this is probably my favorite book, by one of my favorite authors.

the book is a collection of images and observations. one image on the left page, a page of her observations on the right. it’s simple but genius.

what makes it so good though are the quality of her observations. you’re looking at the same image, but she simply sees things you cannot see. it’s totally mind boggling. a privilege to see the world through her eyes.

it’s also good practice for any writing. take any image, and try to see deep into it. an exercise of imagination, of cultivating that what jung calls the “collective unconscious”.

so im thinking that might be the way forward with this tumblr. an image a day. or a song. or something else. it could be a phrase. but yeah.

i still remember how i found this book. or this book found me. i was in taipei. it must have been 2001 or 2002. that year i did a study exchange in taipei at the graduate school of journalism of the national taiwan university.

i was walking around eslite with a friend i just met. a girl. she was a writer, a journalist. i asked her what her favorite book was. she pointed to this. i bought it and liked it so much i ended up buying all other books by xi xi. maybe one day she will win the nobel prize for literature. one can hope.

i wish i could say more about the cover of the book, but the resolution is so low that i can barely make out anything. an ominous start. oh well.