Reading Challenge 2020

[Harriet]

11 minutes ago, Defining said:

Oh man, meditation is not accessible to me right now - it keeps sending me into panic attacks. Definitely intrigued by 'shrooms though.  

 

Psychedelic reading:

The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide

The Doors Of Perception

The Joyous Cosmology

What The Dormouse Said

Noumenautics

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

Sisters of the Extreme

The Long Trip

 

Thank you! Are these only for people who are actually taking drugs? I think they're still illegal in most places, and even if they weren't I'd have to think hard about taking anything unsupervised because mental illness is pretty much a standard feature in my family, and there are a few instances of psychosis as well. I wish I could do something like the (legal!) experimental trials Pollan describes in the book--in a controlled setting with a professional there to guide things. 

[Defining]

Just now, Harriet said:

Thank you! Are these only for people who are actually taking drugs? I think they're still illegal in most places, and even if they weren't I'd have to think hard about taking anything unsupervised because mental illness is pretty much a standard feature in my family, and there are a few instances of psychosis as well. I wish I could do something like the (legal!) experimental trials Pollan describes in the book--in a controlled setting with a professional there to guide things. 

Nono, they're mostly accounts of individual experiences, philosophical discussion, some sciency parts, a bit of history, etc. Ironically, psychedelics are actually a good candidate for experimentation since they interact with few other phamaceuticals, but I'd also agree that you'd want to have someone experienced around if you wanted to give anything a go. And yeah, they're still illegal most places, but it will be interesting to see how quickly that changes! Canada, for example, has recently legalised marijuana, I can't imagine that psychedelics will be more than 10yrs behind that.

[Harriet]

1 minute ago, Defining said:

Nono, they're mostly accounts of individual experiences, philosophical discussion, some sciency parts, a bit of history, etc. Ironically, psychedelics are actually a good candidate for experimentation since they interact with few other phamaceuticals, but I'd also agree that you'd want to have someone experienced around if you wanted to give anything a go. And yeah, they're still illegal most places, but it will be interesting to see how quickly that changes! Canada, for example, has recently legalised marijuana, I can't imagine that psychedelics will be more than 10yrs behind that.

 

Oooh, I hope they do make psilocybin and LSD legal. I have trouble breaking rules. I'm working on it. Anyway, I'll take a look at that reading list! I decided I'm going to read 50 pages a day which I guess will add up to about fifty books in a year, so I'm going to need material.

[Mad Hatter]

I hope so too, they're really fun and fascinating. But besides that I'd be really interested in experimenting with them on a deeper level.

 

@Defining that's unfortunate that something that's supposed to be calming sends you into panic attacks. 😬

[Akura]

Oh... And a bonus challenge for me in 2020: Reading The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday each morning: A collection of 366 quotes from famous Stoics and a short description of how Holiday interprets them.

[Aquarii]

8 hours ago, Harriet said:

 

Oooh, I hope they do make psilocybin and LSD legal. I have trouble breaking rules. I'm working on it. Anyway, I'll take a look at that reading list! I decided I'm going to read 50 pages a day which I guess will add up to about fifty books in a year, so I'm going to need material.

 

Tim Ferriss (author of 4-Hour Workweek) is a huge advocate for psychedelics research. Thanks in part to his fund-raising efforts for the cause, John Hopkins Medicine will actually be starting a new research center for psychedelic drugs for mental health. 

 

9 hours ago, Harriet said:

 

Thank you! Are these only for people who are actually taking drugs? I think they're still illegal in most places, and even if they weren't I'd have to think hard about taking anything unsupervised because mental illness is pretty much a standard feature in my family, and there are a few instances of psychosis as well. I wish I could do something like the (legal!) experimental trials Pollan describes in the book--in a controlled setting with a professional there to guide things. 

 

It is typically not recommended to try psychedelics unsupervised regardless of your mental health background. There certainly are people who act as guides if you know where to find them (especially if the psychedelic/hallucinogen is used as part of a religion or culture, such as those used by some Native American tribes), but at the very least you want to try it with an experienced user who knows how to help pull you out if a trip goes south.

[DJtrippyT]

My goal is to read a book a week this year, so this will keep me motivated to set the time aside. 

[Captain Gilly]

So I was starting this with the Dresden Files books, but quickly realized I don't really care for detective style books. This morning, my friend gave me a late Christmas gifts, the The Legend of Drizzt, Collector's Edition, it has the first three books in it!! I am so excited and am going to be diving into this tonight

[WolfDreamer]

Finally put together a list of books I want to try to read this year. I likely won't get through the entire list, and the list may grow over time, but this is a great place to start if you want to add more diversity to your reading habits.

 

Read More Diverse Books List

[Harriet]

12 hours ago, Defining said:

Oh man, meditation is not accessible to me right now - it keeps sending me into panic attacks. Definitely intrigued by 'shrooms though.  

 

7 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I hope so too, they're really fun and fascinating. But besides that I'd be really interested in experimenting with them on a deeper level.

 

@Defining that's unfortunate that something that's supposed to be calming sends you into panic attacks. 😬

 

Oh, I somehow missed the sentence about your meditation panics. I know that some people responded to the ego-dissolving effects of LSD with fear. Is that what's happening to you? The ego protects us in many ways, so some people with strong defensive mechanisms might not react well to dissolution. Pollan also described a significant amount of fear on his trips, before he surrendered to the experiences. And he does describe some really bad trips and the bad outcomes for the subjects in historical experiments that didn't have the right precautions and setting. 

[nianjufe]

On 1/3/2020 at 1:18 PM, BombshellBanshee said:

BTW, can't remember who said it, but love the Rory Gilmore reading list!!!

Maybe along with others, but

 

Would love to discuss the ones you've read! I'm finishing A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy right now.

 

 

Also a comment on the meditation/alternative substance usage, depending on your body's chemistry any substance illicit or otherwise can cause panic attacks. My DH is currently going through an elimination diet/ how many times a day do I need to eat process to figure out the cause behind his panic attacks. Also, meditation/introspection and releasing the mind are not the brain's natural state, it takes some time. (I am not an expert by any means and take everything with a grain of salt and tailor to your personal experience!)

[TheGreyJedi]

5 hours ago, Akura said:

Oh... And a bonus challenge for me in 2020: Reading The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday each morning: A collection of 366 quotes from famous Stoics and a short description of how Holiday interprets them.

 

Same here! Never thought to include it as a bonus challenge, though...

[Defining]

9 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I hope so too, they're really fun and fascinating. But besides that I'd be really interested in experimenting with them on a deeper level.

Agreed!

 

4 hours ago, Aquarii said:

at the very least you want to try it with an experienced user who knows how to help pull you out if a trip goes south.

I don't think you CAN pull people out of a challenging experience - just do your best to provide more positive stimulus/guidance (or to remove stimulus!), and make sure they don't hurt themselves. But yeah, definitely a good idea to have a guide/experienced supervision with you.

 

RE: Meditation et al

Spoiler

9 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

That's unfortunate that something that's supposed to be calming sends you into panic attacks. 😬

 

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

Oh, I somehow missed the sentence about your meditation panics. I know that some people responded to the ego-dissolving effects of LSD with fear. Is that what's happening to you? The ego protects us in many ways, so some people with strong defensive mechanisms might not react well to dissolution. Pollan also described a significant amount of fear on his trips, before he surrendered to the experiences. And he does describe some really bad trips and the bad outcomes for the subjects in historical experiments that didn't have the right precautions and setting. 

 

1 hour ago, nianjufe said:

Also a comment on the meditation/alternative substance usage, depending on your body's chemistry any substance illicit or otherwise can cause panic attacks. My DH is currently going through an elimination diet/ how many times a day do I need to eat process to figure out the cause behind his panic attacks. Also, meditation/introspection and releasing the mind are not the brain's natural state, it takes some time. (I am not an expert by any means and take everything with a grain of salt and tailor to your personal experience!)

 

Thanks guys! Putting this in a spoiler so I don't distract any more from the 'reading' part of the thread. I'm just not very good at asking my brain to be quiet for a little while, and had a few bad experiences in my early 20s when trying to incorporate meditation, so much so that I don't really bother to try anymore. While I don't mind introspection, and try to be relatively self-aware in general, I personally find it's easier to do that from an objective position rather than delving into the experiential emotional states. Considering my own tendencies toward existential depression/despair, it's not exactly surprising to me that I might not do well with just 'sitting with myself'.  

 

These days I focus more on 'flow' when possible - things like yoga, practicing music, reading, variously crafty phases I've gone through (knitting, pottery, glass blowing, beadwork, etc.) are all better fits for me rather than guided meditation or 'mindfulness'. I suspect that it's not actually all that different, and more a matter of semantics - but I do find that changing the mindset/language/approach helps me to skip past mental barriers, in lots of different areas of life! Another example right now is that I'm skipping rope instead of running.

 

 

3 hours ago, LostValkyrie19 said:

So I was starting this with the Dresden Files books, but quickly realized I don't really care for detective style books. This morning, my friend gave me a late Christmas gifts, the The Legend of Drizzt, Collector's Edition, it has the first three books in it!! I am so excited and am going to be diving into this tonight

I wish I enjoyed mystery/procedural books more! I like the TV programs in that genre, but just can't get into the literature. Will be interested in hearing your thoughts on Drizzt.

 

3 hours ago, WolfDreamer said:

Finally put together a list of books I want to try to read this year. I likely won't get through the entire list, and the list may grow over time, but this is a great place to start if you want to add more diversity to your reading habits.

This is awesome, thanks for sharing! Out of curiosity, which criteria were you focusing on for diversity? Did the list from the Read Harder challenge help at all?

 

@nianjufe is there an 'official' Rory Gilmore reading list somewhere? Hopefully one to correlate with her younger years, rather than the self-absorbed sophomoric college Rory...  

[TheGreyJedi]

19 minutes ago, Defining said:

 

@nianjufe is there an 'official' Rory Gilmore reading list somewhere? Hopefully one to correlate with her younger years, rather than the self-absorbed sophomoric college Rory...  

 

I found this website: https://www.listchallenges.com/rory-gilmore-reading-challenge

And this printable list: https://copperboom.fr/the-rory-gilmore-reading-checklist-free-printable/

[miss_marissa]

Welp. So here is a super embarrassing activity I did over the weekend. I collected all my books, comics, magazines, etc that I own or have borrowed into one room and then pulled out everything I haven't read yet (or for a very select few ones I haven't read in 10+years and would like to re-read). I'm honestly a little ashamed of this? WHO KNEW BUYING BOOKS AND READING BOOKS WERE TWO DIFFERENT HABITS?!?!?!?

 

So essentially:  a full short box (and then some) of comics, plus about a 4 foot tall stack of books, graphic novels, and magazines.

My goal is December 31, 2020 this will be smaller than what I started with. So if I'm buying books, I'm reading more than I am buying. "Bookflow negative" one might say. In order to do this I have to not feel bad about dropping books that I'm just not that into. I fully give myself permission to do this. I also want to note that I have over a hundred unread kindle books as well. [emoji31]

 

Spoiler

Everything

 

Books/magazines

 

Graphic novels

 

[Scaly Freak]

24 minutes ago, miss_marissa said:

In order to do this I have to not feel bad about dropping books that I'm just not that into. I fully give myself permission to do this. I also want to note that I have over a hundred unread kindle books as well.

 

Embarrassingly, the idea that my goal to get rid of books I don't want to read will require me to stop reading them, had not occurred to me. I keep clinging to the hope that if I tough it out, maybe the next chapter will be better...!

[WolfDreamer]

3 hours ago, Defining said:

Out of curiosity, which criteria were you focusing on for diversity?

 

The criteria was basically "read less books by white American dudes and more books by minorities, women, and people from other countries." Seriously, though, I was at first aware that I have not read very many books by African-American authors, and then I am also mindful that I have not read a lot of books from authors outside of America. So, I did a Google search for "best books from around the world," as well as a few specific searches such as "best books by Asian authors," etc.

 

But I guess now that I took at the Read Harder Challenge, some of the books on my list match a few of those challenges, as well. What a cool coincidence.

[nianjufe]

@Defining , the list I'm using is this one. Simple layout to copy and paste and references all 339 books read our mentioned throughout the series! 

 

It's definitely broaden my horizons as my friend and I have a rule that we must finish each book,  no skipping or putting down halfway. I usually get 5 at a time which can vary in reading time. There have been a few books that have been very painful for me to read add I just wanted to throttle most if not all the characters😁

[Lateral Planet]

I'm about to spend the next four hours on a bus, so it's the perfect time to dive in with some reading! Starting with The Power by Naomi Alderman, which I read half of on a short holiday in 2018 and failed to pick up again once the trip was over. Going to have to start again!

[SMintYoongi]

4 hours ago, miss_marissa said:

Welp. So here is a super embarrassing activity I did over the weekend. I collected all my books, comics, magazines, etc that I own or have borrowed into one room and then pulled out everything I haven't read yet (or for a very select few ones I haven't read in 10+years and would like to re-read). I'm honestly a little ashamed of this? WHO KNEW BUYING BOOKS AND READING BOOKS WERE TWO DIFFERENT HABITS?!?!?!?

 

So essentially:  a full short box (and then some) of comics, plus about a 4 foot tall stack of books, graphic novels, and magazines.

My goal is December 31, 2020 this will be smaller than what I started with. So if I'm buying books, I'm reading more than I am buying. "Bookflow negative" one might say. In order to do this I have to not feel bad about dropping books that I'm just not that into. I fully give myself permission to do this. I also want to note that I have over a hundred unread kindle books as well. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Everything

 

Books/magazines

 

Graphic novels

 

 

I actually did this same thing just the other day xD Looks like I have almost 50 books I want to reread (I have read most of them in Danish before, but would like to read them in English) and around 230 unread books. I really need to get to these before I start getting more books.

[SMintYoongi]

Finished my second book of the year today. I read Rebel Belle by Michelle Hawkins. I really enjoyed how this YA novel kind of mixed the fantasy genre with the contemporary/love themes. I felt it was done in a really enjoyable way, and I found it hard to put the book down once I started reading. It was a really enjoyable read, though I can see some reasons why people might not like the book, however, I found it to suit my reading tastes really well.

[Defining]

10 minutes ago, SMintYoongi said:

 

I actually did this same thing just the other day xD Looks like I have almost 50 books I want to reread (I have read most of them in Danish before, but would like to read them in English) and around 230 unread books. I really need to get to these before I start getting more books.

Or alternate 1 new - 1 old, back and forth?  

[fitnessgurl]

5 hours ago, miss_marissa said:

Welp. So here is a super embarrassing activity I did over the weekend. I collected all my books, comics, magazines, etc that I own or have borrowed into one room and then pulled out everything I haven't read yet (or for a very select few ones I haven't read in 10+years and would like to re-read). I'm honestly a little ashamed of this? WHO KNEW BUYING BOOKS AND READING BOOKS WERE TWO DIFFERENT HABITS?!?!?!?

 

So essentially:  a full short box (and then some) of comics, plus about a 4 foot tall stack of books, graphic novels, and magazines.

My goal is December 31, 2020 this will be smaller than what I started with. So if I'm buying books, I'm reading more than I am buying. "Bookflow negative" one might say. In order to do this I have to not feel bad about dropping books that I'm just not that into. I fully give myself permission to do this. I also want to note that I have over a hundred unread kindle books as well. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Everything

 

Books/magazines

 

Graphic novels

 

If it makes you feel better...I have more in my unread piles than you do. Not sure that's a good thing...😕

[Aquarii]

A bit late to finally setting my yearly reading goal, but here nonetheless. In 2018 I read 27 books (goal was 25), in 2019 it was 30 (goal was 30), and this year I decided to set a goal of 36. I was going to jump up five like previous years (would love to work up to 50 a year little by little), but 36 fit so nicely into 12 months, meaning 3 books a month. 

 

Within those 36 books, I would like at least 10 to be creativity and/or music related (because that is a primary focus for me this year), at least one to be on finance (because I want to continue learning about money and being inspired to get/keep that area of my life in order), and at least three books of fiction (because I never prioritize fiction and there are pieces I would like to get into). Books can be as short or as long as I want. Graphic novels count. I use to think really short books shouldn't count, but then I realized that was ridiculous, because including shorter books makes room for unusually long books as well. Audiobooks also count, but I prefer to read books myself and focus better when I am reading it myself, so I don't know if that will happen.

 

 

I am starting this five-week challenge round with a goal of reading four books. They are:

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek (such an inspiring author and speaker)

Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday (because why not start the year with a hefty dose of stoicism)

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon (because creativity)

[NeverThatBored]

2 hours ago, Aquarii said:

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek (such an inspiring author and speaker)

 

 

I've been eyeing this one! I'd love to hear what you think once you've read it!