twoandtwoisnine

My first real exposure to chaos theory was via the WCATY young scholars project I worked on thanks to the encouragement from my mom and Dr. Marty. The project amounted to reading a bunch of books and then designing my own fractal and making some observations on it. It was fun. At that time chaos wasn't a huge part of science fiction, like it is now. I don't know why but I feel like jotting down my own concise definition for my records.

The idea for chaos theory stems from a rather basic human (mis)conception. Let's imagine you are American and your friend from "anywhere else in the world" (trademarked) asks you: How long do you think this stick is? You know 1 inch is 2.54 centimeters and you gauge the stick to be about 6 inches long so you predict it is about 15.24 centimeters. So that's what you answer. We have somewhat ingrained in us that if we

A) Know the equations, and
B) Can approximate the variables

Then we can approximate the result. Chaos theory is the idea that even if you know the EXACT PERFECT equation, approximating the variables does not always give an approximate answer. This is not true for all equations, especially simple ones like the conversion problem above. However there are surprisingly simple equations it is true for and many complex ones. Generally they have some form of self-referentialism (eg R*x(1-x)), which is interesting conceptually, though more interestingly, in this example equation it's the value of the constant that controls the emergence of chaos.

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In Summary: Chaos theory is the idea that even if you know the EXACT equation, approximating the variables does not always give an approximate answer.
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Now the main impetus for this post is recently complexity has become a big math/science buzzword and no one can seem to come to a consensus on defining it. It's been applied to all fields of math and science and seems to have almost contradictory meanings in different fields. I was excited when I heard my current science fiction book dealt with complexity, but have thus far been a little disappointed as it seems to just have Edward Wilson's ideas over and over again. (I read his Consilience and Sociobiology big textbook but wasn't heavily impacted by either)

Now I got thinking, and while perhaps too pretty in symmetry, maybe complexity has an analogue to the chaos definition above. If chaos theory cautions against approximating variables and initial conditions (and thus declares the impossibility of certain solutions due to a) the Heisenberg uncertainty principle b) the uncountability of time or c) the initial state of the universe); then maybe complexity cautions against approximating EQUATIONS. At its heart, complexity is the startling conclusion to another basic human (mis)conception:

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even if we know the EXACT value of the variables, an approximate model doesn't always give approximate solutions.
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I find this symmetry rather satisfying, which means it's probably too good to be true. But I thought I'd jot it down just for fun.

if i had a dollar for every time i felt like i had to poop but couldn't today i'd have 3 dollars

if only i had some of solomon's good traits to go with the bad ones

Right now I'm about as hurt and bitter as I've been in quite some time.

1) I'm bitter that I can't do the things I believe are right and meaningful because doing so would alienate me from the people I love and/or for all intents and purposes exile me from society.

2) I'm bitter that I can't talk about the things I believe are right and meaningful for the same reasons as number 1. And these reasons can't change until these things are talked about because the existing structure won't be challenged. So in effect it can't be challenged because the challenges are silenced and discounted immediately by the extant structure.

3) So I have only my thoughts and I have to believe just by sitting alone in a room thinking a certain way I have some impact on the world. I have to believe in some sort of collective unconscious, that my existence and belief structure causes some impact, because I definitely don't have any other channel available.

And people wonder why some people just stop talking...

Because of my recent enjoyment of Dragon Age: Origins, I decided to finally go back and replay my favorite game of all time. This is the first time I have played this game in 10 years.

The first time I bought Planescape: Torment was when I got my wisdom teeth out. I wanted something to do while I was holed up with no school and no smoking. At that time it could have been anything, I just looked for a random game in the CompUSA and had no idea what I was getting into. I'd never played Black Isle's earlier games (Fallout 1 and 2) so I didn't know the company, but of course I knew AD&D and the Planescape setting (loosely).

When I finished the game, before walkthroughs and without talking to anyone else (heck, I didn't know anyone else who played computer games) and certainly missing tons of different quests and items, I was floored. I got Dak'kon's ending, which was exactly the one I wanted from playing the game out, my young philosophical self. A couple years later I was reminiscing about the game and the only guide on gamefaqs at that time didn't have it, so I submitted it. Now there are tons of guides which so every single detail.

Since playing the game, I have called it my favorite game. I have told many people this. I lent it to Stephen once, but it didn't really grab him. So I admitted I hadn't played it since high school, so maybe time had colored my memory. But it wasn't enough to challenge it again.

Well, now I have. And it is awesome. There's so much to learn from it about games, storytelling, roleplaying, character development...the list goes on. Maybe people who haven't played a well-crafted pen and paper model won't have the same reaction? Maybe people for whom English isn't a first language or haven't read countless mass market fantasy can't grok it? I don't know. My mind frantically tries to figure out why there are people who *don't* like this game.

Some key points that I want to remember:

- The largest source of XP comes from impacting the world. While there is XP from killing monsters or something, XP comes from talking to people and making decisions. By learning things about yourself and your past. When you talk to people you have many choices. And there are many sliders that these choices adjust. Good and Evil. Chaos and Law. (Are the traditional AD&D sliders). Some choices do nothing. It's when you move these sliders that you gain XP. From changing the world, changing yourself. If you leave people to their own thoughts you've changed nothing and there's no XP.

- You can talk with your party members. Most games, party members have this elaborate entrance scene and then just follow you around the rest of the game saying Good Idea or Are you sure? periodically. Here it's the opposite. Party members join for borderline arbitrary reasons with little impact but through your conversations with them -- long, deep conversations where you offer advice and reconcile your individual viewpoints -- you come to learn their real story and care about them. These discussions can in turn lead to events in the game world and at the very least a better understanding.

- The setting and story are perfect for a game. They are fit to the game medium. You wake up from being dead with no memories (just like the player does) and chase them down while at the same time choosing your path in the game (just like the player does). If you die, you end up back in one of many tombs or hospital-esque areas. The world is a mixture of planes and doors which open with the right keys. It's really better done as a game than a book. In a game you do tons of seemingly useless quests and walk around with crap in your inventory and then all of the sudden a portal opens to some strange world. Much more meaningful than in a book.

However, a lot of stories have tried to play on the no memory regaining them thing (because it obviously parallels the player/reader/viewer). And so some may think it's cliche and I agree, but here it is done far too well.

Prophecies, people who knew you, people who don't know you but can intuit something that scares them. Ominous portends foreshadowing the various epic revelations.

- Not afraid for things to be missed. In many recent games, I get this feeling that the designers are afraid an event took so much time or resources or it's so important to the story that they can't afford to make it optional. Sometimes this is true, but for most games it's 99% of the things and there's no interaction. But in Planescape: Torment the most easily overlooked object or dialogue choice can lead to the most amazing details or revelations and even major story hooks can be missed entirely and you are left puzzling why characters are doing or saying certain things. This confusion that excites your imagination is all too often missing from modern RPGs.

- Finally, voice acting and 2D art. Even though the game is 10 years old, 2D art can't really be dated and the voice acting is spot on.

These are some things I've remembered while returning to my favorite game.

well, i've finished the game, but, i'm finding it hard to do anything else. rats, this game was so good i can't enjoy anything anymore. i'm playing it again on a few different characters and it's still fun, but i feel like i'm wasting time. but if i try to read a book i make it about 10 minutes. what a good game. how long until dragon age 2?

I just bought the new Bioware game Dragon Age: Origins. Recently I've been a bit peeved that I can't buy any games online without using a proxy (faking living in the US) and this time even the proxy failed at direct2drive. I was about to give up but then I discovered I could buy the game directly from the Japanese EA Games site. Which sucks because I have to pay 7500 yen or something so that the localization team that did absolutely nothing (except sell the English version of the game through their website) gets extra money but whatever. (In short, if you're an English speaker in Japan you have to navigate the Japanese website to buy an English game, hehe). But whatever.

This game is really awesome, similar to Mass Effect, and I especially like that the good-evil sliders are gone so you don't immediately see the effects of your choices. Too bad they didn't do that for interparty relationships too. Can't wait to see all the different stories that play out.

In other, semi-related news, I recently played Risen as well and was very disappointed. For one, the pacing: I was running around this big world, took forever to get from place to place and mining and harvesting. I guess they're trying to target the MMORPG market, but they're missing the fact that these things are fun in MMORPG because there are other players. These things aren't actually fun in and of themselves. In single player games I like a fast paced, clear story, I've never really been a fan of the sandbox style. It really made me question why I was playing it. If it's for the story, most books are better. If it's for the graphics, real life is better. I mean, I'm just plodding around in the forest, I'd rather go visit a park.

The other interesting thing is how the classic choices-determining-your-path has become so morally ambiguous I couldn't even figure out who the good guys were. I like this idea in theory, but I was amazed how I balked at it in practice. Because the NPCs are lying to you it's difficult to decide what's right to do or what's wrong. Which is a fascinating idea in concept but was very frustrating to play. Maybe the purest way to play would be not to take a side at all, but taking a side is necessary really to reap the full experience. But who do you side with in a conflict between imperialists and the mob?

Recently I saw this thread on 2ch. Why I was reading the lifelong education board?--I'm not sure. I guess I gradually get bored of my usual ones (http://namidame.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/lifework/1256974194/l50). The question posed is rhetorical, the OP (original poster) wants to redo their life from their student days. The few posts that follow to support the somewhat meaningless whining regret, sympathize, agree, and add that the best time to return to is middle school, where in Japan you test for a good high school. Though many might say earlier. As in elementary school you can apply for a good middle school. Or from kindergarten apply to a good elementary school. Etc. It's true in the states too, I suppose, but not to the same extent. An extent that's not really relevant to this random speculation.

My mom is often reflecting back and we have on occasion gotten into arguments (of which she might prefer "discussions") on the merits or healthfulness of regret. Out of my usual ideology I deny regret: consciously, willfully. I don't know if I would regret if I didn't do this, but I feel it's a necessary step for my well-being.

I do experience something similar to a regret, perhaps, or the reader is welcome to call it such (I'm not trying to argue semantics). I have many hobbies and interests which I dive into, head first, full fledged, and in the initial period I have this wild vision of focusing all of my energies on that interest until the day I die. Some part of my brain even calculates it out. Some rudimentary schedule replaces my previous one for the next 20-30 years or so. I feel like I could become an expert of that interest, that we were born for each other, and even (paradoxically) like I've always held that interest, the others just facades, arbitrary, imposed, or analogically equivalent. Recently this absurd future born of euphoria has become shorter and slightly more pragmatic. There are certain things I can't do anymore, certain trains I've missed, certain doors I've shut, and time's thus far only moved in one direction. And, introspectively, it's harder to forget the other times. As soon as I feel the new interest setting in, I remember all the other ones, and know, this too will pass.

Is this regret? I'm not sure. I suppose regret is how I receive these thoughts and changes, which is not entirely unfavorably. Learning is a drug. When our brain learns new things it triggers a euphoria. And maybe in some ways I've built up a tolerance. When I encounter something new, or return to something old after a long time, I want to master it, exhaust it--but the feeling is no longer as encompassing as it once was. Partly because of resolutions I've had to make to deal with the infinite nature of knowledge and experience. Partly because of my falling out with the education system and the need to work a normal job in order to live.

It's true, even today, I sometimes think about going to grad school, but as soon as I think about letters of recommendation, I give up. I can't explain it, I just flat give up. It's ridiculous. And I know it's only a case of greener grass. Like I dreamed of high school in junior high school, or college in high school. It won't ever change, I suppose, but I will never know for sure. Do I want to get paid to spend all day learning and researching things I'm interested in? Of course, who doesn't. But does such a position really exist? If it does, not in academia, I fear. I learned that lesson long, long ago. The first falling out. A violent falling out. I couldn't even think about science for a long time after that.

I encounter people every day who are learning English and I ask them why. The most common answer is to get a job using English. So I ask why they want a job learning English and usually they give some trivial answer, usually:
- because English is the international language (what does this have to do with a job?)
- because with English there are more job possibilities (why do you need job possibilities after you have a job?)

This is frustrating for me as well as other teachers. The fact is English ability is a status symbol in Japan and learning English is like buying a Louis Vuitton bag. And there are of course layers to this. You can do this for an intelligent reason (to make a certain type of contact, command a stronger presence) or for a rather mindless one (because everyone in your social group also is, or because you are chided if you do not). Needless to say these mindless ones are important for "status preservation" and employed within a class on members born into it, whereas the former is employed largely by status movers, modern magicians, or (I suppose, to make a joke I'm as aforementioned ignorant of) graduate students.

English as a status symbol is the conclusion we typically jump to when someone says they are learning English to get a job. It's Zizek's big O and as an abstract picture, an average, may be accurate, but each individual's reason is a complicated construction of rationalizations. Furthermore I don't think it's the whole picture. I still submit, tirelessly, to my colleagues, that if a student would only answer "because I like learning English", I would be satisfied. It's a perfectly good reason. At the most primal level, the brain enjoys learning. On other levels, as previously mentioned, learning English can provide enjoyable social satisfaction.

In Japanese 自己満足 has a largely (or wholly) negative connotation of selfishly being fulfilled usually by thinking one is helping other people. For example volunteer activities or activism in causes with no real effect. I'm sure somewhere people are using the same term to deride English students: claiming to learn English to enter the global world when really just trying to raise their own status. However, in this case, the action is not flawed, but the protested reason for it.

While some students are doing it for status--what's wrong with that? Why not just admit it? This is the "coming out" that's so popular in recent overly honest comedies and has poured over into real life, at least in my generation.

And other students? Because learning English is fun. And why do they want a job using English? Because who doesn't want a job doing what they enjoy?

every minute i'm just waiting for something i don't know what. i try to think of what i could do that i would enjoy, without thinking about what to do next or what i've enjoyed before, but anything i do can't hold me. my favorite cds entice me as i think about them and bore me when i start listening. or similar with anything else. giving serious credence to the notion my sober self is the most dangerous. my apartment is full of smoke but i'm a non-smoker. if i didn't quit for health reasons, rendered moot by my circumstance, then why?

i need to do something creative maybe. i don't know. i feel like i could die at any moment and being young (though getting less young all the time) and miserable is a waste.

somewhere along the line fantasy that read like this

--Like an itch, Rick felt a word teetering on the tip of his tongue. There was no obvious cause except immediacy. Survival instinct screamed the warning of the possible future if he did not say the word. But still he hesitated. He wasn't a control freak, but there was something about the word that was wrong. Or was it something that was wrong about the word. Rick's head was spinning. No time.

Impatience got the better of him. The very air itself burned as he incited the nothingness of before: a paradox of energy. FIRESTREAM! he wailed and mere seconds later the wind carried a flake of his charred assailant against his cheek in reminder. You did this, it whispered. Was it blaming him or flattering him?--

now reads like

--Rick stopped short of breath, hunched over, and clenched his heart. Not that he needed a reminder of how fast it was beating. He was out of options. His assailant was faster and he stuck out like a sore thumb bounding across the knoll. Time to stop running.

He straightened and turned. His assailant gave no halt at his resolve, mindless in its bloodlust. Just a little closer, Rick thought, almost there. Gotcha, he whispered to no one in particular as his lips curled, betraying his satisfaction. Firestream.

With the word a pillar of flame erupted, piercing the heavens, its begging and end beyond the eye's range, if they existed at all.

Sorry, partner, Rick eulogized. If only one of us is going to live today, it sure as Undervanya ain't gonna be me.--

just an observation. But I used to like reading about magic in fantasy books whereas now it seems to be an entirely different metaphor, and more visual than introspective. But maybe I'm just getting jaded.


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In other news my constant need to catch up or stay caught up in various areas causes me no small amount of unnecessary stress. My so-called hobbies quickly seem like work or a chore as I try to micromanage my time and spend all the time I should be enjoying something drifting off to think of something else it reminds me of or getting excited about something else. It's not always, but when I get in this state how do I get out? I just want to enjoy my free time in the moment, but I can't help thinking about what I'm going to do next. (This movie ends in 1:20 giving me 43 more minutes until work enough time to read 50 pages or watch a TV episode or two anime episodes or...) for example

I'm going to drink some fruit juice now

For some reason I have this strong memory of when I was younger my father saying "After a certain age, the rare days are the days you wake up and AREN'T in pain". Probably the words or meaning have changed or it's falsely attributed.

In other news reading From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain got me thinking about comics again for the first time in a while and I'm trying to catch up reading forums, wikipidea etc. So far doesn't look like I've missed much in the last couple years, but apparently there's a Seaguy sequel!? So I'm a brief diversion and find it odd the book has somehow inspired me not to read it, but read comics instead. Although I read a little bit of it hear and there.

i'm tired of adding books to my goodreads but i can't seem to stop myself. if only i had library records.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/R13Y22NXX5V1NV/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=

Most Influential

Buffy
Angel
Red Dwarf

Liked

Veronica Mars (canceled)
Lost (stopped watching)
Doctor Who
Battlestar Gallactica (stopped watching)
The 4400 (canceled)
Dead Like Me (canceled)
Wonderfalls (canceled)
Six Feet Under (stopped watching before the end)
Arrested Development

Currently Watching

Leverage
Fringe
Dollhouse

last night i drank and felt terrible almost immediately. it was like an instant hangover that i tried to chase by drinking more. as the liquid hit my tongue it helped, but it seemed as soon as i set my glass down it went away, my body flushed, my forehead a million degrees, like i was converting the buzz to pure hangover at superhuman speed. 10 days of not drinking. now i start again. everyone is being super supportive and i appreciate it a bunch.

also going to try to cut back the coffee a bit. my coffee intake about tippled during the time of quitting drinking. somehow without the alcohol converting to sugar in my blood at night i get dead tired and unproductive almost all day long past my initial morning cup'a. dark chocolate helps but i suppose that's caffeine too.

in my listlessness i may jot down some more nostalgic lists. or review some more books on goodreads.

I love my new Amazon Kindle. I regret that I have bought in to a horrible DRM scheme. If I were in the States, I would use the library. Libraries are awesome. But as their is no library here, the Kindle is my best bet for accessing lots of books. Yesterday I read on it for about 6 hours with no eyestrain whatsoever. Battery hasn't been charged yet and is over 90%. Making notes, highlighting, looking up words is great fun. None of the words I've wanted to look up have been in the dictionary yet however. Alas. Makes me wish I had some of my old books on it, but I don't want to buy the same book twice. Except for some I have, but those are special, special cases.

Anyway, I'm delighted, but spending far more time on Amazon looking for books than reading them. That must stop. We'll see if my opinion changes after the honeymoon period.

going at a million miles, remembering unfinished thoughts, especially regarding last book, wanting to write again at times, daydreaming--all the things that spell danger. don't know how to stop it, all the usual tools forbidden, the last thing i want to be in a lesson: distracted, inattentive. ah, that old megalomania hasn't left entirely either. where's the servant's heart, eh?

i feel like crap. last night i dreamt i opened the fridge and there was an almost empty carton of sake so i swigged it just to throw it out and felt like i betrayed myself. my alcohol addiction does not cause harm to myself or the people around me so why i decided to quit eludes me, but now i must stick with it. i barely sleep or sleep wildly, like disappearing and wake up in shock, reality piercing in. shaking and sweating. reality passes so slowly. were days this long?

i make up for it with an extra cup of coffee -- which i'll have to cut back on again in time -- or some dark chocolate or a can of coke. there's always something. i didn't know it was this bad. i drank nearly every night but rarely in excess. if i had a night off i really wanted a drink the next night but not to the extent of quitting cigarettes.

but i was addicted, still am shaking it, and this is so i can't deny that later.

and i think, maybe the alcohol was medicating something worse and that's what i'm feeling now, not withdrawal. who am i to upset some complex biochemical system operating perfectly well?

i just stepped out to throw stones at the crow cawing outside my window until it left for another perch

So today I added some manga to my goodreads. I have read so much manga I didn't really know where to start, but I just added the manga that came to mind. Manga is interesting, as unlike books or movies, I just haven't really read anything I thought was "exceptional". A lot is good and very little is horrible, it's just very normalized. However, there are some stories that held me more than others, so I added them and their reviews. Reposting here for my records, with some English referencing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historie

Ongoing read volumes 1-5

This is the story of the young years of the man, Eumenes, who will become Alexander the Great's trusted secretary.

This series starts out great but I'm losing interest because it's published a little slowly and the writer spends a lot of time on explanations. But it's really cool for people who were ever or still are interested in the classical period.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasyte (This has been published in English!)

8 Volumes Complete

One of the best-rated mangas on the net, but not so well-known with every day people. Story of a boy whose arm is possessed/replaced by an alien and the symbiotic bond they form. But he is not alone and the aliens have their own agenda. About self-control, end of the world, right and wrong, a really top-notch manga.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekkon_Kinkreet (English available)

3 Volumes Complete

One of the few mangas I've read that felt like it was a different caliber than the every day fair. Typically a good manga has a good story, is exciting to read, and never really goes beyond this serialized form. But this is more a graphic novel than a serialized work.

Great art and very moving story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantz (English available)

Ongoing read volumes 1-26

Currently my biggest guilty pleasure manga. The first few volumes that set the stage are great: after the characters die, there is a game that can give them a chance to get their lives back.

From here it sort of disintegrates into battle after battle, but it is well drawn and between the fights there's an interesting overlap between the real world and the game room and the aliens and further factions are introduced. But honestly probably the first 4 or 5 volumes are enough to get the bulk of the comics flavor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotsubato (English available maybe)

Ongoing read volumes 1-6

Funny manga about the ongoing adventures of a precocious and unique child. By the same author as Azumanga Daioh (あずまんが大王) also a very funny manga. I don't really like comedy manga so much but this one is great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akumetsu

18 Volumes Complete

Surprisingly entertaining story about a boy who discovers he can't die and decides to singlehandedly destroy all the evil in the world. The storytelling style is the real appeal here and the fantasy realization. In some ways similar to Death Note but I like it better because Death Note quickly becomes a battle between the two geniuses which is just crappy exposition of both sides anticipating the others moves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Spica (Licensed for future English release)

16 Volumes Complete

A girl dreams of going to space and enters a prestigious aeronautical institute to do so. The story of her dream, her classmates' dreams, and the tangled past of her teachers and parents in a tragedy that refuses to be forgotten. This is a tearjerker but a very nice story too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_Voice_and_Robo (international publication)

2 Volumes unfinished

A girl who can make her voice sound like anyone she wants and a man who likes robots solve every day capers. I liked this manga and some of the authors other work, has a different feel from other manga, but I'm not convinced it's the genius some claim.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homunculus_%28manga%29

Ongoing read volumes 1-8

This manga really drew me in from the beginning but lost some steam towards the end as it's unfinished. I want a great conclusion but I'm losing interest.

The premise is a homeless living out of his car man offered a bunch of money to undergo some experimental surgery which gives him the ability to see things which aren't real. But this phantasms are manifestations of psychological energy all around and interacting with them he can know peoples deepest darkest secrets, etc. An amazingly interesting premise at times successful, at times a failure, but I'm very interested to see where it might go next.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimi_no_iru_machi

Ongoing read volumes 1-6

Romantic comedies are called Love-Kome in Japanese and I tend to enjoy them. This is a good one currently being written.

Yuki said recently she wanted to read some English books to work on her English and I'd been in the mood to read a book as well -- it's been a good while -- so we hit up a bookstore that had some English books. Yuki said she wanted to learn prim, proper, and pretty English so I chose a Jane Austen and because I knew that could get discouraging I suggested Stardust as well which she's been enjoying. I picked up the 2008 pulitzer for myself, again, been forever since I've read a book.

We went to Meiji Jingu first which was fun and everything is feeling like fall here which is wonderful. We had Mexican at a Mexican restaurant in Shinjuku and got all excited for Christmas break.

Since we're both reading again, I decided to join goodreads.com which Mom invited me to a while back. I added my most-influential books and also made a tag favorites which is basically just for books I read that I don't want to forget. I'm not going to add everything I can think of, but it's a place for the memorable ones which I don't think quite merit my most influential books. We'll see how much use I get out of it, but worth a shot for the time being.

here's what i added:

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanisław Lem
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad Minister Faust
The Sublime Object of Ideology by Slavoj Žižek
The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology ... by Peter L. Berger
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Little, Big by John Crowley
Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of ... by Daniel Pinchbeck
Divine Horsemen: Living Gods of Haiti by Maya Deren