And Please

 A room with books is all I really need.

And please, more spare time to read :) 

And please, with your eyes on me ;)

Reflects C’s Layered Culture

Let's visit the library of Bayt Yakan in Cairo, Egypt. 

A house dating around 1640. The house was restored and reflects Cairo’s layered culture, which has been influenced by both colonial occupation and multi-ethnic immigration. Now it houses a library with 20,000 rare books focusing on architecture.

I would love to visit it. To smell. To see. To have you near.

Source: here.

Comprehensive

For the next five (5) weeks no letter from me. Summer holiday!

My reading list for this summer:

• Kahn (revised and updated 1996) #history #cryptology
• Tavares (2012). Original title 'Aprender a rezar na Era da Técnica' (2007). #culturalcritic
• Purcell (2017) #countryhouses #books
• Fresco (2022) #history #russia

 

Something else. I loved watching these Going Dutch videos with a mix of shame, being proud, and recognition. Does your country have videos like these too?

• DUTCH humour: FUNNY or NOT? The last still is pointing at "Was sich liebt, das neckt sich." It's a saying in German. Freely translated: when you love each other then you tease each other.
  
• HOW to DEAL with the DUTCH?
  
• Culture SHOCK: a DUTCH PARTNER !?

That Breeze

What a lovely book is De Waal, 'Brieven aan Camondo' (2021).  Silenced. With bated breath. Sober. Like a Japanese Zen garden. 

Three quotes (translated from Dutch pages 103, 124 and 133):

 

"And I know you too. You wanted to complete things, needed to put things back together, you must have known what separation feels like, dispersion feels.
You started building this house and then your son died. The house changed. He had to come back to it, it became something to give to this mutilated homeland."  

"I noticed that your father's copy of 'Histoire de la poésie des Hébreux' is among the classics. That pleased me. And I was glad to see that you have Charles' book on Dürer, which he wrote many decades ago in his study, in the Rue de Monceau. I'm sure many collectors ordered books for their library by the metre, along with the curtains, but you loved books. "

"That's all delicious stuff and I know that in heaven caviar is eaten to the sound of trumpets, but I want to know more about the date jam sent from Cairo and about buying 'boutargue' from Martigues. That's harder calf salted, seasoned, pressed and dried. That's the taste of Constantinople, childhood, that breeze."

P.S. Father Moïse de Camondo founded  a museum for his son Nissim who died as pilot in World War I: Musée Nissim de Camondo. Moïse died in 1935. His daughter, her (ex)husband and their two children were murdered by the germans in World War II because they were jews.

P.P.S. The three pictures are from rooms of the museum: petit bureau, salon bleu and salle à manger.

P.P.P.S. I read a Dutch translation. The original title of this book: 'Letters to Camondo'.

Im Launischen Spiel

Today the last of four books arrived. My readinglist for #summerholiday2021.

Alternative

Alternatives for 'Show Me Your Library and I'll Tell You Who You Are':

* What are your favorite color(s)?
* What countries don't you want to visit?
* How does your first lover describe you?
* Your biggest regret in life?
* The first three smells that come to mind?
* Tell me about your mother in law?
* What is the next language you want to master?
* The one book you never want to read?
* Imagine you could reproduce yourself with anyones DNA. Who is number 1 on your list?
* Favorite poem?

* Favorite painting, watercolor or other piece of art?

* Favorite quote?

* ... - there must be more

The Navigator of Print

Books, pamphlets, pictures and music. 

Printed books, pamphlets, pictures and music. 

Printed books, pamphlets, pictures and music in libraries. The birth of libraries confronted its owners, in the 16th century in Europe, with new challenges: how and where to put them on a shelf, how to avoid buying the same book, pamphlets, pictures and music twice, how to make good use of their content? Hernando Columbus (1488–1539) was one of the first (or the first?) to give an answer to these challenges. He solved it with four books and an umbrella process (“root system”). Four books:

Process:
Every year a small bookstore will send worth five “ducados” from printed material (books, pamphlets, pictures and music) from Rome, Venice, Nuremberg, Antwerp, Paris and Lyon to Hernando’s universal library (“Hernandina”) in Seville, Spain.  The bookstore will start first with buy as much “ephemeral” or “dunghill” pamphlets as possible and only then moving to larger printed books. They will collect, "all books, in all languages and on all subjects, which can be found both within Christendom and without" (page 316).
Every sixth year an agent from the Hernandina will sweep through a smaller series of cities to seek out titles that had been missed based on the catalogues of the Hernandina.

Hernado wanted his library to become a universal library, where the thoughts of the world were stored, all of the possible fields of knowledge covered and making all terrains one. This library needed to be guarded, ordered, arranged and tended like a garden. The universal library was an engine for extracting the writing of all mankind. To order things in such a way that all new things are sought out and gathered forever. Not bounded by language, subject or religion. A place of pleasure, magic and astonishment (page 84, 240 and 314-317).

Hernando’s father – Christopher Columbus – navigated to and discovered new, unknown physical lands on planet Earth. A navigator of oceans. Hernando wanted with his universal library a place in history equal to his father’s. A navigator of print.

In the book The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books. Young Columbus and the Quest for a Universal Library (London 2018) all the tiny little elements of a personal live that preceded his universal library is worked out with great detail by Edward Wilson-Lee. Lovely! Perfect read!

P.S. Did 'The Book of Authors' consist of one or two lists? (1) list from A to Z from Author with title(s) and year of publication; (2) list from A to Z from Title with its author(s) and year of publication? Did list 2 exist too?
P.P.S. I don't comprehend the relation between 'The Book of Authors' and 'The Book of Sciences' and 'The Table of Authors and Sciences'. Is the table based on the two books? How to order infinitely with physical catalogue or index cards? Catalogue or index cards bearing (hieroglyphic) symbols?
P.P.P.S. The universal library never got the name Hernando wished 'Hernandina' but was and is named 'Biblioteca Colombina'. Today housed in 'Institución Colombina' together with other libraries under one roof.
P.P.P.P.S. I get the impression the process of the universal library never started. The book doesn't tell if it did or not.

Tending Like Garden & Begin Magic

In 1522 Hernando Columbus, son of explorer Christopher Columbus, lost 1,637 of his books in a shipping disaster. Losing these books taught him an important lesson:

"his was not an imaginary library, like the storied one at Alexandria (...). It was a library of flesh and blood - or rather paper, inkt and vellum - and needed to be housed, guarded, ordered and arranged, tended to like a garden that must be restrained from the wilderness to which it always wishes to return. For the first time in his itinerant life, Hernando needed to put down roots, to find a place where his books could be safe; and one whence the library could begin to work its magic upon the world."

He found a house for his books in Seville (Spain):

P.S. Quote from Edward Wilson-Lee, 'The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books' (London 2018), 240.

As Sweet As Cherry Pie

Gotta find out ...

P.S. ... - you know.

P.P.S. I am immensely curious for the rediscovery in Kopenhagen of Fernando Colón's (1488–1539) 'Libro de los Epítomes'. It is the final and most comprehensive copy of his project to summarize all the books of his library. His 'Libro de los Epítomes' is an index of 16 books. These 16 books are not complementary to each other (summary 1 to 20,000) but, to put it in an image, parallel and partly overlapping lists of book summaries. The Kopenhagen copy is the most comprehensive index with 3,500 summaries ... only a little over 2,000 did survive - the first and last part are missing. 

Cover

Judge it by its ...

Thinking and Questioning

What is philosophy according to me? I define philosophy as 'questioning presuppositions'. In this sense for me philosophy is the complete corpus of science as it was in Ancient Greece too. Did you know that 95% (I didn't count so it's a lucky guess of me) of what "philosopher" Aristotle wrote was about biology? Only a small part is about metaphysics (Greek: ta meta ta phusika. English: after the physics. With Aristotle, these were literally the books that came after the books dealing with nature). To observe. To examine. Cause and effect. Of digging up roots from the ground with a stick. Of cooking food. Of beating or killing an animal or human being. Of the sun that dies in the evening and is born again in the morning. Of stars that re-appear at night. According to me all ingredients of a scientific mindset.

That what we call today philosophy was born in Greece 2,500 ago as science - 2,500 years young! Today only the metaphysics part is considered as "real" philosophy. The rest found a harbour in new scientific areas. With my definition we find a scientific mindset too in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Stone Age and ... - there must be more. All of them gave answers to these four questions of Kant: What can I know? What should I do? What can I hope for? What is man?

To my knowledge there was never in history a restriction on studying science or metaphysics. No-one kept the door locked. Requirements: spare time (next to working for your physical survival), ability to read and write, curiosity and wonderment, teachers and access to books.

Ancient Greece wasn't a paradise for scientists or philosophers. Back then only a small part of its population was able to study and actually studied. Mostly only free Greeks but sometimes slaves too. And the rest? They just were not interested and preferred to drink and watch games/ music. Preferred to consume. Above all a lack of curiosity and wonderment. Ancient Rome has the same track record. After Rome was beaten in 4th century AD Christianity took over. Roughly between 600 to 1100 AD the books of Plato and Aristotle were unknown in Western Europe. Thanks to the Arabs (Aristotle) and Byzantine Empire (Plato) their books survived and their philosophy came back to Western Europe.

What's my point? Read for philosophy: science in general. This mindset is of all ages and all times. We all have it and mostly don't give it that name. We learn by doing and learn from teachers and pass through our knowledge from one generation to another. Mostly not condensed in books. The world is bigger than knowledge in books. The amount of people who want to invest to learn to read philosopy-as-metaphysics-books was and always will be small. It requires spare time and transpiration to read, think, re-think and read more. Most people are perfectly happy to limit their life with having a "merry time", to consume and stay away from "difficult" stuff. The constraint is not a lack of access to philosopy-as-metaphysics. The constraint is lack of curiosity for philosopy-as-metaphysics. All people think and ask questions. All people have a scientific mindset. Philosophy-as-metaphysics as a compulsory subject at our schools and universities will not heal the constraints of our time and age. What will? People who travel and study history and use those Others as their mirror.

P.S. I wrote about mirrors before in 'Mirror' (February 2016) and about Others in 'A Little Deeper. Please!' (June 2012).

Update (1)

Update on the books I read and the projects I'm working on these days.

Books:

• Belonsky, 'The Log Cabin. An Illustrated History' (2018). Read the last part of book #off-the-grid
• Peck, 'America's Secret Mig Squadron' (2012). Read the last part of book #flying
• Oek de Jong, 'Cirkel in het Gras' (1985). Re-reading this book. I love the part when the main-character thinks, "A few more days and I'll start dreaming in Italian again." I read this book ten times I guess #love #Italy
• Sontheimer, 'Hannah Arendt. De Levensweg van een Groot Denker' (2005). Only read a few pages of this book #HomoSapiens

Projects:

• Herbert Maxwell, 'Rainy Days in a Library' (1896). Read the last part of book and write a bookreview #GavinMaxwell
• Claire Nicolas White, 'Fragments of Stained Glass' (2015). I finished this book a couple of weeks ago. I read a book of her before, see my blog 'Motherly Woman'. From this book is the quote in my blog 'And Yet I Knew'. I know I'll move these three books from my project-table to the shells of my library but I am postponing it - waiting for a sign #AldousHuxley
• Write a history article this month about a Dutch farmhouse dating around 1219 #writing
• 'The Lunar Library. Genesis Mission' (2019). This mission aims to preserve humanity's history on the moon (Wikipedia, too): here. I want to check out what is exactly in this library and what not. Answering my question "What worldview is it representing?" #fringe
• Engraved tridacna shells. Around 110 of these engraved shells have been found. I want to unlock all of them in one list via Wikipedia. In a format like this: Egyptian hieroglyphs. I exchanged a few e-mails with professor R. Stucky regarding his thesis 'The engraved Tridacna shells' (1974) finding out that I've to see a hardcopy of his book in the university library of Leiden #fringe
• Rian van Rijbroek, 'Unhacked' (2019). Controversial book about hacking. I didn't start reading book #computer
• Hannah Arendt, 'Lying in Politics' (1971). See my blogpost 'There Always Comes The Point' of last week. I am puzzling on Arendt's image of man (Dutch: mensbeeld). What can we believe and how to act according to her? After answering these questions I want to read the books on list 'Urgent Books to Re-read These Days' #HomoSapiens

And how about my new book about the Cape Verde Islands? I'll start with it in my summer holiday 2019. First there needs painting and liming to be done inside my house.

Polishing This Week's Pearl

This week's pearl for me was the discovery of Sophia De Mello Breyner Andresen's book: 'Shores, Horizons, Voyages...: Selected Poems' (2006). In this book are some of her poems in English and Portuguese.

Sophia: "Poetry is my understanding of the universe, my way of relating to things, my participation in reality, my encounter with voices and images. This is why the poem speaks not of an ideal life but of a concrete one: the angle of a window, the resonance of streets, cities and rooms, the shadow cast by a wall, a sudden face, the silence, distance and brightness of the stars, the night’s breath, the scent of linden and of oregano."

She loooved the sea and wrote a lot about/ around/ on/ under/ before ... - there must be more - it.

"The sea! The sea!" The cry of joy of "10,000" ancient Greeks after their long way home. As told by Xenophon in his 'Anabasis' (4th Century BC). What a story. The cruelty. The murdering. A world of Others.

In our time and age #2018. I am always amazed by the unquestionable love of individual 'homo sapiens' for the sea. I mostly think - and almost never say!: only a couple of hundred years ago the sea was considered as dangerous, smelly and a dumping ground. Not a place of joy, sun and holiday. So ... historically and culturally biased. I repeat: it's something that I think and almost never speak out loud.

El Castillo

El Castillo is the official title of Jorge Méndez Blake's project (here) with a wall of stones "deformed" by a book. Most people know this "visual" under the name 'The Impact of a Book'.

So good and deep!

'El Castillo' is not a random book. It's Frans Kafka's unfinished book 'Das Schloss' (1926). Published against the express wish of Kafka! Wikipedia: "The Castle is often understood to be about alienation, unresponsive bureaucracy, the frustration of trying to conduct business with non-transparent, seemingly arbitrary controlling systems, and the futile pursuit of an unobtainable goal."

The German title 'Das Schloss' is a homonym that can be translated as 'The Castle/ Palace' but also as 'The Lock'. Next to that it's phonetically close to 'Der Schluss' that can be translated as 'The Conclusion/ End.

I don't want to talk about:

• The impact of alienation on stones
• The impact of bureaucracy on stones
• The impact of controlling systems on stones
• The impact of an unobtainable goal on stones
• What is the metaphor behind, under, above, ... - there must be more - stones?
• Is image 'impact' the same as 'deformation'?
• The right spot of the book is important. On most places it would have had no impact at all
• Observation that 'the book' has on the biggest part of the wall no impact at all
• Could it have been another book too? What category tag should we give these books?

I need to talk about storytelling and framing in our time and age. Big media. Big fake news. Big lying. Big wikipedia. Big brother. Big TV. Big news. Big government. For me it feels as if the free spirits on our planet are slowly loosing grip and steady ground. As if they slowly become extinct. As if there is no longer ground and space where they feel love, have their ups and downs and can grow up as free spirits. As if there are no longer ears and eyes who are sensible for their subjective and relativating words. As if everyone is looking for objective and final words ... not realizing that that is a false and most dangerous dream. As if no one is realizing that there are only subjective and relative words. As if no one reads books from free spirits.

Why so much fake news and many lies? Why is the sky blue? What is a free spirit for his- or himself? Why do I love the radiation of the sun on my skin in this time of the year so much? Why 'why'?

Happiness is Vectored Trust

Work. I am back at work again after four weeks of holiday. I finished my Cape Verde Islands translation (Hessel Gerritsz' rutter from 1628 remember?) and I painted the four windows in the front of the house and the front door.

Next to that I read most days around two hours. I finished Bob Marston's book 'Harrier Boys. Volume Two. New Technology, New Treats, New Tactics 1990-2010' (London 2016).

Lovely read those two volumes. I guess for most readers it will be too technical but if you read in between lines it gives a great insight into the history of the Harrier Force.

New for me:

1. Sites for field operations were, if needed, changed every 48 hours.

2. The Harrier was never perfect. It was a continuous process of evolution of the aircraft, its equipment and the (wo)man inside and outside the cockpit. They always wanted to have the best. And to be the best. In war there is no place for being second!

In 2010 the Harrier Force was disbanded as cost-saving measure in the United Kingdom (UK). Replacement? Yes, the Harrier will (probably) be replaced by the F35B. The Ministery of Defence of the UK took intentionally a gap in their V/STOL (vectored trust) air power. 

P.S. Not for Argentine eyes ;) the English are not able to defend the Falklands since 2010 and will not be able to for the next five years. Since 2010 more militairy power (marines etc) on the islands themselves?

P.P.S. Link to Youtube video 'The Best of Harrier Jump Jet History': here.

P.P.P.S. I wrote on Volume I in blogpost 'The Ultimate CAS' (November 2015).

Cartas

Valentines day 2017. I love reading love letters.

I started reading - two weeks ago - António Lobo Antunes (1942) 'Mijn Winterkat mijn Lief. Brieven aan mijn vrouw' (2012). It's the Dutch translation of the war letters António wrote to his wife Maria José Xavier da Fonseca e Costa (1946-1999) while he stayed in Angola as a drafted soldier. Original title 'Cartas da Guerra. D'este viver aqui neste papel descripto' (2005).

RLT

How do you handle in these three situations?

Me? 

#RainyDay .......... read a book 

#LostLuggage ..... buy new clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste

#TangledLights.... first coffee

I realized after I finished reading my last book (Lameirinhas) that reading is something that will never stop. Every individual, every generation has to learn to read. To conquer its content, to think and dream about it and (dis)behave accordingly. To use it as next step to another book, adventure, story or dream. 

Why ... Matters

Why does reading matter? For you? For me? For me, it's mostly the mirror in which I look at myself and which tells me who I am (source).

I bought a couple of new books (picture). Two weeks ago I started with Fernando Lameirinhas, 'Een fado voor mijn vader' (2016). An autobiography from a musician and singer who emigrated from Portugal to Belgium. I checked out his music and was not impressed. I don't know why.

After Lameirinhas I'll read 'Why Orwell Matters' (2003) because Big Brother and New Speak matter. 

P.S. I wrote on reading before in blogpost 'Reading books. It's like a mirror. It always brings me closer to ...' (February 6, 2010).

Invitation to Wander

How many books of 'My History Top 10' from Heuijerjans have you read? I have read four of them: Kennedy, Davies, Hughes and Wulf. My observation #top10: mainly books from era since Western Age of Enlightenment. Why? Question: Does Heuijerjans know that his point of view on history is biased if these books are his solid ground?

Here is my more balanced (with its own biases of course) list on history:

1. Friedrich Nietzsche/ Beyond Good and Evil (1886). Antidote against Socrates (Ancient Greece 5th Century BC) and Christianity (Year 0 - Present Day).
2. Christian Meier/ Caesar. A Biography (1982). Antidote against Age of Enlightenment. Rome is never beaten in history. More
3. Frankfort, Frankfort, Wilson and Jacobsen/ Before Philosophy (1946). Antidote against Ancient Greece and Rome. Book on Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt before philosophy and ratio was born in Ancient Greece.
4. Moyers and Flowers/ The Power of Myth. Interview with Joseph Campbell (1988). Antidote against science and ratio. The influence, metaphors and power of myths.
5. Darrin McMahon/ The History of Happiness (2006). Antidote against there is only one definition of 'happiness'. More
6. Karel van der Leeuw/ Het Chinese Denken (1994). Antidote against Western thinking. Book in Dutch on Chinese thinking.
7. Angus Madison/ Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD. Essays in Macro-Economic History (2007). Antidote against the Western World has gained supremacy on planet Earth. In retrospect China has never been beaten and lives in splendid isolation. Only for a brief period of time, between 1850-2010, the West has had a higher Gross Domestic Product. More
8. Leopold/ Uit den Tuin van Epicurus (1976). Antidote against Christianity. The most personal book on this list. Book in Dutch. It's a translation of fragments and letters of Epicurus (Ancient Greece 5th Century BC). More
9. Martin van Creveld/ The Age of Airpower. Antidote against being earthbound or seabound. More
10. Wikipedia/ Sense. Antidote against written books. Antidote against the bias of the five human senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. More
11. Eriksen and Nielsen/ A History of Antropology (2001). Antidote against our group is the axis and cornerstone of the world.
12. Bruno Borchert/ Mystiek. Geschiedenis en Uitdaging (1989). Antidote against ratio. Book in Dutch on history of mysticism. The spiritual enlightenment of individuals was the founding stone of Christianity and Islam.
13. Bruce Chatwin/ The Songlines (1987). Antidote against written words. The aboriginals in Austrialia save the knowledge of their natural environment in memorized songs.
14. Ton Lemaire/ Twijfel aan Europa (1990). Antidote against Western behavior, globalisation and consumerism. Book in Dutch.
15. Ryszard Kapuscinki/ The Other (2008). Antidote against the 'I' is the axis and cornerstone of the world.
16. Aldous Huxley/ Brave New World (1931). Antidote against technology is king. What kind of society do we want? What is public? What is private?
17. Heraclitus of Ephesus/ Panta rhei (5th century BC). Antidote against books. Sometimes one sentence tells more than one book: 'everything flows' (Greek 'panta rhei').
18. Kooimans, Van den Broeke, Fokkens and Van Gijn/ Nederland in de prehistorie (2005). Antidote against history as written words. Book in Dutch on The Netherlands in the Prehistoric era.
19. Stephen Hawking/ A Brief History of Time (1988). Antidote against planet Earth. Our planet was born and will one day die too.
20. Simone de Beauvoir/ The Second Sex (1949). Antidote against male is the axis and cornerstone of the world. Woman are not naturally born as woman but they become woman as product of society, parents, religion and conformity.  More

The books above are just my pick. It's not a frozen reading list but an invitation to wander around in the fringes and biases of white European male on planet Earth. I am not a specialist on any of the above mentioned antidotes. I am just a curious human being trying to explore and wonder about his fringes. Trying not to get frozen.

Addendum November 11, 2016

  21. Charles S. Peirce/ Evolutionary Love (1893). Antidote against Charles Darwin's image
        'Survival of the Fittest'. The image is not evolutionary competion but evolutionary love.

Recommended by D.B.

On David Bowie's reading list I found two books - and two books only - I added to my 'books to read':
1. Alberto Denti di Pirajno, 'A Cure For Serpents. A Doctor in Africa' (1952) #italian #nordafrica #WWII #Libya #doctor #medicine. A bookreview: here.

2. Camille Paglia, 'Sexual Personae Art and Decandence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson' (1990). According to the Wikipedia lemma on this book, the book was not recieved very well. #fringe #fuss #history #WesternCulture #Apollo-vs-Dionysus #order-vs-chaos #rational-vs-irrational.