Jack Kerouac's On the Road

 So I have finished reading Jack Kerouac's On the Road for the first time in my life (spoiler alert: It was profoundly moving). I was drawn by the sheer rich intensity of his prose. Kerouac was a Haiku lover and the world's shortest poetry form might have affected Kerouac's writing in some way or another.

One is reminded of the case of Soseki Natsume, arguably the greatest novelist to come from Japan after Lady Murasaki of The Tale of Genji. Soseki also loved Haiku, being a close friend of Shiki Masaoka, the founder of the modern Haiku movement in Japan.

It is quite interesting to consider how training oneself in the minute details of text writing would lead to a great novel writing in the long form.

Coming back to On the Road, the friendship between Jack and Neal has almost theological implications crossing social and cultural borders, and the final book on a trip to Mexico extends the vision beyond the bounds of the known. A truly great read.

I read the Scroll (first draft) version.

Think Like a Stoic is out today.

 My new book Think Like a Stoic is out today. As someone based in Japan, this is a love letter to the western canon of stoic thinking, together with resonance from Japanese philosophy of life exemplified by such concepts as ikigai and nagomi.

I refer to ethics of samurai, as an instance of living for something greater than yourself. I define stoicism as a life in alignment with the laws of nature, and put it in the context of modern scientific discoveries.

I do hope that you will be interested to read this book. I tried to be as honest and uniquely personal as possible, keeping a vista of the wider view of human culture and civilization at the same time.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Like-Stoic-Ancient-Lived-ebook/dp/B0D83QDBY6