A journey into the traditional Japan, the time of the great Samurai warriors... The main character is a historic figure who existed & whom many places in Japan are related too.
This book is about a boy who went out to become a Samurai, his long way to achieve his golden goal and of course the problems & fights he had to stand. It is the story about his friend Matahachi too, who wanted to become a Samurai too but did not quite had the resistance to withstand his own desires. And it is the story of a deep love, unsatisfied over a long period. So, this book is full of action, philosophy and romance. Hmm, I read this just before going to Japan. Or was this book a reason more to go?
 "The world is always fullfilled by the noise of the waves. The small fish who left themselfes handed over to the waves, they play and dance. But how knows the soul of the sea, hundred feet deep. Who knows its depth?"
Back in the days of the Roman empire: A beautiful story about a girl being raised by a healing woman that rescued her after her birth from the Roman soldiers. The old woman does not know about young Selenas fate, yet she has the key, some amulett given to her from Selenas father. By the age of 16 years, the girl fells in love for a Roman doctor called Andreas and gives him the amulett as present without knowing anything about the meaning. Fate mades her dying healing mother bringing her to her birth place to discover the secret of the amulet, yet the old woman doesn't know Selena gave it away. The caravan gets attacked, the old woman dies and young Selena gets imprisoned by the personal physician of some royal couple. After months, she manages to break free with a German who does not speak her language, and they run away into the wide dessert. A long journey through various countries of the Middle East, and a long way looking for her beloved Roman doctor. Healing people, learning from other healers and eventually crossing Andreas path again. Fate reveals her true origin, yet the journey is by far not over yet...
Henry Valentine Miller (26 December 1891 – 7 June 1980) was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is distinctly always about and expressive of the real-life Henry Miller and yet is also fictional. My favorite Miller books are: - Quiet days in Clichi
- Big Sur
- Tropic of Cancer
- Tropic of Capricorn
J.K. is a well known author, one of the so called pioneers of the Hippie Generation. He was born in 1922 in Masachusetts as child of frankocanadian parents. After a short time at the Columbia University he had to serve during WW2 at the trade marine. After that he spent his time by hitchiking and jobing through the States and Mexico. In this time he wrote down his adventures and experiences. J.K. writing style is very straight, mind boggling and as fast as the times were changing in those days. He wrote about free life, love, drugs and excesses as well as about philosophy and religion, about truelly believing in something. His books seem to be mostly autobiographic I think. Reading them in timely order shows his personality changing from a wild & sentimental boy to a rather experienced man. Some of my favorite Kerouac books are: - On the road
- Dharma Bums
- The Subterraneans
Reading Kerouac's books well influenced me when I was 20 or so, made me hitchhiking from my home village to Paris after Christmas 1996.
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Stunning new popular sience - book (2003). A young psychatrist writing about todays common diseases - high blood pressure, heart attacks, depressions and their root causes - often stress, social isolation, lack of physical activity. As well, he describes a number of easy non-pharmaceutical methods to cure the diseases and to become more healty and more happy. Most of the methods are easily accessible or can be learned and used individually, and all of them aim to increase the bodies self-healing ability. Even the book is about a highly complex topic, it is rather easy to understand and easy to read. Actually, it turned out being a page turner for me. many case studies
Servan-Schreiber starts with an easy to understand decription about functionality and the cooperation of the cortex (the kognitive, logical, and outer part of the brain) and the limbic system that maintains reflexes, controls all body functions etc. After this important basic knowledge, a method to increase the heart rate variablity to reduce stress and increase the power of the immune system (which is highly effected by stress). The next method aims to resolve traumata with a very simple eye moving technique based on dreams (respectively REM sleep) and its capability to "digest" the experiences of the preceeding day. Further chapters of the book describe scientific findings on the effects of light, accupuncture and Chi, and the importance of food control and physical exercises for healthy (and happy) life. The book ends with studies on emotional communication and social intercation and its impact on health. And an interesting historic episode: with the invention and the triumphal procession of Antibiotics against various deadly diseases in the 1940, pharmaceutical medicine started to gain power over the will of the patient, and doctors became more and more prescribers of pills rather than patient listeners to their clients. From Servan-Schreibers point of view, there are more effective ways to deal with many nowadays diseases...
Even though this review sounds rather odd and dull, I was fascinated by this book. A modern mediciner who is obviously not caged by the Western medicine but provides a great bunch of scientifically proven methods to maintain a prosper life. Without a dozen of pills every day... German title: "Die neue Medizin der Emotionen"
Jared Diamond is a scientist who did years and years of research on ancient and nowadays cilvilisations and their wayof either surviving or failing. Just one exapmle: Nowadays Easter Island for example is pretty much free of trees. Yet, it has been full of trees for ages. A highly developed civilication created impressive statues, and moved them arround using the trunks of the trees. Someone cut down the last tree, and then not only the building of the statues stopped. When the Euopeans first arrived on the island, there was a few locals arround, still. Yet they did not even have wood for small boats anymore. On other islands, the locals manage to run enduring agriculturing since thousands of years.
Nowadays globalized civilications face various challenges, be it the increasing population in Africa and their way of agriculturing, be it the increasing comfort of the Chinese and the associated net increase of energy and any other resources. What sounds like a nightmare for tree huggers is not that pessimistic. Diamond, who's been doing research on many of the places himself for longer periods displays as well a wide range of possible solutions and their beginning implementation. So this book contains a lot of history, and a lot of possibilities for the future of man.
Golemans "Emotional Intelligence" is a scientific yet very entertaining book about his findings how man do interact, with or without words. He describes both interaction between man as well as biological background, the parts of the brain that get activated during contacts. With all the little practical examples and real life episodes, the book is certainly easy to understand.
 A.H. was born in 1894 in Great Britain and studied in Oxfort. After getting experienced in Buddhism and the political changes in Europe he developed from a smiling satirist to a convinced reformer who tried to change the world trough a universal mystic religion.
His roman "Brave new World" is the futuristic story of 'the year 632 after Henry Ford', which acts in a society whose children are made and educated by robots, cloned for hugh castes, the Alphas, Betas ...down to Epsilons. It shows the perfect affluent society without cruel, war & sickness, but without art, religion & humanity too. Each kind of individualism is condemned as antisocial and wild. Ok, enough of descriptions, read it and it will give you the creeps! Other books of A.H. are "The doors of perception" discussing his experiences with Mescalin and 'Heaven & Hell'.
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