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Here's a few of my all time favorite books:
"Bohemia: The Protoculture Then and Now" by Richard Miller - An art
history book which documents the activities of various art movements
over the past 200 years as cultural movements. Its a bit dated now
(published in the 1970s) but it had a huge influence on me in my
youth, it showed me that art can be more then just the objects that
artists produce.
"Island" by Aldous Huxley - Part of his utopia/distopia series, the
only one with a positive theme and the last novel he published.
Basically a how to guide on constructing your own utopian society on
an island paradise. I always wanted one of those! :)
"Genesis of A Music" by Harry Partch - Partch's musical theories and
instrument designs. A must read for anyone interested in alternative
tunings or instrument design.
"House in Bali" by Colin McPhee - I kind of have to give a nod too
McPhee, he was the first North American to do any serious studies of
the music of Bali. Although "Music in Bali" is considered his master
work I chose "House in Bali" because its narrative quality, making it
easier for the average reader to absorb, but also because this book
was the starting point for my own fieldwork in Bali.
"Adventures in a Mud Hut" by Nigel Barley - Ever wonder what it's
like to do ethnographic fieldwork? Here's a humorous first hand
account from an anthropologists perspective. Nigel spent two years
living in a remote village in Africa studying the native inhabitants.
Every time I read this I get an itch to buy a plane ticket and head
out to some remote and interesting place.
- Loren Nerell: Ethno-musicologist
Oh, this is a good question! OK - favorite books include Golding's Lord Of The Flies,
Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted (very very very good book, one can only hope the movie does it
justice), Eric Bogosian's Notes From Underground (a very good, albeit disturbing, read),
Clarke's 2001, Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, Gaiman's Neverwhere (actually, most
anything Gaiman), Thich Nhat Hanh's Being Peace and Peace Is Every Step, Homer's
Odyssey, Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg, a lot of older Omni-style short stories (I
remember, particularly, one called A Father's Gift), almost anything Tom Robbins (Another
Roadside Attraction, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues), Shea's Illuminatus! Trilogy (very, very
funny book), Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, Thoreau's Civil
Disobedience, Salinger's Catcher In The Rye, Lyall Watson's Dark Nature, Hesse's Demian
(I read this one every couple of years). Hesse also wrote some fairy tales that moved me ...
the troll / princess tale, the forest and mountain tales, the brothers who became trees, etc.
I'm currently reading Alvin Toffler's The Third Wave, as well as a book on the history of
Islam. Countless other books as well ... I love to read. I would very much like to read
Laurie Anderson's Stories From The Nerve Bible (but it's out of print, darn it, must find it!), as well as many, many others.
- John Michael Zorko: AdAstra Records
I love to read, and I have a large library, so it is hard to choose just
a few books, but here goes. For a novel involving music I recommend The
Memory of Whiteness by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is a well written
science fiction book which explores musical and philosophical ideas with
grace and elegance. Wolfgang Schivelbusch's books are all great,
especially his The Railway Journey and Disenchanted Night.
Schivelbusch writes the kind of social/science histories that, in less
skilled hands, are tedious and/or trite, but his books are well thought
out, clearly written and read more like a novel than a text book. Paul
Virilio's The Aesthetics of Disappearance is a great short work of
modern philosophy, so full of ideas that you will babble for a week
after turning its last page. And last, but not at all least, the stories
(and poetry) of Edgar Allan Poe.
- M. Bentley: the foundry
For fiction, I have been quite fond in recent months of Linda Le's
"Slander," Tran Vu's "The Dragon Hunt," Orhan Pamuk's "The New Life," and
just about anything by Salman Rushdie, Vladimir Nabokov, Thomas Bernhard,
or Murakami Haruki. Perennial favorites would be by Abe Kobo (given his
novel as the source for the name of my label), Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett,
Flann O'Brien, Michel Foucault, Thomas Pynchon, Jacques Derrida, Don
DeLillo, Martin Heidegger, and Hermann Broch, as well as Icelandic sagas
and other folklore. And then I have been attempting to read the books of
various sacred traditions, although this tends to be a rather sluggish
process. Why? For the last, I have a reason - that it seems a good idea
to understand the belief systems upon which the historically determining
actions in the world have been and continue to be based - but for the rest
I can offer only my mood as a possible explanation.
- Thermal: Boxman (hako otoko) label
I have many recreational favorites, but will only mention one because it
changed my life and is fairly obscure: Radix by A. A. Attanasio. Why?,
is hard to say. Reading Attanasio's prose is a spiritual experience,
resonating at deep and mysterious levels. I've noticed that what makes any
book or film successful for me is its construction of an effective
mythology. Attanasio achieves this successfully and originally in both
this book and The Last Legends of Earth. (All you can generally find in
the stores these days are his Arthurian legends, which are good but not the
stuff I'm raving about.)
In the esoteric department, again, there are too many to mention, but of
particular current interest to students of esotericism are the Maitreya's
Mission books by Benjamin Creme, which continue in the tradition of H. P.
Blavatsky and Alice Bailey. It is solid and well-documented material that,
if true, carries profound implications ... I won't go into details here,
but you can check their website and
subscribe to the email-newsletter.
Richard (Sun) recommends The Cosmic Serpent.
- Seofon: member/producer with Ambient Temple
of Imagination and The
Archipelago
1. Antoine De Sainte Exupery - THE LITTLE PRINCE :
A simple a magical little story, but so profound and moving as to make it
relevant to readers of any age.
2. Ernest Hemingway - THE SUN ALSO RISES : The novel that inspired me to major in literature in college, and spurred
my interest in early 20th century American lit. This one and Fitzgerald's
THE GREAT GATSBY are still the greatest American novels of the century.
3. Colin Wilson - THE OCCULT : Much less about witches & ghosts, as the title suggests, and more about the true nature of reality, and the human tendency to slip into a sleep-like
passive unawareness. I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in looking beneath the surface of their own reality. Everyone I've recommended this to has responded with the same enthusiasm I have.
- M. Griffin: Hypnos Recordings
I LIKE TO START OFF THE DAY WITH THE BACK
PAGES OF THE NEWSPAPERS TO CATCH UP WITH ALL THE FOOTBALL HEADLINES,
THEN IN BED OR IN THE BATH I'LL READ SOME HISTORY BOOKS, I LIKE AMERICAN
MODERN HISTORY BOOKS, AND BOOKS ABOUT THE 2ND WORLD WAR. NOVELS I JUST
RE-READ CAMUS' THE OUTSIDER, THE RESTRAINT OF BEASTS BY MAGNUS MILLS,
AND SOFT BY RUPERT THOMPSON. WHY? IF I CAN GET PAST PAGE 10 IN THE FIRST
SITTING THEN IT'S A DEFINITE THAT I'M ENJOYING IT...
- Simon Raymonde: Bella Union Label and Ex-Cocteau Twin
things which have stuck with me and I'm sure influenced my thinking (that i
can remember at the moment) include:
the acid futurism of Phillip K Dick, Arthur C. Clark and William Gibson
the altered realities of William S. Burroughs
the logical structures in Robert Fripp sleeve notes
the practical info-burst of Html for the www
the practical path of spirituality in light on yoga- BKS Iyengar
the brain tools in Serious Creativity Edward de Bono
the early revelation of Through Music to the Self - Peter Michael Hamel
the resonance of Greek Myths
God bless them all.
- Martin Franklin: of Tuu
Jorge Louis Borges - Ficciones, Dreamtigers, Labyrinths
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 100 Years of Solitude
Italo Calvino - Invisible Cities, Baron in the Trees
Olaf Stapledon - Starmaker
ee cummings - complete poems
John Cage - Silence
Stanislaw Lem - Solaris
- Robert Rich:Soundscape Productions / Amoeba Music
This one is easy. Just about every one of Henry Miller's books,
most notably "The Colossus of Maroussi" and "Big Sur and the Oranges of
Hieronymous Bosch". Just about any Alan Watts books, especially "Beyond
Theology", "The Wisdom of Insecurity", and "The Two Hands of God". Phillip
K. Dick's book "Valis" and "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" is also
one of my favorites. I like Henry Miller for his honesty, recklessness, and
the way he views people and the world, not too mention his amazing tales he
tells about his travels and run-ins with customs officials and the locals.
He really goes off on some of the best tirades and literary flights I have
every read. I like Alan Watts' books for his profound and incredible insight
into the human spirit and how it relates to its position in the cosmos. His
books really made a huge turn in my life at quite a young age. I like
Phillip K. Dick's books for his complete absurdity and mind-twisting
ideas....I probably get more inspired to create music by reading these books
than listening to music.
- Vir Unis: ambient/electronic artist
Having been blessed with attention deficit (A. D. D. ), reading a novel is a tedious and usually unenjoyable process. I say "blessed" because it is this very quality of "mental multi-tracking" that makes creating music such pure joy!
The only exception seems to be reading works of a spiritual nature. Though
it still requires extra attention, Seat of the Soul, Practical Kabbalah, and
God is a Verb have accompanied me on all my travels this year.
- Richard Bone: ambient/ electronic artist
Manfred - Byron
La Peau de Chagrin - Balzac
Heart of Darkness - Conrad
"disent les imbeciles" - Sarraute
Also sprach Zarathustra - Nietzsche
I have special moods for each of them.
- lk: (audiochrom)
My latest read was Big Trouble, by Dave Barry. It is insanely funny, was a
quick read, and impossible to put down. As a child, I was completely taken
with The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Recently, I re-read some of
those books, and realized just what treasures they were - there is so much
thought and philosophy in these supposed "children's books", that reading
them as an adult was like reading something completely new. I also
apprecite Lewis' more philosophical books, such as A Grief Observed. And I
really love reading about any book that has to do with Summerian mythology,
which is a favorite topic of mine.
- Jeff Pearce: ambient guitarist
I enjoy reading very much and have read many interesting book and
mags, I'd have to say anything by Larry Niven, Arthur C. Clarke....
.. Jaco's biography, a roller coaster of emotion.., The Celestine
Prophecies, Castaneda's The Art of Dreaming, NAV..... oh ya!, Ambientrance
! :-)
- Dino Pacifici: Music-Language of the Spirit
Flann O'Brien - "At Swim Two Birds" a pioneering piece of postmodern
fiction - and his other novels, too.
Just about anything from Stewart Home, satirical fiction, cultural
commentary and wind-ups especially "Confusion Incorporated" because there's
a chapter about me in it.
- Nigel Ayers: of Nocturnal Emissions
the most recent words i have read and enjoyed have been:
Merge magazine
Iain Sinclair - Dark Lanthorns (Goldmark)
Rachel Lichtenstein - Rodinsky's Whitechapel (Artangel)
Barry Graham - Before (Incommunicado Press)
Terence Riley - The Un-Private House
Sophie Calle - Double Game (Violette Press)
Francis M Naumann - Marcel Duchamp - The Art of Making Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction (Harry N Abrams)
nu: The Nordic Art Review
apart from the magazines and biographical texts they all explore new
adventurous ways in which to explore narrative and the human condition. i
am always keen to read works that challenge me and make the act of reading
a new experience each time. life is too short for blockbusters!
- Robin Rimbaud: s c a n n e r
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