Benrik

Described by the authors as an 'extreme self-improvement' philosophy, this Diary asks a lot from it's reader base.
The first thing you are expected to do, in the induction week, is to entrust your passport to the publishers so that it can be defaced thus rendering it potentially void and running the risk of you running fowl of the authorities and being subjected to whatever penalties such an infraction entails.
Of coarse anyone so suggestible as to follow the rules of this book unquestionably, probably would have gotten themselves into hot water long before reading it in the first place.

There are 52 tasks in total. One per week. Some are benign enough such as week 2 'Knocking on every door you see' or week 20 'smiling inappropriately'; but others ask a little more of you, week 48 'increase your pain threshold' and week 5 'join extremist organisations and out-extreme them'. A few do spark my personal interest, week 28 'Wear a burka' - because I like the idea of going through this fly-on-the-wall experience, both because I am curious how it would impinge on my spatial awareness and also find out how peoples prejudices affect these women in our society; and, week 38 arrange to 'see a dead body' - thus contemplating the fleetingness of my own life which I know I take far too much for granted.… (mais)