From: Alintelbot@aol.com
Date: Thu Jul 08 1999 - 23:04:37 MDT
Natasha wrote:
>Carl Sagan has been an enormous influence on my thinking. _The Demon
>Haunted World: Science As A Candle In The Dark_ is a book I refer to often.
> Most of my reading early on had been biographies and autobiographies and
>Herman Hesse, Anais Nin, Gertrude Stein, Ayn Rand, Simon de Bouvoire, Oscar
>Wilde, Georgia O'Keefe, etc. This gave me a foundation for life and
>values. Reading John Naisbitt, Alvin Toffler and FM-2030 gave me insight
>into the future. Knowing Timothy Leary and reading Wilson and Grujieff
>gave me a spin. That spin is quite integral to my thinking.
Re nonfiction influences: In elementary school I borrowed a book called "The
Third Millennium" from a teacher and was riveted. I encountered Toffer's
"Future Shock" shortly after and I haven't been the same since. Sagan's "The
Demon-Haunted World" is exquisite, as is "Pale Blue Dot," possibly Sagan's
most speculative book. Ayn Rand resonated with me right away, and I've since
developed an interest in utopian societies and alternative social structures.
John Taylor Gatto's essay "The Seven-Lesson Scoolteacher" had a
devastatingly authentic impact on me. When I learned what cryonics was all
about, things started picking up fr me, intellectually.
Mac Tonnies
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