Besides making pictures of course.
And both have been building the intelligence, the knowledge, the wealth and the wisdom.
In this process some authors of books have been most important.
Douglas Hackney, a fellow traveller also driving a Mitsubishi Fuso FG 4x4, has opened an interesting experiment.
He invites people to give him a list of books one would take along if send to a desert island.
These lists he publishes on his website and it is fascinating to learn who people maybe are by seeing the books they are taking with them to the island.
The list of books of this photographer has been published on Douglas Hackney’s website some weeks ago and one of the books is “Shikasta” by Doris Lessing.
In the past, on several postings of this blog, books by Doris Lessing have been mentioned.
Besides “Shikasta”, also “The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five” and “The Making of the Representative for Planet 8”.
Doris Lessing is not particularly famous for these books which are from the series “Canopus in Argos: Archives”.
Her reputation comes more importantly from her 1962 book “The Golden Notebook”.
Because that book became one of the initiating powers of the Women’s Movement.
There is a memory from the early 70’s when the partner in life at the time, a wonderful Dutch woman, was very involved in the Emancipation Movement and was reading in fascination “The Golden Notebook”.
This is how Doris Lessing came to be known but never the urge was felt to read “The Golden Notebook”.
Maybe by mistake, it was considered a book specifically for emancipating women.
It was only later that “Shikasta” was read and this book made a devastating impression.
Deeply it influenced the way of thinking and understanding.
It is one of the few books that was able to create a whole new concept of how to see creation, mankind, history, the world and the universe.
Every few years this book is re-read.
Some years ago, in 2001, a letter was written to Doris Lessing.
Just after it was known that V.S. Naipaul had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In the letter it was explained how important her books had been and still were and how much it was regretted she had not been awarded the Nobel Prize.
It was therefore with ultimate pleasure that it was learned today that at the age of 88 Doris Lessing got the Nobel Prize.
This choice of the Nobel Prize Committee is not controversial.
Everybody will agree Doris Lessing is a great writer and deserves the award.
But the choice for the Peace Prize, The United Nations Climate Change Panel and Mr. Al Gore, results certainly in a lot of debate.
Debate about Al Gore getting this prize: everybody will instantly forget about The United Nations Climate Change Panel.
Mr. Gore has not exactly been campaigning for peace.
Obviously the jury of the prize has wanted to make a statement.
This inconsistency between a man who made himself the controversial spearhead of a widely promoted message of warning about climate change and its devastating consequences and awarding for 50 % to him the most important prize for peacemaking is a trivial matter.
Trivial in the light of what we can expect if we do not listen and do not take immediate actions to what Al Gore is warning of.
The only thing we must now hope for is that Al Gore doesn’t decide to run to become the next President of the USA.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
To see the list of books people take with them to a desert island, a project of Douglas Hackney, click on:
http://www.hackneys.com/travel/index-booksdesertislandlist.htm
To learn more about Doris Lessing, click on:
http://www.dorislessing.org/
To learn more about Al Gore's "An inconvenient truth", click on:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/
.
No comments:
Post a Comment