Maya - By Jostein Gaarder

A brilliant book but the solitaire mystery remains his best... The joker is here, seeing meaning and wonder in life, and not surrendering to the mundane.. Looking with the amazement at the wonder that is our life... It takes 15 billion years to create a life, and a second to end it.

A nice idea is viewing humanity as the universe's attempt to become aware of itself and understand itself. The universe created man and man's awareness to know itself better, otherwise its a large waste. In this sense we are the mechanism for the gene to move further through time and to survive till a better understanding and a more opportune time in the future. We are the vehicle for awareness and for survival of the universe's protein miracle and wonderful show of evolution..

The sound of the big bang was only heard fifteen billion years later.  A mystery hidden in art and the beautiful fabric of space-time, and hope blooming in seeing meaning in the world.. The world can't be a series of mechanical events.

Maya... The illusion that there are different worlds.. Maya.. The beautiful mysterious and feminine... Maya ... The flamingo dancer hidden in goya's 'Maja' ..

The Bed of Procrustes - By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

NNT is - as I read once - a superhero of the mind .. This book is inspiring, deep, and very witty.

Aphorisms and their ability to compress deep statements of wisdom able to spur different ideas varying with the readers own thoughts and knowledge (like poetry) present a great communication tool in this book.

This is a very brilliant book with many insights on knowledge, nobility, thought, and the 'phoniness, neediness, and philistinism' of our time... Courageous, educated, and sophisticated opinions building on deep knowledge and a sharp mind ... Great combination. The book champions many of nnt's opinions about philosophy, education, and the non-sucker and 'big spirited personality'.

a one-time reading is surely not enough !