In Praise of Shadows A Book by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki & Thomas J. Harper www.goodreads.com Things that shine and glitterA naked bulbThe Japanese toiletEmpty dreamsMost important of all are the pauses+9 More 125 Best Architecture BooksDaylight should not tyrannize architectureDeep shadows and darkness are essentialLights and lampsThe gentle light of shoji screens zendarknesslightmaterialmaking
Beauty and compression An Article by Scott Alexander astralcodexten.substack.com The Buddha discusses states of extreme bliss attainable through meditation: Secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by thought and examination, with rapture and happiness born of seclusion. ...If you could really concentrate on a metronome, it would be more blissful than a symphony. The jhāna is also a strong contender as a theory of beauty: beauty is that which is compressible but has not already been compressed. The Abode of the Unsymmetrical beautysilencesensesattention