Category: Of Interest to Ryusho

Things that interest me personally and are also important.

The Beautiful Struggle: A Memoir

An exceptional father-son story from the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me about the reality that tests us, the myths that sustain us, and the love that saves us. Paul Coates was an enigmatic god to his sons: a Vietnam vet who rolled with the Black Panthers, an old-school disciplinarian and new-age believer in free love, an autodidact who launched a publishing company in his basement dedicated to telling the true history of African…

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Strange Trees

Have you ever heard of the Strangler Tree? The Bubblegum Tree? The Upside-Down Tree? How about trees with horns, bottles, sausages, crowns, and ones that walk or even explode? Crazy, maybe, but true. Find out more about these, and many others, in this colorfully illustrated collection of the most bizarre—but real—trees from around the world, once again reminding us that the art of nature is far stranger than fiction. The perfect book for inquisitive naturalists…

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Nichiren Manga by Masahiko Murakami

In 13th-century Japan, disease, famine, violence, and natural disasters plague society. Samurai lords, blinded by power, shirk any responsibility to protect the citizenry. Religious leaders care more about currying favor with the powerful than helping common people find hope and a positive way to deal with their suffering. But one unknown Buddhist monk dares to speak the truth to power: Nichiren remonstrates with the authorities. He insists that all human life is precious and that…

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