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Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 5, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

Still on Watts' The Way of Zen. Also reading some essays on here critical of Zen. I'm a bit surprised at how recent the discussion is. For some reason I thought that all the robe-wearing men had their sex scandals long ago. It does appear that it was talked about in the 70s, though few consequences came from it.

Following Scott's recommendation, I'm about a quarter of the way through Samuel Shem's The House of God. The comparisons to Catch-22 are apt, although so far I don't find it quite as satirical/farcical as that book, and a lot of it feels more like straight memoir than magical realism. It's interesting that I'm not a big TV person, and tend to watch the same handful of TV shows over and over again (mostly shows I first watched when I was in secondary school), one of which is Scrubs. I was dimly aware that Scrubs was partly inspired by The House of God, but having read a chunk of it, Scrubs might be better thought of as an unofficial adaptation.