, bought and read my first book in a poetry recitital in a 'foreign' language:

Ik heb een versje releert,
Ik heb het net nog geweeten,
Maar nu zeg it het verkeert,
Ach, hoe was het ook weer,
Hoe was het ook weer,
Ik weet het niet meer!


(I've just learned a verse,
I knew every line,
Now I don't know a word,
How did it go?
Where did it go?
It's gone!)


'Tintin and the Blue Lotus' by Herge
This I first read in Dutch. Years later when my brother were old enough to get pocket money, we spent it on Tintin books, but not the one I remembered. Had it been a dream? Did it exist only in my imagination? Years later it was finally translated into English. It must have been the opium smoking, or the politically incorrect 1930s messages about Asian people that had stood in the way.

'Five on a Treasure Island' by Enid Blyton
This is the first of 21 books in a series. I thought they were/are fantastic. I read them out aloud to my younger brother in bed at night, in the room that we shared, until, inevitably, he'd fall asleep. The next night it was always a hassle working out how far I needed to backtrack.

'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' by C.S. Lewis
In the Children's Libary I always searched the fairy-tale shelves for myths and legends from various countries. The C.S. Lewis books activated my imagination in a serious way. I was 'surpised by joy'.

'Doorway into Summer' by Robert Heinlein
This was the first book that kept me up the whole night reading. I would have been just 12. Time travel works wonders.

'The 'Foundation series' by Isaac Asimov
The scope of the thing! The science of history! The Mule! I remember little else, but it inspired my to tackle multi-volume novels. (Dune, Thomas Covenant, The Mammoth Hunters, Julian May's Unborn King series, David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series, Doc E.E. Smith's Lensman series etc)

'Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkein
Read it twice, long before any movie ever made me want to. It takes about a year to read out aloud, and I did so to my younger sisters. They still remember me using a different voice for each character. Gollum was my favorite - but it made me hoarse! (I used my own for Gandalf.)

'Light on Yoga' by B.K.S. Iyengar
I'd been inspired by the TV series 'Kung Fu', and thereafter dipped into self-improvement literature. This book impressed me the most. It has hundreds of poses, rated in difficulty from 1 to 60. In the back there's a 300-week programme to follow... which I didn't. There's a limit.

'The Complete Book of Running' by James Fixx
Not the only book, but certainly one of the best. I was inspired to run my first marathon, then the second... I've completed twelve to date, one in flip-flops, two barefooted. I tell you, books are dangerous!

'Cycling in Europe' by Karen & Garry Hawkins
This one made me sit down and plan meticulously a two-year cycling holiday through Europe. I bought the gear in London, toured the Netherlands and a bit of Germany - West Germany then.

'My Family and Other Animals' by Gerald Durrell
Read this in Germany, near Heidelberg. A very evocative book that mirrored the wonderful travel experiences I was in the middle of.

'Path of the Masters' by Julian P. Johnson
As a result of reading this book, I made a commitment to meditate for two-and-a-half hours daily, which I pretty much kept up for 20 years.

'Shogun' by James Clavell
I read this while living in India. It made me decide to visit Japan next. Ten years later, I did. And now I have a Japanese wife, just like that!

'Riverworld' by Philip Jose Farmer
Imagine a character cast featuring everyone who has ever lived! Mark Twain and Sir Richard Burton are the main heroes. And King John is the villain. This book (along with Larry Niven's 'Ringworld') are the most mindboggling science fiction I have ever read.

'Zen Haiku' by Lucien Stryk
In 1993 I stumbled across this book. Since then I have written over 5000 of them (haiku, that is). Over a dozen have been published in various anthologies. Writing haiku is probably the major interest in my life. Oh to earn a living from it!

'Conversations with God' by Neale Donald Walsch
As a result of reading this book I stopped trying to meditate for two-and-a-half hours every day. It made me realize that I no longer needed to.

'Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight' by Thom Hartmann
Incredibly pertinent and empowering.

And now, please, I'd love a note from you to tell me, perhaps, how many of the above you have also read. And any recommendations of your own...


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