Two “must-read” books
I started this post a while back and then it sat there, unloved and gathering dust so I started over again. This is not exactly a follow-up from the previous series and it is at the same time.
I started reading two very very interesting books: Slow is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre and Life Inc. recently. Danielle (my soulmate) gave me “Slow is Beautiful” and I had reserved a copy “Life Inc” before it was released because I’ve always liked Douglas Rushkoff’s writing (ever since John, a friend from Amsterdam, introduced me to his blog back in 2001 or so).
When I first picked “Slow is Beautiful and started reading it, I noticed that we had started going in the direction that Cecile Andrews talks about, towards reclaiming our own life from the hectic environments of our busy cities and its demands. For a while though, I have been still living with a very “city” mind in the country and the good thing is that you are surrounded by “country time” and it reminds you on a daily basis that you need to take it easy or at least, a life can be lived without the constant stress created by the super fast living demands and we need to reorient our individual-centric view of the world to a more community oriented one.
I didn’t realised this until very recently, in particular by talking to our neighbours and realising how much of a community sense there is in our valley. Everyone knows and helps each other. For example, the other day, the guy that delivers the gas bottles got bogged on our property … without even resorting to calling them, our neighbour and a friend that was at his place appeared with their 4WD to help. They had heard the sounds of the van trying to get out of the mud.
I am not even halfway through “Life Inc” and it has already given me a new perspective on the global financial crisis. Somehow I found so many parallels between these two books and our move to the country, it’s a bit scary 
Once I had the time to finish them and digest them a bit more, I will write a bit more. They relate very closely to where we are at in our life (Danielle, Zeek and I) and seem to be recommending a path forward that’s aligned with our way of thinking and our values. Highly recommended!