Listed below are some of the things that I cherish the most.
Books
- "A Tale for the Time Being" by Ruth Ozeki Meditations on Zen Buddhism through the lens of a tale of two souls, connected by a tragic real world event.
- "Talks With a Devil" by P.D. Ouspensky Two allegorical stories about the nature of the devil from the Slavic mythos. Devils thrive from our materialism and rationalisations. My copy came with a totally tubular 1980's fantasy novel cover art from the Theosophical Society's own lending library. I've grown very interested in the words of Gurdjieff since reading Alan Watts and Ouspensky's fictional tales seemed like a great introduction to the "magnificent old rascal".
- "The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers" by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) A must-read for any software programmer. If you've ever been, or wish to be paid to write code, then this book is for you.
- "After the Quake" by Haruki Murakami Short story collection, synthesizing Murakami's themes into a light-hearted neat package: family, history, fantasy based on reality, theism and tragedy.
- "Stillness Is the Key" by Ryan Holiday Classical, timeless advice for a good life. One of the critiques of this book is that most of Holiday's points are "obvious", but I think that's why it works. If you were raised in the Western world, so much of this should feel obvious to you because you have already ingested it through story, allegory and metaphor - the culture you have been born into. Holiday combines examples of great people and challenges they face with this classical wisdom and makes you remember you what it means to be human.
TV
- Detectorists Nobody would believe that a comedy drama about metal detecting could be so enriching for the soul. Incredibly wholesome, funny and sometimes bitter-sweet all at the same time.
Games
- TUNIC That's it – pack it up, ladies and gentlemen. This is quite possibly the best game ever made, we can all go home now. Esoteric lore and a slowly unfolding list of puzzles combine with a beautiful artwork and a delicious soundtrack. To top it off, TUNIC's greatest trick is that it hides its truths in plain site.
- Tetris Effect Everything in its right place. Throw your best pair of headphones on and experience the most trippy and captivating way of clearing lines of blocks to date.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Silky smooth, saccharine multiplayer fun in HD. They actually made the confectionery kart game from "Wreck It Ralph" a reality! I've played all of the Mario Kart games, I would struggle to pick a favourite. I think Double Dash on the GameCube was the most fun, but Mario Kart 8 is the most accessible to date.