Books are my life-long interest. My main interests are the history of the world, science, literature, psychology and art.
For a long time I have collected all the books I have ever read on a digital website. I have now read over 1,400 books on all kinds of subjects, and I am happy that I have the Goodreads profile to refer to whenever needed and to collect and display my books in an organised way.
You can view all of my books on my profile here:
If a book strikes your interest, you can click on the cover and find out much more, for any of the items. I rarely comment on or review books that I read but here you can also read some reviews I have written, many of which are old.
Here I represent something that makes me so happy - an embedded "visual bookshelf" of all my favourite books. This consists of the following: "Exceptional Books - Non-Fiction" and "Exceptional books - The Best of Fiction". These are only my favourites - to see all my books, please go to my Goodreads site. Click on each item for information, explore further and enjoy, or just have a browse.
Favourite Books Montage:
Exceptional Books - Non-Fiction Book montage:
Exceptional Books - The Best of Fiction Book montage, 1 of 2:
Exceptional Books - The Best of Fiction Book montage, 2 of 2:
I guess you can tell that I like reading and learning about the world. But it is not that I like it as such - I feel driven by the need to learn about the world, and I approach it in the most rigorous way possible, just like when I was at a top university studying law. This is the greatest and widest knowledge one could hope to gain beyond the constraints of studying for money and a career. I study for the immense rewards that knowledge gives me and the shaping of my outlook on the world.
Every journey that I undertake to complete a new photography series is one I prepare for intensively, by reading as many books on the subject as possible. It is a form of rigorous study and preparation and involves a lot of discipline. For example, China was no different:
I also love coffee shops, and whenever I am in a new city, I always explore its best coffee places. For example, I was recently on my way to Cambridge, for a few days of peaceful relaxation and work on photography, both from my travels in Central Asia and Cambridge itself. But after an overnight in London, it would have been wrong not to go to one of my favourite places in the morning, the Coffeeworks Project. Here I had the entire garden to myself, and if that wasn’t G enough, it is actually the best coffee in London, except perhaps Monmouth Coffee. This place was so wonderful that I almost decided to cancel it all and stay here forever. But armed with some reading for the next few days, I boarded a train to head out on the journey of life.
Every day I wake up early and read for an hour if possible to start the day. Here are a few book and coffee/drink combinations I've been into recently:
Shen Fu and Decaf Flat White
History of Russia/China and Hot Chocolate
History of the Black Sea and White Chocolate Milkshake
I like big books and I cannot lie.
A quiet weekend, catching up on reading and looking out of the window at the rain. Still, I tried to make the most out of it. I got through a few that week - 1. Natsume Soseki - Kusamakura 2. Mathias Enard - Compass and 3. Pankaj Mishra - From the Ruins of Empire. As the drama unfolded, I even tried to do some “normal” things, like do my washing and attempt to cook a meal.
The History of Africa and Green Health Smoothie Shake - this was my favourite combination of all.
Preparing to sail on the Indian Ocean:
On a cold day in Exeter, as the rain falls gently outside, I sit in Grow Coffee House, travelling with a good book. Sheltered from the rainy weather, here inside, the world is still. I am safe and warm, deep in nostalgia for a moment being created. Each fleeting thought passes by like dust in the wind, revealing only the clarity of now.
Rainy days, African dreams... on a quiet English Sunday afternoon, here I am relaxing in Grow Coffee House, researching for my next journey. The hunger for knowledge and experience, the intense and passionate fascination for exploration and adventure, is yet to come. But this scene is far removed from the deafening chaos of the outside world. Here and now in my favourite cafe, I am truly content. Relax and enjoy... moments like this are rare and beautiful. And a small observation makes me smile today - someone has put eyes on the cactus. Look closely, and you can see it too. It is a halcyon scene of peace, calm and tranquillity. And I know that I will always have a happy memory of the place I call home.
Came to London, hoping to do some urban exploration. And it rained, wet and windswept, dampening my daydreams. Seeking shelter from this egregious weather, I headed to one of my favourite places, The Observatory, a great cafe and photography gallery, with the ostensible goal of drying down. Really I just wanted to eat a pastel de nata and get stuck into John Keay’s complete history of India. So here we are, this is what it means to be living life on the edge. Strap in, it’s about to get dangerous - I might even get a second bottle of elderflower water. Right before taking a nap.
As a last point, a few years ago I compiled a list of the 30 Greatest Books, in my opinion, which mainly focused on literature and the novels that I knew and loved in my formative years. I feel now that it would be a shame to lose this list - I felt at the time that it was a definitive one:
30 Great Books:
Saul Bellow - Humboldt's Gift
William Boyd - The New Confessions
Albert Camus - The Fall
J.M.G. le Clezio - The Flood
J.M. Coetzee - Youth
Albert Cohen - Her Lover (Belle du Seigneur)
Benjamin Constant - Adolphe
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
William Golding - Pincher Martin
Hermann Hesse - Steppenwolf
Aldous Huxley - Eyeless In Gaza
J.K. Huysmans - Against Nature
Kazuo Ishiguro - The Unconsoled
Hari Kunzru - The Impressionist
Doris Lessing - The Good Terrorist
Malcolm Lowry - Under The Volcano
W. Somerset Maugham - The Moon and Sixpence
Ian McEwan - Saturday
Vladimir Nabokov - Pale Fire
George Orwell - Keep The Aspidistra Flying
Orhan Pamuk - My Name Is Red
Elliot Perlman - Seven Types Of Ambiguity
Fernando Pessoa - The Book of Disquiet
Steven Pinker - The Blank Slate: the Modern Denial of Human Nature
W.G.Sebald - Rings of Saturn
Stendhal - The Red and the Black
Antal Szerb - Journey By Moonlight
Leo Tolstoy - Resurrection
Ivan Turgenev - Fist Love
Emile Zola - L'Assomoir
Well, thank you for making it this far. I will keep this section on books updated, as every time I add a book to one of the "best of" lists on Goodreads, it will update the widget on this site automatically, keeping everything running up to date.
Peace and love,
Sead