Review: LETTERS TO MY FATHER by William Styron

Another WWII book read by Lorri from Jew Wishes was Letters to My Father by William Styron, author of Sophie’s Choice.  Here’s an excerpt from her review:

The reader sees the emotional growth developing in Styron, as he moves through his early years. From serving in World War II to his university studies, to marriage and living abroad, the documentation of his life is forthright and fascinating. He speaks to his father in a candid manner, holding nothing back. The content is intense and compelling, and offers a look into not only the mindset of Styron the author, but is also a psychological study as to the inadequacies that Styron felt about his writing, recognition for his work, and the difficulties confronting him as a writer.

Read the rest of her thoughts here.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

[Via http://warthroughthegenerations.wordpress.com]

Reviews: BENDING TOWARD THE SUN by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie With Rita Lurie

A couple WWII reading challenge participants reviewed Bending Toward the Sun: A Mother and Daugher Memoir by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie with Rita Lurie.  Here’s a little of what they had to say; click the links to read the complete reviews.

Lorri from Jew Wishes says:

Bending Toward the Sun is much more than a Holocaust memoir, and much more than an accounting of events that took place during the Holocaust. It is a book that delves into the post-war effects on a generation of children born of Survivors. It details explicitly the ongoing emotional turmoil that the family endured, and how every action was done to ensure the safety of the family unit, not only during the adverse events of the Holocaust, but also post-Holocaust.

Anna from Diary of an Eccentric says:

Bending Toward the Sun is an emotional, well-written book about survival and family.  Leslie and Rita write in such a way that you feel like you’re sitting across from them, and they’re talking to you.  They bare their hearts and souls in the book, and you learn a lot about their lives, their careers, and their husbands and families so that by the time you finish reading, it feels like the Luries are old friends.

Check out Anna’s interview with Leslie Gilbert-Lurie on Examiner.com.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

[Via http://warthroughthegenerations.wordpress.com]

Review: MIRIAM'S KITCHEN by Elizabeth Ehrlich

Lorri from Jew Wishes reviewed Miriam’s Kitchen: A Memoir by Elizabeth Ehrlich, which counts toward the WWII reading challenge.  Here’s an excerpt:

From Holocaust survivor to kosher kitchen, Miriam’s stories are a plethora of familial history, including a wealth of memories, both poignant and filled with bits of humor. Yiddish is the word of the day, as Miriam recounts her life, one that is filled with hardships and loss. The recipes she prepares are almost a dedication to those family members who lost their lives during the Holocaust. The stories leave us to reflect on who we are, reflect on the past and how it relates to our present, and what we will send forth as memories and legacies in the future.

Read the rest of the review here.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

[Via http://warthroughthegenerations.wordpress.com]

Book Review Monday: Lost, by Gregory Maguire

This week’s book review is inspired by Gregory Maguire’s new release, Matchless.

Although you might not know his name, you’ve probably heard of Mr. Maguire: he’s the author of the best-selling novel, Wicked, inspiration for the renowned Broadway Musical. Mr. Maguire has written a number of other novels, many of which, like Wicked, retell a classic fairy tale from the perspective of the tale’s “villain”.

Although I read Wicked several years ago, enjoyed and would recommend it, this review is not about Wicked, nor about its sequel, Son of a Witch, nor even about Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister, which is sitting on my shelf at home. This review is about one of his less well known novels, one done in a slightly different style.

Unlike the retold classics Maguire usually writes, Lost is instead inspired by the circumstances that led to the creation of the classic, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Set in modern London, an author, Winifred Rudge, is staying in her distant cousin’s flat, while researching her new novel about Jack the Ripper. Legend has it, that the flat, once owned by her long-deceased great-great-grandfather, was visited by a young Charles Dickens, and the family lore maintains the old man was the inspiration for Dickens’ famous Ebeneezer Scrooge. Now, many years later, Winifred is convinced that a spirit is trapped within the home, and is determined to figure out if he is her great-great-grandfather, or maybe even Jack the Ripper. Winifred turns out to be a rather unstable character, which is not surprising considering she is searching for ghosts, and there is quite a good deal of emotional damage she is repressing which the reader does not learn until the end. To be perfectly honest, it is not one of Maguire’s best efforts, and I would prefer he stick to the creative reimagining of fairy tales, rather than invention of new material. However, despite this disappointment, I cannot help but be enthusiastic about his latest seasonal effort, Matchless, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl, one of my childhood favorites.

[Via http://infomavensdesktop.wordpress.com]

Reading Update

At the beginning of the year I posted my 2009 reading list.  I thought I’d give an update on how I’m doing (as much for myself as for anyone else).  It looks like right now that I’ll read 22 books by the end of the year, which is shy of my goal (at least 24 books) – so next year I need to get in a better rhythm or pick up the pace a little.

Here’s my reading list for 2009:

• The Back of the Napkin – Dan Roam
• Courageous Leadership – Bill Hybels
• Axiom – Bill Hybels
• Be Our Guest – The Disney Institute
• Walking with God – John Eldredge
• Sex:God – Rob Bell
• First Impressions – Mark Waltz
• The Deity Formerly Known as God – Jarret Stevens
• Mavericks at Work – William Taylor & Polly Lebarre
• The Truth About You – Marcus Buckingham
• Why Work Sucks & How to Fix It – Cari Ressler & Jody Thompson
• 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, updated edition – John C Maxwell
• Communicating for a Change – Andy Stanley & Lane Jones
• Tribes – Seth Godin
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith
• Uprising – Erwin McManus
• Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands – Nancy Ortberg
• I am not but I know I AM - Louie Giglio
• Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
• Creating Community – Andy Stanley & Bill Willits
• Fired Up or Burned Out – Michael Lee Stallard
• The Encore Effect – Mark Sanborn
• The Purple Cow – Seth Godin
• Killing Cockroaches – Tony Morgan
• Letters from a Nut – Ted L. Nancy
• The Go Giver – Bob Burg & John David Mann
• Leadership & Self Deception – The Arbinger Institute
• Chasing Daylight – Eugene O’Kelly
• Cirque Du Soleil: The Spark – John U. Bacon & Lyn Heward
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni
• Primal – Mark Batterson
• A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – Donald Miller

If you’re interested, here’s a list of books that I read in 2008.  In a few days I’ll post my initial book list for 2010.

[Via http://jsantorum.wordpress.com]

A Latecomer's Thoughts: Harry Potter

When the first Harry Potter book hit the stores, I heard raves from family members, friends and even complete strangers. I had no interest. I’m not sure why. It just didn’t appeal to me, based on what little information I knew about it.

Mostly, I knew there was a nerdy-looking little boy on the cover, it was about sorcery and a lot of fundamentalist Christian groups didn’t like it because it was about people doing magic, which of course was going to initiate all the little children into the world of devil worship. Those devil-worshippers sure hide well, don’t they?

Anyway, I managed to ignore the phenomenon. I didn’t even get stuck seeing the movies, even once Emma got interested in the series. Somehow, she always ended up going to the movies with other people (wish I could say the same about the Twilight movies).

But over the years, I’ve caught bits and pieces of the movies and even found myself enjoying them. Writers I trust and admire have sung the glowing praises of author J.K. Rowlings’ talent. I’ve been told that the movies very closely follow the books. Emma, of course, owns the first five movies (the sixth just came out on DVD), so I made a decision to watch them all, finally, all these years later.

Over the past two weekends, that’s exactly what I did. All five. And all I can say is that I am impressed. I can’t wait to see the sixth movie. I will probably see the last two in the theater. And, one of these days, I’ll even tackle the books.

[Via http://lifeissweet16.wordpress.com]

Review: Promise Me Tonight By Sara Lindsey

Promise Me Tonight

Sara Lindsey

Signet Eclipse-February, 2010

Pre-order Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Me-Tonight-Weston-Novel/dp/0451229371/

This Holiday season has been an incredibly busy one for me and has left me precious little time to enjoy the pleasure of reading, so it took me a bit longer to finish Sara Lindsey’s Promise Me Tonight than it might have if I’d waited until after the New Year to delve into its pages. But the Christmas season, a season of love and giving, seemed the perfect time to give myself the gift of reading a lovely romance, if only for a few stolen moments each day. 

For Isabella Weston, there has never been any doubt about what she wants in life — to become the wife of her older brother’s best friend, James. She spends her childhood adoring him in secret, cherishing her girlish fantasies of love and romance. On the night of her coming out ball, she decides the time is right to make her feelings known at last. But…

Tormented by the deaths of his mother and infant sister and his father’s subsequent suicide, James Sheffield vowed as a young boy never to give his heart away. Loving, he has learned, only leads to pain. His affection for “Izzie” is purely platonic, until the night of her coming out ball when he is forced to see her not as the adorable scamp he has known for years, but as the lovely and alluring young woman she has become. When stolen kisses in the library confirm his worst fears — that she is capable of stealing his heart, James flees the country, far from the temptation of Izzy’s kisses. But though they are separated by distance, he discovers Isabella is ever present in his thoughts.

When James returns home for the reading of his uncle’s will, Izzie puts a new plan in motion, a daring seduction that earns her his wedding ring, but seems to have cost her his love…

Though I found Isabella to be bright, headstrong and delightfully daring, her character seemed a bit shallow in the story’s early chapters, not fully developed apart from her obsession with James. She didn’t fully come alive for me until midway through the book, when a few well-placed and very touching scenes brought out her vulnerability. Much like James, I fell in love with her slowly, but once I did, there was no going back. The heartbreakingly handsome James was much more substantial and complex from the get go. Ms. Lindsey’s dialogue was spot on and she did a spectacular job of getting into the male psyche. I also enjoyed the secondary characters and particularly liked the relationship between Isabella and her younger sister, Olivia.

Promise Me Tonight is extremely well crafted, with a tightly woven plot that takes very few side trips from the romance at its heart. The story has a nice flow with just the right balance of ups and downs and plenty of sexual tension. Though the sex was a bit overdone for my taste, I enjoyed journeying with these characters as they overcame their fears and doubts and eventually found their “happily ever after.”

I feel privileged to have been given an early glimpse at this not yet released, first-in-a-series romance. I recommend Promise Me Tonight to any fan of sensual historical romance.

– Honeybee

http://workinggirlreviews.wordpress.com  

  

[Via http://workinggirlreviews.wordpress.com]

Finding the Groove: Review

Syncopation. Call-and-response. Creativity. Listening. Freedom within constraints. These are some elements of a jazz-shaped faith articulated by Robert Gelinas in his new book Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan, 2009). Gelinas harnesses powerful jazz metaphors to cast a vision for a Christian faith fully alive, embracing creative tension while playing in concert with others. Here are a few highlights that may pique your interest to read the book:

Improvisation. Our Christian lives progress not by playing predetermined notes, but by improvising in the company of others. Improvisation is not just about spontaneous originality, because good improvisers draw on rich traditions and practice “in the woodshed.” Improvisation is an apt description of our Christian practice, and church is our rehearsal studio.

Playing the blues. All jazz is blues. That is, pain and suffering are the native soil of jazz. Gelinas includes fascinating reflection on the nature of jazz, and how jazz is more than music, but an entire society full of “red, white, and the blues.” A jazz-shaped faith, therefore, is a blues-shaped faith, expressing joy through suffering.

Ensemble. You can’t play jazz alone. You can’t be a Christian alone. Both require practicing and playing in ensemble, which means listening to others, needing others, becoming who we are because of others. We need to find our own voice, but that means playing in concert.

Finding the Groove is a creative, inspiring, vision-casting book. The jazz metaphor is packed with potential for shedding new insight on our Christian lives, and I look forward to future “jazz notes” from Gelinas. In the meantime, you can visit his website to read more about this jazz theologian, and you can put on a jazz album and start developing your ear for syncopation, improvisation, and call-and-response. The book ends with reference to Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, which would be a great place to begin.

[Via http://wsvanderlugt.wordpress.com]

Mentor Like Jesus

Regi Campbell’s ‘Mentor Like Jesus’ was one of the most anticipated books on my reading list. It moved into first position this week after I read Michael Hyatt’s endorsement and  signed up with Next Generation Mentoring to mentor a group of men in 2010. I was not disappointed. Regi clearly describes his journey of mentoring and how he has used the model of Jesus to shape his own mentoring ministry. Two important keys to that model include intentionality and commitment. Campbell is big on process – potential mentorees are invited to apply and if chosen are required to commit to attending ten monthly sessions, complete assignments, and show up on time. That’s a far cry from the way we do most things in the church – publishing blanket announcements,praying someone will respond, and taking whomever shows up. Campbell argues that Jesus did it differently when he handpicked his disciples.

I especially appreciate Campbell’s inclusion of scripture memorization. Too often we can focus on dispensing wisdom from our own point of view and just respond to situations as they arise. By using these foundational verses we communicate the importance of God’s Word in developing character and leadership.

Mentoring is a great role for second chair leaders. We have more flexible schedules and have more contact with next generation leaders than do most sr pastors. We are often freer to move among various groups of people without being held to a narrowly defined ministry group like youth pastors, worship leaders, children’s pastors, etc. That broad list of contacts places second chair leaders in an ideal position to mentor others. It has been a highlight of my ministry over the years.

“Mentor Like Jesus” provides a great introduction for Next Generation Mentoring – a ministry that equips leaders to mentor. They have developed a complete system to help you mentor successfully. You can see the details at nextgenerationmentoring.com. If you’ve considered being a mentor I encourage you to get your hands on a copy of Regi Campbell’s book and hook-up with Next Generation Mentoring. Mentor Like Jesus is available at Amazon.

[Via http://secondchair.wordpress.com]

The Shack

For months people have been asking me whether I’ve read this book that has become something of a publishing phenomenon, apparently flying off the shelves in both Christian and secular bookshops.   Up until now I have resisted, partly for lack of time but also, to be honest, not liking what I had read in several reviews and feeling I had better things to do with my time.  However, I finally succumbed, deciding that I needed to be able to comment from an informed perspective but also because I wanted to know what was in this book that has become so influential among Christians.

I am glad I read it, but I need to say right up front that I am more concerned about the dangerous influence of this book than I was before I read it.   Its popularity and acceptance among so many professing believers is alarming and indicative of the poor spiritual climate of our day.

(read the full review here….)

[Via http://jandcbrand.wordpress.com]

The Book of Tomorrow, Cecelia Ahern

It is everyone’s ideal to know what happens tomorrow, today.

Sixteen year old Tamara Goodwin enjoyed living for today until her father left her and her mother with a mountain of debt. Forced to leave her luxurious life behind, she finds herself in a small village, with only a convent, a deserted castle and a travelling library to pass her time.

That is until she came across a beautifully bound book secured with a padlock. Upon prising open the lock, her world is turned upside down. Not only does she lose her father and the safety of her old life but her whole belief structure.

The question here is whether she is brave enough to change tomorrow and to find the answers between the lines…

[Via http://alphabetgames.wordpress.com]

Another list of great books for giving from your favorite authors!

The fun continues today with more fabulous recommendations for holiday giving from authors we know and love!  If you’re stumped on what to give your favorite kidlit reader, here are some suggestions from Kristin Clark Venuti, Greg Leitich Smith, and Lauren Baratz-Logsted!

We were already fans of Kristin Clark Venuti before she graced us with her presence this November, but after meeting the woman behind Leaving the Bellweathers, I think I can speak for all of BookKids when I say we’re in love!  Not only is she a hysterically funny author, but she plays some mad-crazy ukulele.  Come in and pick up a copy of her book, and check out some of her recommended titles as well!

Kristin’s faves for the holidays:

My favorite eight-year-old is receiving the first book in the Klise sisters‘ 43 Old Cemetery Road series, Dying to Meet You.  Full of bad puns, ghostly capers (of the friendly sort – not the terrifying-Poltergeist-movie sort) and charming illustrations, it’s the perfect gift for any kid with a wacky sense of humor.  The story is told in the form of letters, sketches and newspaper articles, so it’s a quick, yet satisfying read.

I was thrilled to discover that Tomi Ungerer’s Moon Man was recently re-released.  The copy I have from my childhood is tattered and I am sorry to say, scribbled on. (I was THAT kind of a kid.)  I picked up two copies of this now-retro — but always enchanting — picture book.  One is for my favorite five-year-old, because I know he’ll enjoy the story of the Moon Man’s visit to earth, and his adventures among the strange and sometimes hostile people he meets here.  The other copy is for me, so that I can once again enjoy Ungerer’s inky, dark, yet vibrant illustrations – without having to look at my own early attempts to write a book on those pages.

Finally, my favorite twelve-year-old guy is receiving Allen Zadoff’s Food, Girls and Other Things I Can’t Have.  I could go on and on about what a great book I think this is.  It’s funny, and although it has a message, it’s not one I feel clubbed over the head by.  This tale of a kid who is the second fattest in his high school (which is evidently worse than being the fattest) is the closest thing to Judy Blume for guys that I can think of.  Just don’t tell them that – they might not go for it.  Zadoff’s book isn’t just for guys, though.   Girls will be intrigued by the boy’s-eye view of the teen social hierarchy.  Did I mention that it’s funny?

Greg Leitch Smith is one of our favorite Austinites.  His most recent contribution to kidlit is a story in one of our favorite books of the year, Geektastic, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castelucci.  If you can find a copy of his middle grade novel Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo, it comes highly recommended. Greg’s blog is a great source of book reviews and kidlit news, so be sure to check it out.

Here are Greg’s ideas for your holiday shopping list:

For middle-graders & tweens:

The Floating Circus by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer.  Owen’s adventures on an 1850s circus boat as he tries to find his brother.  Poignant and hopeful.

Antsy Does Time, by Neal Shusterman.  How much is a month of your life worth?  Antsy (first seen in The Schwa Was Here) is back, and this time is trying to deal with the terminal illness of a friend.  But all is not what it appears in this funny sequel.

Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris by R.L. Lafevers.  Theodosia is back, trying to save her museum in Edwardian museum from Egyptian curses.  A fun fantasy with a strong girl protagonist.

For young adults:

Squashed by Joan Bauer.  Her first and one of her funniest.  Competitions, nefarious deeds, and big giant vegetables.

The Pricker Boy by Reade Scott Whinnem
What is really going amidst the forest of thorns?  An intense, creepy tale that’s sort of Stephen King meets On Golden Pond. (Longer review here.)

Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gill
How to beat a deal with the devil.  And, really, is your soul worth a classic Cadillac Biarritz? (Longer review here.)

Lauren Baratz-Logsted is a prolific author with plenty of fabulous books to her name.  Most recently she released a magic-free retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Crazy Beautiful, which captured my heart instantaneously. Her Sisters 8 series, written with her husband, Greg Logsted, and her daghter, Jackie Logsted, is a fun, exciting early chapter book series. I’m thrilled to have Lauren’s favorite gift-giving books on our blog today!

Here are Lauren’s suggestions:

Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe. I’m giving this, my favorite YA book of 2009, to teens.
From the jacket:
No matter how many times Kyle rewrites the scene, he can’t get it right. He tries it in the style of Hitchcock, Tarantino, Eastwood, all of his favorite directors—but regardless of the style, he can’t remember what happened that day in the shed. The day Jason died. And until he can, there is one question that keeps haunting Kyle: Did he kill his best friend on purpose?
My take:
This is just an amazing book about the choices we make and how lives can change in an instant as a result. It’s also an intensely moving exploration of the long road back from tragedy to redemption.

Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted. I’ll be giving this one to all middle grade readers.
From the jacket:
Thirteen-year-old Cody Saron has never lived in one place longer than a few weeks, and has never attended a regular school. Growing up on the run with his father, an undercover agent for the CIA, Cody has traveled the entire globe; he speaks five languages, and he has two black belts. What Cody isn’t prepared for is…junior high.
When the danger surrounding Cody’s dad heats up, Cody is sent to stay with the aunt he’s never known, Jenny, in her small Connecticut suburb. Cody has no idea how to fit in with other kids, how to handle his first crush, or how to make it through a day of classes.
As Cody struggles to adapt to the one thing he’s never experienced — a normal life — he starts to fear that his father’s world has followed him and no one he loves is safe. Greg Logsted weaves together action, humor, and heart, building to a surprising revelation about what Cody has always believed to be true.
My take:
Yes, the author is my husband, but if I can’t tell you how wonderful his writing is, who can? Besides, it’s not just me. In fact, this exciting and fun book, which has received far too little notice, has been praised everywhere from School Library Journal to PBS Kids as being an ideal book to draw in reluctant readers. And isn’t getting kids to read something we all want?

[Via http://kidsblog.bookpeople.com]

“Sophie’s World” on Indo-European and Semitic civilizations

“Sophie’s World” on Indo-European and Semitic civilizations; (Dec. 15, 2009)

            Since the 19th century, European “nations” have been trying to set up a “coherent” racist ideology disguised as “civilization difference” to supporting their colonial expansions. Thus, many European “elites” of philosophers and “thinkers” fabricated the Indo-European civilization in order to have any kind of fictitious basis to distinguish themselves from the “non-European” people. Ironically, the author Jostein Gaarder seems absolutely convinced with her story.

            First and obviously, as an axiom or evident proposition, the Europeans had the best civilization. Thus, the antithesis was that the Semitic and other “Chinese sort” of civilizations were lumped at the other extreme end.

            Second and obviously, Semitic civilization had to be fabricated in order to satisfy Hegel theory of dialectical processes of history for human knowledge development.

            Third, the European nations had no purpose to reaching any synthesis among civilizations: They were on a war path to dominate, win, and prove the superiority of their “Indo-European civilization”.

            Actually, the civil wars in Europe and the USA always ended with a victor regardless of cost, trauma, and casualties such as in the USA, Spain, England, and France. In non-European cultures civil wars end with no clear cut winner in the short term.  In China, the communists and “nationalists” signed a truce to confront the occupying Japanese. India civil war after its independence between Hindus and Moslems ended with the third of the population remaining Moslems even though Pakistan was created for repatriating Moslems to that new State. In Lebanon, 17 years of civil war ended with all factions losing and their leaders appointed deputies and members in the successive governments.

            The story goes that four thousand years ago primitive people concentrated in the Caucasus region around the Black Sea (the actual States of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Chechnya). They immigrated westward to central and north Europe and eastward to Iran and India.  In the Arabic Peninsula, there were tribal people who immigrated to Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and North Africa and are called Semitic. (Now, why people would settle in arid desert land or in high mountain chains to survive? It looks like this rational question was beside the point. We know that people settle in mild weather regions rich in water resources and then they immigrate to God forsaken regions to flee persecutions. This logical question seems also beside the point to the Indo-European ideology).  Let us move on.

On religion: Indo-European civilization believed in a variety of Gods (this was true with the Semitic category but facts had to be altered to suit the dichotomy method). In the original Indian language of Sanskrit the celestial God Dyaus was transferred into Zeus, Jupiter (Jov-pater), and Tyr (for the Nordic people). (Can you show me any resemblance in phonetics?).  The Viking had God Aser was transformed from Sanskrit Asura and Persian Ahura; (What about Ashur that was adopted in Babylon and the Near East?)  Another example, in Latin we have Deus and in Old Norse Tivurr which were transformed from the Sanskrit Deva and the Persian Daevra; (should I continue with this masquerade of God’s names?) 

            (Consequently, Semitic civilization must believe in one God. Trinity is thus the creation of the Greco-Roman culture for altering Christianity initial dogma.  Allah or El was the supreme God, even though He didn’t generated money from the worshipers who dedicated their money to their more practical and local Gods.)

On myths: There are stories on immortal potions, struggle of the Gods against monsters of chaos, the subject playing a drama in which forces of Good and Evil confront each other in a relentless struggle then predicting the Good to win. For example, the Indo-European civilization, specifically the Greek, have tendencies to speculate on how to view the world (philosophy); they have “insight” into the history of the world and the concept of “cosmic vision”. Thus, vision (the seeing sense) was the most important among the senses and images of Gods in pictures and sculptures were predominantly used to honor the Gods. (Gaarder must have forgotten that “cosmic vision” is the realm of nomads in deserts where stars appear close to hand reach.)  Indo-European civilization view history as cyclical, just like seasons; (what seasons up north? I thought there are long winters and a very short stuffy summer.)

            Consequently, Semitic civilization had to rely on hearing or the auditory sense.  For example: “Hear, O Israel (Land of El)” or “Thus spake Jehovah”, or In the beginning was the word”.  Why? Because tribes relayed their culture verbally by repetitive story telling.  As if the Nordic people didn’t rely on the verbal or they could write a thousand years ago and documented their culture; no matter, since the Greek learned to write then the ideology stands viable.  Anyway, since the Semitic must be in the auditory real of the senses then images of God in pictures and sculptures were prohibited.  

On after death: Transmission of the soul is cyclical to new born and the ultimate purpose of life is for the soul to be released from this infernal cycle. Thus, for the Semitic civilization history must be linear and that is why they were preoccupied recording history!  God created the world and it will end with the Judgment Day. Thus, there is a distance between God and his creation so that Semitic believers were to be redeemed from their sins by prayers and the study of the scriptures rather than by self-communion and meditation as Indo-Europeans behave!

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

All I can say is that I simply adore Nathaniel Hawthorne. Adore him.

In high school, I read The Scarlet Letter. In college, two of the books we were supposed to read (but never got to) were The Blithedale Romance and The House of the Seven Gables. I very much enjoyed The Scarlet Letter, but never read the other two. I started them both several times, but just couldn’t keep my concentration because the language is from the mid-1800s.

I guess I’m finally old enough that either I get the language better or just have more patience for it, but I’m finally getting through Blithedale. I’ve wanted to read this one in particular for a while because of its subject matter — a group of people trying to live on a commune. It’s based on a real commune with which Hawthorne was associated prior to writing the book.

This man is excellent at making a political point but not shoving it down his readers’ throats. It’s just a story, but it says a lot about the subject.  I think, in today’s world, this is a must-read. And I will add that everyone should also read The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

I won’t give you all my thoughts on these books because I think you should all draw your own conclusions. I think you’re all smart enough to figure it out.

[Via http://lifeissweet16.wordpress.com]

What I'm Reading, 12/09

Two books I’ve recently finished are Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility and Transgenic Beings by Budd Hopkins and Carol Rainey and Walking Through Walls by Philip Smith. Both books are about different areas of the paranormal, but they have something else in common which is dear to my heart: the authors are artists and also deeply interested in anomalous events (just like me ). It seems that having those interests in common are far from unusual.

Carol Rainey

In Sight Unseen, Hopkins (also a painter) and Rainey (also a filmmaker) explore some truly bizarre experiences a variety of people have had with purported aliens and hybrid alien/humans (transgenic beings). Budd Hopkins has spent many years researching the abduction phenomena and Carol Rainey adds much insight in terms of possible scientific theories which might explain some of the experiences. The story which stayed with me was that of “Mr. Paige”, an odd but gentle individual that came to stay with a family and had an unusual relationship with a child of that family. Was he not human? Hard to say, but very intriguing. I’ve been aware of very odd persons without auras, but are they aliens or transgenic beings? I believe that Jacques Vallee also made mention of Mr. Paige in one of his books.

Budd Hopkins

Walking Through Walls is the story of interior decorator/psychic healer Lew Smith from the perspective of his son Philip Smith, a painter. It gives a window into the world of a child and teenager growing up in Florida with a parent who is immersed in the paranormal. Smith’s writing style is breezy and sometimes very humorous. Especially valuable to me was his description of a session with spiritualist/psychic Sophie Busch. My grandmother often mentioned having gone to see Sophie Busch on several occasions but I hadn’t read of her in the literature before. Smith’s description added an extra dimension to my memories of my grandmother’s experiences as told to me.

Both books demand that the reader suspend disbelief and have an open mind. I think they are both worthwhile to be read by individuals who have a strong interest in the paranormal.

Lew & Philip Smith (at Coral Castle?)

Related websites:

Philip Smith:  http://www.walkingthroughwallsthebook.com/

Budd Hopkins: http://www.intrudersfoundation.org/

Carol Rainey (under construction):  http://www.carolrainey.com/

[Via http://fahrusha.wordpress.com]

Review of <em>Becoming a Woman of Grace</em> by Cynthia Heald

“Another outstanding bible study from Cynthia Heald.”

The author admits early in ‘Becoming a Woman of Grace‘ that writing a Bible Study on the subject of grace “has been the hardest she has ever embarked upon.” Any Christian who has walked with the Lord for any length of time, whether young or old, would admit the same.

Grace, though offered so freely and in such abundance by a loving Father, almost defies definition. It is unmerited favor, it is strength received at the moment needed (and not a second before), and it is confidence in suffering that causes unbelievers to marvel.

In these eleven chapters, Cynthia Heald spends the first three defining grace in God’s attributes, in His covenants and His law.  These are fundamental concepts that must be laid before the freedom that grace brings can be fully embraced.

Chapters 4 through 8 engage the learner to relate this grace to their everyday life. These lessons are not easy to apply for they cause the learner to look closely at their lives in sharp comparison to the attribute of grace of God.

Chapters 9 -11 focus on growing in grace with an emphasis on the sufficiency of grace.  The Bible Study ends with a beautiful poem named ‘The Father and The Child’, an intimate conversation between a child and the Father.

All of Cynthia Heald’s Bible Studies are excellent choices for any women’s ministry, this one is no exception.  I recommend it highly and plan to use it in my 2010 Ladies Bible Study classes.

About the Author:
Cynthia Heald was born in Houston, Texas, and received Christ as her personal Savior when she was twelve years old. She is the author of ‘Becoming a Woman of Excellence‘, ‘Intimacy with God‘ , ‘Loving Your Husband‘, ‘Becoming a Woman of Freedom‘, ‘Becoming a Woman of Purpose‘, ‘Becoming a Woman of Prayer‘, ‘Becoming a Woman Who Walks with God’, ‘A Woman’s Journey to the Heart of God‘, ‘When the Father Holds You Close’ , ‘Becoming a Woman of Faith‘, ‘In the Secret Place of the Most High‘ , ‘Becoming a Woman Who Loves‘, ‘Maybe God Is Right After All’ , and ‘Uncommon Beauty‘. Cynthia speaks frequently for women’s retreats and seminars nationally and internationally.

Becoming a Woman of Grace

By Cynthia Heald / NAV Press

# Paperback: 112 pages
# Publisher: NavPress; Reprint edition (November 13, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1615210229
# ISBN-13: 978-1615210220

Disclaimer:
The review copy of this book was provided free of charge by NavPress and was donated to the library of Westwood Baptist Church.

[Via http://vesselproject.wordpress.com]

Book Review: Unclutter Your Life in One Week

The cover of Erin Rooney Doland's excellent book on organizing.

In case you hadn’t guessed, I am a huge believer in being organized, and in self-improvement in general. Nothing jazzes me quite like a complicated project that promises me a bright, shiny new life of simplicity and ease. On a more practical level, I believe that bipolar folk need to have good systems in place to keep us functioning when depression strikes.

Imagine my delight, then, when I read a review recommending Unclutter Your Life in One Week, a summary of wisdom from Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutterer blog. I ordered it immediately, even though I thought I didn’t really have a tremendous amount of clutter in my home. How could I? I moved into my lovely new condo at the beginning of May, and purged crap madly before packing.

Of course, I do, indeed, have a good deal of clutter at home and at work. Why, my excess beauty supplies would keep a small village clean and preened for a month; my file drawers at work are crammed with outdated papers and office supplies that past data managers have bequeathed upon me, including, to my dismay, transparencies for overheads (which demonstrate that people bored each other well before PowerPoint) and printable labels for floppy disks.

Once I realized how dire the situation had become, I plunged into Doland’s program, and found her advice to be excellent. I would give one caveat: the agenda for each day is crazily ambitious. Unless you want to bog down and get discouraged, I suggest that you set aside two or three weeks for the dramatic cleanup that she recommends. I’m also a believer in incremental rather than dramatic habit change, if only because I’ve committed to so many radical new plans only to discard or simply forget them in the hustle of daily life. Again, I recommend that you allow several months to implement all of Doland’s cool systems.

The book is divided into separate chapters for each day of the week, each one focusing on a different area of the home and office. She begins by telling you how to clean, simplify and organize the area, then gives a system for maintaining your progress and streamlining the activities associated with the area. So, for example, Monday is devoted to tackling your wardrobe at home and your desk at work, and to setting up a “reception station” by your front door that will give you a transitional zone that will keep you from bringing clutter like loose change and unopened mail into your home.

I tackled the wardrobe project on Sunday, and am still working on it sporadically along with my bathroom. It’s Friday and I haven’t even touched the kitchen or living room. Of course, my wardrobe situation had become pretty grim. I love clothes and shoes, and tend to accumulate them willy-nilly without much regard for fit or function. Following her instructions, though, I managed to pare down my holdings and tidy the floor and storage bins. I haven’t yet established a routine for getting dressed, partly because that entails purchasing at least one big item — a full-length mirror. Also, Doland’s goal with getting dressed is to save time — she believes that it should take no more than five minutes — while I actually enjoy putting together the day’s stunning outfit. So I’m modifying her plan to make dressing fun and sensual rather than simply fast.

Doland provides examples of several wardrobe systems that could work, and encourages you to adopt one that you will actually maintain. This is a real advantage over programs like Getting Things Done that tend to seem elaborate, rigid, and overwhelming to us mentally ill folk. Again and again, Doland emphasizes that the goal is productivity, not maintaining a system for the sheer pleasure of being hyper-organized and precise. This is crucial, since I tend to use things like to do lists to procrastinate and engage in obsessive-compulsive checking behavior rather than as productivity tools.

All in all, though there are plenty of other systems out there (many of which I’ve tried), hers ranks in the 90th percentile, certainly. The same is true of her advice on emailing, filing, and running meetings — her systems are certainly not the only ones, and perhaps not the absolute best, but they are an excellent starting point if certain areas of your life have drifted out of control. Doland’s book rises above the competition because she breaks each project down into tiny steps and shows you exactly where to start on what could otherwise be an overwhelming project.

There are two odd omissions: there’s no advice on organizing storage closets (mine is quickly descending into chaos) or junk drawers (ditto). I can happily turn elsewhere for these, though, so it’s no big loss.

Overall, Doland’s book is a valuable organizing tool. Even if I only follow one-seventh of her advice, my quality of life will improve, and I’m all about quality of life. Too, this book showed up in the mail at just the right time: when I was digging out from a depressive episode and becoming discouraged by the disorder around me. I’m ready for some good old-fashioned goal-directed behavior, and Doland’s book has provided structure and encouragement. So buy it and jump in, or store it until you’re neck-deep in clutter and desperate for a cure.

Love to all.

[Via http://revoltandresignation.wordpress.com]

“Await Your Reply” by Dan Chaon

The circumstances of life –
The events of life –
The people around me in life –
Do not make me the way I am.
They reveal the way I am.

For the first one hundred pages of “Await Your Reply”, I was about as enthusiastic about this novel as I have been about any book I’ve read this year. I have read Dan Chaon’s previous novel “You Remind Me of Me” and his collection of stories “Among the Missing”, both of which I liked very much. Chaon has a way of making ordinary life seem strange and wondrous which reminds me of Anne Tyler, high praise indeed.

Dan Chaon was born in Nebraska and lives near Cleveland, Ohio. Scenes of the novel take place in both of these states as well as many other places.

The novel sets up three small groups of characters very vividly, and I was eagerly waiting what Chaon would do with these characters. My problem with “Await Your Reply” is almost entirely with the plot. The plot is about how these three groups of people become involved with computer identity theft.

Now I’m sure identity theft and computer fraud are huge problems, and I have no reason not to believe as this novel implies that there are teams of people hacking across the computers of the world trying to break into people’s accounts on the computer in order to defraud them out of huge amounts of money. And I have no reason not to believe that sometimes things get very violent between these teams of computer criminals, which this novel also implies. I do think if computer account fraud were commonly occurring, none of us would ever enter our credit card numbers into Amazon or any of the many other places where we purchase items over the computer. Also every local paper in the country would be filled with the forlorn victims of Internet fraud. I think what happened is that a couple of years ago Internet fraud was threatening to get out of control, and these software companies like Amazon, etc., spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the software necessary to protect as from the computer hackers. If they hadn’t, these companies would have been pretty much out of business by now. Then again, these same companies are probably trying to minimize any publicity concerning Internet fraud.

The novel “Await Your Reply” does not at all attempt to point out the implications of Internet fraud for us. This is the opposite approach from Richard Powers who keeps us constantly aware of the importance of the issue he is dealing with in his novel “Generosity”. Instead identity fraud in “Await Your Reply” is just a plot device to move the action along.

I suppose in an action novel, moving the plot and the action along are very important. I guess the bottom line is I don’t see Dan Chaon as an action adventure novelist. I see Dan Chaon more as a character novelist, along the lines of Anne Tyler. For me, the somewhat contrived plot of “Await Your Reply” got in the way, and the characters were not allowed to grow, develop, and interact as I was hoping they would.

I probably will continue to read Dan Chaon since I really enjoy his writing style, but for me “Await Your Reply” was somewhat of a misfire.

[Via http://anokatony.wordpress.com]

The Boat - Nam Le

Review by Gabriel

Winner of the 2009 NSW Premier’s Award, the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction, and the subject of numerous glowing reviews, The Boat is definitely one of the Australian books of the year.  Its critical success is doubly extraordinary for being the debut work of a young author, Nam Le, and a short story anthology, a medium that is typically overshadowed by novels in awards season.  Are all the stories in The Boat perfect?  No.  Is it a damn promising start from a young writer?  Definitely.

Le’s stories are consistently readable and compelling.  He writes clearly and evocatively, although I’m not sure that I could differentiate his style from many other modern authors.  Perhaps he will develop a more distinctive voice in time.

He demonstrates laudable confidence and ambition in tackling a breath of cultures and experiences.  He has a good understanding of the cultures he depicts, but the stories in Western or Vietnamese settings seem more authentic, not surprising considering the author’s heritage.

His characters are often faced with circumstances that reveal the fundamentals of their lives.  They are distinct and fully conceived, though not always sympathetic or believable.  Perhaps the best way to illustrate the diversity of subject and, to be honest, quality, is to look at each of the seven stories.

Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice

The opening story of the anthology is by far the best, setting a standard that the other stories frankly fail to live up to.  The details of the narrator’s life seem to match closely with the author’s own biographical details, and most readers will probably assume that this story is an exploration of Le’s relationship with his own father.  Regardless of its factual basis, it is raw, honest and moving.  It communicates the weight of the past, the gulf between parents and their children, and the impossibility of expressing the complexity of familial relationships.  It is also masterfully structured with the perfect amount of ambiguity.

Cartagena

The story of a child assassin in the slums of Colombia.  In Cartagena, Le attempts to communicate the brutalisation of children by their environment.  He does this by contrasting his characters childish emotions with the shocking violence of their daily lives.  Ultimately, it falls flat.  His protagonist is a blend of naivety and ruthlessness that comes across as unconvincing.  Having seen the excellent movie City of God, which deals with a similar subject in Brazil, Cartagena also struck me as cliché.

Meeting Elise

Another of the stronger works in the collection.  An aging New York artist attempts to reconcile with the daughter he hasn’t seen since she was a baby.  Le manages to make the protagonist variously repellent and sympathetic.  A compelling portrait of a flawed and authentic character.

 Halflead Bay

Reminded me of a Tim Winton novel.  Set in a small beach side community, a teenage boy struggles with his mother’s illness, and courts trouble in the form of a local girl.  I enjoyed the family relationships, but found the rest of the drama overdone.

Hiroshima

I appreciated Hiroshima for its unconventional structure, which perfectly captures the confusion of the child protagonist.  In war time Japan, Mayako tries to suppress her loneliness for her family with nationalist propaganda.  The story is made even more poignant by the fact that her yearning is destined to be left tragically unfulfilled.

 Tehran Calling

Flat out didn’t like this.  An American woman whines about a break-up while her friend struggles for women’s rights against the brutal Iranian regime.  Could anyone be as ignorant and self-absorbed as the protagonist of this story?  If you can believe it, she does something even worse at the end.  Is it a comment on sheltered Western attitudes?  If so, it didn’t make for an enjoyable read.

 The Boat

It’s an interesting tactic putting the titular story at the end.  I was really looking forward to this, as I was expecting it to be about the wonderfully complex father from the first story, and his escape as a refugee from Vietnam.  I was a little bit let down, then, when I found that it focused on a 16 year old girl.  I was even more let down by the slow start, bland character and predictable conclusion.  While the subject pretty much guaranteed a suspenseful story, and there were glimpses of brilliance, it failed to reach the heights I hoping for.  Still, it’s something of an Important Story at the moment, and will hopefully inspire some people to imagine the circumstances faced by modern boat people.

Overall, I have probably been overly critical of this collection.  While it has its flaws, it is both enjoyable and effecting.  Furthermore, it is it is evident that the author is challenging himself to create something unique with each story.  This ambition guarantees that great things can be expected of Le, and I’ll be following his work with interest.

[Via http://writeronwriter.wordpress.com]

Is There a Meaning in This Text?: Review

I can hardly think of a better book to merit republication in Zondervan’s “Landmarks in Christian Scholarship” series than Is There a Meaning in This Text? by Kevin Vanhoozer. Interacting cautiously and critically with postmodern philosophy and literary theory, Vanhoozer courageously reasons for the resurrection of the author, the redemption of the text, and the reformation of the reader.

Is there any way of regaining authorial intention and therefore biblical authority in our postmodern milieu? Vanhoozer utilizes speech-act theory to show how every text is a result of communicative action in which an author intends to do something with his or her words. He demonstrates how we can approach Scripture with hermeneutical realism, knowing that the divine/human authors really did intend to communicate something through the particular words we have in our Bibles, and we are responsible to discover and respond to this meaning today.

But can we really access the meaning in the text, even Scripture? Vanhoozer argues that we can discover meaning through a thick description of everything the author was doing through this particular act of textual communication. To be responsible and respectful to the text, therefore, implies searching for the actual meaning of the text, not whatever meaning we care to project. This is hard work, however, and calls for a myriad of skills and virtues, which leads him to the reformation of the reader.

Honesty, openness, attention and obedience will lead us to realize and respond to the meaning that the author intended. To understand Scripture means to take the position of a servant, and to approach the difficult yet joyful task of interpretation with humility and conviction. If we do this, will we really find just one meaning? Vanhoozer’s hermeneutical realism and a robust doctrine of the Spirit lead him to defend a Pentecostal plurality of meaning and significance. In other words, it takes a diversity of methods and reading in a diversity of contexts to approach the thick, unified meaning of Scripture. In addition, true meaning and significance will emerge through faithfulness to the text, fruitfulness in the lives of readers, forcefulness in edifying the community, and fittingness in embodying the meaning of Scripture.

It is almost impossible to summarize the content and significance of such a substantial work, but hopefully the recap above approximates the meaning in this important text. You may find the contents (locution) of the book obtuse at times, but what Vanhoozer does (illocution) in the book is astonishing, and its effect (perlocution) is far-reaching. If you are interested in hermeneutics and concerned to maintain the authority, meaning, and relevance of Scripture, Is There a Meaning in This Text? is an essential addition to your library!

[Via http://wsvanderlugt.wordpress.com]

'Alzheimers: A Love Story' by Vivienne Ulman

2009, 212 p.

As I wrote in my posting on Hazel Hawke, I’ve been a bit reluctant to embark on a reading binge of books on Alzheimers, even though my mother suffers from the condition.  Perhaps it’s part of the denial that families have at the early stages of the disease- ours is no exception- and not wanting to look too far ahead for fear that it will cast a shadow over what is here right now.  But in recent months Mum’s had a fall, broken her pelvis, been hospitalized and her condition has deteriorated appallingly.  She’s been in transition care for some months and a couple of weeks ago moved into the high level nursing home that will be her home now.  This litany of decline,  for those of you who haven’t been down this road, is  just a string of cliches and it obscures the pain of it all.   Like all families, particularly when one partner is still living in the family home, there’s guilt, sorrow, grief, anger, with family members pulling together and yet pulling  each other down as well.   I haven’t really wanted to read about other families doing this up until now, but perhaps because such a big step has been taken now with Mum moving into the nursing home, I’m now more open to read about how other families have coped with all this.

Vivienne Ulman is the daughter of Saul and Lucy Same who started Gloweave shirts, those rather quaint fashion items of the 1970s.  The Melbourne she describes is one that I’m not familiar with in many ways- south of the Yarra, Jewish, and obviously very very wealthy.   But in other ways, there’s much that is recognizable: Graham Kennedy’s advertisements for Glo-Weave (it used to have a hyphen) on IMT; the factories in inner northern Melbourne (far more my stomping ground), and the influence of Melbourne-based ALP politicians.  Her parents both emigrated to Melbourne separately with their families  prior to World War II and worked the business up from scratch.  They had a strong committment to leftish politics and a lifelong association with the ALP although that surely must have been tested by the “structural adjustment” (what a weasel word!) changes imposed onto the clothing and textile industry.

This book has several strands that, just like the fabric that Glo-Weave created, are woven together into a whole.  There’s the day-to-day current reality of Lucy Same in her nursing home, increasingly difficult and incoherent with her husband Saul pouring into her all the love he can; there’s Vivienne’s upbringing in 1960s and 70s Melbourne in a bustling Jewish family, and there’s the Glo-Weave business history as economic changes, industrialisation, technology and marketing change the directions of the enterprise.   All three strands are interesting and well-told, with just the odd stilted phrase that belies the creative writing course origins of the book.

The structure is interspersed with Vivienne’s letters to her mother (another waft of the creative writing course?); letters of course that her mother will never read now.  But I now know, in a way that I didn’t a year ago, about that longing to be able to talk with the person with Alzheimers in the way that you used to, without even thinking about it.  For myself, I often catch myself looking at the clock at about 8.10 in the morning.  When I was home with young children, Mum used to ring me at that time nearly every morning, not really with anything to say but just keeping contact.  I hadn’t thought about those phone calls in a long time, but now I would give anything to have one of them and to know that my busy, efficient, bustling little mum was on the end of the phone and talking to me.

I’m reading the book with a frisson of anxiety.  Saul spends ALL DAY at the nursing home- we don’t do that- should we?  Are we remiss or is he obsessive?  He pays for a carer to stay with Lucy all day in the nursing home-  is there something going on in nursing homes that we don’t know about that we should do the same thing too (if we could afford it) ?  The nursing homes, even though they are high care, are constantly shifting Lucy on because she’s too difficult-  what if my Mum becomes ‘difficult’ too?- will she be moved out of a place that so far I’m happy with?  My Mum so far is not physically aggressive- will she become that way in the future?

There’s so much guilt and anger here too, and this I can now appreciate. Vivienne herself lives in Tasmania as part of a tree-change lifestyle.  As the only daughter (and why is it that daughters feel that it falls on them?), she feels guilty, spends much time over in Melbourne, but doesn’t move back permanently. [Should she? thinks my inner judge and nitpicker. I'm sure that she wonders the same thing.]   She is angry at the disease, angry at the mother who is so angry at her, angry at her father whose absolute devotion makes Vivienne feel inadequate and yet wary of being drawn into his obsession as well.  All of this I know now.

This is a good book on many levels; or at least, it’s a good book for ME right now.

[Via http://residentjudge.wordpress.com]

The obligatory book post

You all knew it was coming, so here it is:
My art book is now available… which means I’m a published artist, and one step up from a starving artist

This version is in Spanish, I’m working on getting an English version published but that may take a little while. But the pretty pictures really are the main focus of the book, the text is just an accompaniment, and there are translations available on my website.

I apologise to those readers who have already been inundated with GF paraphernalia.

You can buy the book on Amazon:
Gothic Fall – S Gildert AMAZON

or direct from the publisher (much cheaper):
Gothic Fall – S Gildert NORMA EDITORIAL

[Via http://physicsandcake.wordpress.com]

Einstein speaks on “How I see the world”

Einstein speaks on “How I see the world”; (Nov. 30, 2009)

Note: The translated book in French does not provide context to what Einstein’s wrote, published or delivered; thus, I have no sources for the dates or events or purpose for these documents except what I may conjecture.

            Einstein wrote “pure religion or cosmic religiosity consists at feeling astonished and ecstatic before the harmony of nature’s laws and beauty that uncovers a superior intelligence that defies our comprehension.  I know that my existence is limited and I ignore why I am on earth; I do know that I have this premonition that I am alive to the others: their smiles and happy nature condition my life. What I know is that who is questioning the meaning of life is going through a miserable period: he is not finding reason to live.  More importantly is “Is there any sense for asking such a question on the meaning of life?”

             I feel a thousand times a day that I am dependent to the work of the living and the dead.  My home, my food, and my cloth are contributed by man of the community. What I know and what I feel I owe it to the other man.  I cannot imagine of a man isolated from a community since his birth: I can only conceive that he would emulate the surrounding animals and environment.  Only languages to communicate among people distinguish us from the animal kingdom.

            “I am not that free and I appreciate Schopenhauer maxim “Man can do what he wants but he cannot want what he wishes”.  I learned to look at the world with a sense of humor: I cannot be pre-occupied with the sense or purpose of my existence because it is objectively absurd.  I have ideals such as the good, the beautiful, and the truth and I get obstinate pursuing ideals not even accessible to art or sciences.  I loath human passions for wealth, glory, luxury, and power.  Only justice is worth social engagement.”

            “Creating and inventing require a unity in concept, direction, and sense of responsibility.  I devoted my entire life with un-interrupted efforts to what I achieved and here you have people thinking that they can comprehend all my work by just listening to my expositions. My only criterion for judging a man is “To what degree and to what purpose has man liberated from his I?””

            Gandhi incarnates the highest political genius of our civilization.  I hate the military institution.  Any person feeling this pleasure of marching in rank is utterly content with his limbic brain.  There are no excuses for obeying orders that are contrary to our moral values, especially killing fellow man.  I cannot imagine a God punishing and rewarding the object of his creation or regulating his will on my own experience.  I do not want to conceive that we may survive after death: that is the ultimate in egoism.

            “The mechanical organization of institutions, even in the scientific world, has substituted the individual innovators; thus, men of genius are becoming rare: citizens are neglecting the intellectual intelligence and the necessity of moral rights.  I often have mixed feeling about individuals who have improved human life: I keep wondering of their moral objectives and if they really intended to do the good.

            The discovery of the atomic bomb does not constitute a higher danger to humanity than match boxes: we have to suppress its usage.   The fabrication of the H Bomb is a feasible objective: each progress generates consequences from prior progresses.  Generalized annihilation of human kind is the most likely outcome.  We are creating the means for our premature death.  In the actual state of technology only a supra-national institution, an organization equipped with a world legal tribunal to decide on States’ differences and with executive power can eliminate fear and the need to arm for reciprocal defense.”

            After the rise of Hitler to power Einstein reverted to pragmatism; first, he resigned his professorship at the University of Prussia, he incited France and Belgium to arm against Nazi programs, and he warned Franklin D. Roosevelt that Germany might acquire the atomic bomb if the US does not get on fabricating the atomic bomb as a deterrence tool.  Einstein was also a staunch Zionist before the formal recognition of the State of Israel by the UN in 1948.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Book Reviews Young Adult Tear Jerkers: Thirteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher; if I stay by Gayle Forman

Thirteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher is an amazing book.

The cover-brilliant.

The content-devastating.

The intertwined stories of Hannah Baker and Clay Jenkins narrate the events of the book. Her voice tells the stories of what led her to take her own life. His tells what happens as he listens to the 13 tapes/stories that all led to her decision.

Clay’s story begins with the arrival of a box of audio cassette tapes. After figuring out how to listen to them, he learns the tapes are from his crush, Hannah Baker, who has just recently killed herself.

Gossip, rumors, backstabbing, sexual harassment, friendship, being let down by peers and adults-it’s all there-and more…

The cover is what originally grabbed my attention when I first saw the book a couple years ago. The inside flap let me know enough that I knew it was not a happy book. Still, I kept coming back to it in my TBR pile. Once I started, WOW!, I could not put it down.

if I stay by gayle forman is also an amazing book. The author had me on the first paragraph:

“Everyone thinks it was because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that’s true.” (p. 3)

Mia, an extremely gifted high school cellist, is agonizing about leaving to go to Julliard. She is, in some ways, an anomaly. Her parents were young rockers when she was born. Mia’s boyfriend is also a member of a rock band that travels to the bigger cities to perform. Yet she dreams in classical music.

Beethoven’s Cello Sonata no. 3 plays on from the wreckage of the car. The jacket flap describes the book as, “heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.” Just reading those words is enough to bring back the tears.

Reviews that had made me want to read these books:

Presenting Lenore

My Friend Amy

Jen Robinson

[Via http://bestbookihavenotread.wordpress.com]

5 Cities that Ruled the World - FINAL REVIEW

I have no doubt that Douglas Wilson is a good man, and possibly even a great theologian and teacher. He has pastored Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, for many years; he is on faculty at New St. Andrews College; and he as debated Christopher Hitchens.

All that being said, his most recent book 5 Cities that Ruled the World is a poor reflection on his life of ministry. It is poorly edited and choppy, contains unsubstantiated historical myths (like the sowing of Carthage with salt) and by in large appears to be only superficially researched. There are huge tractates without so much as a footnote or indication of the source and then tiny, obscure references footnoted ad infinitum.

Rather than approach the subject of Judeo-Christian western civilization (which is what this book is actually about) objectively, I felt that Wilson came to the facts with a very definite agenda. He was going to prove that the entire history of the world revolves around the emergence of the ‘Christian nation’ of the United States.

I will give him credit; he tries to appear impartial; but the evidence is everywhere. This is a book with an agenda, and history is often made to reinforce that agenda whether it wants to or not.

If you want to know more specifics, you can check out my previous posts: post 1, post 2, and post 3.

[Via http://unorthodoxfaith.com]

Climate change: Before Copenhagen

Climate change: Before Copenhagen; (Nov. 29, 2009)

            Before 1992 six States accounted for over 80% of the total accumulated 6 gases related to environment global temperature increase such as CO2 and methane. These countries are USA (27%), Europe’s major States (23%), China (10%), Russia (9.25%), Germany (5.5%), and Japan (5%).  In 2005, the same countries emit more than 70% of the gases.  They are: China (19.5%), USA (18.5%), The EU (13.5%), Russia (5.25%), India (5%) and Japan 3.5%).

            Only three countries have managed to reduce their CO2 equivalent emissions since the Kyoto agreement reference of 1992.  They are: Russia by 40%, Germany and England by almost 20% each.

The major themes in the coming conference are eight:

            First, the long term objective for 2050 is to staying below 2degrees increase in global temperature. This is not acceptable: it means that the world community has already condemned 30% of animal and vegetable species to go extinct, 30% of sea shore swamps will disappear, and a qualitative jump in desertification and rate of inundations; potable water will become scarce resource. For that purpose, the most industrialized States should reduce by 80% the equivalent CO2 emissions.  The overall reduction is to be 50% with the contribution of the developing countries in going green. To that effect, the target is not to exceed 450 particles of CO2 concentration.  This is not acceptable. Currently we have a concentration of 390 particles and the temperature just increased by 0.8 degrees in the last three decades and we are already witnessing the melting of the Arctic Pole. 

            The target should be to drop to 350 particles at most. The main reason is the emission of methane (a gas worse by 20 times the effect of CO2) that the hard frozen ground are emitting and which kept this nasty gas trapped underground before this melting phase.

            Second, the medium term objective is a reduction of CO2 equivalent to 30% in reference to the year 1990.  The actual engagement is 13%.  The US administrations are not ready for even that modest reduction of 13%.

            Third, an engagement to adopting industrial processes with low CO2 emissions.

            Fourth, reducing deforestation by 50% and replanting new trees.  Brazil has already started policies of saving the Amazon forest areas from further plantations.

            Fifth, pumping $3 billions a year into the poorest States to encourage them switching to alternative cleaner energy resources.

            Sixth, pumping additional $ 2 billions a year for innovative green technologies.

            Seventh, allocating $ 10 billions, each year, till 2012 to finance green alternatives.

            Eight, developing an alternative program that will substitute the “Carbon market” due to terminate in 2012.

            According to the Bangkok Post the US President Obama and China Hu Jintao have agreed to lower expectation in Copenhagen. Most probably, the reference for lowering gas emission will be of 2005 instead of 1992, a move that will encourage accepting raising the CO2 concentration beyond the 400 particles. All indicates that the US is going to the Copenhagen conference empty handed in home legislations.  Many leaders are encouraging President Obama to raise the standard unilaterally as a sign of personal commitment and set the psychology of the US people in motion. Everything might restart from scratch.

            The Kyoto agreement had for purpose to encouraging the heaviest state polluters to invest in the poorer States with less polluting technologies to stabilize the overall concentration of gases.  The idea was to deter the emerging economies from emulating the same industrial processes that the developed countries have previously used and thus, saving future deterioration of the environment. A tax of 2% on the heaviest industrial polluters was to generate $1.6 billion by 2012.  Nothing was done so far and the US administrations refused to sign the Kyoto agreement on the basis that climatic changes are mostly a myth.

            The hardest hit states are located in Africa (the western and eastern states), Afghanistan, Bangladesh (17% of its land will be submerged).  The next worst hit states are Mexico, Pakistan, Iraq, India, the western states in Latin America, and many States in South East Asia. The actual facts and trends are changing priorities for the worst hit states; for example, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, North of China, and India are witnessing the lowest rain precipitations in decades for two consecutive years.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]