Journal

The book is a short, broad, and dense three-part book on the history of China-Korea relations. I found the book deeply insightful. The book moves fast. The first part of the book covers the years 1392 through 1866; the second the years 1866 through 1992; and the third covers modern relations between the nations. Personally, I found more value in the first two parts more than the contemporary section.

Here’s some insights I gathered from reading this.

The author applied Confucian principles to explain the relationship between the two nations in the first section of the book (pg 27)—

Understanding what it meant to be Korean or Chinese was impossible without understanding Confucian principles. They connected the two countries, and sometimes drove them apart through different understandings or applications of the same principles.

The relationship between the two nations can be framed one of the fundamental Confucian relationship, brotherhood (pg 41)—

The Ming were the older brother of the Chosŏn. The rights and obligations that existed between older and younger brothers in the Confucian rulebook also went for the relationship between the two states.

Ultimately internal Chinese conflict in the years after the transition from the Ming to the Qing, along with Japanese ambitions changed the status quo (pg 87)—

For the Qing the full Japanese annexation of Korea was what they had dreaded most. And yet they were incapable of countering it. By 1910, domestic strife in China was again on the rise

Overall the book is well worth a read. Easy, quick, and meaningful. I highly recommend it.

So went the dream. Or whatever it was.

Dance Dance Dance was not as enchanting as A Wild Sheep Chase, but is still worth a read. The book is the continuation of the story for the latter and is technically the third (or forth depending on how you are counting) of a series. As expected, it includes all of the major Murakami cliches—but not in tiring amounts.

The real challenge I had with this book was the long middle portion. While Murakami’s books meander—and that’s part of the joy of his writing—this one especially seemed to have distinct settings for the middle and the beginning/end of the book. This made it a bit disjointed for me and the ending felt rushed.

To be honest, much of ability to enjoy Murakami books is situational—I think a reread is in order for this book. Perhaps I’ll enjoy it more in another day or time.

I put this book in the category of books everyone should read. Perhaps I’d even say that this is a book everyone should read multiple times in their life.

How to Love is a short little book of one page advice on relationships, centered on mindfulness and a Zen Buddhist mindset. It’s highly approachable and succinct. It’s the sort of book that wants you to take your time and think about what you’ve read. And to consider how it applies to your life.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who is in a relationship or wants to be in a strong relationship. This is such a great book to read slowly and discuss with your partner. Even if you disagreed, it would lead to a great conversation.

I am suggesting that two centuries of a strong state and liberal economies may have socialized us so that we have largely lost the habits of mutuality and are in danger now of becoming precisely the dangerous predators that Hobbes thought populated the state of nature.

This was a great rambling—while somehow also straightforward—read. It felt like the classic rambling history professor that I personally enjoy greatly. Short little ‘fragments’ of explorations related to anarchism make up the larger book.

The one downside of this books is that the fragments are only somewhat related to one another: there is a lack of glue and clear takeaways.

Nonetheless, the book is though-provoking and a fun read. I do recommend this as a fun starter to begin thinking about these ideas.

[T]he war has destroyed not only human lives but all human values as well. It undermines all government structures and systems of society, destroys the very foundations of democracy, freedom, and all human systems of values. Its shame is not just the shame of the Vietnamese, but of the whole world. The whole family of humankind will share the guilt if they do not help to stop this war.

Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire is Thich Nhat Hanh’s impassioned plea to the world to consider ways to hasten the end of the Vietnam War. The book is a moderately insightful look into some important historical factors that help the reader to understand the Vietnamese mindset during the war.

I found the book hard to get into; however, the second half was strong and made up for the first half. Especially valuable was learning about the connection between Vietnamese nationalism and Buddhism. The book is valuable from a historical perspective, but not meaningfully insightful outside of that.