HEY! I can read!

It’s been so long since I read for enjoyment, it’s really quite an amazing feeling. I can’t believe I went for so long without reading, but I didn’t really have much of a choice. Who knows how much more I’ll actually be able to read, since I have to study for the stupid board exams and write a stupid thesis paper. But I think I’ll be able to squeeze a little bit of reading in there… if not, only slightly more than 8 months of school to go!



I eased myself into the world of reading with an easy one, Steve Martin’s autobiography of his early forays into the entertainment industry, “Born Standing Up.” I love Steve Martin steadfastly, in spite of his increasing irrelevance and unfunniness (is that a word?) in movies. I should point out, of course, that his books are quite good, and he should probably stick to that in the near future. This was an easy and enjoyable read, fun not only because of the insights it gave into Martin’s early comedic process, but also because of the light is shines on the comedy industry in the 60s and 70s in general – something I rarely think about. I would probably only recommend this book to massive Steve Martin fans.

Next, I went on to a book that my friend at school recommended due to my recent successful out-of-body experience: The Art of Dreaming by Carlos Castaneda.



This book is awesomely mind-blowing. I haven’t read any of his other books, somehow, so of course I’ve got to read them all (although I’ve heard they kind of get repetitive). Give the man a break, he took massive quantities of hallucinogenic drugs. A lot of the book was impossibly wild, but since I’ve had numerous experiences along these lines (more mundance experiences, but then I’ve never been guided by a Mexican shaman), I read almost the entire book as a factual account.
The basic gist of the book is that the world we perceive is just one tiny ring in a never-ending expanse of other universes layered upon one another, and by shifting your viewpoint, you can enter other existences with either your energy body (i.e. lucid dreaming) or eventually gather your energy to move your physical body between existences. There is tons of other cool stuff in the book, like battles between humans and inorganic beings from other dimensions who want to steal our energy, etc. OK it sounds wacky, but trust me, it’s endlessly interesting. At least to me. Luckily I have about 8 more books of his to read, I can’t remember exactly how many, but it should keep me occupied.