by Rupe | Jul 6, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
Publisher’s Summary:
Here is a visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith have combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason.
At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the recent campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.
We live in an age when the 30-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate’s thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration’s disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning – first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.
How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason explains, we have precious little time to waste.
Drawing on a life’s work in politics, as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.
My comments:
I quite liked the read and found very few faults. Â It read pretty much like a textbook and I think I would not mind attending lectures on this subject. Â I recommend.Â
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by Rupe | Jul 6, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads
Title – Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
Publisher’s Summary:
Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over 15 years – a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population.
Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today – an Orwellian world in which radio and television dials are welded to the one government station, a country that is by choice not connected to the Internet, a society in which outward displays of affection are punished, and a police state that rewards informants and where an offhanded remark can send a citizen to the gulag for life. Demick’s subjects – a middle-aged party loyalist and her rebellious daughter, an idealistic female doctor, an orphan, and two young lovers – all hail from the same provincial city in the farthest-flung northern reaches of the country. One by one, we witness the moments of revelation, when each realizes that they have been betrayed by the Fatherland and that their suffering is not a global condition but is uniquely theirs.
Nothing to Envy is the first book about North Korea to go deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and penetrate the mind-set of the average citizen. It is a groundbreaking and essential addition to the literature of totalitarianism.
My Comments:
A really great read. Â This book does give you a pretty good glimpse into one of the most dires situations on the globe. Â I would highly recommend a read.
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by Rupe | Jun 11, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury
Publisher’s Summary
Airline Captain Connor Evans has nearly forgotten that stormy weekend in Hawaii nearly ten years ago when he broke the greatest promise of all. Now Connor has the perfect life with his wife, Michele, and their two daughters, and the secret of that long-ago time is his own. But an ocean away, a flight attendant is raising her young son by herself when the plane she’s working on crashes into the Pacific. Her will is very clear about one thing: before her seven-year-old son, Max, can be turned over to the state, he must spend the summer with the father he’s never met, the father who doesn’t know he exists, Connor Evans.
The news rocks Captain Evans’ life, and in the process he is presented with a choice: refuse the child and never hear from him again, or take him for two weeks and decide whether to claim the boy as his own. Now the family is on the brink of destruction. Can Michele and their daughters ever forgive Connor for what went wrong all those years ago? Or will the presence of one lonely child destroy everything?
My Comments:
Very well written book and one of the most thoughtful I have ever read. All the characters come alive and the unfolding of the story is so real. Karen Kingsbury is a genius. A must read by any married couple, especially if you have had monogomous  challenges.
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by Rupe | Mar 28, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: Rebel Buddha – On the Road to Freeddom by  Dzogchen Ponlop
Publisher’s Summary
There’s a rebel within you. It’s the part of you that already knows how to break free of fear and unhappiness. This rebel is the voice of your own awakened mind. It’s your rebel buddha – the sharp, clear intelligence that resists the status quo. It wakes you up from the sleepy acceptance of your day-to-day reality and shows you the power of your enlightened nature. It’s the vibrant, insightful energy that compels you to seek the truth.
Dzogchen Ponlop guides you through the inner revolution that comes from unleashing your rebel buddha. He explains how, by training your mind and understanding your true nature, you can free yourself from needless suffering. He presents a thorough introduction to the essence of the Buddha’s teachings and argues that, if we are to bring these teachings fully into our personal experience, we must go beyond the cultural trappings of traditional Asian Buddhism. We all want to find some meaningful truth about who we are, he says, but we can only find it guided by our own wisdom – by our own rebel buddha within.
My Comments:
I was expecting a run-on about Buddhist spirituality, it was infact a really good read. I found myself backing up several times to re-read several areas.
by Rupe | Mar 14, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: Sex at Dawn – The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha
Publisher’s Summary:
Since Darwin’s day, we’ve been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science – as well as religious and cultural institutions – has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man’s possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman’s fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing. Fewer and fewer couples are getting married, and divorce rates keep climbing as adultery and flagging libido drag down even seemingly solid marriages.
How can reality be reconciled with the accepted narrative? It can’t be, according to renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha. While debunking almost everything we “know” about sex, they offer a bold alternative explanation in this provocative and brilliant book.
Ryan and Jetha’s central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. Human beings everywhere and in every era have confronted the same familiar, intimate situations in surprisingly different ways. The authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.
My Comments:
One of the most interesting and informative books I have read in a very long time. I highly recommned it.
by Rupe | Feb 6, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: Why we get Fat and What we can do about it by Gary Taubes
Publisher’s Summary:
An eye-opening, myth-shattering examination of what makes us fat, from acclaimed science writer Gary Taubes.
In his New York Times best seller, Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes argued that our diet’s overemphasis on certain kinds of carbohydrates—not fats and not simply excess calories—has led directly to the obesity epidemic we face today. The result of thorough research, keen insight, and unassailable common sense, Good Calories, Bad Calories immediately stirred controversy and acclaim among academics, journalists, and writers alike. Michael Pollan heralded it as “a vitally important book, destined to change the way we think about food.â€
Building upon this critical work in Good Calories, Bad Calories and presenting fresh evidence for his claim, Taubes now revisits the urgent question of what’s making us fat—and how we can change—in this exciting new book. Persuasive, straightforward, and practical, Why We Get Fat makes Taubes’s crucial argument newly accessible to a wider audience.
Taubes reveals the bad nutritional science of the last century, none more damaging or misguided than the “calories-in, calories-out†model of why we get fat, and the good science that has been ignored, especially regarding insulin’s regulation of our fat tissue. He also answers the most persistent questions: Why are some people thin and others fat? What roles do exercise and genetics play in our weight? What foods should we eat, and what foods should we avoid?
Packed with essential information and concluding with an easy-to-follow diet, Why We Get Fat is an invaluable key in our understanding of an international epidemic and a guide to what each of us can do about it.
My comments:
I found this book very informative. I have in fact started to recast my life and view on food based on this book. I am also very happy to report, it is right on point. My cholesterol is great, I am now able to see hints of my six-pack and much much more. I recommend this highly.
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