books - fiction

• Accelerando, Charles Stross
• The Drowned World, J.G. Ballard
• Big Ballard fan, but this is probably top for me.
• Blindsight, Peter Watts
• The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. Le Guin
• Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene
• Money, Martin Amis
• More than any shock factor 4channer self-publication or Bret Easton Ellis torture porn crap, this disgusted me. A truly horrible book.
• The Culture novels, Peter Watts (all of them)
• Siddharta, Herman Hesse
• Only read this after I'd been practicing for about 5 years, which was probably appropriate timing. Hesse got it.

books - mysticism, buddhism

Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy From a Buddhist Perspective, Mark Epstein

• Highly recommended to anyone pursuing both mystic insight and ego-focused self-work (which pair really, really well).

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book, Daniel Ingram

• Probably a good introduction to the Pragmatic Dharma movement. Rigorous explanation of the dukkha nanas (insight knowledges), which earlier awareness of would have been rather reassuring at times. Freely available here.

The Book of Not Knowing, Peter Ralston

• 600 pages on you not existing and thinking being not that great actually. Highly recommended.

Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Carl Jung

• A pleasure, and an encouragement (oh, it really isn't just me?), to read such a candid and well-observed account of an active inner life.

video games

Disco Elysium, Cruelty Squad, Rimworld, Factorio, Fallout 1 & 2 & New Vegas, ULTRAKILL, Quake, Dusk

films

Brazil, Terry Gilliam (1985)

If pressed, my favourite film.

Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola (1979)

I'm fascinated by narratives which feature tandem progressions of physical journeys and psychological degradation. I watched this on acid once. Went surprisingly well.

Dawn of the Dead, George A. Romero (1978)

One of my childhood comfort movies. I taped a television broadcast, and watched it repeatedly.

music

Try here.