The Watermelon Blog Green on the outside, social justice inside
"We can do better" (Kennedy)
Richest fluency
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body." Walt Whitman
This is much harder than my fiction list of course. I have deliberately avoided reference books. And in many cases any of a number of books could be named for an author, or for a topic. But I decided to limit it to 30, and hope there might be some here that people have not heard of and can discover for themselves. I doubt this list tells a psychiatrist much, except to reinforce my interest in/love of: biology, evolution, prehistory, history, politics, American politics, and a particular liking for diaries (Samuel Pepys has been a life long inspiration, but I have failed to meet his incredible standards).
Tariq Ali, The clash of fundamentalisms Brendan Behan, Confessions of an Irish rebel DE Charlwood, No Moon Tonight John Chadwick, The decipherment of Linear B Glyn Daniel, The idea of prehistory Charles Darwin, Origin of Species Richard Dawkins, The god delusion Bob Ellis, Night thoughts in a time of war James Gleick, Chaos Al Gore, The assault on reason Stephen Jay Gould, Life's grandeur Douglas Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach Molly Ivins, Who let the dogs in Naomi Klein, The assault on reason George Lakoff, Don't think of an elephant Konrad Lorenz King Solomon's Ring Alberto Manguel, A history of reading David Marr, The high price of heaven Harold Nicholson, Diaries CN Parkinson, Parkinson's Law Samuel Pepys, Diary Kevin Phillips, American dynasty John Pilger, Heroes John Ralston Saul, The collapse of globalism Carl Sagan, Comet Simon Schama, Citizens Sellars & Yeatman 1066 and all that George Smoot, Wrinkles in time Dava Sobel, Galileo's daughter Hunter S Thompson, Fear and loathing on the campaign trail '72 Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein, All the president's men
"You are a person of some interest,one comes to you and takes strange gain away." (Pound)
"I find that I can have no enjoyment in the world but the continual drinking of knowledge. I find there is no worthy pursuit but the idea of doing some good for the world." (Keats)
"nothing startles me beyond the moment. The setting sun will always set me to rights - or if a sparrow come before my window I take part in its existence and pick about the gravel." (Keats)