Monosus' reading group meets once a month.
"Each person will bring a book and read it for the first 40 minutes (it's okay to read only part of the book)."
"Each person will give a 5-minute presentation on their impressions of what they read."
The meeting will proceed in this order. (Please see the first meeting for the purpose of the meeting.)
The participants this time were Kikunae, the initiator of the reading group, new member Kakarai, Chuen, who was continuing from the last time, and myself (Murakami), a total of four people.
To accompany your reading, you can enjoy hot sandwiches (made in the courtyard), so you're sure to stave off hunger.
Ham and cheese hot sandwich made by the courtyard who has recently become obsessed with "Bauru"
Now, let's start the reading group.
Presentation Time
After the 40 minutes of reading, each person will have 5 minutes to introduce their book.
- Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant: Financial Freedom is Yours (recommended by Shinsuke Kikunaga)
- Kotaro Isaka's "The Fool of the End" (reviewed by Hiromi Kakurai)
- Kyoichi Tsuzuki "The Out-of-Range Editor" (reviewed by Yoshiko Nakaniwa)
- Sheena Iyengar, "The Science of Choice" (reviewed by Izao Murakami)
Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant: Financial Freedom is Yours (recommended by Shinsuke Kikunaga)
Robert Kiyosaki (author), Mihoko Shirane (translator) "Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant: How Financial Freedom Can Become Yours" Revised Edition, Chikumashobo Revised Edition 2013 ( Amazon )
Kikunaga: This book is a sequel to the famous book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." I read it after it was introduced in a book review email newsletter, and it was so shocking that I thought, "If I had read it when I was 20, my life would have been different!"
The author is from Hawaii and says he had two fathers.
"My real dad" is a smart, hardworking school teacher, but poor, and "my friend's dad" is rich, runs a variety of businesses, and took good care of me. By contrasting these two men, the author talks about what makes rich people different and why poor people remain poor.
I thought that people who only think about money were shady, and this book was also suspicious, but if I had not read it because of such a preconceived notion, I would have wasted my life. It says, "They don't teach you about money in school," and I thought that this is absolutely true.
The book divides people into four types based on how they make money, and says that if you want to become rich, you need to become a business owner who creates a system.
After reading this book, I decided that I needed to study more about money.
Courtyard: What does it mean to "create a system"?
Kikunae: For example, if you want to deliver water to a certain place, do you work hard to transport it little by little in buckets, or do you build a pipeline? "Building a system" here means "building a pipeline," and business owners choose the latter.
Are you thinking about doing anything to become a business owner, Kikunae Kakarai ?
Kikunaga: I'm actually thinking about starting to invest in stocks (laughs). I want to invest in companies I like and companies with a promising future. Unlike savings, I can't withdraw the money freely, but people who think about profiting from short-term ups and downs won't make money.
CourtyardMy landlord said the same thing (laughs).
Kikunae : Financial literacy is important. There are too many people who don't know about money. After reading this book, my perspective on the world changed dramatically, and I realized I need to study more about money. Why don't you all also think about money?
Kotaro Isaka's "The Fool of the End" (reviewed by Hiromi Kakurai)
Kotaro Isaka (author) "The Fool of the End" Shueisha 2009 ( Amazon )
This book is divided into eight short stories, and the stories of each of the eight main characters begin five years after the news that an asteroid will fall to Earth and wipe out humanity in eight years, with only three years left until the extinction of humanity.
My favorite out of all is "Hibernation Girl."
Five years ago, the city fell into chaos as people learned that the world was going to end. People started beating and killing others, many people stopped working because they only had eight years left, and many people even died. The protagonist's parents also attempted suicide. The protagonist's girlfriend, who was left behind, began reading through her father's thousands of books in order to understand what was going on in his mind, and this is where the story begins.
On the day the protagonist finishes reading the book, he happens to meet a classmate who tells him, "It's a shame you don't have a boyfriend," and he sets himself a goal to "find a boyfriend." He then remembers something from the book that says, "When starting something new, ask three people for their opinions," and he puts it into action.
The first person is "someone I can respect."
At first I planned to talk to a classmate, but he died in the riots, so I spoke to his mother instead.
The second person is "someone who thinks completely differently from me."
He was a university student who used to be my private tutor, and I found him completely incomprehensible, but for some reason I began to understand more as I listened to him talk.
The last third person is "someone I met for the first time."
On her way back from meeting her second tutor, she found a boy about her age collapsed in the front yard of a house. The story ends with her excitedly trying to go and help him.
The protagonists live with some hope as they wonder how they will cope with the world's destruction three years from now, so it's not all hopeless.
First-time participant Kakurai diligently explains the plot.
Isaka Nakani's "Fish Story" is also a story about the end of the world.
Kakurai: That's right. He often refers to his past works, so as I read this, I thought maybe this will connect to "Fish Story."
Do you think the eight stories in the courtyard will end up connected?
Kakarai: As of now they haven't connected, but I'm reading with excitement to see if they will eventually come together.
I like Isaka's works because they are often quite uplifting. There are many plot twists that all come together at the end, and the ending makes me feel refreshed.
Kyoichi Tsuzuki "The Out-of-Range Editor" (reviewed by Yoshiko Nakaniwa)
Kyoichi Tsuzuki (author) "Out of Range Editor" Asahi Publishing 2015 ( Amazon )
Courtyard: Do you all know Kyoichi Tsuzuki? (Everyone shakes their heads)
Tsuzuki has a photo book called "TOKYO STYLE" that he did everything from shooting to editing and designing by himself. It's a photo book of 100 young people living in cheap, small rooms in Tokyo that are called "rabbit hutches" and living in their own style. Looking at the lineup of books he has created, including this one, you can see that he is an editor with a very unique perspective. This book talks about how he has interviewed people and created books.
I'm currently involved in editing at the Monosasu website, so I found Tsuzuki's editing style interesting. But the title of the book is "out of bounds," so I wondered how outlaw it was, and when I opened the book, it immediately said, "There is no art to editing" (laughs).
The book is full of bold statements that will antagonize all editors, such as "There is no know-how or tricks to editing," "Editorial meetings are a waste of time," and "Editorial meetings are to blame for producing boring magazines," so it's no wonder the book has "Out of Range" in the title (laughs).
When he was a rookie, he was involved in editing the early days of ``POPEYE'' and ``BRUTUS,'' and he says he was given the freedom to do the projects he wanted, such as overseas reporting, but he knew that if they failed, it was his own fault, so he had to put all his effort into writing interesting articles.
He says, "Don't look at the reader, look at yourself." He learned this when he was a newbie: look for stories on foot, judge with your own eyes, and be responsible for whether an article is interesting or boring. (Here, the 5-minute end announcement is made.) Ah, I didn't get to talk about the behind-the-scenes story of the production of "TOKYO STYLE"...
The courtyard is filled with Tsuzuki's bold statements.
Kikunae: It seems really interesting, but it's also quite an outsider.
CourtyardThings that can be easily planned are not new, articles that no one has introduced before have no value, and if your plan gets a lot of hits in searches, you lose. He has stuck to these beliefs and chosen to continue making interesting books as a freelancer, so he may seem like an outlaw to those around him. There was also weight in Tsuzuki's talk about "the freedom and lack of freedom of being freelance."
Kakurai: I’m really curious about that obi (laughs).
The kids who lose by majority vote,
Adults who can't become "adults"
The top runners who are lagging behind are making me write books.
Exactly ! These are words that only Tsuzuki, who has always pursued what he personally finds interesting, rather than following projects decided by majority vote, could say.
Sheena Iyengar, "The Science of Choice" (reviewed by Izao Murakami)
Sheena Iyengar (author) and Yuko Sakurai (translator) "The Science of Choice" Bungeishunju 2010 ( Amazon )
Murakami: We make choices every day, from small things like which toothpaste to buy to big things like what job to take.
This book introduces the process of "choice," as well as the meaning and influence of "choice," drawing on the author's own experiences and experiments.
I'm currently reading Chapter 3, which uses an experiment to explain why people tend to think they are above average. Several subjects are asked to look at an image and count the number of dots. They are told in advance that the majority of people will count more than the actual number. After that, they are randomly divided into two groups, and one is told that they "counted less" than the actual number, and the other that they "counted more."
The group that was told they had "counted too many" felt their self-esteem was hurt because they were told they were the same as the majority. This suggests that people believe they are unique and one of a kind.
This is very true about myself too.
For example, I use an iPhone, and I think I made that choice for a good reason. However, other people also have good reasons for choosing it, so in the end, I just "made the same choice as the majority." From the perspective of others, I'm just one of the masses.
Keeping in mind that humans, including myself, tend to make such assumptions, I would like to start by looking at the behavior of my own emotions in my daily life.
"I am also one of the people," says Library Chair Kikunaga.
Kikunaga: Maybe I think I'm special in some way too. But I'm not saying that's a bad thing, right?
Murakami: I'm still in the middle of the process, so I can't say for sure, but it may also lead to accepting others. This book has the theme of "choice," but I'm not saying that it's unconditionally wonderful. Being able to make various choices doesn't necessarily mean you're happy.
I look forward to reading on to see how it all concludes in the end.
After the reading group
This time, a member who was participating for the first time introduced us to a novel.
Up until now, the books we read have tended to be more serious, such as business books, but I think it's great to see the atmosphere of the reading group gradually change with new members joining.
Next time, I would like to hold a reading group with the theme of "novels and essays."
See you next month.
MURAKAMI Isao