What do you read?

You can't be shooting pool ALL the time, right?  And you can't be reading about pool all the rest of the time, right?  Isn't there some saying like "All pool and no ... makes Jack a dull boy"?   So what's your "..."?

Surely there is more to life than pool, right?

Recently I was fiddling with my Facebook page and discovered a neat little applet called Visual Bookshelf where you can share some of your favorite books.  Of course, you have probably seen my complete collection of pool & billiard books, DVDs, etc which I'm always expanding, desperately hoping to find some shred of insight that will help me improve my game (and sometimes I do!).

But, back to the central theme of this post:  there's more to life than pool...  One of my favorite philosophers is (was) the greatest of all Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, who suggested "From one thing, know all things.  From all things, know one thing."  (Hey, it's philosophy, it's supposed to be simple, yet complex.)  During those times he was not slaying his adversaries, or sharpening his skills, and his blades, he continued to learn about life, death, and art by being involved in activities outside of sword fighting.  And, of course, these things helped him stay alive when opponents were bent on lopping off his head with razor sharp swords.  He was very good at staying alive, and was never cut.  He died a natural death, an old man.

So, applying all this to the main point:  What do you read?  Seriously, I'm interested.  Here's a list of some of my favorite reading, not pool related.  You might be interested in joining up with the Virtual Bookshelf and swapping a few books, or recommendations, or insights, not just with me, but some of the other members.  Maybe we can all learn something from each other, and maybe, as Musashi suggested, "... from all things, learn one thing" (pool).

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