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今天晚上很好。我和我丈夫到饭馆去吃晚饭，很好吃。后来我们去书店。我买了四本书。我买了两本法文书。我买了英文书《The marriage of Heaven and Hell》By William Blake 和英文《Creation of the Gods》一本明代中国书。我很高兴我喜欢买书。
I picked up a copy of Derek Walters book Chinese Astrology as I saw it had Ssu Ma Ch'ien's (Sima Qian) treatise on Astrology in it. I'm always a little skeptical of books written on astrology, particularly books written on a foreign subject for a western audience. However this book had lots of gorgeous diagrams from original manuscripts, lots of Chinese characters throughout the text, and the author was someone I'd actually heard of. Walters actually wrote the only book on Feng Shui that I will ever read, it was actually mostly a reprinting of De Groots work on the subject, with some modern updates, very interesting. So even though I found this book in the "dubious" section in half price books I decided I would give it a try.
I think I was a little biased towards it to start with as he talked about his research done at SOAS and the British Library and Museum. That sounded just lovely to me. But I have to say the book was very enjoyable it drew on actual Chinese sources, literature and archaeological evidence, sometimes thousands of years old. Walters was able to give an interesting and informative description of the history and practices of astrology in Chinese history. How it was used, how it changed over time, and what everything meant. All very interesting. Though despite his best efforts and including many tables and appendices I still feel a bit lost at figuring out stems, branches and lunar and solar calenders!
But it was really interesting to see the history involved, to read the very early astrological treatises was really great. And later to look at the collection of horoscopes from the Dun Huang caves and see "fate calculation" in action was fascinating. Oh I do hope one day to be able to read such things for myself.
It was a good book written by someone who believed in what they were writing, and understood the history and scholarship that went behind it all. And it has Sima Qian's treatise!
I think I was a little biased towards it to start with as he talked about his research done at SOAS and the British Library and Museum. That sounded just lovely to me. But I have to say the book was very enjoyable it drew on actual Chinese sources, literature and archaeological evidence, sometimes thousands of years old. Walters was able to give an interesting and informative description of the history and practices of astrology in Chinese history. How it was used, how it changed over time, and what everything meant. All very interesting. Though despite his best efforts and including many tables and appendices I still feel a bit lost at figuring out stems, branches and lunar and solar calenders!
But it was really interesting to see the history involved, to read the very early astrological treatises was really great. And later to look at the collection of horoscopes from the Dun Huang caves and see "fate calculation" in action was fascinating. Oh I do hope one day to be able to read such things for myself.
It was a good book written by someone who believed in what they were writing, and understood the history and scholarship that went behind it all. And it has Sima Qian's treatise!
My head has been fuzzy for the past several days, I've been feeling frustrated, over-whelmed, and quite depressed. I feel a bit better now. It's not often that I find a few words inspiring especially for the amount I read. But tonight I did.
I had forgotten that towards the end of last summer I started to discover William Blake thanks to a very nice book of apocalyptic paintings I had picked up. I had always known his as a poet and not as a painter. I remembered reading about his illustrated books, but they seemed hard and expensive to track down. I think I found the age of Innocence, and then I forgot to look.
Today I found The Marriage of Heaven and Hell which while a little too obsessed with Swedenborg to be perfect but nonetheless was one of the nicest things I've read in ages, inspiring and accurate and with depth I don't think I can quite comprehend yet. But I have to say how wonderful it was, how much I agreed with, how beautiful and inspiring. A little like watching Velvet Goldmine for the first time. I could fill up the rest of entries with quotes but I won't. The Proverbs of Hell were particularly good!
My head feels a bit clearer now, I feel a bit more inspired to have a go at life again. I feel old as well, as old as Blake was when he wrote it, and so many years have passed and I never thought to read it till now. Life slips away. But it is important to live those moments before they are gone.
I had forgotten that towards the end of last summer I started to discover William Blake thanks to a very nice book of apocalyptic paintings I had picked up. I had always known his as a poet and not as a painter. I remembered reading about his illustrated books, but they seemed hard and expensive to track down. I think I found the age of Innocence, and then I forgot to look.
Today I found The Marriage of Heaven and Hell which while a little too obsessed with Swedenborg to be perfect but nonetheless was one of the nicest things I've read in ages, inspiring and accurate and with depth I don't think I can quite comprehend yet. But I have to say how wonderful it was, how much I agreed with, how beautiful and inspiring. A little like watching Velvet Goldmine for the first time. I could fill up the rest of entries with quotes but I won't. The Proverbs of Hell were particularly good!
My head feels a bit clearer now, I feel a bit more inspired to have a go at life again. I feel old as well, as old as Blake was when he wrote it, and so many years have passed and I never thought to read it till now. Life slips away. But it is important to live those moments before they are gone.
Horray for Canada!!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4632229.stm
3rd country to approve gay marriage!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4632229.stm
3rd country to approve gay marriage!
.