“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
James Baldwin
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The world is full of books. Think about it. There are buildings all over the world full of nothing but books, magazines, newspapers, letters, etc. Smithsonian Magazine published an article in January 2016 by Jo Marchant, a freelance journalist specializing in science and history, titled “A Journey To The Oldest Cave Paintings In The World.” She was accompanying Maxime Aubert, a geochemist and archaeologist, and who is a professor in the Australian Research Centre in Human Evolution (ARCHE) at Griffith University, Australia, specializing in the development and application of analytical techniques to key questions in human evolution and rock art.
They traveled to the island of Sulawesi, in Indonesia. Jo writes, “Scattered on the walls are stencils, human hands outlined against a background of red paint. Though faded, they are stark and evocative, a thrilling message from the distant past. My companion, Maxime Aubert, directs me to a narrow semicircular alcove, like the apse of a cathedral, and I crane my neck to a spot near the ceiling a few feet above my head. Just visible on darkened grayish rock is a seemingly abstract pattern of red lines.
Then my eyes focus and the lines coalesce into a figure, an animal with a large, bulbous body, stick legs and a diminutive head: a babirusa, or pig-deer, once common in these valleys. Aubert points out its neatly sketched features in admiration. “Look, there’s a line to represent the ground,” he says. “There are no tusks—it’s female. And there’s a curly tail at the back.”
She goes on to say that by using a technique that Aubert developed to date the painting, he determined that it is 35,400 years old which probably makes it the oldest-known example of figurative art anywhere in the world! (Check out this article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journey-oldest-cave-paintings-world-180957685/)
So what’s the point of sharing this? The point is, the amazingly creative human mind began recording its knowledge perhaps as long as over 35,000 years ago. This means that we have access to 35,000 years of knowledge which makes James Baldwin’s quote extraordinarily evident. It’s been said that life is a journey. Well, in every journey there is a story and in every story there is one common motif. Whether reading a romance novel, an adventure, a murder mystery, self-help, science fiction, mythology, a history or science book, even law books full of court cases, or pictures on a cave wall, they all have one thing in common; they are all stories about the human condition.
You might be an avid reader. Maybe you’ve never read a book in your life or perhaps you’re somewhere in between. If you fall into either of the two latter groups you might be wondering, “where do I begin?” “What kind of book should I read?” Heck if we know. Just pick one and go with it! You never know what you’ll find when you open one up.
Here we’ll talk about some of the books we’ve read or are currently reading. There’s a lot of fascinating literature out there so let’s start exploring and see what we can learn!
We’ll start the club by choosing one book each month that’s relevant to recovery in some way. (So basically it could be just about anything!) And we would love it if you guys read it too and post your experience with it. You can share what you identify with, what stood out most to you, insights, new ideas, or how it inspired you. We are also open to any suggestions and recommendations from you for our next book.
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