Reading Those in Peril, by Nicolas Freeling.
One of his favorite books is Homeward Angel, by Thomas Wolfe, a good Southern writer who writes in the classic style of the turn of the century, about love. He wrote his undergraduate dissertation on it and would read it to his wife while they were making love.
He has just recently regained the ability to walk. He was mugged and suffered paralysis, and, scarier, loss of language. When he woke up and realized he didn't know the word for "door", he was no longer concerned that he couldn't feel anything from the neck down.
He couldn't read at first, but is now making up for it, averaging two books a week, like The Four Agreements, by the Mexican philosopher, Don Miguel Ruiz.
Here's another fan of The Four Agreements, reading the book on a set of cards, kept in a box.
Now, since the accident he sees life in a series of haiku snippets, grasping the simple. The simple, he said, has a lot going for it.
His own book? It'd be a theoretical dinner party with Isaac Asimov and Bertrand Russell. Math and philosophy, he said, are two sides of the same coin. 
December 4, 2007 -- Tuesday evening
3/22/2007
Reading, with me, Don Miguel Ruiz's The Four Agreements, a book he said that will change your life. Actually, it's not a book. He had the book, but when he was in a car accident in October (he got hit by a truck), the police confiscated his belongings and he hasn't gotten it back yet. Instead, he has an alternate version--a set of cards with the four agreements on them. Each card is illustrated and has text on the front and back. "It will change your life," he told me. "You can read it again and again and get something new from it each time. It will make you one of the smartest people on this earth." After five cards, I did feel enlightened. This top card says "Don't Take Anything Personal."
He had also just found And One More Thing Before You Go..., by Maria Shriver which he was planning on reading.
He told me stories, shared his wisdom (to profound for me to flesh out right now--thank you), and imparted trivia...--did you know that penguins have an organ in their heads that allows them to drink salt water and pee fresh water? I finally had to leave because I was too hungry to talk any more (I'd left the house on a mission to get bread for my soup). He suggested that I carry little snacks with me so this doesn't happen. His cart is equipped with bread, mayonnaise, cheese...and gourmet Italian cookies.
