One of the things I really want to do is read. Not just the Kawasaki book I'm working on this week: that book is a piece of fluff that I'm reading as a sort of snack. His speech was engaging last April, so I thought I'd read more on the topic (as an aside, I joined his Rules for Revolutionaries e-mail list but resigned today since it's a venture capital discussion group and not a discussion of the book). There are three things that I like to read every chance I get: history books, spiritual books and literature – specifically poetry.

These three are all at the core of who I am and who I want to be. Each category picks at what it means to be alive from a different perspective. I've been working on several books for a while now. For my history book, I'm reading Wil Durant's Our Oriental Heritage, which is the first volume of his series The Story of Civilization. Durant's narrative voice makes for enjoyable reading, and I enjoy the conclusions he makes from the evidence. I also enjoy some of the odder information he includes. When my mother was visiting a few weeks ago, one of the sentences I'd underlined caught her eye. In chapter 4 Durant notes that "no language has ever had a word for a virgin man." It struck me when I read it and it still strikes me today. Detecting the omission must not have been easy work, but the observation is a penetrating assessment of humanity through the ages.

As for spiritual books (I dislike the label 'religious,' as it seems too attached to formal religion), I've been reading the Bible. I read it cover to cover back in college and wanted to read it again now "in the middle of life's journey." I'm only up to 1 Maccabees, but I've been especially struck by the violence of the Old Testament. I get it: I understand that three to five thousand years ago, the world was a substantially different place. Economic sacrifice was only then beginning to replace human sacrifice, and civilization was just beginning to take root. Still I have trouble reading about Judith beheading the leader of the enemy after falsely wooing him, and I'm not crazy about the manner in which Israel purged itself of the blood of its sister nations. It is a challenge to understand how these books became the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And it's probably the challenge that makes me want to read and understand it all.

Literature, specifically poetry, can be more difficult. I'm still stuck in the Renaissance. When I was in college I was first introduced to John Milton. I was so inspired that now, sixteen years later I find myself the list owner for the John Milton discussion group, with a web site to boot. Somewhere in the dawn of my appreciation for Milton's achievement I found myself deficient in the experience of literature. I resolved then and continue to work today to read all the significant works that have been written through the ages. It's a monumental task I may never complete, but with each poem read I not only understand more, but I feel more.

With Colette here and work becoming busier all the time, I've found that my reading time is diminished. While I can still read some, I seem to be missing out on poetry more than anything else. So I decided that linking to a poem with each journal entry would be a good way for me to keep reading.

So, if you're still looking for something to read when you stop by, take a look at the poem link. I'm only going to link to poems that strike me in one way or another, so hopefully you'll enjoy them. And the exercise will be good for both of us.