____twoism

Good day to you all

I've made a promise to myself to get back into reading. For various reasons during the last ten years I dropped the habit and though I tried hard I just couldn't settle. This new years day I swore to myself (clenched fist to the skies and zen like conviction! lol) I must under all circumstances get back into reading. So far I'm breezing it, I've read Touching The Void and Northern Lights and before I start volume 2 of His Dark Materials I want to read something else.

What I really want is books similar to Geogaddi or with those types of themes. Is there any books you could recommend me? Fiction or non-fiction. I'm so out of the loop and out of touch with good books that I don't know where to start.

Cheers

What do you see as Geogaddi's themes? I ask because different people will have different views on what it represents.

Would House of Leaves be too obvious ? First thing that comes to mind...

Also read Dianetics by L Ron Hubbard and see if you can pinpoint the moment the brainwashing starts to effect your mind

jcnporter wrote:What do you see as Geogaddi's themes? I ask because different people will have different views on what it represents.

I tried to say in my original post but I ended up getting a bit long-winded and scrubbed it out. I guess I am saying I wish I could read a book that gave me the same feelings that I get when I listen to Geogaddi.

Any Robert Anton Wilson would be relevant

anything having to do with Deep Sea Diving or Volcanos , some non fiction or stories of intense expeditions...

because of 1969 anything related to CULTS specifically the Branch Davidian's...

The Holy Bible
The Great Divorce
VALIS
Finegans Wake
Hero's Journey

You'll need to read them all at the same time and in reverse in order for it to be like geogaddi though.

Though if you need to get into reading, I'd recommend The Cyberiad by Lem. Has nothing to do with geogaddi (although....) but its what got me picking up books again more regularly after a period where I didn't.

great thread btw!

Really nice idea for a thread and I'm reading these replies with interest!

Think I'll move it out the BOC sub-forum though as it's not really about BOC per se.

Cupz wrote:great thread btw!

thanks

look forward to reading some more suggestions tmrw (snooze time)

Mexicola wrote: Think I'll move it out the BOC sub-forum though as it's not really about BOC per se.

Geogaddi is not about boc?

plz dont overmoderate!

Geogaddi is.
Books that might remind someone of Geogaddi aren't.

I'll be sure to check out your recommendations, thanks for the effort!

(I think you took the steam out of the thread Mexicola , but I know what you mean )

Probably an obvious one, but Lord of the Flies should be in there, surely?

Catcher in the Rye seems like a good fit.

Good one yeah. Fair warning by the way to anyone thinking of taking my suggestion of Dianetics - buy it cash. You dont want your purchase linking back to you. My copy was bought for me by a friend who knew I was reading up on this kind of stuff and they wouldnt let him buy it till he gave a (fake) name and postcode 'for the receipt'

Ha! Bought mine second hand years ago when I was fascinated by the while cult around scientology. Could almost be filed under comedy if it wasn't so serious.

It is ridiculous bordering on Timecube. There was a great unauthorised biography of Hubbard called A Piece of Blue Sky IIRC that detailed his early life dabbling in religion, the occult, brainwashing and so on... basically trying to find any system of control to steal from. Some of that undoubtedly bled into Dianetics. It very early on says 'if you dont understand something go back and reread it'... and its a philosophical and linguistic car crash. You find yourself having to hold things in your mind just to make sense of sentences. 'If X is true then Y and Z'... even though X is clearly false. The repetition of rereading is hypnotic. By the time you start to be able to read it without manually juggling the logic you catch yourself letting stuff youd normally balk at just slip by... really feels like your critical thinking is being subtly fucked with. You can imagine if you had the whole setup going itd be quite hardcore. One of the oddest books Ive ever read but as you say, silly on its own.

Anyway not to derail.

MrMessiah wrote:Would House of Leaves be too obvious ? First thing that comes to mind...

Also read Dianetics by L Ron Hubbard and see if you can pinpoint the moment the brainwashing starts to effect your mind

I'm scared to listen to Geogaddi again now, in case I get House Of Leaves flashbacks. That is one messed up book.

Semi-off topic. I'm reading Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" and Tomorrow's Harvest is a great companion for it.

Superb book!