The Many Sides to One Story

Walking home this evening from the bus stop on the Hollywood Forever Cemetery perimeter, I notice a walking reader across the street so naturally I had to yell out to get his attention. Thankfully he was very patient as we waited for all the cars to drive by before I could bustle towards him.

I explain what I do and he smiles and laughs a bit. "Wow! Normally when someone sees me reading while I walk I usually get a negative response! People either say that I am not watching where I am going so I get in their way but they mostly think I'm weird...like I'm showing off that I read and they aren't...so they're almost intimidated because they think I make them look dumb."

Interesting. Normally the thought that runs through my head when I run into a walking reader is, "How can you read while in motion?" Granted I can read while on the bus, plane, or train but not car.

Pauly is currently reading Your Mysterious Powers of ESP by Harold Sherman. He's been reading alot lately about poltergeists, ghosts, and the paranormal because is he working on a script for a horror television series, so along with it being for pleasure, he is reading for research.

He's always been interested in this subject matter and was even a special effects make-up artist! Other books he reads while walking? He absolutely enjoys non-fiction, particularly history. Non-fiction books about the Middle Ages and World War I are his cup of tea. I ask him why WWI and not so much WWII and he says it is because of the amount of technological change that occurred during WWI.

"It is not Napoleonic warfare anymore. With WWI you start to see tanks, planes, poisonous gas, trenches, and machine guns."

Although he still enjoys fiction he prefers non-fiction over its counterpart and finds himself reading a non-fiction books multiple times. Why? He feels that with fiction, you can read a line, enjoy it in the moment, and that is that. It's all very linear. With non-fiction, on the other hand, he doesn't have to commit to reading each line and each chapter in order. He can choose to read one chapter and jump 10 chapters ahead, and he will still be able to understand what is going on. Plus, he can find himself reading a single line in a non-fiction book and contemplate it for hours on end while he feels he can't do that with fiction. I explained that I felt one could still do that with fiction but I digressed...

Pauly had a neat analogy for his theory. "If I first install photoshop onto my computer, I am not going to read the manual from cover to cover first before I use the program. I'm going to jump right in, play around with it, and if I come across a speedbump then I'll refer to that particular chapter or section in the manual." Very interesting to see how his logic words.

Since he is so fond of history I asked if he watched the History channel. He does but he prefers reading about history. "Things like the History Channel not only divert people from reading but they are only getting tidbits about an event. When you read about history you get all perspectives, the different backgrounds, and you can read different books to get different theories. (He is also into conspiracy theory).

Last book he read was Case Closed by Gerald Posner which is about Lee Harvey Oswald and how he assassinated JFK. "When you read a conspiracy book like that you have to be able to accept and the believe the facts of the book. You have to be open to them, you gotta say, 'Yes! Oswald did do it!' Then you read another book with a totally different perspective and then you go into it with an open mind, too. Same with a third theory, and a fourth. After you're done, you look at all the facts and decide which side you want to be on. It is the same with religion. You may be Christian but when you're having a conversation with a Buddhist about Buddhism you must be able to listen to them and not fight their beliefs. Be open to them. Afterwards, you can either agree or disagree. If people were more open to the bigger picture then we'd all be better off."

I like that.

Pauly made sure I got a shot of the cemetery walls. "It's only fitting, especially with my book!"

Addendum: His favourite author is Isaac Asimov

Blog-reader, would you be more drawn to books on ghosts/the paranormal/occult or non-fiction history books?

Any of you into conspiracy theory books?