This is the final product of the Curated Black Book and all the contributions made over almost a month (I think) by various people (anonymous and named) to the open Google Document. It’s my biggest project to date and one of the few that I’ve actually carried through to fruition. I hope that you will find the site a useful tool when you need to waste some time 
Faces of addiction by Chris Arnade
Quote from the photographer: The stories of addicts in the South Bronx. I post people’s stories as they tell them to me. I am not a journalist, I don’t verify, just listen.
Its very easy ito simply run with your crowd, to not explore the amazing diversity and perspectives that are offered. Its also very easy to ignore others. By not looking, by not talking to them, we can often fall into constructing our own narrative that affirms our limited world view. What I am hoping to do, by allowing my subjects to share their dreams and burdens with the viewer and by photographing them with respect, is to show that everyone, regardless of their station in life, is as valid as anyone else.
Thanks peisty! Very interesting backstories that accompany the photos.
Norwegian Wood
by Haruki Murakami
Genre: Fiction
About love. I don’t think you can really provide a one line summary for any of Murakami’s works.
by Niccolò Machiavelli.
Genre: Non-fiction
Sun Zi Italian Style
[Thanks YH!]
Here’s a change from the usual posts on the black book – today’s entry is about taking a walk around the heartlands and observing all the greenery around us. Bishan park is where I grew up in and there was a massive joint effort to bring in the river to Bishan Park recently, and I think NParks has done a commendable job. To be honest, given the land scarcity, it could have been easier to just go the way high-rise buildings and shoebox urban planning, so I appreciate that efforts are made to make Singapore less concrete jungle, and more garden city.
The park is divided into Park 1 (Pond Gardens) and Park 2 (River Plains) but I would highly recommend going to both just to see what it’s like!
There are tons of better photographers out there, so if you DO visit, please send me your photos that you took of the place so I can put up better photos!
Location:
Along Bishan Road and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1
Getting there (Bus)
132,133,136,165,166,169 and 262 from Ang Mo Kio Bus interchange
410 from Bishan MRT
by Anthony Burgess
Genre: Fiction
A violent teenager is made to go through the state’s rehab.
[Thanks YH!]
