The Modern Totemist by Stephanie Brown and Scott Brown. We're not a fan of people still using totem and totemism due to reasons but we still have interest in the concept when written about so long as the author is not touting their belief system or experiences are "Native American Spirituality" or whatnot. Kind of an interesting read thus far. Kind of reminded us of The Personal Totem Pole by Eligio Stephen Gallegos in ways hard to describe.
That sounds really interesting! Can you recommend it? I've been aware of an animal guide in my life for 5-10 years, but have never really known how to label it or discuss it with others.
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I'm reading (or trying to read) Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. It's so fun so far, I love Adams' writing style; his stuff just has such a distinctive flair to it and you can always tell when something is by him.
Next up on the list is The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. I already know some of the short stories, like The Veldt, so I'm excited to read the others.
Oh I love Douglas Adams!!! Ive read and reread HHGTTG a few times but never checked out Dirk Gently until a few years ago when my wife suggested them to me, I love it. Tbh Adams' writing kind of reminds me of some of Kurt Vonnegut's stuff
I was going to say the same!! LOVE me some Douglas Adams. I really recommend his other books. He also has a nonfiction one called Last Chance to See about his journeys meeting people and learning about rare animals, and it’s just fantastic. He was a major nature lover and once climbed Kilimanjaro in a rhino suit.
Honestly, love me some Kurt Vonnegut too! I read Breakfast of Champions last spring.
I might have to put Frankenstein on my list after reading this thread... I did read all of Dracula a couple months back. It was great, honestly. I have been trying to read interesting books and classics and such in the last few years.
But right now I’m in the thick of Animorphs (yeah, really.... never read them as a kid, heard they were way better and grittier than you’d think, and now I’m in thick of it. Going to take a LONG TIME, there’s almost 60 books......). I’m also 6 books into the Witcher series, which is a welcome follow up to A Song of Ice and Fire. It doesn’t have nearly the complex political world-building or depth of history and geography and such. But honestly, the writing is more fun. Martin’s writing is just really dry to read, even more than Tolkien. Sapkowski’s Witcher books have had to be translated to English, but the dry HUMOR is fairly well preserved. It’s a little more lighthearted, which seems to translate into the show as well.
Good stuff, but this is a long series too, so I’m kind of focusing on finishing at least one of these before I start taking on more books.
The Modern Totemist by Stephanie Brown and Scott Brown. We're not a fan of people still using totem and totemism due to reasons but we still have interest in the concept when written about so long as the author is not touting their belief system or experiences are "Native American Spirituality" or whatnot. Kind of an interesting read thus far. Kind of reminded us of The Personal Totem Pole by Eligio Stephen Gallegos in ways hard to describe.
That sounds really interesting! Can you recommend it? I've been aware of an animal guide in my life for 5-10 years, but have never really known how to label it or discuss it with others.
The book is a breakdown of the author's own personal system where a a person has 9 totems:
- A primary totem (animal symbolizing one's essential self),
- A lord totem (animal symbolizing one's ideal masculine/active [or passive] self),
- A lady totem (animal symbolizing one's ideal feminine/passive [or active] self),
- A fire totem (animal symbolizing one's personal impulses and passion),
- A water totem (animal symbolizing one's emotions),
- An air totem (intellect and mind),
- An earth totem (animal symbolizing one's body and physicality),
- An above totem (animal symbolizing one's overall ideal self), and
- A below totem (animal symbolizing one's overall negative or dark traits and self).
The system isn't of any use for our practice, but we enjoy reading how other people find a structure that works for them in their self work.
Not sure if that structure is of any interest to you either, but if it sounds interesting the book focuses on explaining the author's personal belief system.
As far as recommendations, we feel like one of the best books we've read on the topic is Lupa's New Paths to Animal Totems (now titled New Paths to Animal Spirits as on 2020). Though we are biased as her early work heavily influenced our viewpoints and belief structures. The book does go over various different models and viewpoints, which can be useful to people though.
Post by dogwithglasses on May 22, 2021 14:25:25 GMT
Kisota how far are you in animorphs and who are your fave characters? I loooooove animorphs and own physical copies of all but like 6 of the books. If you want more animorphs content I recommend the podcast Morph Club and the fb group Animorphs Yeerk Posting
ripley's believe it or not made me who i am today ------ oh no a full moon!!! get away before i transform into a horrible monster that just wants treats and tummy rubs!!!
Oh I love Douglas Adams!!! Ive read and reread HHGTTG a few times but never checked out Dirk Gently until a few years ago when my wife suggested them to me, I love it. Tbh Adams' writing kind of reminds me of some of Kurt Vonnegut's stuff
I was going to say the same!! LOVE me some Douglas Adams. I really recommend his other books.
Hey yall I really loved the 2 dirk gently books (and the TV show which seems to continue the series from the books?) but I have a question.
Dirk Gently and the Salmon of Doubt. I haven't gotten a copy in my hands to look inside. What is inside? is there some dirk gently content or not? it keeps coming up as a dirk gently book?
I really need to reread all of Hitchhiker's guide, including the ending by that other author.. I never finished. I have the physical books somewhere but I can't hold physical books anymore so one day I'll find the digital copies to read through.
Last Edit: May 22, 2021 19:21:09 GMT by Gideon: the way I write my posts in a memo app on my phone keeps putting 3 line breaks after qoutes!!!
Kisota how far are you in animorphs and who are your fave characters? I loooooove animorphs and own physical copies of all but like 6 of the books. If you want more animorphs content I recommend the podcast Morph Club and the fb group Animorphs Yeerk Posting
Ahh. How awesome!! Thank you for these suggestions!
I’m near the end of #15 (having read a few of the sort of spin-off ones in the proper chronological order as well).
Have absolutely loved Tobias from the beginning for obvious reasons. Honestly I’m impressed with how likable all the characters are!
The transformation cover art and the fact that new books came out constantly made me think, even in elementary school, that these were probably pretty cheesy kid-superhero-team type books. But when I found out as an adult that they are actually pretty gritty and serious, I got curious. I’m also impressed with how much cool sci-fi content there is. My spouse and I are doing a lot of trading fun sci-fi developments - I tell him what’s up in Animorphs and he describes the newest conflicts in Star Trek: DSN! XD He’s about to finish though! and I have... an eternity of Animorphs left. I’ve heard the quality dips a bit when the ghost writers took over though...