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Books in books #1

A possibly incomplete list of every book mentioned in Busy Doing Nothing, by Rekka Bellum and Devine Lu Linvega

I like it when the names of other books are mentioned in books. In non-fiction these are typically references, of course, but in fiction they might also be signifiers, symbols, metaphors, etc., like when the characters in a movie go to the cinema and you get to see/hear a bit of what they're watching. Signposts and clues. Some books helpfully include an appendix or bibliography, but others don't, and it's up to the reader whether to follow up on these intimations or not.

I find that, when I encounter these, I often think, "Ah, that sounds like a really interesting read, I should make a note of it for later!" And then I don't, and eventually I forget about it.

This is an initial attempt to correct that habit with its opposite. In this case I'm working from Busy Doing Nothing, which is about a sailing trip two people took together crossing the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Canada. I recommend it. It's part logbook, part cookbook, part sailing manual, part memoir. In that way it's rather unlike many other books I've read. And because the authors are students of their craft and thoughtful, inquisitive people in general, they read a lot, and make notes of the books they read.

Busy Doing Nothing does include an appendix, but it is a relatively brief one, and mostly only references other books about sailing. Many other books are mentioned throughout the text. In my case, I read the book as an ebook, which makes the task of compiling this list fairly simple: I'm just searching for "read"/"book" through the whole text, and taking note of what that search turns up.

  • The Feeding and Caring of the Offshore Crew, by Lin Pardey. "In it, Lin and Larry Pardey travel to Japan on their 24-foot custom-built sailboat Seraffyn."
  • The Mushroom at the End of the World, by Anna Tsing
  • Les Glénants. "This is the first book about sailing we’ve read. It was an intimidating first read, ill-suited for complete beginners."
  • The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin.
  • Canticle for Lebowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr.
  • Purgatorio, by Dante
  • The Incredible Tide, by Alexander Key. "Devine disliked [it] due to its religious undertones and pessimistic worldview."
  • Future Boy Conan by Miyazaki
  • Solaris, by Stanisław Lem
  • The Long Way, by Bernard Moitessier. "It’s comforting to have our thoughts echoed in his, some- how we feel less alone. The sea scares everyone."
  • Golden Apples Of The Sun by Ray Bradbury
  • The Art of UNIX Programming
  • The Foghorn. "It illustrated the mood outside perfectly."
  • Cyberiad by Stanisław Lem. "Devine has read it many times already, but thought it would be nice for us to re-visit it together. It provided many hours of fun. It is such a good read, a great mix of humour and sci-fi. He is a versatile writer, I’m amazed to see the difference in writing styles between that and something like Solaris. Cyberiad is more casual, more humorous, but still manages to retain its complexity. Amazing read."
  • Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
  • Don Quixote, Cervantes
  • One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka
  • With four square meters of sail and one oar, by Sven Irvid
  • Voyaging on a small income, by Annie Hill
  • Sailing the Farm, by Kenneth Neumeyer
  • Thoughts, Tips and Techniques for Singlehanded Sailing, by Andrew Evans
  • What Are People For?, by Wendell Berry
  • A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold
  • North To The Night, by Alvah Simon
  • How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, by Jenny Odell
  • SY Robusta, personal blog
  • History of Tofu - Page 7”. www.soyinfocenter.com

The book is titled Busy Doing Nothing, as a tribute to our favorite Ergo Proxy episode of the same name. The episode is a metaphor for living in harmony with whatever may come. The crew of a boat is stranded for many days after the wind dies, and each one aboard reacts differently to being becalmed. Busy Doing Nothing is about living in the present, and on inviting liminality into one’s life.