Today, I will share some reading experiences with you, my Dear Friend.
Sometimes I feel like my mind is spinning its wheels and that I have nothing insightful or meaningful to write about. This happens quite often. At times like these, I frequently start writing about something that is currently exciting me (today it’s rucking, previously it was intermittent fasting or taking cold showers). That’s why I try to nourish myself by reading books. In 2013, I read almost all of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s works, which deeply influenced my understanding of human nature. Today (I wrote this text on the 21st of August, 2025), for the second time in my life, I am reading Dostoyevsky’s epistolography. Before and after 2013, I read many books by StanisÅ‚aw Lem. Later, I also read books by ancient Stoics such as Seneca (2017) and Marcus Aurelius (2024).
Between mid-August 2023 and the end of 2024, I read Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.”
In the meantime (since 2017), I have read and continue to read a diverse range of books published by Taschen, Phaidon, or Thames and Hudson (but not only!) on many different topics, with art at the forefront. This diversity has opened my mind to new perspectives and ideas. For example, I’ve read books about such geniuses as Caravaggio, Johannes Vermeer, Salvador Dali, and Stanley Kubrick. Moreover, I also read a fantastic album about the Polish genius, ZdzisÅ‚aw BeksiÅ„ski. The names of the artists and geniuses I’ve read about are varied.
I will list some of them (in no particular order, just as my mind tells me):
Gustave Courbet, James Ensor, Stanisław Wyspiański, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ai Weiwei, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Hiroshige, Frederic Chopin, Claude Monet, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, Hieronymus Bosch, William Blake, Alfred Hitchcock, Lewis W. Hine, Rene Margritte, Vincent van Gogh, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Witkacy, HR Giger, Paul Cézanne, Stephen Hawking, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Beatles, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Charles Bukowski, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Matt Stuart, Sandro Boticelli, Paul Klee, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Michael Jackson, and MC Escher.
Also, I have read and am reading lots of books on photography and popular science books about space. I do all this to keep my mind stimulated and to avoid going round in circles as much as possible. I want to truly encourage you, my Dear Friend, to nourish your mind with the right “food” (e.g., books about art), rather than letting it be filled with reels from Facebook or Instagram. I’m excited to share my reading experiences with you and invite you to be a part of my journey.
