Bibliotherapy Zine #5

  • 5 Nov, 2020

Never before in history have we had access to so much reading material, at our fingertips, a couple of taps away.

Yet, more often than not, even the most voracious readers amongst us end up reading less, scrolling more... speaking from experience.

Hence, this effort designed to nudge you (and me) to read more in spite of plummeting attention spans. Hope it helps!!

~ Nitin

[WANT TO READ MORE IN 2021?
ADD YOURSELF TO THE BIBLIOTHERAPY READERS' LIST]
DEPARTMENT of mind expansion

“What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years.

Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you.

Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs.

Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.” ~ Carl Sagan

And now, more than ever, we need magic.

Also, if the above quote makes you get up and grab a book near you, any book, go for it!! Bookmark this zine for later. Mission accomplished :)

Back? Revisit Project Bibliotherapy's first ever attempt to nudge folks to read more - in the form of opening lines, relevant links, etc hidden in the caption of the below post shared on Lockdown Day Zero (of 'Junta Curfew' fame🤦‍♂️)...

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"The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us - there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries. The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky..." . - Carl Sagan ‘Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation’ (1983) Abacus Already read this? Awesome! Now... . .📱Follow the official fan page @saganism .📚 Read the just released sequel ‘Cosmos: Possible Worlds’ by Ann Druyan (@druyanism) . .📚 Read ‘For Small Creatures Such as We - Rituals for finding meaning in our unlikely world’, the debut book penned by his daughter @sashasagan . .📺 Watch ‘Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey’ (@cosmosontv) on @hotstarpremium (India), @foxtv and @natgeochannel (elsewhere). Hosted by @neildegrassetyson. Produced by @macfarlaneseth, the original Family Guy (@familyguyfox) Season 2 out soon!!! . .📱Explore @cosmos & @neil.degrasse for more breathtaking content. . .➕ Contribute to this list in the comments section. Thanks (:

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Further recommended streaming of the guilt-free kind...

Cosmos - Premium

Cosmos reveals how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space & time by narrating the untold stories of the heroic quest f...

hotstar.com
Trulli
vicarious wanderlust DEPARTMENT

“Things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be.” ~ Allan Karlsson

Meet Allan Karlsson, the centenarian hero of Jonas Jonasson's rib-tickling tale. He's lived quite the eclectic life hanging out with geniuses and Supreme Leaders, and after a daring escape from the Old Person's Home, is off on another escapade to commemorate his hundredth birthday.

View this post on Instagram

"You might think he could have made up his mind earlier, and been man enough to tell the others of his decision. But Allan Karlsson had never been given to pondering things too long. So the idea had barely taken hold in the old man's head before he opened the window of his room on the ground floor of the Old People's Home in the town of Malmkoping, and stepped out - into the flowerbed. This manoeuvre required a bit of effort, since Allan was one hundred years old. On this very day in fact. There was less than an hour to go before his birthday party would begin in the lounge of the Old People’s Home. The mayor would be there. And the local paper. And all the other old people. And the entire staff, led by the bad-tempered Director Alice. It was only the Birthday Boy himself who didn’t intend to show up..." . - Jonas Jonasson The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (2009) (Translated from the Swedish by Roy Bradbury) Harper Collins . “Twentieth-century history retold through an ingenious plot in a comic caper that never ceases to surprise and delight. The funniest, most joyous book I have read in years.” . - Shashi Tharoor

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Further reading - for the amazing origin story of this global bestseller's author & more...

The Bibliophile's Guide to the Hundred Year Old Man

“Things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be.” ~ Allan Karlsson

bibliotherapy.scrollstack.com
Trulli
DEPARTMENT of essential essays

“The reason the post-pandemic era will be so destructive and creative is that never have more people had access to so many cheap tools of innovation, never have more people had access to high-powered, inexpensive computing, never have more people had access to such cheap credit — virtually free money — to invent new products and services, all as so many big health, social, environmental and economic problems need solving.

Put all of that together and KABOOM!

You’re going to see some amazing stuff emerge, some long-established institutions, like universities, disappear — and the nature of work, workplaces and the workforce be transformed.” ~ Thomas L. Friedman

Opinion | After the Pandemic, a Revolution in Education and Work Awaits

Providing more Americans with portable health care, portable pensions and opportunities for lifelong learning is what politics needs to be about post-Nov. 3.

nytimes.com
Trulli

Of all the goodreads linked out in this zine, don't miss the above one.

browser history DEPARTMENT

Shift

A personal history of how the internet came home, became magazine fodder, and changed a life — A new story from the Indian subcontinent to the world, each week on 52.

fiftytwo.in
Trulli

In a brilliant nostalgia-laced read published on fiftytwo.in, Mala Bhargava revisits her journey online from a 386 assembled computer with 2MB of RAM, a 20MB hard disk and a three-and-a-half inch floppy drive to a Samsung ZFold 2 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

(Statutory Warning - certain bits in the above article might trigger traumatic memories involving dial-up modems.)

DEPARTMENT of the unforgiven

In 2013, Metallica became the first band in the world to rock all seven continents.

Watch the South Pole experiencing what godforsaken Gurgaon couldn't!

Also, for a handy list of 23 more full-length concerts, chronologically arranged, check out...

Bibliotherapy Jukebox: Metallica Mondays

Between March 24th and and August 25th of this Unforgiven Year, every Monday, twenty-three times, Metallica treated us to a full-length concert from their vast archives, made available for everyone in the world to stream on Youtube.

bibliotherapy.scrollstack.com
Trulli
pub-less quizzical DEPARTMENT

“By getting lost on his quest for fortune, he found eternal fame / notoriety. Who?”

"For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps."

For more questions and a bunch of goodreads disguised as answers, tap below...

Bibliotherapy Quiz Contest: Tazo Tuesday #1

Six tazos, six questions. Difficulty setting - Moderately Easy.

bibliotherapy.scrollstack.com
Trulli

That's all for this week, folks. Happy reading!!

Name. One book/author/topic on your reading list for 2021. Email. Phone number (optional). That’s all.
Sign up below to READ MORE this year and beyond... :)

Bibliotherapy Readers' List

Want to READ MORE in 2021? Add yourself to the Bibliotherapy Readers' List for exclusive nudges, guided reading meditations and more...

bit.ly
Trulli

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Edit- We have moved to Razorpay for payments. Please join the READERS OF 42 through the new link below and enhance your reading habit with us! Sign up for ₹2000/$25/year to unlock access to the following benefits Benefits: 1. 42 Good Reads of the Internet zines - 4 Volumes (our reading course for 2024) 2. Access to Monthly Readathons - 1 Good Read shared via email at 6:42 AM IST daily for 14 days each month 3. Access to the Readers of 42 WhatsApp private broadcast for updates (admin-only, no spam) 4. Early invites and special prices for all our offline and online Reading Experiences (such as Guided Reading Meditations, bookstore mixers and more) 5. Exclusive early access to all our future endeavours (books, newsletters, podcasts, collaborations, merch and lots more) Project Bibliotherapy is our labour of love serving Readers worldwide since March 2020. We look forward to nudging you to read more, read better in 2024 and beyond :) - Nandini and Nitin

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