As promised, I finally got my hands on the Special Illustrated Collector’s Edition of The Da Vinci’s code. After a heartfelt meeting with my friend yesterday, I went to MPH and bought the book. I also purchased another book entitled River of Gods.

To tell you the truth, I only bought the River of Gods because it had two Hindu deities on the front cover. It was the only book there that caught my attention. It was like it was waiting for me to come and grab it.

Now that I had two thick books to read, I wouldn’t be so bored at home. Perhaps I would read less if Singapore wasn’t such a boring place. Seriously, somehow I always felt like I was out of place and as if I never belonged here. Maybe it’s because my heart yearns for a change in scenery or the fact that I always wanted to leave Singapore for greener pastures.

Why I do not know. But somehow I knew that the latest Paulo Coelho’s book entitled ‘The Zahir’ would be sold at Popular Bookstore at Causeway Point. So upon finishing camp on Monday, I made my way down to Causeway Point and I bought the book.

Although I hate to pay so much for the book which is incidentally the highest priced book among all of Paulo’s work, I had waited to long for this moment. While I was at Popular another book or rather two books in particular caught my attention. The first was the illustrated version of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci’s Code and the other was the war of the worlds by H.G Wells.

Two points to note. I have read the Da Vinci’s Code last year but wasn’t really into it. I read it for the sake of reading it. Or you could say that I read it because everyone I knew had read the damn thing and I didn’t want to the one who haven’t had the slightest clue what this book was about. The last point to note is I actually have read the War of the worlds when I was in secondary school. I even remember the TV series which genuinely frightened me as a child.

As much as I wanted to buy these books, I realized that if I had bought those books, I would be distracted from reading The Zahir and my interest would seem to mingle upon the other books rather than being committed to the book I really wanted to read.

So I decided to buy the Zahir and promised myself I would buy the other books as soon as I finished reading my new purchase.

Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer…

Another week has passed and I have read another of Paulo Coelho’s book, Eleven Minutes. This is daring novel that challenges our prejudices and opens our minds and has kept me utterly enthralled.

Eleven Minutes tells the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer…” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Instead, she ends up working as a prostitute.

In Geneva, Maria drifts further and further away from love as she develops a fascination with sex. Eventually, Maria’s despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness, sexual pleasure for its own sake, or risking everything to find her own “inner light” and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love.

The fact is Eleven Minutes’ Down-to-earth dialogue and detail about classy whoring has persuaded me to read this book for a second time. Actually it’s been my practice to read a book twice if I really liked it. I am also planning to buy another Paulo Coelho novel tomorrow at my local book store. The only question is which one?

Paulo Coelho’s Inimitable Style.

I have to admit, I have not heard the name of Paulo Coelho, the author of International Bestseller, The Alchemist, the man who has sold over 43 million books worldwide and whose works has been translated into 56 languages, that is until I walked up to the serious friction corner of EMF Book Store at Causeway Point.

Actually I went to Causeway Point not to buy books, but instead for two purposes. One was to ask the price of the Sony PSP and the other was to inquire about WACOM’s Graphic Tablets. But fate decided that I would warrant a rental for this book. The surprising thing about this book is that it is not even a book, but rather a collection of inspiring short passages that invites the reader to embark upon the way of the warrior.

So what is this way of the warrior you might ask? It is an invitation to each of us to live our dreams, to embrace the uncertainty of life, and to rise to meet our own unique destiny.

The only lingering question or doubt that I have now is, why is it that I have chanced upon this book today and not any other day for that matter.

All I can say for sure is there are just some things in life we people can’t explain. Coincidence is something I used to regard as an unnatural phenomenon. But after reading the Holographic Universe and thinking about my own coincidental encounters in my life. I have become content with the inexplicable. But sometimes these events can really challenge your beliefs.

Only human beings have come to the point where they no longer know why they exist…

Before reading the Holographic Universe, the author promised to change the way I look at things. I have to say, I am a believer. This book presents theories that not only answers the paranormal but also gives us the insight on the actual creation of the universe opposed from the big bang theory.

Here some of the many points that have caught my attention.
1) The memory is not stored in a given location but is stored everywhere. A whole in every part.

2) The Mind fills in the physical holes in the eye’s retina: completing eyesight with what the Mind perceives (not the eye sees) it to be; as opposed to naked reality.

3) Energy patterns leave traceable fingerprints in the holographic universe; traumatic events leave stronger residual patterns. An individual’s energy pattern, angle and strength, may align itself with the remaining pattern of a previous event, thus illuminating and/or creating the observation of a ghost, UFO, an apparition of past events, places and peoples.

4) Repressed energy can result in the manifestation of poltergeist activity, appearing to be from external sources.

5) Non locality: the aspect of all reality, projected into the illusion of time and space, of separations.

6) Schizophrenia; the possibility of different souls, different persons, living in one body, as each personality contains entirely different electrical brain impulses, opposing patterns, and physiological variations, conflicting allergies, negative and positive physical traits that cannot be found in one individual.

7) Advanced meditation results in equality and replacement to entheogenic drug use in mystical experiential consciousness. The example of Ram Dass (Richard Albert) encounter with an Indian Mystic more capable of mystical experience than the strongest dosage of hallucinogenic.

Thought Bursts; this is an amazing idea. While all information is conveyed point-to-point, in thought bursts one obtains groups of thoughts at once time, that is increased levels of awareness. It is suggested that death experiences of entire lifetimes passing in a matter of a split second are of this nature.

This book must be experienced for its effect to be fully understood. Micheal Talbot, with this book, does exactly what he set out to do: change the way one sees oneself, and the world, forever. It is profoundly lucid, masterfully written, unapologetically challenging and revolutionary, always erudite… and just plain beautiful. You own it to yourself to pick out this masterpiece.