The Search For Enlightenment

Tomorrow is World Book Night, and as you would imagine, it is devoted to books.

It’s a fantastic idea, giving away books to get people reading, but I think there are a few missing from the list.

Obviously, The Buddha, Geoff and Me should be top of the list, closely followed by The Reluctant Buddhist and Buddhism and the Science of Happiness. I know I’m biased, I tend to read books to learn rather than for entertainment, though I admit I did read the entire series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in a week, whilst commuting to and from London.

The nice thing about World Book Night is that it is a fine example of the World of Bodhisattva. As there is no such thing as altruism in Buddhism, Bodhisattva is the nearest equivalent. Doing good for others results in the accumulation of good Karma, so it’s not strictly altruistic.

Reading is a great way of learning, either in paper form, or via one of the ever improving handheld readers. Learning about Nichiren Buddhism has  changed my life, I would be really pleased if you would give it a go too.

Here is what it’s all about (from worldbooknight.org)

About World Book Night

World Book Night represents the most ambitious and far-reaching celebration of adult books and reading ever attempted in the UK and Ireland.

On Saturday, 5 March 2011, two days after World Book Day, with the full support of the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association, the Independent Publishers Guild, the Reading Agency with libraries, World Book Day, the BBC and RTE, one million books will be given away by an army of passionate readers to members of the public across the UK and Ireland.

The book give-away will comprise 40,000 copies of each of the 25 carefully selected titles, to be given away by 20,000 ‘givers’, who will each distribute 48 copies of their chosen title to whomever they choose on World Book Night. The remaining books will be distributed by World Book Night itself in places that might otherwise be difficult to reach, such as prisons and hospitals.

The twenty-five titles were selected by a wide-ranging editorial committee, chaired by James Naughtie.

See the 25 World Book Night titles here

Enjoy the evening.