Weekly Recommendations (28/3)

“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.”

- Aldous Huxley ( English Author And LSD Enthusiast)

There’s a cornucopia of activities that makes our lives ever enriching and worthwhile. Whilst for Huxley, it seemed to be an occasional shot of LSD, most of us in the 20th century enjoy other pastimes that achieve the same effect without mental hallucinations, psychedelics and the altering of our neural pathways. This week’s recommendations consist of anything and everything that brings us that feeling of bliss.

Books:

Needless to say, reading is packed with benefits, regardless of whether your reading is for learning or leisure, these books are interesting reads to take up.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Alright, Starting off with the LSD man himself. Off the bat, I do have to warn that the language used in the book is vernacular to Huxley’s time period, nevertheless, I believe the ideas developed in this book are worth the endeavours of reading it. Okay so, this book is an utter classic so many of you may have read it or heard of it. But if you haven’t, Brave New World is to dystopian literature what Michael Jordan is to basketball.

Here are my two reasons to check it out.

1. It offers a captivating plot and provides a glimpse into Huxley’s vision (it’s just a fun read really)

2. It visualises its ideas, hence allowing us to understand it better. It’s one thing to understand per say, a theory, but it’s a different thing to envisage it through the lenses of a protagonist.

In Brave New World, we follow the story of a man named Bernard Marx, who is essentially given the genetic lottery. Being born in the upper rungs of society, Bernard could enjoy the social privileges of being predisposed as an Alpha gamete. Sadly, Bernard is not satiated by this at all, he refuses to be complacent like other Alphas, and seeks individuality and freedom unlike the girl he fancies, Lenina Crowne, who is also an Alpha. In the novel, their journey together allows them to uncover many axioms about themselves and their society. Huxley touches on themes of individuality and technological imprisonment in Brave New World.

HumanKind – Rutger Bregman

Overall, Historian Rutger Bregman uses this book to look into studies, entertain unpopular ideas, conduct interviews and pose hypotheticals all to answer the simple question: Are humans good or bad?

In the world of sociology books, there seems to never be a shortage of texts that portray rudimentary human nature in a cynical and generally negative light. In contrast to these assumptions, HumanKind argues that these texts are antediluvian and characterises our history as ‘survival of the friendliest’ rather than ‘survival of the fittest’. He argues that our progress and development is brought about by our cooperative nature. For that reason, I was initially sceptical of HumanKind. But Bregman’s compromising tone paired with the detailed metaphors and analogies quickly won me over and made HumanKind an extremely entertaining read.

On top of that, the style of writing makes it seem as if every sentence and phrase is suited particularly to the reader’s curiosity and reactions, no pretentious flowery language that the reader has to decipher, just pure reason and thought-provoking ideas. If you’re looking for a compelling and well researched book, HumanKind is a great one to check out.

Music:

A friend of mine once said to me: no good week comes without the presence of some fuego music. That said, here are some artists I recommend:

Bon Jovi

John Francis Bongiovi Jr. known by his stage alias Jon Bon Jovi doesn’t only have a fuego haircut.

Though he does axiomatically have an exquisite taste in hair style, putting all other artists of his era to shame. John’s success lies mostly in the musical industry, where he has sold over 130 million copies worldwide.

And what can I say, after a listen to one of his songs, you’d instantly understand why.

So without further ado, here are a few must listen songs from Bon Jovi.

Always - Bon Jovi’s Greatest Hits

Boy, there is just something about the enthusiasm and passion of Bon Jovi songs that really cuts through the audio. Always is a song packed with emotion that sounds almost like a violent confession of undying love.

Livin' On a Prayer - Slippery When Wet

Yet another successful hit from Bon Jovi, Living On a Prayer is nothing short of the perfect song to karaoke to on a road trip. The funkiness, the nostalgia this song encapsulates makes it a perfect listen.

Bed of Roses

Now, I’m no music expert, but the instrumentals in this song are just something to die for. In any of Bon Jovi’s songs really, but Bed Of Roses takes it to a whole other level. So, without a singular doubt, this song is a blessing.

Mokita

Yet another extremely fashionable artist we have! Unlike Bon Jovi, Mokita songs are a lot more solemn.

Nevertheless, he might be one of the most underrated artists out there at the moment. His songs are a great comfort on a rough day, a soothing voice when you’re faced with tough decisions and have the need to sort through the nuances in your mind.

Lonely City

The phrase ‘play it till you hate it’ can be applied to almost every song. The longevity of this song is truly something to behold. Bear in mind, it is a rather sad song, but nevertheless a worthwhile and peaceful listen.

Sports:

Doing any sport/physical exercise has been proven over and over to have incredible benefits on our mental and physical health. That said, doing ANY type of sport is recommended, but if you’d like to try something new out here’s a sport I recommend.

Calisthenics

Calisthenics or bodyweight training merges the line between workout and a sport, it can be used in the essence to achieve many physical goals similar to weight training. But one could argue that like sports such as gymnastics, a physique is naturally built as a byproduct of other achievements. In fact, some could even see calisthenic/body weight training as a street version of gymnastics; gymnastics made affordable. For that reason I recommend looking into the world of street workout, not only does it produce pretty sick moves such as the one shown on the picture above, it’s also realistic for most people to try and be good at. Unlike the gym, calisthenics is practically free, all you need is a pullup bar, which can be found in many parks in Hong Kong. There is a LOT of information to uncover on this topic, but the sport is super unique and I could not recommend it more to everyone.

And… that’s a wrap for this week’s recommendations. Peace —