Life Shelf

What books have either inspired you, developed your creative processes, enlightened you as to the world around you? What books have helped define who you are? These are the questions for Life Shelf.

In a single shelf, cram all the books you can that have expanded your mind, elucidated previously unknown truths and untangled your biases and fallacies. Take a picture. Share with us why the books in the picture are there, what in them changed what’s in you?

They don’t have to be specifically fiction or non-fiction or even if you’ve finished the book or not. Sometimes, you only need to read a chapter of a book before it can heavily influence you.

As you might guess from the picture, books are important to me. This is why I started this idea, and I hope to see others do it. To understand the books that influence a person is a large part of how to understand that person. 

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Being that I find history quite fascinating, in that it gives us context to our lives as well as answers questions that have long since been answered, I have three major history books on my shelf that have helped me understand how the world is now. The first, on the British empire, the second on the Spanish/Portuguese empires of Latin America and third, the biography of one of the most infamous dictators in history Stalin. 

Philosophy is also an interest of mine, though without understanding historical context, philosophy can seem detached, like introverted thoughts that scarcely relate to the times they were produced. This is not the case, of course, in reality philosophical works precede, perhaps by generations, momentous change and cultural shifts. They influence politics, economic thought and the arts. They influence the way we think even now, even though we don’t know their attribution. For instance, it was Descartes that began the idea that we humans think in our heads, before him, this was not a commonplace notion. It might seem unfair that I include a French rationalist without including an English empiricist (though I included a Scottish one), I have no physical copies of Locke. Sorry.

I’ve also included two books of Eastern philosophy. In my opinion, Eastern philosophy does not offer that much that you cannot also find in Western philosophy. Lao Tzu (old teacher) does serve as a reminder to how to live life, whereas Western philosophy of a similar locus might emphasize how we understand life is lived. Tibetan debate is a fascinating subject, it is entirely logic (with some religious concepts), built on a constructed argument paradigm. It might surprise people, but the Tibetan monks who partake in Buddhist debate are actually quite confrontational. It is believed this is necessary, for one must “slam the door on ignorance”. It takes a monk well over a decade to become a master of the subject.

“What is the difference between color and blue?”, a monk might ask a beginner.

Third, my books on music. I’ve included scores of Stravinsky and Schoenberg, two syntactically opposed schools of music from the early 20th century. To understand how they are opposed, you’d have to know both the music history, the musical theory itself as well as the contrasting philosophical rationales between their respectful idioms. Both Transfigured night (Verklärte Nacht) and Rite of Spring were highly influential in my understanding of musical composition, orchestration and development. In addition, as it’s been recorded, Stravinsky and Schoenberg both eventually ended up in Los Angeles, lived nearby and both stubbornly refused to speak to each other. I suppose you can only fit but so many heavyweights in a room together, especially with opposing aesthetic tastes.

I’ve included my most well-worn piano music: the first volume of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, as well as my most played violin sonatas and Partitas by Bach. I never got good enough at violin to attempt the Beethoven piano sonatas, so I tend to stay Baroque. As you can see, I’ve included two books on counterpoint, one old (Fux) and one newer (Schoenberg). Both written in entirely different styles, counterpoint is one of the most fundamental requirements for great classical composition - which is why I included two books on the subject.

Be sure to include “lifeshelf” as a keyword if you want to try this.