good reads // on social media friends + working at amazon + german politics + how to do yoga right

Welcome back on my blog! I hope you’ve had a good time this past July and August. I spent those months traveling and exploring (stay tuned for more posts about that) and also reading. So I thought I start with some of the books I’ve read and liked since I haven’t done a similar post for quite a long time.

Oliver Handlos/Matthias Spaetgens: Alle meine Freunde: Über den Umgang mit Facebook und Co. Die Scholz & Friends Social Media Etikette (All of my friends: About the handling of Facebook and Co.) : I actually was convinced to buy this book discovering the really cool black and white illustrations made by Philipp Comarella. But soon I figured that the content is much more interesting than expected. In the end, this book is something everyone using social media should read at least once.

It’s hard to choose one favorite quote, but this one is for a start. In chapter one they say, “Verwechseln Sie nicht Zerstreuung mit echter Aktivität. Versuchen Sie sich an einen Tag im Internet zu erinnern. Alles bekommt ein bisschen Aufmerksamkeit, aber nichts genug, um als Ereignis haften zu bleiben.” which means, “Don’t mistake sharing with real activity. Try to remember one single day on the internet. Everything gets a bit of attention, but nothing enough to be remembered as an event.” 

Heike Geißler: Saisonarbeit (Seasonal work): Again, I liked the artwork on the cover that is a monochrome-drawn shopping cart on a black background. Then I took a few moments to read the contents and soon I figured this book was written just for me (doing seasonal work for a big company as well many years ago I could relate to so many things the author shared). Well, this book is all about the working experience someone can have during seasonal work at Amazon with all of its rare ups and almost unbelievable downs. The book really is well-written, I totally love her writing style and cannot wait to read more from this Leipzig-based writer.

There are tons of great quotes I could list here, but the one that convinced me to read this book was a funny one I found in the contents already. It says as some sort of summary for chapter 7, “Sie sind krank und besorgt, die Krankheit könne über Nacht verschwunden sein.” which means, “You are sick and worry that your illness might be disappeared over night.”

Helmut Schmidt/Giovanni di Lorenzo: Verstehen Sie das, Herr Schmidt? (Do you understand this, Mr Schmidt?): I am really not into politics. And living in East-Germany and being a little kid by then, I also can’t remember Helmut Schmidt being the Chancellor of West-Germany in the late 1970s/early 1980s. But since the first time watching him on TV giving an interview, I somehow was impressed by his presence and the things he said. So this book was on my must-read-list for a long time already. It’s a quite interesting one since it is a collection of interviews Helmut Schmidt and Giovanni di Lorenzo did together. It includes lots of facts I didn’t know about and creates an impressive picture of this late politician.

My favorite quote is one Helmut Schmidt gave to the question if he uses to pray. He answered, that he doesn’t pray but likes the prayer Reinhold Niebuhr once told. It says, “Gott, gib mir die Gelassenheit, Dinge hinzunehmen, die ich nicht ändern kann, / den Mut, Dinge zu ändern, die ich ändern kann, / und die Weisheit, das eine vom anderen zu unterscheiden.” which means, “God, give me the serenity to accept the things I can not change / the courage to change the things I can change, / and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” 

Desikachar: The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice: Well, I think I started reading this book in 2013. So it took me almost three years to finish. What doesn’t mean that it is not good. It is really good, but for me the specific English and Sanskrit vocabulary was kind of hard to understand. So I only read a few pages each time I hold it in my hands. But now, after completing the book, I can say it is a really good introduction to yoga and breathing techniques as well. And it is filled with amazing pictures of Krishnamacharya demonstrating challenging yoga poses at advanced age and holds little drawings of how to do all things yoga right.

This book is filled with so much wisdom and many helpful tips, so naming just a single quote is almost impossible. However, I really liked this one in part III The Yoga Sûtra of Patañjali saying, “When an individual has achieved complete understanding of his true self, he will no longer be disturbed by the distracting influences within and around him.”

So have you read some of those books? Did you like them? I would love to know! :-)