Thoughts on Papyrus

British psychologist Stuart Sutherland wrote in 1989: “Consciousness is a a fascinating but elusive phenomenon: it is impossible to specify what it is, what it does, or why it evolved. Nothing worth reading had been written about it“. Despite this sentiment, which has quite a bit of truth to it, below are seven great books …

Shamanism refers to spiritual practices that centre on a shaman (from a Manchu-Tungus word “šaman” meaning “the one who knows”) who is capable of entering altered states of consciousness for the purposes of healing, communication with the unseen world, etc. Below are seven great books on shamanism, a practice that remains misunderstood. Some of the books …

Dreamtime & Inner Space [1988] – ★★★★ “Our scientific methods remain disassociated from actual life, whereas the shaman seizes life by its roots and experiences blazing reality” [Kalweit, Shambhala Publications: 243]. This book may be called a companion piece to Kalweit’s Shamans, Healers and Medicine Men (see my review), and explores how different tribes across …

McTeague: A Story of San Francisco [1899] – ★★★★ Perhaps better known as the silent film Greed (1924) and based on a real murder case that shook San Francisco in 1893, McTeague is Frank Norris’s naturalistic novel about a sham dentist named McTeague and his “prim” wife Trina Sieppe, who at first have all the …

Tristana [1892/2014] – ★★★★1/2 “…the young woman hadher own ideas, hurling herself into the empty spaces of thought anddisplaying the boldest of aspirations…” [Benito Pérez Galdós, Margaret Jull Costa, NYRB Classics, 1892/2014]. Don Lope Garrido was a man already past a certain age when he took under his wing the daughter of his friend, who died in …