Paul Carney’s Blog

Reading Habits

What book could you read over and over again?

I mostly read in two ways:

1. To learn

2. To cheer me up.

Most of my books are non fiction, and I’m reading a lot of philosophy at the moment. With that in mind, a beautiful book I’m reading at the minute is How the World Thinks by Julian Baggini. Also, Haywire by Craig Brown is a lovely collection of his articles for Private Eye magazine. His wit and warmth radiate from the pages and they always cheer me up. 

I’m not good with text that is overly poetic or flowery, I detest detective novels and romantic fiction, but love a good sci-fi romp. My favourite sci-fi author is still John Wyndham: Midwich Cuckoo’s and Day of the Triffids. I also love anything by Terry Pratchett and James Herriot. 

Section of bookcase number 1
Section of bookcase number 2
The quick access – what I’m reading now shelf
A lovely book for understanding the world
Paul Carney Avatar

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Paul Carney
Author of four published books, visual artist and former art education consultant. My books are: Drawing for Science Invention & Discovery, Drawing to Learn Anything, Classroom Catastrophes and The Arthrobot Scriptures available from www.paulcarneyarts.com
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9 responses to “Reading Habits”

  1. David Milligan-Croft Avatar
    David Milligan-Croft

    Wuthering Heights is the first that springs to mind. But there are several. Particularly poetry.

    Reply
    1. Paul Carney Avatar
      Paul Carney

      I wish I could get into poetry more. Any suggestions of places to start?

      Reply
      1. David Milligan-Croft Avatar
        David Milligan-Croft

        You could try Raymond Carver. An American poet with a very prosaic style. Charles Bukowski is similar, but on the seamier side of life. Or Mary Oliver who writes about the simple profundity of nature.

        Reply
        1. Paul Carney Avatar
          Paul Carney

          Thank you David I’ll try them. I’ve read some Bukowski before, he’s truly inspirational

          Reply
          1. David Milligan-Croft Avatar
            David Milligan-Croft

            He is! Although, it was Carver who helped me find my own voice. It was reading his poetry that made me realise it was okay to be me and not try to pretend to be someone else.

            Reply
  2. Elizabeth Grisham Avatar
    Elizabeth Grisham

    I wrote my master’s thesis on HIV/AIDS and have studied epidemics for 24 years. I could read “And the band played on” every day and not tire of it. We have so much to learn.

    Reply
    1. Paul Carney Avatar
      Paul Carney

      That looks like a great film and book. I’ll check that out thank you.

      Reply
  3. Shreeti✨ Avatar
    Shreeti✨

    The book”How the world thinks” is added to my reading list.

    Reply
    1. Paul Carney Avatar
      Paul Carney

      It’s a very enlightening read. Fascinating to understand how others cultures approach philosophy and how that influences their lives

      Reply

It would be great to hear your thoughts about this