At Monosus, we have several activities that members have started voluntarily, such as a mountain climbing club, a futsal club, and a plum wine making club. One of these is a "reading club," which I (Murakami), the company's library committee member, invite everyone to participate in and hold once a month.
It all started when one of our members, Kikunaga, said, "Let's start a reading club." At the time, the library committee didn't have any particular activities other than managing the loans, and we were starting to think about what we could do, so we agreed with Kikunaga's suggestion and started a reading club.
The flow of the reading group is as follows:
"Each person will bring a book and read it for the first 40 minutes (it's okay if they can't finish it)."
"Each person will give a 5-minute presentation on their impressions of what they read."
That's it.
People have a variety of reasons for participating, including "I want to have time to read books," "I want to practice presentations," and "I want to interact with members I don't normally come into contact with," but we hope that this will lead to the spread of reading habits within the company.
The participants this time were five people: Matsubara, Murakami, Inoue, Kimijima, and Nakaniwa.
Now let the reading club begin!
The members read the book in silence for 40 minutes.
Presentation Time
After the 40 minutes of reading, each person will have 5 minutes to introduce their book.
- "Essential Thinking" by Greg McKeown (reviewed by Mariko Inoue)
- "The Analects and the Abacus" by Eiichi Shibusawa (reviewed by Izao Murakami)
- "Practice not reacting" by Ryushun Kusanagi (recommended by Megumi Matsubara)
- "The Essence of Failure" by Ryoichi Tobe et al. (reviewed by Hideki Kimijima)
- "The Magical Century" by Yoichi Ochiai (reviewed by Yoshiko Nakaniwa)
"Essential Thinking: Maximizing Results in the Shortest Time" by Greg McKeown (recommended by Mariko Inoue)
Greg McKeown, translated by Riko Takahashi, "Essential Thinking: Maximizing Results in the Shortest Time," Kanki Publishing, 2014 ( Amazon )
Inoue: I'm still in the middle of reading it, but it's a book that introduces the idea of "choosing less and doing better" (= essential thinking). The vice-leader of my book club, Kikunaga-san, recommended it to me, so I chose it.
The opposite of "essential thinking" is "non-essential thinking," which is the idea that "everything is important" and "I have to do everything," and this is exactly what I'm feeling right now. (Looking at the picture on the cover) This is exactly the messy state I'm in.
Looking back at myself recently, nothing I did seemed to go well, I felt helpless, and even though I wanted to solve something, I couldn't find a clue.
I was impressed by the fact that essential thinking requires you to first understand what is important, and in order to do so, you must make the decision to throw away things that are not important.
I learned from this book that by concentrating on what really needs to be done, you can gain a sense of fulfillment, which will give you the energy to tackle your next task.
Mariko Inoue reads the book while comparing it to her own experiences
Matsubara: What are the criteria for deciding what is important and what to throw away?
Inoue: For example, I've replaced my closet with my head. If I keep all the clothes I think I'll wear someday, the closet will be full. I keep the things I want to cherish and that look great on me, and get rid of the things I'll wear someday but not now. It's okay to just have the things that you think are "the only things" and throw away the rest.
Matsubara: Only keep the special things.
Inoue: Keep what appeals to you. If you're unsure, throw it away. Choose best over better.
"The Analects and the Abacus" by Eiichi Shibusawa (reviewed by Izao Murakami)
Eiichi Shibusawa, translated by Jun Moriya, "Modern Japanese Translation of the Analects and the Abacus," Chikuma Shobo, 2014 ( Amazon )
Murakami: This is a book that compiles lectures by Eiichi Shibusawa, who is said to be one of the architects of modern Japan.
One passage in the text says, "Have a hobby in your work," and the idea is that by approaching your work with a "hobby," you can do work that comes from your heart, rather than just doing routine work that involves doing what you're told.
The work of the checking team that I belong to is basically the same thing over and over again, but I think that by not just completing the tasks handed to us, but by approaching the work with our own ideal image of the web or some kind of interest in it, we can take our work a step further.
The book also goes further, saying that "I want people to have hobbies as human beings," which got me thinking about what I personally think.
Isamu Murakami, the organizer of the reading group and the head of the library committee
Is there a close relationship between the Courtyard Analects and economics?
Murakami : No, I don't think it has anything to do with normal life. However, Eiichi Shibusawa thought that if the theory of the Analects of Confucius was applied to economic activity as well, it would be possible to put a stop to runaway desires.
Confucius, who wrote the Analects, was not denying economic activity, but rather said that if one can acquire wealth in the right way, one should do so actively.
It was different from what I had previously understood, so I was like, wow.
Kimijima: Shibusawa Eiichi is the man who built the Imperial Hotel, right?
Murakami : Ah, that's right. It says at the beginning that he was involved with about 400 companies that were established during the Meiji period. He was truly the person who designed modern Japan.
"Practice not reacting" by Ryushun Kusanagi (recommended by Megumi Matsubara)
Ryushun Kusanagi, author of "Practice not reacting: Buddha's ultra-rational way of thinking that will eliminate all your worries", KADOKAWA/Chukei Publishing, 2015 ( Amazon )
Matsubara: Do you know what "anger management" is? It's a way of thinking that aims to control anger and become happy. One of the points is to "not react until the 6 seconds when anger peaks have passed," but how can we stop ourselves from reacting?
The book states that "everything in our daily lives, not just anger, is a reaction of the mind," and that "if we do not react unnecessarily, we will be freed from all worries and suffering," and asks us to consider this in light of the teachings of Buddha and others.
As I read, I found the part that made sense to me was, "First, there is the 'heart that desires', which gives rise to the seven desires, and people react as a result of these. When pleasure is obtained, we feel happy, and when things do not go our way, we feel dissatisfied."
When I see someone getting happy or angry, I often wonder, "Why is that?" However, when I understand that these events are happening inside that person's mind, I am able to look at it more calmly.
The same thing can be said about myself, so instead of just "feeling that way," I want to make it a habit to observe what kind of emotional reaction is occurring within me at any given moment.
Murakami (right) asking a question and Matsubara (left) answering it
Murakami: In my case, I'm not really aware that I'm angry, or at least I don't notice it. Was there any advice written for situations like that?
Does Matsubara get angry unconsciously?
Murakami: Thinking back on it later, I wonder if I was angry at that time.
Matsubara: Basically, the book is about being aware that you are angry and then giving advice on how to respond, so the first step may be to become aware of your own reactions.
"The Essence of Failure" by Ryoichi Tobe et al. (reviewed by Hideki Kimijima)
Ryoichi Tobe et al., co-authored "The Essence of Failure" Chuokoron-Shinsha 1991 ( Amazon )
Kimijima: Sometimes we make the same mistakes at work or in our daily lives. We think, "This pattern again?" My boss at work at the time recommended this book to me when I wanted to solve problems from the root, not just on the surface. I actually read a few lines of it and left it for about two years, but this time I decided to read it again and flipped through the pages.
Through the Battle of Okinawa, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Nomonhan Incident, and other events in World War II, we can learn why Japan was defeated. Let's analyze the factors behind these defeats and then apply them in a deductive manner to our work and daily lives! It seems that many gentlemen and ladies read the book in this way.
However, there was a lot of military jargon, which I couldn't digest well. I think I'll need to re-read it two or three times to fully understand the content. Just knowing that was a bonus.
Hideki Kimijima, participating in the reading group for the first time
Does it contain stories of experiences from the Courtyard Wars?
Kimijima: If anything, it was mostly about specific strategies and such, although it was a bit abstract and hard to digest.
Murakami: So you recommended a pretty serious (?!) book...
Kimijima: It was a bit too early for me.
"The Magical Century" by Yoichi Ochiai (reviewed by Yoshiko Nakaniwa)
"The Magical Century" by Yoichi Ochiai, PLANETS, 2015 ( Amazon )
This book was serialized in the e-mail newsletter I subscribe to. It was quite interesting.
I felt excited, like a young person with a new way of looking at the world had appeared!
The author, Ochiai Yoichi, is a media artist still in his 20s who earned his doctorate at the University of Tokyo at an accelerated pace and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba and a digital nature researcher.
In this, he is trying to jump over two things.
One is the boundary between "technology" and "expression," and the other is the boundary between "nature" and "artificial objects."
He uses the word "magic" as a metaphor for the ability to transcend the boundaries between "technology" and "expression." What exactly is "magic"? You might think that sounds suspicious (laughs), but the magic he is referring to here is the use of spell-like "program code" to interfere with the physical world we live in. It is an art that combines technology and expression (art), and in that sense, he calls himself a "magician" as a media artist.
Regarding the other boundary between "nature" and "artificial," let's say there are some anti-computer types who say, "CD sound is no good, it has to be real sound." Ochiai's response to that is, "No, that's just a matter of sound resolution."
He believes that CDs are merely a medium that reproduces sounds that humans can hear, and that if a medium could be created that could reproduce the resolution of real sound, then that would solve the problem. The very boundary between "nature" and "artificial objects" is nonsense to him.
What's also interesting is that he says, "The century of images is coming to an end."
Up until now, the focus has been on media such as movies that are completed within a display and that allow you to enjoy the context. But he feels that contextual consumption is saturated and that displays are uncool (laughs).
The next "magic century" will be an era that goes beyond the frame of displays and turns the entire real world into media, and media that experience "magical" expressions rather than contextualism will emerge. Ochiai calls them "computers that move the heart." (Here is the announcement that the 5-minute end has ended.) Oh, it's over.
Kimijima: I read it too.
Is there really a courtyard ? I'm not sure if I explained it well (laughs).
Murakami: What do you mean by media here?
It's all kinds of courtyards . It includes ancient murals, gardens, and other things. It also includes past artworks and web media. Paper is also a medium. This book also talks about the evolution and history of such media. There's still a lot to talk about (laughs).
After the reading group
We gathered around a table with a book in hand, read for 40 minutes, and talked.
Monosus's "reading group" is a place where we can share such time.
One of the attractions of book clubs is that you can encounter unexpected books through someone's recommendation. You can also get a glimpse of the worries and thoughts that people have behind the books they choose.
This time, we had some members joining us for the first time, and books from different genres were introduced, making it a fun time again.
See you next month.
MURAKAMI Isao