WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.760 (DDLC calming and cute music) 00:00:07.760 --> 00:00:09.120 πŸ‘ πŸ‘ 00:00:09.180 --> 00:00:10.400 Book Review 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:10.900 That's right. 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:13.860 For some reason, you guys still want me to make these. 00:00:13.860 --> 00:00:15.860 First of all, I am an idiot. (Aren't we all) 00:00:15.860 --> 00:00:20.280 Last month. I said we were gonna read Runaway Horses and Spring Snow. 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:22.200 I had no idea; they are connected. 00:00:22.200 --> 00:00:23.940 They are part of a tetralogy. 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:26.260 Luckily, these are the two first ones. 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:28.780 But if follow me on this month of 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:30.460 πŸ‘ Book πŸ‘ Review, 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:31.920 then hopefully (Laughs) 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.120 You read them at the right.. in the right order. 00:00:34.120 --> 00:00:37.740 I usually don't like knowing anything at all about the books that I read. 00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:40.560 But I realized that if I am gonna recommend books, 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:42.680 then maybe, just maybe 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:44.580 I should do a little bit of research. 00:00:44.580 --> 00:00:46.040 So, I am sorry. 00:00:46.040 --> 00:00:47.740 Gomen'nasai ごめんγͺさい (Sorry in Japanese) 00:00:47.740 --> 00:00:50.540 The thing is that when I discovered Yukio Mishima, 00:00:50.540 --> 00:00:52.540 I did it by pure coincidence. 00:00:52.540 --> 00:00:54.120 I didn't know anything about him. 00:00:54.120 --> 00:00:56.120 And I just fell in love with his writing, 00:00:56.160 --> 00:00:59.000 and I fell in love with finding out about 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:00.040 his ideas, 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:01.560 but also his life. 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:04.120 just as the joy of discovering him was so great 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:05.380 that I wanted to honor that 00:01:05.380 --> 00:01:06.580 and keep that going 00:01:06.580 --> 00:01:07.960 with what I read from him. 00:01:08.160 --> 00:01:09.040 So that's why 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:11.600 Anyway let's get to the review Felix 00:01:11.600 --> 00:01:12.100 jeez 00:01:12.100 --> 00:01:14.260 [Book one] Spring Snow, let's start with Spring Snow 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:15.380 *in the right order* 00:01:15.380 --> 00:01:16.700 Hooray for me, everybody 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:21.300 A little bit of background: I feel like it might help you understand it a bit better. 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:26.000 The author, Yukio Mishima, believed in the code of ethic of bushido (武士道) 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.120 which is the samurai code of ethic 00:01:28.300 --> 00:01:32.860 He wanted to restore that and also restore the power to the emperor 00:01:32.860 --> 00:01:35.380 That's over-simplifying things, but 00:01:35.380 --> 00:01:39.320 because of it, you see a lot of common themes throughout his novels 00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:43.000 which is around the Westernisation of Japan 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:46.620 and that major cultural shift that happened during that period 00:01:46.700 --> 00:01:49.580 so Spring Snow takes place right after that 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:51.820 right after the end of Meiji period 00:01:51.820 --> 00:01:53.660 Now if you don't know what Meiji period is 00:01:53.740 --> 00:01:54.700 Just Google it, 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:56.460 it's hilarious (laughs) 00:01:56.460 --> 00:01:59.240 'Cause it's the least Japanese thing you've ever seen 00:01:59.240 --> 00:02:02.660 it's just... people talk about cultural appropriation 00:02:02.660 --> 00:02:04.640 just Google Meiji period (laughs) 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.900 Now, I think it's important to understand at least that 00:02:07.900 --> 00:02:11.880 despite Yukio Mishima being against, like many other Japanese people, 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:14.160 the Westernisation of Japan, 00:02:14.160 --> 00:02:17.860 a lot of people still recognise, Yukio Mishima himself, 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:21.200 that for Japan to prosper as a modern nation, 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:25.720 they needed to borrow technology from the West 00:02:25.720 --> 00:02:27.960 and they did this in a sort of mindset of 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:30.400 "well Japanese ideology is better" 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:33.520 "but we'll still take this Western technology" (laughs) 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:37.660 and Mishima himself did take a lot of inspiration from Western literature 00:02:37.660 --> 00:02:39.360 and so on and so forth. 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:42.060 Most notably, Spring Snow itself 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:45.000 it's purposefully written in a Western style 00:02:45.320 --> 00:02:48.940 It feels very familiar as supposed to his other works 00:02:48.940 --> 00:02:50.860 πŸ‘now let's πŸ‘get into the πŸ‘story (finally end of history class) 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:54.280 I'm not gonna spoiler everything because that has been requested to me before 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:57.420 I just assume that since I said I was gonna read the book 00:02:57.420 --> 00:02:59.320 I could just got say in its fullest 00:02:59.440 --> 00:03:02.880 but I realise now... I don't wanna ruin it for people 00:03:02.880 --> 00:03:05.620 but a brief explanation: it follows the story of 00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:06.120 Kui... 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:06.620 Kiyoa... 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:07.480 Kiyoaki? 00:03:07.660 --> 00:03:08.920 Kiyoaki. 00:03:08.920 --> 00:03:10.320 Matsugae, 00:03:10.320 --> 00:03:13.940 who is described as this young, beautiful, handsome man (just like pewds) 00:03:13.940 --> 00:03:17.120 he has a good future ahead of him 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:20.980 He's born into this previously samurai family 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:25.260 that became nouveau-riche because of 00:03:25.260 --> 00:03:29.580 embracing the change... the cultural changes in the Meiji period 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:31.300 and the benefits from that 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:33.920 but Kiyoaki is very childish (like all of us, the 9-year-olds) 00:03:33.920 --> 00:03:35.480 he falls in love with Satoko, 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:39.420 who is part of this more aristocratic family, 00:03:39.640 --> 00:03:46.460 with higher stature and the sort of type of family that Kiyoaki's family, the Matsugae, 00:03:46.540 --> 00:03:48.280 looks up to and wants to be. 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:48.780 BUT, 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:52.480 Kiyoaki doesn't really know how to deal with his emotions for Satoko. 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:56.360 He acts like a very spoiled teenage brat about it 00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:59.580 At one point he loves her, another point he despises her 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:01.380 and it sort of goes back and forth. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:03.760 But it's very fun to follow this 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:09.740 around Kiyoaki, despite being very childish and so changing, 00:04:10.040 --> 00:04:14.680 I remember he writes his letter to Satoko because he has given up on her 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:18.820 He's lost all faith in her, and he writes that in a letter to her 00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:23.120 and then later on, he meets up with some friends and they ask him 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:24.920 "Hey do you have someone that you love?" 00:04:24.960 --> 00:04:27.300 and he describes Satoko, realising 00:04:27.640 --> 00:04:28.440 *S* 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:30.000 I made a big mistake, 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.340 I need to stop this letter, 00:04:31.340 --> 00:04:34.220 so he phones Satoko and he says "whatever you do" 00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:36.640 "do not read the letter that I sent you" 00:04:36.640 --> 00:04:39.560 "promise me that you will burn the letter and not read it" 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:45.500 So later on, he meets up with Satoko, she invites him to a rickshaw ride, 00:04:45.660 --> 00:04:46.940 a bit unexpectedly, 00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:49.360 you follow his internal thoughts of 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:50.720 - "Did she read the letter?" 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.060 - "Did she not read the letter?" 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:53.520 - "Is she playing with me?" 00:04:53.520 --> 00:04:54.920 - "What is going on here?" 00:04:55.580 --> 00:04:59.020 and it sounds so stupid, it sounds so uninteresting, 00:04:59.020 --> 00:05:01.860 but I really really enjoyed this bit. 00:05:01.900 --> 00:05:08.020 It focuses a lot of these type of events that just seems uninteresting and trivial and unimportant, 00:05:08.020 --> 00:05:09.780 but, it adds a charm to it :) 00:05:09.780 --> 00:05:10.960 that I really enjoy :) 00:05:11.080 --> 00:05:18.520 It's not until Satoko is completely out of Kiyoaki's reach that he realises this finally 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:20.140 his full love for Satoko. 00:05:20.140 --> 00:05:23.000 But thanks to his friend, Honda, 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:26.920 who is very loyal and trustworthy, and will do anything for Kiyoaki. 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:31.540 He helps him so that he can sneak out with Satoko 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:34.080 and so that they can be together at least for a little bit. 00:05:34.080 --> 00:05:40.500 That's it for the story, I think that's all you need to know to understand the theme around the story 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:47.120 Much like many other works from Mishima, they (the characters) reflect certain themes, each character, 00:05:47.400 --> 00:05:50.840 I think, okay, I THINK, this is just me speculating, 00:05:51.020 --> 00:05:53.360 but Kiyoaki represents... 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:55.580 I dunno, it sounds stupid, but 00:05:55.580 --> 00:05:57.200 the "new" Japan πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ 00:05:57.320 --> 00:06:00.400 trying to find its foot in this cultural shift 00:06:00.400 --> 00:06:04.540 The reason why he doesn't really know for sure his feelings for Satoko 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:09.060 is because Satoko represents sort of in between old and new πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ 00:06:09.060 --> 00:06:13.480 So sometimes he loves Satoko, sometimes he doesn't... he despises her 00:06:13.760 --> 00:06:17.900 Because I think Satoko's family 00:06:17.900 --> 00:06:20.060 represents "new" Japan. 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:21.760 New Japan from the Meiji period. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:25.900 Kiyoaki himself sees his family later on in a bad light 00:06:25.900 --> 00:06:30.180 because they let go of their roots, their samurai roots in a sense. 00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:33.800 I think it's really interesting to have a novel around these themes and ideas, 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:37.380 but the main reason that I really love this book was because of 00:06:37.380 --> 00:06:38.860 its poetic style. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.800 It sounds so pretentious for me to say, but 00:06:42.420 --> 00:06:45.540 the way it reads, you really cherish the pages. 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:48.600 It has so many interesting personalities, 00:06:48.640 --> 00:06:53.920 most importantly, getting the insight of this very fascinating period of time 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:55.720 through the eyes of Kiyoaki. 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:56.600 I really enjoyed it. 00:06:56.880 --> 00:06:57.600 Very nice. 00:06:57.900 --> 00:06:58.680 4 out of 5. 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:01.380 Did you read it? Did you like it? What did you think? 00:07:01.380 --> 00:07:02.580 [Book Two] Runaway Horses. 00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:04.100 Where do I begin ? 00:07:04.280 --> 00:07:04.960 This book. 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:05.640 (kisses πŸ’‹) 00:07:05.880 --> 00:07:06.520 (kisses πŸ’‹) 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:07.380 (kisses πŸ’‹) 00:07:07.380 --> 00:07:11.100 I know it's a bit annoying, but I'm gonna preface this novel as well 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:12.300 with some *history*. (history class again, everybody) 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:13.980 Because just like Spring Snow, 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:19.520 that started... that... the novel Spring Snow takes place right at the end of the Meiji period. 00:07:19.740 --> 00:07:25.480 Runaway Horses takes off right after a historical event in Japan, 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:27.660 which is called the May 15 Incident. 00:07:27.660 --> 00:07:28.900 *which really happened* 00:07:29.080 --> 00:07:31.920 A cooler name for the May 15 Incident is the 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:33.640 *Blood League Incident*. 00:07:33.760 --> 00:07:34.340 DAMN. 00:07:34.340 --> 00:07:35.180 That's itchy. 00:07:35.180 --> 00:07:36.660 Sorry... *League of Blood Incident*. 00:07:36.780 --> 00:07:41.460 Mishima often takes real historical events in Japan, 00:07:41.460 --> 00:07:45.360 for example, he wrote The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, which is about a monk 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:48.780 that burnt down the Temple of the... the Golden Pavilion (laughs) 00:07:48.780 --> 00:07:53.860 and he sort of fictionalises the story of what that was like for the monk 00:07:53.860 --> 00:07:55.680 and what went through his head. 00:07:56.180 --> 00:07:57.700 And in a similar sense, 00:07:58.280 --> 00:08:01.300 Mishima did this with the Runaway Horses. 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:04.780 But in this time, he echoes the event instead. 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:07.000 *Which will make sense later on* 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:14.660 To put it briefly, the League of Blood Incident was a group of samurai that tried to restore power to the Emperor 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:16.840 by killing a bunch of political people, 00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:17.840 (laughs) 00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:20.400 I'm just trying... I'm just trying to keep it quick 00:08:20.660 --> 00:08:21.720 and... 00:08:22.320 --> 00:08:22.960 it FAILED 00:08:22.960 --> 00:08:24.160 They got captured. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:26.420 But so many people of Japan 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:28.560 didn't agree with their sentencing, 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:30.320 so they signed with blood, 00:08:30.400 --> 00:08:34.160 350,000 people signed with blood and send it in to lessen 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:37.260 the sentence for the capture. 00:08:37.260 --> 00:08:40.020 That's just a little bit of back story, ok let's get into it. (history class over) 00:08:40.020 --> 00:08:41.500 Let's just jump into it! 00:08:41.560 --> 00:08:44.560 Runaway Horses follow the story of Isao, 00:08:44.800 --> 00:08:47.140 he's 17 years old, 00:08:47.140 --> 00:08:49.620 he was brought up in the code of bushido 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:52.160 Bushido is the samurai code of ethics. 00:08:52.280 --> 00:08:54.220 He is level 3 in Kendo βš”οΈπŸ₯‹ 00:08:54.220 --> 00:08:57.260 I dunno what that means, but I think it means he's a badass βš”οΈβš”οΈ. 00:08:57.420 --> 00:08:58.060 (laughs) 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.320 Isao is the reincarnation of Kiyoaki, 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.680 so this takes place 17 years after Spring Snow. 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:08.080 DID I JUST SPOILED SPRING SNOW 00:09:08.420 --> 00:09:08.980 OOPSIE. (YES YOU DID) 00:09:09.280 --> 00:09:10.040 (laughs) 00:09:10.040 --> 00:09:13.420 So the character Honda, if you remember, he makes a reappearance. 00:09:13.520 --> 00:09:16.740 He's now a judge, and he 00:09:16.740 --> 00:09:18.700 meets up with Isao by chance. 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:24.120 And he realises that he is the reincarnation of his old friend, Kiyoaki. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:28.580 Isao me... Isao wants to give Honda his favourite book 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:32.320 which is The League of the Divine Wind, which is inspired by 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:35.640 another rebellion, another coup d'Γ©tat that actually happened. 00:09:35.640 --> 00:09:39.400 During the Meiji period, it was a group of people, a group of samurai, same thing again. 00:09:39.400 --> 00:09:41.820 Revolts against the Meiji government, 00:09:41.820 --> 00:09:43.800 restore power to the emperor, 00:09:43.800 --> 00:09:47.540 they were a smaller group of samurai, but they were very tactical, 00:09:47.540 --> 00:09:49.580 and used surprise to their advantage, 00:09:49.580 --> 00:09:53.060 they managed to actually make a large impact, 00:09:53.060 --> 00:09:56.180 despite eventually failing and committing seppuku (committing suicide by cutting your abdomen). 00:09:56.180 --> 00:09:59.200 I think the important thing to take away is that 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:01.660 the ShinpΕ«ren rebellion, as it's called, 00:10:01.660 --> 00:10:05.520 despite it being a failure and despite them committing seppuku, 00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:11.960 it's seen as a success in the way that it inspired other rebellions and more afterwards. 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:17.000 It's seen as a way for a small group of dedicated people having a larger impact, 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:19.339 and Isao, the character in the book, 00:10:19.339 --> 00:10:22.620 (sorry, it keeps mixing fiction and history) 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:24.600 (which I think is what makes it so interesting) 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:27.600 Isao was so inspired by this book and the people and their... 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:31.120 and their intentions, giving their life to their cause, 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:36.540 that he wants to start his own group in the essence of The League of the Divine Wind, 00:10:36.540 --> 00:10:41.092 recruits a bunch of younger students by showing them the book, 00:10:41.092 --> 00:10:43.420 and asking "how do you feel about this book" 00:10:43.420 --> 00:10:47.520 "does this inspire you", and he gets a very loyal group of 20 people 00:10:47.520 --> 00:10:51.720 and he plans to do an attack very similar to the May 15 Incident. 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:55.590 It's planned out in the intention of inspiring other people 00:10:55.590 --> 00:11:01.410 and having as much effect as you can as a small group, and then to commit seppuku. 00:11:01.410 --> 00:11:04.240 So they plot to kill the country's capitalists, 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:08.580 but before they're able to go forth with their plan, 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:13.060 Isao gets betrayed and that's all I need to say with the story. 00:11:13.060 --> 00:11:17.040 Runaway Horses is vastly different from Spring Snow, 00:11:17.040 --> 00:11:19.520 but it still shares common themes 00:11:19.520 --> 00:11:22.659 around the purity of youth versus 00:11:22.659 --> 00:11:24.960 the corruption of the adult. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:30.280 It's about the willingness to sacrifice yourself for the greater good and what you believe in. 00:11:30.280 --> 00:11:36.500 And also the envy and jealousy of that glory, 00:11:36.620 --> 00:11:39.200 of having something worth dying for. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:43.820 But I think most importantly, the major theme of this novel is... 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:46.940 I don't know exactly... 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:49.980 to know and not to act is not to truly know. 00:11:49.980 --> 00:11:56.020 Yukio Mishima himself, the author, a well acclaimed, well-regarded, 00:11:56.020 --> 00:12:02.400 rich, famous author, created his own... military, 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:04.600 the Tatenokai. 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:10.100 On the same day as he finished his tetralogy, he left the last page in his office open. 00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:15.040 He left with four members of his Tatenokai, his military group. 00:12:15.040 --> 00:12:17.640 He went to the military Tokyo headquarters, 00:12:17.640 --> 00:12:20.360 he kidnapped the commander, 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:23.060 barricaded themselves in the headquarters, 00:12:23.060 --> 00:12:26.980 told the media to come and... 00:12:26.980 --> 00:12:28.760 and see what he had to say. 00:12:28.760 --> 00:12:32.800 And in the hopes of inspiring the soldiers out in the courtyard, 00:12:32.800 --> 00:12:38.820 he gave his speech for the same reason as Isao and all these other rebellions against the Meiji period: 00:12:38.820 --> 00:12:41.360 to restore glory to the Emperor. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:44.550 Yukio Mishima knew this would fail, 00:12:44.550 --> 00:12:48.380 but as we know, failure doesn't necessarily mean the ending. 00:12:48.380 --> 00:12:53.900 Despite him wanting to inspire these soldiers and despite him knowing that they probably wouldn't listen to him, 00:12:53.900 --> 00:12:57.540 he knew that to know and not to act is not to truly know, 00:12:57.540 --> 00:13:00.200 and he lived and died by those words. 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:03.560 So after delivering his speech, he went inside, 00:13:03.560 --> 00:13:07.000 he wrote his death, poem and he went down on his knees 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:08.580 and committed seppuku. 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:14.860 His death poem and the event of his death very much reflect Runaway Horses. 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:16.260 His poem reads, 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:18.420 "A small night storm blows" 00:13:18.580 --> 00:13:21.340 "Saying 'falling is the essence of a flower'" 00:13:21.580 --> 00:13:23.360 "Preceding those who hesitate" 00:13:23.580 --> 00:13:27.520 The last words that was left in his final book on his desk said, 00:13:27.520 --> 00:13:31.100 "Human life is limited but I want to live forever." 00:13:31.100 --> 00:13:33.460 I will give this book 5 out of 5! 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:35.500 10 out of 10! 00:13:36.580 --> 00:13:39.600 100 out of 100. 00:13:40.620 --> 00:13:45.200 [Book Three] Next up, I read Sapiens. It was recommended by my parents. Thank you parents. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:46.540 Sapiens i... 00:13:46.540 --> 00:13:48.100 (Windows XP shut down music) 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:51.500 is the telling of... the story of humankind. 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:53.240 (laughs) 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:55.960 I put all the effort into the Mishima... (laughs) 00:13:57.500 --> 00:13:58.420 I dunno what I'm gonna say 00:13:58.420 --> 00:14:02.180 It tells the... the major revolutions of human history. 00:14:02.180 --> 00:14:07.400 The Cognitive, the Agriculture, the Empire and the Scientific Revolution. 00:14:07.400 --> 00:14:11.480 It tells the story of mankind in a third-person perspective, 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:16.970 as if aliens talked about us, which is so weird and bizarre, 00:14:16.970 --> 00:14:20.120 but still very gripping and interesting. 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:21.980 I... it's a super easy read. 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:24.270 It starts off by telling historical facts 00:14:24.270 --> 00:14:27.700 about how mankind changed throughout history. 00:14:27.700 --> 00:14:31.720 But then as we get to closer to current time, the author... 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:35.900 it's clear that the author is putting a lot of his own assertions in there 00:14:35.900 --> 00:14:38.859 and it becomes a bit blurred I would say. 00:14:38.859 --> 00:14:41.680 A lot of times without any evidence as well. 00:14:41.680 --> 00:14:43.940 Reading it, you kina go 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:44.960 HMMMMM (where are the effects Brad) 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:46.530 I'm not sure if I'm buying this. 00:14:46.530 --> 00:14:47.700 I don't know. 00:14:47.700 --> 00:14:50.000 Have you read it? Would you agree with me on that? 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:57.280 It seems that the author has his own ideas about certain things like capitalism and socialism and these. 00:14:57.280 --> 00:14:59.960 I guess they're complex things to describe anyway. 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:03.512 The bias of the author to me is clear in there, at least. 00:15:03.512 --> 00:15:05.560 And that sort of mudded the waters. 00:15:05.560 --> 00:15:08.680 But regardless, I really really enjoyed this book. 00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:14.680 It's super fascinating for anyone to reflect what it's like to be a *Sapiens* 00:15:14.680 --> 00:15:19.420 It's pretty fun. The chapters that I enjoy the most was about morals 00:15:19.420 --> 00:15:25.680 because I never thought about how morals have shifted so much throughout our time. 00:15:25.680 --> 00:15:28.860 I thought I had it pretty clear what I think is right and wrong, 00:15:28.860 --> 00:15:30.780 but put me in any other time in history, 00:15:30.780 --> 00:15:35.000 and it doesn't really match anymore, what other people think. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:41.040 And same thing in the future, our morals will probably be completely different as well. 00:15:41.040 --> 00:15:45.720 And it almost gives you a sort of nihilistic view and hopelessness. 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:49.160 It's all this constant shift of mankind. 00:15:49.160 --> 00:15:52.160 But what I thought was the most interesting was talking about Buddhism, 00:15:52.160 --> 00:15:57.116 because I didn't know how aligned the morals of Buddhism is with today's society, 00:15:57.116 --> 00:16:01.040 despite being written 2,000 years ago, I think. 00:16:01.040 --> 00:16:03.880 So after reading Sapiens, I knew πŸ‘πŸ‘ 00:16:03.880 --> 00:16:06.600 I wanted to read more Buddhism, about Buddhism. 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:13.020 I previously just brushed it away because I thought well, Buddhism, that's for unmarried women 00:16:13.020 --> 00:16:15.059 who's going through a midlife crisis. 00:16:15.760 --> 00:16:17.360 I'll this book 3 out of 5 by the way. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:18.880 [Book Four] But πŸ‘πŸ‘ afterwards I read 00:16:18.880 --> 00:16:22.960 In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.160 This book is amazing. Buddha never wrote down these words. 00:16:26.160 --> 00:16:31.432 They were just retold, and a lot of times, ideas get shifted and spread out too much 00:16:31.432 --> 00:16:35.100 that it's hard to understand how to study Buddhism. 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:38.260 So this book gives a more defined frame of the Buddhist teachings. 00:16:38.260 --> 00:16:42.140 A lot of the ideas already aligned with how I perceive things, 00:16:42.140 --> 00:16:46.400 especially how you should recede your emotions. 00:16:46.400 --> 00:16:51.200 You should still feel happy, you should still feel anger, but you should feel it disconnected. 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:57.500 A lot of ideas I also realised was resemble to Dr. Frankl's logotherapy, 00:16:57.500 --> 00:17:00.740 from the book we've read in the past, remember? 00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:02.259 Man's Search For Meaning 00:17:02.259 --> 00:17:04.350 I draw the resemblance on how you should live your life 00:17:04.350 --> 00:17:07.420 because I remember Frankl talked about you should perceive life 00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:10.620 as if you've already lived it once and made all the mistakes, 00:17:10.620 --> 00:17:13.940 because that prevents you from falling into destructive behaviour. 00:17:13.940 --> 00:17:17.040 In the Buddha's karma system, in a lot of ways, it's similar. 00:17:17.040 --> 00:17:20.580 You live your life correctly once, and that's all you need. 00:17:20.580 --> 00:17:27.220 The goal is not to relive your life. The goal is to cease to exist and reach enlightenment and reach nirvana. 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:32.280 Now you do this in many different ways, but one of the main things is to remove all cravings from your life, 00:17:32.280 --> 00:17:38.500 because craving leads to suffering, and suffering leads to rebirth, and to be born is to suffer, 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:42.580 and to live is to suffer... I know I'm explaining this very poorly by the way (laughs) 00:17:42.580 --> 00:17:49.340 and the Buddhist ideology around removing craving is to uproot it completely. 00:17:49.340 --> 00:17:51.880 Because otherwise it will always be there. 00:17:51.880 --> 00:17:54.740 And only if you do that is when you can reach enlightenment. 00:17:54.740 --> 00:17:56.880 And there's something really interesting about that. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.160 When is enough enough? 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:03.600 I was super fascinated by this book. This is just a very selected part of it. 00:18:03.600 --> 00:18:04.960 I don't want to get into all of it. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:08.520 If you're interested in Buddhist teaching, this is a great book to start off with, 00:18:08.580 --> 00:18:09.740 and if your life is 00:18:09.740 --> 00:18:10.540 *SUGAR* 00:18:10.540 --> 00:18:11.720 Give it a go. 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:12.760 Can't hurt. (laughs) 00:18:12.760 --> 00:18:15.860 [Book Five] Next up, I wanted to get into Greek philosophy. 00:18:15.860 --> 00:18:19.880 I'm not gonna just jump into it this time. This time I'm gonna search. 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:24.040 Okay. What should I know before I... I read philosophy... Greek philosophy. 00:18:24.040 --> 00:18:26.720 A lot of people say, okay well, you should start reading the myths. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:32.140 Mythos with Stephen Fry. I thought he was just a stand-up comedian, but apparently he's an author as well. 00:18:32.140 --> 00:18:36.420 This is probably not the book I wanted to read, but I enjoyed it very much, regardless. 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:42.000 Stephen Fry being a comedian, you can tell he does an excellent job at retelling the ancient Greek myths. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.740 You probably are familiar with so many of them already, and so was I. 00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:50.260 But it was still very very interesting. It's almost like reading fairy tales. 00:18:50.260 --> 00:18:54.700 In a lot of ways I would love to, if I had a kid. I know it sounds so weird (laughs) 00:18:54.700 --> 00:19:00.560 I would love to read them Greek mythology because they're... they really feel like bedtime stories, 00:19:00.560 --> 00:19:03.220 and obviously a lot of them are inappropriate, 00:19:03.220 --> 00:19:05.820 a lot of them are based on sexual endeavours, 00:19:05.820 --> 00:19:08.400 but still I really enjoy them because 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:13.280 not only you realise a lot of our language derives from the ancient Greek mythologies, 00:19:13.280 --> 00:19:18.340 like words like chaos, cronus, thanos... 00:19:18.340 --> 00:19:20.820 Thanos, yeah that's right, he means death! 00:19:20.820 --> 00:19:23.480 I can't believe (laughs) 00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:27.340 ancient Greek copied Fortnite! (can we copystrike Greek?) 00:19:27.340 --> 00:19:33.100 A lot of the stories describe how phenomenon exists that they couldn't explain, 00:19:33.100 --> 00:19:36.840 such as how did the universe come to be about? 00:19:36.840 --> 00:19:39.980 Well it's Cronus. Before it was Chaos. 00:19:39.980 --> 00:19:44.380 And oh, how did the first spider come about? 00:19:44.380 --> 00:19:48.540 And these really clever interesting stories about these things. 00:19:48.540 --> 00:19:53.640 I really... it's really fun. Definitely fun book to read. 00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:56.620 3.5 out of 5. I don't know, I don't have much to say about it. 00:19:56.620 --> 00:19:59.040 It's not the book I wanted to read, but I had fun anyway. 00:19:59.040 --> 00:19:59.720 Okay. 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:02.230 [Book Six] Last but not least, the Inferno 00:20:02.230 --> 00:20:04.920 by August Strindberg, or [August Strindberg]. 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:09.700 Again, this is not a good introduction to August Strindberg. 00:20:09.700 --> 00:20:12.680 I don't know why... I picked it just because it's the only one I had, 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:16.240 and did you read it? I did say I was gonna read it for next month. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:22.640 It follows the inter... the mental struggle of August Strindberg at his later years. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:25.940 It was never really confirmed what was wrong with August, 00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:30.300 but you read what he's writing, I think it's taken from his diary, 00:20:30.300 --> 00:20:36.120 and there's clearly some form of paranoid, schizophrenia going on. 00:20:36.120 --> 00:20:39.070 He's trying to experiment on how to create gold and 00:20:39.070 --> 00:20:42.286 people are paranoid about people stealing his ideas. 00:20:42.286 --> 00:20:47.920 It's very fascinating but very bizarre to read, like reading the notes of a madman almost. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:50.240 Obviously he wasn't fully crazy. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:56.560 Something was definitely going on. He was inspired by the work of Swedenborg, 00:20:56.560 --> 00:20:58.960 I assume that's how it's pronounced, 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:04.050 who described that hell is real and you can relive it on earth. 00:21:04.050 --> 00:21:09.130 And August Strindberg draw a lot of resemblances himself to his own life 00:21:09.130 --> 00:21:11.320 to what Swedenborg described that this would happen. 00:21:11.320 --> 00:21:16.750 And August realises that he lived through hell on Earth, hence the title the Inferno. 00:21:16.750 --> 00:21:20.960 The real reason I wanted to read August Strindberg and I want to read more of August Strindberg, 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:26.140 it's 'cause my granddad, when I was young I used to read a lot. 00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:32.880 I sort of refound this love for reading after being obsessed with gaming for ten years (laughs) 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:39.240 When I was younger I loved reading and I loved sharing, discussing books with my granddad. 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:44.680 Obviously I was really young, I was like 10 or 12, so I don't know how much of a discussion it was. 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:47.980 But he was so happy and fascinated that I was.. I liked reading 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:51.680 and we read Sherlock Holmes because he loves Sherlock Holmes. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:57.700 He tried to get me into this private Sherlock Holmes group but I was too young to really understand. 00:21:57.700 --> 00:21:59.580 I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes when I was a kid. 00:21:59.580 --> 00:22:01.640 Sadly he passed away a few years ago, 😒 00:22:01.640 --> 00:22:05.793 so now, you know, I would have loved to discuss books with him 00:22:05.800 --> 00:22:07.740 or it would have been amazing. 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:12.920 And that's why I wanted to read August Strindberg because August Strindberg is one of the most famous author in Sweden. 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:18.760 And my granddad really looked up to him as well, so I wanted to find out more about why. 00:22:18.760 --> 00:22:24.620 This is the wrong book to read that, but it's sad that I can't discuss novels with my granddad, 00:22:24.620 --> 00:22:30.440 but I'm very happy at least that I can do it here, on this channel, with you guys. ❀️ 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:31.900 I really appreciate all the support. 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:33.990 πŸ‘πŸ‘ That was it for book review! 00:22:33.990 --> 00:22:38.660 Thank you for watching. Next month I'm just gonna pick one novel. 00:22:38.660 --> 00:22:41.640 Tt's gonna be light, it's gonna be easy, it's gonna be a sci-fi. 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:45.460 It was recommended by you guys, so you better pick this one up, okay? 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:49.540 It's called The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman. 00:22:49.540 --> 00:22:53.540 All the books I'll link them in the description if you wanted to check them out on Amazon, 00:22:53.540 --> 00:22:57.380 I'll get a referral as well from that, so very nice. 00:22:57.380 --> 00:23:00.780 And that's it, thank you guys for leaving a like, showing all support as always. 00:23:00.780 --> 00:23:02.480 Love you guys so much! 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:03.780 And as always, 00:23:03.780 --> 00:23:04.620 [POP] 00:23:04.620 --> 00:23:07.100 Good bye.