book-reviews news: October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Brand from the Inside

Goddesses Within: Guide to female myths (part 1);

Goddesses Within: Guide to female myths (part 1); (Oct. 30, 2009)

Here we go. The Jungian psychologists, the Woolger couple (Roger & Jennifer Barker), wrote that each female harbors qualities of six goddesses in certain ratios; the goddesses of power, civilization, eros (sexuality), underworld, nature, and mother. The mixture of qualities can be determined by answering sets of questions; thus, a female can be represented in categories of ratios on a goddess wheel.

The goddess of worldly power, ruler wife, tradition, morality, and matriarch is represented by Hera, wife of Zeus. For example, Elizabeth Taylor represents Hera in “Cleopatra, & The taming of the Shrew”, Julie Harris in “A Doll’s House”, Mary Tyler Moore in “Ordinary People”, Liv Ullmann in “Scenes from a marriage”, Shirley MacLaine in “Terms of Endearment”, and Marlene Dietrich in “Witness for the prosecution”.

The goddess of wisdom, civilization, education, city culture, careerist, competitor, intellectual, dutiful daughter, or rebel father world logic is represented by Athena. For example, Athena is Holly Hunter in “Broadcast News”, Jane Fonda in “The China Syndrome”, Rita in “Educating Rita”, Faye Dunaway in “Network”, Sally Field in “Norma Rae”, Meryl Streep in “Plenty and Silkwood”, and Jill Clayburgh in “An unmarried woman”.

The goddess of love, sexuality, body as sacred sensuality, romance, beauty, passion, salons, and patroness of the arts is represented by Aphrodite. For example, Greta Garbo is an Aphrodite in “Anna Karenina”, Marilyn Monroe in “Gentlemen prefer blonde and Some like it hot”, Vivien Leigh in “Gone with the wind”, Ingrid Bergman in “Indiscreet”, Debra Winger in “An officer and a Gentleman”, Brooke Shield in “Pretty baby”, Ellen Burstyn in “Same time next year”, and Meryl Streep in “The French lieutenant’s woman”.

The Goddess of occult medium, visions, dreams, transformation, inner guide, and healing psychic power is represented by Persephone. Deborah Kerr represents Persephone in “Black Narcissus”, Sissy Spacek in “Carries & ‘Night, mother”, Lee Remick in “Days of wine and roses”, Farrah Fawcett in “Extremities”, Jessica Lange in “Frances”, Ruth Gordon in “Harold & Maude”, Kathleen Quinlan in “I never promised you a rose garden”, Katharine Hepburn in “Long Day’s journey into the night”, and Barbara Streisand in “Nuts”.

The goddess of the wild, Amazon shamanist, blood mysteries, adventures, huntress, lover of wilderness, and lady of the beasts is represented by Artemis. Sigourney Weaver represents Artemis in “Aliens & Gorillas in the mist”, Jane Goodall in “Among the wild Chimpanzees”, Daryl Hannah in “The Clan of the Cave Bear”, Karen Black in “Killing heat”, and Brigitte Nielsen in “Red Sonja”.

The goddess mother, of menstruation, body as vessel lady of plants, childbearing, earth mother, generation nurturance, and daughter is represented by Demeter. Jessica Lange embodies Demeter in “Country”, Cher in “Mask”, Sally Field in “Places in the heart”, Sissy Spacek in “Raggedy man” and Shirley MacLaine in “The turning point”.

There are motion pictures on dialogues among goddesses such as “Cat on a hot tin roof”, “Gone in the wind”, Hannah and her sisters”, “Juliet of the spirit”, ‘Suddenly last summer”, and “The turning point”. The names of the goddesses are Greek but you can borrow names from other ancient myths that the Greek and the Roman adopted in their mythologies such as Isis and Osiris, Ashtar, Ashtaroot, Annana, Adonis, Baal, or El.

There are follow up posts on the book “The Goddess within: A guide to the eternal myths that shape women’s lives”, including the set of questions that define your blend of Goddesses.

The long-term "Revenge of Geography"

The long-term “Revenge of Geography”; (Oct. 30, 2009)

In ancient times, oceans, seas, high mountain chains, vast deserts, large rivers, and lakes formed natural barriers that separated settled tribes from nomadic ones. Eventually, rivers were no longer major barriers for demographic explosions and warrior-like tribes; deserts were sort of conquered with caravans of camels by 2,000 BC that originated in Yemen; mountain chains could be overcome when the other side did not offer any worthy hardships for the wealth and bounty of fertile lands. The Mediterranean Sea was the playground for commerce and trade of the Greeks, Phoenician City-States of Sidon, Tyr, and Byblos; later Carthage, the Roman Empire, and the Byzantium Empire conquered this sea. Major oceans were criss-crossed by the gigantic Chinese fleet as early as 1000 AC that reached the Arabic Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. By the 15th century, Portugal and then Spain conquered the Pacific and then the Atlantic and started the colonial period that lasted five centuries and is still going on under different labels and forms.

“It is man who has the power to create; it is nature that commands to a large extent” said Harold Mackinder in 1904. To Mackinder, the “Heartland zone” of earth is that vast land forming Russia, Central Asia, and parts of Central Europe. All imperial military and economic strategies such as the British and the USA were based on encircling this “heartland” with military and trade zones.

Russia was plagued by invasions from Mongolia and Central Asia and thus, to create durable buffer zones Russia countered by expanding into that “heartland” toward Siberia in the East, Central Asia toward Turkey and Iran, and then toward Central Europe in the West. China also suffered from relentless invasions from Mongolia and the south east civilizations and endeavored to expand westward into Tibet and Central Asia and southward into South-East Asia. Europe turned overseas since the 15th century to open up and conquer trade implants and then colonize the bordering regions around the “pivotal heartland”. The 13 federated states in America expanded to the Pacific Ocean and toward Mexico.

Along the borders of the “Heartland pivot land” there are natural blocks of lands such as the South-East (from Vietnam to Burma or Maynamar with their jungles); the Indian sub-continent with the Himalaya and the Indo-Kouch mountain chains which include all of current Pakistan, then you have Iran that includes all of Afghanistan, then you have Turkey and the Caucasus. That is how the 21st century is looking like when all is settled.

The main power will reside on who control the sources of the major rivers. China has conquered Tibet because three main rivers take their sources from the Himalaya mountain chains; mainly the Mekong (that flow into the South East), the Indus (that flow in Pakistan), and the Brahmapoutre that flow in India and join the Gange River. China has already built 86,000 dams along the Blue and Yellow Rivers that take sources on the western plateaus; China has not consulted with the South East countries and has already built four mega dams on the Mekong, including two huge lakes that will take about 10 years to fill in order to generate hydraulic power.

Turkey controls two huge rivers the Euphrates and the Tiger that flow in Syria and Iraq. Turkey has been building dams on these rivers without consulting with the southern neighboring States. Ethiopia is in control of the Nile if it wishes to. The US has been building dams along rivers that flow into Mexico.

The USA would like you to believe that there are no natural borders for its military might. That is not a half truth; it is a lie and a psychological propaganda. Planes, missiles, tanks, and navy do not conquer lands: it is the walking soldier that does this job in order to retain any conquered land. If there is the will to resist in a rough geographic landscape then there can be no conquest. The US used all kinds of defoliate gas (Orange gas) in the jungles of Vietnam but it had to declare defeat and retreat in total chaos; it is already preparing plans to retreat from Afghanistan; it gave up rapidly after the first major skirmish in Somalia. If the US managed to enter Baghdad it is because there was no will to resist by the people: they wanted to get rid of despot Saddam Hussein; the US is packing up and leaving next year after pressuring the Iraqis to sign an agreement.

Yes, we are witnessing the era of “Anthropocene” which means man is doing more damages to the environment than nature can stabilize but the main reality is there to account for: sources of water. China, Turkey, Russia, USA, and Brazil control sources of major rivers. The main struggle in the medium-term is who will control the Nile, the Congo, and Niger Rivers in Africa. Water desalination of Oceans and the towing of icebergs will do for a while but cannot resolve a long-term problem in water shortages. Actually, huge displacement of people from megapolis to near water sources will have to be undertaken because of the huge investment of supplying water to big urban cities and in order to recover sub-terrain naps and natural ecosystems.

Sir, Slow down your investment money

Slow down your investment money: Stupid; (Oct. 28, 2009)

Sir, learn to slow down your investment money: it is man who generates money. Finance and business are too important to be left to the exclusive experts in finance and doing business as usual contended the British economist Schumacher in his classic book “Small is beautiful”; he expressed the necessity for mankind to rediscover a set of values of higher exigencies than just economy.

In liberal capitalism money came to be viewed as an abstract entity that was represented by derivative products that have no practical meanings even to the experts in finance. Thus, the world was glutted with 50 trillion dollars in paper derivatives that were badly managed and controlled simply because this wealth was fundamentally fictitious until the Big Crash; then fiction translated into miseries.

Since 1920’s, money was perceived as an instrument to gain more money or “money generates money” rapidly and easily. Investors had no idea who is manipulating their money or how: they reached the threshold that investors didn’t care who is managing their money or making it fructify as long as fictitious bank statements told them that their bank account has swollen a bit more. This fictitious wealth didn’t represent accurately real activities around the world of economies.

The same process of abstraction was applied to agro-economy. The founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini, wrote: “If you use your money as chemical fertilizers then your quick product grows artificially; the land will require more chemical fertilizers the next year for reduced quantity. This is not a durable method for fructifying your investment or for saving your land of depletion and of quick death. Now, if you use your money as natural fertilizer by slowing down the output for a durable and natural recycling of the land and organic product then there is chance for a durable economy based on wholesome and lasting sustainable process for healthy products.”

Sir, if you still have money to invest then look around the businesses in your community. You need to do your due diligence to get acquainted with the employees and personnel. You need to know that the products are wholesome and sustainable; that the owners and managers of the business know their business, the products, and the needs of the community. You have to make sure that your community is patronizing the products and that the workers are enjoying their jobs, supportive of the products, and working in a healthy and safe working environment.

Sir, learn to slow down your investment money: it is man who generate money. You need to become an activist for the welfare of your community. Pressure the government and financial institutions into aiding your local businesses and local banks that serve the community. Pressure the your law makers to enact laws that prohibit local banks into lending money to “fictitious” non-local institutions that you have no idea or control over their transactions.

Sir, pressure your local banks to include social experts and community activists to the board of directors and in positions to control the transactions to make sure that another trend of “fictitious money” is not spiraling and taking a life of its own.

Sir, make sure that all these control and management tools are firmly established and then you may claim that “the market will be able to stabilize seasonal or emerging fluctuations”, that you may enjoy a sound and wholesome economy that caters to the need and survival of the community well being.

Woody Tasch in his book “Inquiries into the nature of slow money” criss-crossed the country for six months and noticed strong latent demands for alternative solutions; he wrote “people comprehend that for food to have tangible values then agriculture must be diversified and offer advantages to the environment, health, job creation, and community security.” Tasch has started Slow Money Alliance, a series of lending institutions composed of people in agricultures, in agro-business, donators and investors for soil restoration and products grown naturally. Tasch is encouraging philanthropic institutions with an estimated 500 billions invested in stocks to re-invest into 503 (c) 3i (the i is for integral economy) where the money is not intended for profit and not taxed by the Federal government. Philanthropic money need to be re-invested into social fairness in health, safety, and equity.

Slow Money Alliance is applying the new economical paradigm by investing in small agricultural and food enterprises so that thousands can recover jobs in already existing family lands, biological products, and the restaurants of Slow Food.

10 Books...Part XXV: The Kinsey Report

We get started with the obvious: Wiker is going to reject almost everything that Alfred Kinsey reported in “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.” This, for readers of the series, should be familiar. Wiker arguing from the standpoint of a conservative Christian isn’t going to be accepting of a publication that accepts homosexuality as normal or anything that goes against the Judeo-Christian model of what sexual normalcy is supposed to be.

As I said in a few posts, I can’t really fault him for that. That is his point of view and while I disagree; if I consistently decided to argue against that it would mean that these posts are going to get pretty repetitive. I can, however argue against his application of that viewpoint if it tends towards hypocrisy, double standards, and other crimes of inconsistency. The main issue with the chapter is that it is curiously devoid of quotes and direct references to the actual report. This seems to have been a problem that Wiker himself had as he explains, “The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction will not allow me to quote anything.“

I’m not an expert in copyright law but I have three publications in which I have quoted from other works and never once have I had to ask for permission to quote/paraphrase/summarize from one of those works. As long as I correctly cited the material confirming that it is not my own it was deemed legal. I will grant the possibility that lawyers for the books’ publishers took care of this for both myself the author of any chapter in question and the editor of the books themselves, but I can’t see how Wiker cannot directly quote while numerous books and articles have been written attempting to discredit the report. Am I to assume that none of these books have quotes from the Reports themselves? Further adding to this enigma is that Kinsey’s report is scientific and not allowing a person to quote a scientific report seems wrong to me. I have no evidence to call him a liar although this claim seems incredible to me.

Without direct reference to the work the chapter seems bare. We, of course, can get copies of the Kinsey report and check the work ourselves based on the citations that Wiker inserts into the chapter but that does seem to take away from the book’s purpose.

The main issue with this chapter is that Wiker brings up an interesting conflict. The conflict is between “is” and “ought.” Kinsey’s report sought to explain what kind of sexual behaviors males were engaging in through the use of surveys with sample populations. Wiker seems to think that the report ought to have brought in the concept of what kind of sexual behaviors human males ought to engage in. This would lead to black and white judgment on the population in question seeming to satisfy Wiker’s need to have morality permeate every aspect of science.

He of course, ties this back to Machiavelli who famously explained that he sought to explain the reality of the matter rather then explain the ideal. At this point even I’m sick of reading about Machiavelli. So we must cast judgment, but from what viewpoint should be casting judgment? While Wiker, to his credit, only references his religious convictions a few times (twice, I think) however this is the last chapter* in the book so we know where he is coming from. Why should a report pass judgment? Well Wiker never explains that, he says that Kinsey was seeking to normalize his own sexual perversions bending the world to Kinsey’s own predilections, but this does little to explain why a person conducting a sexual study should be in the business of enforcing morality.

It leads into Wiker’s favorite tool of applying the Ad Hominem attack, he leads into semi-graphic explanations of Kinsey’s own sexual practices and then how Kinsey used them to influence his report. That, technique seems to permeate the attacks on the Kinsey Report itself in three various websites all of the conservative leaning. This does little for the technique as Ad Hominem is still an informal fallacy of logic. Despite Kinsey’s own behaviors the numbers don’t change, his report is still there. Just because Stalin said that one death is a tragedy and a million is a statistic doesn’t make it less true because Stalin said it.

“Ought” is still his issue. Kinsey should have instead reported the sexual behaviors that men ought be engaging in, and in 1948 it would probably look just like Wiker and those that share his viewpoint think it should now.

Along with Ad Hominem Wiker brings back his old favorite of equating “natural” with “desirable.” We have seen with Hobbes and Rosseau that this is a mistake. Although he goes about it in a strange manner that is very telling. Wiker talks about how he had a Disney image of a Rooster copulating with Chickens in the Hen house. That image was shattered when he actually had a Rooster and could hear the mating noises of the poultry which he described as “pain filled shrieks” because the Rooster wasn’t being nice. This image destroyed and him being bothered by the noises (which as someone who has heard animals mating before I can’t really blame him) he “moved the Roosters into the freezer.” A nice way of saying that he killed the roosters and then ate them.

It is natural for a rooster to mate with hens in this manner. This is their inherent nature. That is after all we use the word “cock” to describe both a male chicken and a male asshole. So being offended with the rooster’s behavior Wiker murdered** them. Apparently then the male chicken is immoral for following its nature.

Natural isn’t always desirable, I can’t stress this enough and Wiker admitting that homosexuality has existed throughout history seems to agree on the separation. It doesn’t mean that Kinsey was advocating homosexuality for the population only that it seems to be a natural occurrence in human males. Kinsey did engage in homosexuality but since he conducted his report with an air of “disinterested objectivity” as Wiker says, it means that he wasn’t passing judgment on those people exclusively heterosexual as missing out on something. It would seem that Kinsey might have been advocating tolerance instead of adherence to a code from a book that no one knows the author.

At no point in this chapter or the entire book has Wiker explained the superiority of his morals/values instead taking it for granted that they simply are. Wiker’s favorite moral code, the Biblical one, also allows Lot to have an incestuous three-way with his two daughters but we don’t have Wiker condemning Exodus for allowing him to go unscathed.

The real issue with Kinsey is touched upon but cast aside in favor of more scandalous attacks. That issue is that Kinsey’s samples were made up of people that were more than willing to confess their sexual histories, too willing in fact as numerous critics of the report comment. It’s called “volunteer bias” and it means that if you are willing to help out with an experiment to, say, cure cancer and knowing this ahead of time you are going to be either subconsciously or consciously hoping for the conclusion. Also Kinsey interviewed a good number of male prisoners wherein he derived higher than normal statistics of homosexual acts (in prison? duh…) from which readers of the report claimed 1 out of 3 men are homosexual.***

Instead of attacking Kinsey’s conclusion, Wiker had a good opportunity to attack his method going into what could have been a nice explanation of the scientific method and how to conduct research polling. Having done that the conclusion would have fallen apart on its own. He didn’t do it last chapter so missing such a golden opportunity again isn’t much of a surprise. It would be a much more effective and agreeable method if he applied it to this whole book and maybe he will do it in the last chapter.

*It’s not there’s always a conclusion, but he does manage to squeeze in one more under the guise of a “dishonorable mention.”

**: I haven’t gone all PETA, I understand that he was keeping the Chickens for both eggs and meat which doesn’t bother me in the least. Wiker points to the Rooster’s behavior as being the sole motivation for their “incarceration” in the freezer.”

***: But that statistic is nowhere in the report itself, nor is it implied.

Book Review: Green

Green is the perfect book for a long layover at the airport. Noisy kids and disgruntled adults will fade into the background as you quickly turn the pages. Tedd Dekker’s latest installment in the story of Thomas brings everything full circle – pun intended by the author. Depending on how far you’ve gone in the series, Green is the perfect ending (or beginning) for Black, Red, and White. Green is the key that provides the “aha!” moment – tying up all the seemingly loose ends in the other books.

In this book, Dekker draws the reader into a much darker and sensuous world than before. Evil is both seductive and repulsive, drawing willing characters to their self-imposed doom. To the Tribe, good is a matter of perspective and Elyon is just a well-meant legend from days gone by. Lives and worlds intertwine as everyone on earth past and present struggle to survive the world that is slowly slaughtering them. Dekker seamlessly introduces two new characters to the series that threaten to undo everything Thomas has worked hard for. Green was a good ending to the Circle books. It’s definitely getting a place on the shelf.
Legal Disclaimer: Thomas Nelson sends me books free of charge in exchange for book reviews. I am not paid for my opinion though I wish I was.

Delete

Astute readers are no doubt aware of Gordon Bell’s book “Total Recall” that was reviewed on this site last month. This book, by Viktor Mayer-Shoenberger, should be viewed as a companion piece.

Where Mr. Bell advocated that everyone should record their lives digitally, Mr. Shoenberger’s point of view seems to be “record your life if you must, but tread carefully.”

Several times throughout Delete, the author makes mention of several times in history when archives of data have been used for nefarious purposes, such as Hitler’s using the records of a country to eradicate over 70% of that country’s undesirable population (Jews and everyone else the Nazi’s didn’t like).

While Mr. Shoenberger never comes right out and says recording your life is a bad idea, he does make several arguments toward the normal setting life has: We’re supposed to forget.

That those who are blessed (some would say cursed) with never being able to forget are outliers, their unhappiness in life is because they’re unable to do something nature demands: To forget and move on.

If you’ve read Mr. Bell’s book, you must read Mr. Shoenberger’s just so you can see several sides of the same story.

Princeton University Press page for this book.

Clannad: After Story

*While this is listed as a book review, this is an anime, not a book (though there should be a manga or two based on it)*

Earlier this year, I watched the first episode of Clannad via an anime channel’s OnDemand service. Before the second episode could appear, the service was canceled. I was sad. I started to enjoy Clannad in that one short episode.

I found that the first volume of the anime had recently gone on sale so I snatched it up. A few weeks later, the next volume came out and I purchased it the day it came out.

The series was fantastic. It’s based on a Japanese “dating sim” game. I know that turns a lot of people off right there. Mention “dating sim” and people tend to look down at you like a monster.

I never played the game, I’ve just seen the anime based on it.

A few days ago, the first volume of the sequel series, Clannad: After Story, was released state-side. It picks up right where the first series left off. If I had to guess, I’d say it begins the next day.

In my fervor to learn more about this series, I came across a horrible spoiler, but I do plan on watching this series in its entirety.

Book Review: The Truth About Green Business

Its always interesting reading a book by somone you know. The Truth about Green Business

by Gil Friend, Natural Logic

is by Gil Friend, a colleague of ours for several years. Gil Friend is charming, articulate, direct to the point of “terseness” (as he calls it in Truth 4), and remarkably clear-sighted. His book is much like him, and will do an extraordinary amount to forward the sustainability movement – just as he himself has.

About the book: The Truth about Green Business lists 52 truths, in 12 categories ranging from the basics of “What is a Green Business”, to more technical issues such as marketing, design, procurement, on to Management, Finance, and even “Future-Proofing.” Each “truth” is a 3-5 page chapter, and he encourages us to either read it straight through, or to jump around to “Truths” that suit us. The book is really a web; each chapter points the reader to other chapters that further clarify certain points.

What I loved: His claim to “truths” is an apt one; I found the book to be provocative and compelling, summarizing aptly underlying principles of green business, underlining them with examples occurring in mainstream business as well as from his own experience. The most inspiring chapter to me was Truth 7: “How Green is Good Enough”, where he challenges his readers to set Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals – and “bet the farm” if necessary.

“Do Less Harm,” he writes, “simply isn’t good enough – not when you could thrive by regenerating and enriching the living systems on which our economy depends.” (p. 28)

I agree with Gil – there is so much more possibility than just “comply”, “do less harm,” etc. He offers a new term, as well – “regulatory insulation” – his definition being “to deliver products and servics so good and processes so efficient that you don’t care what the regulators want because you’re years ahead of their wildest dreams.” (p. 32) Writing with passion, he pushes his readers to think beyond just enough to what’s possible?

Finally I also really just liked the way the book felt; I wondered if there were some new material it used, as Natural Capitalism did in producing its “tree-less” book.

What I want more of: One of the reasons I enjoyed reading this is is because of its brevity and clarity; its “Choose Your Own Adventure” feeling, its apt examples, its internal cross-referencing and organization. On the other side of the coin – the writing style tends to remain in the declarative, as he champions what he has learned over several decades of thinking. It lends to the feeling of the “field guide” as Joel Makower claims it, but not to a sense of the “quest,” which from my perspective is what this path of sustainable business is truly about. Perhaps I would have had a different sense if, along with each truth, there had been a section called “Tales from the Trenches,” or “Overcoming Obstacles.” Each of the truths are important starting points – and it would be helpful to “hear” from others who have been in the front lines of making sustainable change along these lines.

But that would have made the book much longer. Perhaps another book?

In sum – I would highly recommend this book to any person who is thinking about “taking their business to the next step” – whether it is someone who is new or a veteran to sustainable business. Great job, Gil, and looking forward to the next one!

Jesus: An Historical Approximation

Author: José A. Pagola

Paperback: 557 pages

Publisher: Convivium Press; 1 edition

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1934996092

ISBN-13: 978-1934996096
.

Convivium

Amazon

With thanks to Prof. Rafael Luciani of Convivium Press for this review copy!

About the Author

José Antonio Pagola is a professor at St. Sebastian Seminary and at the Faculty of Theology of Northern Spain. He has served as rector of the diocesan seminary and is Vicar General of the same diocese. He has dedicated his life to Biblical studies and Christology and has done research on the historical Jesus for more than 30 year[s]. (From the inside front cover) Jesus: An Historical Approximation is the fruit of his years of research on the subject of the historical Jesus.

Background

The original Spanish edition of this book Jesús. Aproximación histórica (Madrid: PPC, 2007) caused quite a bit of controversy among Roman Catholics. One of his most vocal critics, Bishop Demetrio Fernández (Bishop of Tarazona) went so far as to say, “El ‘Jesús’ de Pagola no es el Jesús de la fe de la Iglesia.” Those are strong words to say the least! There was a common link among the various criticisms of his work, and that was the view that Pagola had separated the ‘Jesus of history’ from the ‘Christ of faith’ and thus presented a portrait of Jesus that did not align properly with the Church’s teaching about him. Pagola defended himself against these charges by noting that he had not written a Christology, but rather a work that offered a historical investigation of Jesus. He claimed to have been well within the criteria set forth in the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church” (1994) and by using the standard canons of historical inquiry Pagola could only say so much, because history can only say so much. This is no way meant that Pagola rejected the Church’s teaching about Jesus , but rather that he accepted it as a tenet of faith, not as the conclusion of historical investigation. Nonetheless, the Conferencia Episcopal Española’s la Comisión Episcopal para la Doctrina de la Fe published a note of clarification on the book which noted what it considered several methodological flaws. “This has led [Pagola] to prepare a new edition, revising the text and, above all, offering a more detailed presentation of [his] study and expanding the final chapter.” (p. 16) The edition under review here is the English translation of this revision edited by Rafael Luciani and translated by Margaret Wilde.

Summary

Given this background to the book it should come as no surprise that Pagola affirms and reaffirms his faith commitments many times over in the book’s introduction. He’s written this book because he wants people to know Jesus better, and not in vague or fuzzy terms, but in all the detail that scientific historical study can provide. He’s again clear that his “study of the «historical Jesus» should not be confused with a study of the «Christ of faith» in whom we Christians believe.” (p. 17) But in answering the question of why such a study is necessary Pagola says, “The reason is simple. If we believe in Jesus as the Son of God incarnate in our own history, how can we not use all the methods available to us to understand better his historical dimension and his concrete human life? Our faith demands it.” (p. 17) Such study, according to Pagola, should awaken our admiration for Jesus and make concrete what otherwise might have been an abstract conception of him.

Pagola presents his study in an easy to read narrative style. His attention to detail is commendable, even if at times it can seem a bit tedious (especially with regard to geography and topography). He sketches a detailed portrait of the social, religious, and political setting in which Jesus was situated before ever moving on to his presentation of Jesus. Regular reference is made to archeological discoveries in the footnotes and Pagola has a knack for vividly describing the minutiae of the locations and activities he addresses, e.g., what houses were made out of, or what roads looked like, or what the average Jew in ancient Galilee would have done as a matter of regular course, etc.

When he comes to Jesus he presents him as a man of his times. As a kid Jesus was doing all the things that the other Jewish kids in his area of Israel were doing. But as an adult Jesus took on a special role and responsibility as an itinerant preacher, healer/exorcist, and prophet of the “reign of God” (Pagola’s designation for ‘kingdom of God’). Jesus’ ministry, while rooted in Israel’s tradition, was ultimately informed by his experience of the God whom he called Father. But Jesus was somewhat of a rebel as well. He debated with recognized authorities, disregarded established traditions, and surrounded himself with society’s undesirables. Pagola sees Jesus’ behavior as deliberate with the intention of announcing that the reign of God is open to everyone. Ultimately Jesus’ activities would get him arrested and crucified because the Jewish authorities perceived him as acting against the temple and the Roman authorities perceived him as a threat to the empire. But the story doesn’t end at the crucifixion. According to Jesus’ followers God had raised him from the dead and exalted him.

Conclusion

Pagola’s investigation is pretty standard as far as historical Jesus research goes. He doesn’t go so far as to consider each reported healing/exorcism a n actual miracle, but he acknowledges that those whom Jesus encountered believed them to have been miracles. Where Pagola’s strength lies is that he recognizes this and doesn’t a priori rule out the possibility that their understanding was correct. He doesn’t dispute the possibility of resurrection, but neither does he affirm that history can prove it actually happened. He’s content to describe what Jesus’ followers believed happened. I personally have an impossible time separating the ‘Jesus of history’ from the ‘Christ of faith’ because he’s one and the same person. The same texts that I read to glean information about the ‘historical Jesus’ are the same texts that present information about the ‘Christ of faith.’ There is no inherent separation within the texts themselves and to read them in such a manner is to do, I think, violence to them. That said, I can understand the reaction of those who criticized the Spanish edition of this book, but at the same time, Pagola was only conforming to the standards of the field.

There are times, however, when Pagola has to resort to sheer speculation and conjecture, such as in his description of Jesus’ childhood. The fact of the matter is that past the infancy narratives (wrongly described as “infancy gospels” on p. 55, n. 1) we have no information about Jesus’ childhood, other than the scene from Luke’s Gospel where the twelve year old Jesus stays in Jerusalem to listen and ask questions in the temple (Lk. 2:42-52). At the same time, Pagola’s claim to have not written a Christology is somewhat undermined by chapter 15 “Exploring the Identity of Jesus” in which he examines the Christological titles: Lord, Messiah, and Son of God as well as different views of Jesus as High Priest and Incarnate Word of God. This is precisely the kind of data that formed the Christologies of yesteryear! In the end, Pagola’s treatment of the historical Jesus is informative and easy to read (given the style with which he writes), but ultimately it’s nothing new. For those just making their way into historical Jesus studies this would be a good place to start but the more advanced student will probably learn little.

B”H

Good Calories, Bad Calories

Just started the book “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes a couple of days ago. I’m only on page 100, but it’s already incredibly eye-opening.

I’m not going to go into incredible detail (till I’ve finished reading it). But suffice it to say that there has been a campaign in this country against the reality of diet for at least 50 years.

I’ll delve into this topic more shortly, too, but there’s been a similar campaign around exercise…

more later

Dracula: The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

Dracula, part deux, is melodramatic at times. The plot twists in the third act skirt the borders of ridiculous, and…

Who am I kidding? I devoured it.

Was it Masterpiece Theater?

No. (The original wasn’t either. It was considered a vulgar penny dreadful in its day.)

Was it completely faithful to the original?

No. (Stoker’s Dracula departed from the mythos of Vlad, too.)

Was it what I expected?

No. (Is a good book ever exactly what we expect?)

If you’re a purist, thirsting for a rehash of the original, don’t bother reading this book. If, however, you’re open to a modern interpretation of the classic, look no further. Dracula: The Un-Dead is a ripping good read, a page turner with lots of turn of the century intrigue and atmosphere.

It feels fitting for Holt and Stoker collaborate on the project. Ian Holt is one of the world’s leading experts on the Dracula legend. With considerable ingenuity, Holt anchors the plot in the world of Victorian England. Holt’s attention to minute historical detail is evident in the first few pages. Dacre Stoker, Bram’s great grandnephew, lends the book a well-written narrative infused with gothic sensibilities.

While Bram’s Count Dracula began in 1887, Un-Dead picks up the thread in the year 1912. A quarter century has changed the band of heroes who first dispatched the Count. Mina, tainted by Dracula’s blood, has aged little. Her estranged son, Quincey, shrinks from her presence.

The men, haunted by the gruesome spectre of the vampire, fare far worse. Mina’s husband, Jonathan Harker, cannot shake the memory of her betrayal. He retreats into a drunken stupor. Dr. Jack Seward, Lucy’s unrequited suitor, is a mere shadow of himself. His morphine addiction drives him to near madness. Arthur Holmwood, Lucy’s fiance, abandons his friends and family to pursue a reclusive life. Abraham Van Helsing is no longer the stalwart doctor; he is a shrunken wisp of man haunted by gruesome deeds.

The characters are well drawn and the story begins in an opportune era. 1912 sees the dawn of a new age. Electric lights, garishly illuminating, replace the gaslights of old London. Underground trains and motorcars whiz past the horse drawn carriages. The time of Jack the Ripper gives way to the age of machines. It seems the perfect moment for Dracula’s evolution.

“Time has finally caught me…There is no place in this age of machines and politicians and intellect for monsters roaming the countryside. Choose to evolve, or choose to die.”

Although the authors take great care in crafting a believable coda to Bram’s original story, this sequel is a definite departure from Bram’s one hundred year old novel. Bram’s story was told through diary entries and news stories. Un-Dead is written in omniscient third person.

Furthermore, Dracula is no longer the evil count. He is recast as the dark but noble Prince. No longer the villain, he becomes the sensual savior, ridding the world of another menace. In Un-dead, another blood soaked historical figure, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, becomes the true monster.

For me, this plot point is the only flaw. For all its rich historical detail and its brisk action, Un-Dead unravels the mystique of the vampire a bit too much. Humanizing Dracula comes at a handsome price. Dracula’s appeal rests in his shadowy nature. His monstrous ambiguity is what renders him so intriguing. When the monster becomes the hero, his actions justified, something is lost. Although Dracula still mesmerizes, it seems all the good villainy is squandered on Bathory.

Despite the role reversals, Dracula: The Un-Dead holds the reader in its fanged embrace until the last page is turned. Bram’s beloved characters live on in this sequel.

For the story behind the story, check out Holt and Stoker’s official blog.

Still hungry for more? Try this scrumptious Blood Red Velvet Cake.

Ingredients:

½ shortening

1 ½ cup sugar

¼ cup red food coloring

2 ¼ cake flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup regular milk with plus 1 tbsp lemon juice)

2 eggs

2 tbsp. cocoa

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

Beat shortening and sugar together until creamy. Add eggs and beat on medium for one minute. Add salt. Dissolve cocoa in buttermilk and add alternately with flour. Add food coloring (hope the vampires in your house aren’t allergic to red dye) and vanilla. Dissolve soda in vinegar and stir into batter. Bake in three layers or in a 9 by 13 pan for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frost after cake has cooled.

Frosting:

1 cup milk

5 tbsp. cake flour

Cook in medium saucepan until thickened. Let cool. Beat together 2 sticks butter, 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add to paste and beat until fluffy.

Binge!

The Bottom Shelf: The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy

Author: Clare B. Dunkle

Title: The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy

Age Range: 10 +

Genre: Fantasy, some Romance

For this review I bring a set of three, which I actually found not that long ago. I still enjoy returning to the children’s section sometimes, and a few years back – which is recent because the last time I was the traditional age for it was long before that – I came on these books. Well, I started by just taking out the first one. Technically it could be called quite traditional. Kate and her younger sister Emily are orphaned, and are sent to live at Hallow Hill, which will belong to Kate through her mother eventually. At first they are delighted – the grounds are beautiful, the house large, and their great aunts treat them well. But then they learn a frightening truth: goblins are real. And those goblins have a king. And that King’s unique nature requires that his mother – and therefore, for the son’s sake, his wife as well – be a non-goblin. Elves were the best for their strong magic, but any non-goblin would do, and now that the elves were gone, there were only humans and dwarves – and who’d take a dwarf when a human as beautiful as Kate is right there? You see what I mean by being a typical tale at the surface. It’s a take on the old myth of a beautiful maiden being kidnapped to wed a monster – except it’s not. It’s also a beauty and the beast type story, and a story about perception, and it’s a love story – within its category, the best I’ve seen. It’s been done before – the theme of someone who starts out a villain and is shown to be a hero, or at least virtuous, is nothing new – but often the transformation seems rather contrived. Not so The Hollow Kingdom’s rendering of Marak the Goblin King, which bears the rare distinction among my reads of having managed it so well that when I re-read it, I could see his real character in the very scenes that, the first time around, had convinced me he was evil. That is how it should be done, and such a masterful example demands recognition.

But that’s only the beginning of the delight, because remember, I mentioned it’s a trilogy. These books were her first, and you can see her full potential unfolding as they go on. Good as the first is, the second was even better – and the third, simply excellent. The second book shifts to being about her younger sister, Emily, who followed her to the goblin kingdom in the first book because she thought it sounded like wonderful fun. Well, as far as she’s concerned, she wasn’t wrong. She loves it down there – but when her best friend Seylin grows up ahead of her, things get less fun, as his own realization of his feelings clash with her immature obliviousness and create something of a fiasco of impulsive decisions. Suddenly, a heartbroken Seylin has left the kingdom to wander in search of surviving elves, and Emily – under carefully calculated pressure by Marak, who has a very good idea of what’s going on – is out there after him, being escorted by her most hated teacher, Ruby, who teaches the young goblins about humans despite the fact that she loathes them. In the process of both their journeys, we learn a great deal more about the elves, what happened to them, the history and relationship between goblins and elves, and even something about humans. And, like the first book, there are some wonderful plays and experiments in perspective. These books excel at nothing so much as fascinating works in perspective.

And, as if to prove the point, the third and final book makes such a play of reversed perception, making such perfect use of the grounds established by the previous books, it deserves nothing less than unreserved admiration. The Elvish race has revived! A long time ago they lost their king and began to die out, until there were next to none left, but now a new leader has arisen. He has the power, the magic, and the leadership. He’s gathered all the remaining elves, and he knows many of the most prized – but hitherto lost – elvish spells. But most of all, his magic has a mind of its own, telling him what to do – and, in his negotiations with Catspaw, the present Goblin King, a ironic switch occurs. The human girl who had been intended as Catspaw’s bride – who in fact had been raised in the goblin kingdom, not kidnapped – becomes the Elvish leader’s bride, and the elvish girl that the leader had intended to marry before seeing Matilda becomes Catspaw’s! The phenomenon of shifting feelings between Catspaw and his new bride is portrayed but not in great detail – we’ve been there before. What this book focuses on, and makes it the ultimate treatise in perspective, is the shift between Matilda and her new husband. It’s a bizarre reversal of both the first book and the classic it was founded on – now the human girl has been cruelly taken from the goblins by the elves, and forced to marry their king. And having been raised by goblins, being handsome doesn’t impress her much, and this pretty elf is going to have to work just as hard as Marak once did. In addition to this we are treated to a lovely final resolution to the elves vs. goblins thread that wove through the previous two, as the elve’s tragic past is finally explained in full, and their immediate future resolved. All in all, it fulfills the obligation of every book that concludes a set: it surpasses them, and establishes both the high point of the series and the final tying off of all the loose threads. And that’s as satisfying as it gets.

The titles, in order, are The Hollow Kingdom, Close Kin, and In the Coils of the Snake, by Clare B. Dunkle. They may not be toted as the top ten, but they are well worth reading, and available at most libraries and bookstores.

Back to the Book Review List

The Blue Hour: on Jean Rhys and why we are what we are

I’ve just finished reading The Blue Hour by Lilian Pizzichini. Now where are the pills and the whisky? Seriously, this book has received very mixed reviews, from the highest praise to considerable criticism for telling us nothing new, or nothing that can’t be deduced from her novels. I was aware of this when I started – it gave me an advantage.

My verdict on the book is a good one. I enjoyed it, I learnt things, and if you read it, so will you (in my opinion). I had already read Angier’s work, which is different altogether. So when I read the Pizzichini, it was in another way, as a story, as a piece of fiction almost, a telling of a tale. In this way it works.

Jean Rhys had so much talent and she poured it into her work. Reading the books, you might think she’d lived most of her life alone. Not true. She had three husbands and a small but sturdy collection of friends. The tragedy was, they weren’t enough. When I was reading the early pages of the portrait, I felt frustrated with Jean, with her apathy, her self-pity, her reluctance to face the facts of her life and take back control. But that was how she was.

Progressing through the book, my sympathy grew – was that Pizzichini’s intent? Perhaps I was just getting used to Rhys. I’d always been sympathetic when I’d read her novels (autobiographical as they are), then suddenly I found myself less so. And now here I am at the end of the work, sympathetic again. But in a different way. The gloss has been taken off. Jean, however, remains. She is what she is. As are we all.

Read the book – you might enjoy it. Whether you do or not, don’t judge Rhys too harshly. There but for the grace of genes, or history, or courage, go you…

Pepys, your honour!

Some biographies can be rather dry and confusing to follow; all too easy to become muddled up in family trees and long gone detail and affairs.

This, however, is a treat! Claire Tomalin vividly brings the times and life of Samuel Pepys to life. Look out for the toe curling depiction of a 17th century kidney stone removal…. If that doesn’t make you grateful for modern medicine, nothing will!

You can also read exactly what Samuel got up to on any day, over 300 years ago, if you look up http://www.pepysdiary.com (and how the weather/temperature would have been! It would have been much colder interestingly enough, another blow for the global warming dissenters). Pepys, is very funny and it’s worth checking out his daily entries for something amusing if you are in the need of a chuckle. It is interesting to compare spelling styles as well…..

I’ve have pinched the image off www.amazon.co.uk where you can also order the book, of course (I wonder if I should start some advertising after all..).

AOM Review: Beautiful by Amy Reed

Title: Beautiful

Author: Amy Reed

Rating: 9/10

Summary: (Taken fromAmazon)

When Cassie moves from the tiny town where she has always lived to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. This is Cassie’s chance to stop being invisible and become the kind of girl who’s worth noticing.

Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined…one moment, one choice, will change everything.

Cassie’s new existence both thrills and terrifies her. Swept into a world of illicit parties and social landmines, she sheds her virginity, embraces the numbness she feels from the drugs, and floats through it all, knowing that she is now called beautiful. She ignores the dangers of her fast-paced life?but she can’t sidestep the secrets and the cruelty.

Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one—not even the one person she thought she could trust—can help her now.

My Thoughts: Beautiful is one of those book you expect to be good from the start. The cover draws you in first, then the summary, and when you start it, the first chapter alone makes you want more.

While I can’t relate to a lot of what happened in the book, as I am extremely straight-edge, I could relate to Cassie and I think a lot of other girls will also be able to. All of us have to deal with feelings we can’t control, peer pressure, crushes, and wanting to fit in, among all of the other things Cassie has to deal with and that makes Beautiful more realistic for teens who find Cassie’s world foreign.

As much as I loved Cassie and the plot, I would’ve loved to see some of the minor characters developed more because I kept confusing some of them and I also would’ve liked to have seen more added onto the ending, though that’s partly because I didn’t want to see the book end.

Overall, I completely recommend this but only for older/mature teens, due to the content. (I also think fans of Stephanie Kuehnert’s books would enjoy this.)

Little Brother: A Review

I don’t know what I was expecting when I opened Little Brother (2008) by Cory Doctorow. What I do know is that those expectations were largely colored by Doctorow’s appearances in various web-comic-strips on XKCD as a red cape wearing blogger who flies around in a hot air balloon.

Anyway, Marcus Yallow is a senior in San Francisco in the near future. He goes to Cesar Chavez High School which makes him one of the most surveilled people in the world. There’s a terrorist attack, he’s held captive in a Guantanamo Bay-esque prison, he’s released and then he decides to use his hacker skillz to get even and reclaim his city from the sinister clutches of Homeland Security.

And as action-packed as that sounds, the book never became more than a mildly interesting bit of tedious reading for me.

I’m fairly tech savvy, and I do worry about privacy and the like, but after finishing Little Brother the only piece of tech-related advice I retained from the story was that crypto is really awesome. Doctorow tries to embed useful information into the story, but it is either too basic to be interesting or too specialized and esoteric to make sense.

I’m not a teenager and I come from a liberal household and I was living in Greenwich Village during 9/11. I found it irritating that Doctorow’s character’s seemed to operate in a very binary way. Young people (for the most part) opposed the Department of Homeland Security while older people (for the most part) blithely accepted martial law. Really?

Finally, the real reason I disliked this book is that it just was not well put together. With all due respect to the importance of this novel’s subject matter, the writing was far from impressing. The descriptions of technology were almost always too long (and often too technical) to be seamlessly integrated into a novel.

The novel’s continuity verged on non-existent. For instance, Marcus makes a point of mentioning in the early pages that he is wearing boots for easy removal at metal detectors. Yet when he is released he receives his sneakers back with clean clothes. The core of the story–about Marcus’ missing friend–is left hanging for vast spans of the plot. Doctorow is at pains to create a core group for Marcus only to have them all removed from the story by the halfway point and then haphazardly mentioned in a rushed ending.

Marcus was also a bit annoying as a narrator–particularly when in the company of his girlfriend. Realistic depictions of teens aside, I was hoping for a bit more from characters (teen or otherwise) in a novel which is grounded in such extraordinary circumstances.

Also, and this isn’t really the book’s fault, but I truly disliked the cover.

State highest interest: usurping Public Opinion

State highest interest: usurping Public Opinion; (October 17, 2009)

In a previous post “The critical decade of Radical Islam” I stated as conclusion:”

As the Soviet Union was disintegrating in 1991, the US and Europe were busy with a new world order and intentionally forgot radical Islam for an entire decade. The US was after the financial domination of the world and playing the role of International Police Force; Europe was busy re-unifying East Germany, managing the Eastern European States seeking independence of Russia, controlling the Slavic question of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia, and finding an appropriate resolution for expanding the European Union.

Radical Islam got under way in organization and proliferation and performed many operational activities in Indonesia, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Chechnya, Pakistan, India, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia (the Khobar bombing of the hotel where the American aviators had residence) to end up with the 9/11/ 2001 attack on the Twin Towers. During the decade, after the dismantlement of Russia, the US Administrations toned down every terrorist’s activities to its public opinion in order to focus on world financial domination and the restructuring of Europe.”

Many evidences from outdated archives are surfacing that shed strong lights on the many instances that US Administrations usurped its public opinion on the ground of the “Nation Highest Interests”. The cult for secrecy in the various data (intelligence) gathering services in the US is not a recent discovery after the 9/11/ 2001 attack of the Twin Towers.

Roosevelt had set his mind in joining the war against Germany and Japan since 1940 and was frequently deliberately provoking the navies of Germany and Japan. Truman initiated clandestine contacts with Mao Tse Tong in 1948 that Stalin disrupted by purposely starting the Korean War. Many nuclear American scientists were secretly permitted to flee to other foreign nations in order to appease public opinion after the debacle of the execution of the innocent Rosenberg couple in 1953. The US Administrations deliberately minimized the health risks of open ground nuclear testing and later the under ground testing. The CIA was controlling experiments on brain manipulation and biological war fare. President Reagan buried the conclusions of the committee of the Chamber of representatives that the assassinations of the two Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King were organized works. Irangate was the transfer of arms to Iran against the resolutions of the Parliament which also prohibited destabilizing Nicaragua.

Two factors impress on the Executive branch to act in secrecy: Stock exchange and public polls. Two days after 9/11 the stock devalued 60%. Greenspan injected several billion dollars in the private economy; trade level stabilized in four months. The reach this goal the tetanized public opinion was to be reassured of no further catastrophes. Thus, a quick victory in Afghanistan was urgent as well as mass disinformation on the danger of bacteriological warfare and the proliferation of the Pakistani nuclear threat. The anthrax affairs before and after 9/11 was quickly buried and toned down as related to a lunatic. Two kinds of anthrax were used; a high quality used in the US military and a rough quality. The Tcheck President Vaclav Havel confirmed publicly that the Iraqi Embassy in Prague got in contact with Al-Qaeda leader Saif Al Adl and anthrax was delivered. The CIA promptly demanded that the Tcheck security services deny that fact.

Timothy Mac Veigh, one of the bombers of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995, was quickly executed and 150 pages of the instruction disappeared in order not to go further in the investigation: the second suspect Terry Nichols had secret contacts in the Philippine with a girl friend who was also in close contact with Ramzi Youssef (another leader of Al Qaeda and in Manila at the time). The downing of the TWA 800 by a small missile off the shore of Manhattan was attributed to a stray Navy missile on maneuver. All these cover-ups were done with the close cooperation of both Republican and Democratic parties, the FBI, and the CIA. When the main superpower permits the widespread exercises of disinformation to its public opinion then this practice is capted instantly by the rest of world States.

All these operations by Al Qaeda were backed by the triumvirate Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iraq of Saddam Hussein. In Saudi Arabia, the financial backer of Al Qaeda and the Pakistani nuclear program, Prince Sultan was Defense Minister and his cadet brother Nayef was the Minister of the Interior (Bandar, the Ambassador to the USA and semi-brother of Sultan, was later appointed chief of the security services). In fact, all Saudi diplomats were sneaked out in secrecy after 9/11 even when evidences piled up high of their cooperation in the attack; two princes of the “Royal Family” were high ranking in Al Qaeda: They were disposed off shortly after the attack. Saudi Arabia sovereign fund was effectively cash money for the US Administration to use when the US Senate refused funding of any programs.

Pakistan was in charge of training (the pilots of Al Qaeda received two years of training there). Pakistan was the real threat for arms of mass destruction, nuclear, biological, and chemical, and no longer Iraq but Pakistan vital as base for attacking Afghanistan and for supply and logistics. Saddam Hussein cooperated and delivered the biological and chemical tools. Thus, the US targeted Iraq as next pre-emptive objective after the economic fundamentals in the US stabilized; (Read my post “Why massive occupation of Iraq”).

When the main superpower permits the widespread exercises of disinformation to its public opinion then this practice is capted instantly by the rest of world States.

Note: I extensively used information from a chapter in “The world is a kid playing” by Alexandre Adler.

The Art of Cause Marketing: How to Use Advertising to Change Personal Behavior and Public Policy

For those interested in the power of persuasive communication, Richard Earle displays the powers of advertising in a new light, one that entails promoting the public good. The work is simple and easy to read and articulates a career’s worth of experience in social marketing campaign development and execution. Anyone involved in Social Marketing could find something of value in this book: audience analysis, development, production, and evaluation are all covered and more in a concise manner. All of the material is presented in a practical case study method.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America

Thomas Friedman screams out to all who will listen that America is living a “Green Party” rather than a “Green Revolution” in his newest work, Hot, Flat, and Crowded. His background and explanation of fossil fuels as energy from “hell” as opposed to solar, wind, and other sustainable energy sources which hail from “heaven” is compelling and vivid. Although his explanation of capital generated through the sale of oil as the major contributor to (what he terms) “petrodictators” and subsequently terroist extremism is overly simplistic, it does serve as an ominous reminder of the redistribution of wealth globally. Ultimately, just as we owe Friedman a debt of gratitude for his detailed explanation of Globalization and its effects in “The World is Flat”, we now owe him for his insight and explanation into the nature and extent of the convergence of decreasing natural resources, overpopulation, and global warming… This all seems especially pertinent as the Obama administration begins to tackle the issues surrounding the development of a green economy. Thanks once again, Mr. Thomas L. Friedman, for explaining the pressing dangers of a Hot, Flat, and Crowded world and providing thoughtful, engaging new material for debate.

Book Review: Fooled by Randomness

I chanced upon Fooled by Randomness – The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb at a friend’s place and took the time to read it. Having a bit of a financial background – I work in a company that did some financial modeling before I joined it – I had heard of Taleb and was curious. Besides, I want to understand probability better than I currently do – I mean philosophically, not mathematically – and the title was attractive.

The book is divided in three parts. Part I starts off with a long and rather boring story of two traders – a rash, ignorant and over-confident John and a conservative Nero. John succeeds for a time – purely through luck – makes a lot of money and then blows up – market slang for losing more money than you thought possible. Nero remains risk-averse and makes a steady amount but suffers snubs from people like John before being vindicated. The reason for including this story is primarily to show how large a role randomness plays in the markets. Taleb also comments on the fact that Nero suffered emotionally from the snubs by people who made more money than him though he always knew himself to be better. Taleb says that this shows that the rational mind cannot prevent us from experiencing irrational emotions. Taleb then discusses an “accounting method” by which a dentist is much richer than a lottery winner. If one were to consider all the “paths” that the dentist’s life could take, there would not be much variation in the money he makes and the “average” would be close to what he makes in any particular “path”. If one considers all the paths that the lottery winner’s life could take, the average would be much lower than the money he makes on the winning path. This notion should seem familiar to anyone with a knowledge of Monte-Carlo simulations but I had not seen anyone putting it so explicitly. Taleb then goes on to discuss the difference between noise and significant information and how noise can affect perceptions in short timescales. He also discusses the dangers in fitting models to historical data. This is interrupted by an unexpected attack on Hegel’s pseudo-scientific philosophy that draws on Alan Sokal’s famous hoax. Taleb then talks of rare events, how their existence makes the difference between the median and the mean important and how most people including statisticians often unwittingly ignore this difference. He then talks briefly about Bacon, Hume and Popper in relation to the problem of induction and the difficulty of induction in the presence of rare events.

Part II deals with various biases in the perception and evaluation of events and outcomes in areas where randomness plays a major role. He draws on work by Kahneman and Tversky – which I am not even remotely familiar with – to claim that in dealing with uncertainty, our minds adopt certain heuristics/biases that are blind to reason (Prospect theory, Affect heuristic, Hindsight bias, Belief in the law of small numbers, Two systems of reasoning and Overconfidence). While it is easy to see how a person with no understanding of probability theory could be misled in the many examples Taleb gives, it is difficult to believe that people trained in probability would also be misled.

Part III deals with Taleb’s interpretation of stoicism as the solution to living in a world with so much uncertainty. Taleb writes that we should accept that we are incapable of making our emotions rational and attempt to behave with dignity in all circumstances. He writes that stoicism should not mean a stiff upper lip and a banishment of emotions but an acceptance of emotions and the uncertainties of life with the focus being on the process rather than the outcome. This part is titled Wax in my ears in a reference to the story of Odysseus and the Sirens. Taleb writes that he knows that he is not as great as Odysseus and instead of tying himself, he chooses to have wax in his ears. That is, he chooses to accept that his emotions will always be fooled by randomness and the only solution is to avoid situations where he might encounter such emotions (by not listening to the news or not tracking prices of assets on a moment-by-moment basis etc).

Overall, several anecdotes in the book are mildly entertaining, but intellectually, there is very little that I gained from the book. I agree with a lot of Taleb’s views on the role of luck in the markets and the inadequacy or even meaninglessness of most financial models, but I had already reached these views before reading Taleb and frankly I don’t think they merit a significant part of a book. These views can be easily expressed in a few pages – perhaps I will write a post myself. Taleb does not provide any definition of probability – something that I had hoped for – apart from the following excerpt. Taleb’s style is quite disconnected and the numerous back and forward references are irritating, especially since the references are hardly convincing. For example in the following excerpt he refers to something in Chapter 3, but there is no convincing arguement there, not even a hint.

Ask your local mathematician to define probability, he would most probably show you how to compute it. As we saw in Chapter 3 on probabilistic introspection, probability is not about the odds, but about the belief in the existence of an alternative outcome, cause, or motive. Recall that mathematics is a tool to meditate, not compute. Again, let us go back to the elders for more guidance – for probabilities were always considered by them as nothing beyond a subjective, and fluid, measure of beliefs.

The only thing that I got from the book is a reminder that I need to formulate more completely a proper alternative to Popper’s scepticism.

The Giver

This book was interesting, and depressing at the same time. I could totally feel the main character’s point of view and think the world should read this book just to see if they can figure out how exactly real, the situations of the book is.

There was a lot of questions I had about the book that didn’t really make sense to me, but a lot of it was understandable. It was easy to read, and the ending really got me depressed. I woke up last night with the feeling of hopelessness, and it was rather surprising. During the fall I have strange emotions, and it’s also around the time I went to ER for the attacks in 2004. I’m glad I have my feelings. I tried to stop being so strong because I figure that just means I’m in denial, and I think I have feelings for a reason. Read this book and you’d understand, and if not, well I just hope you find what you’ve lost long long ago.

the bible in mosaic

[full disclosure: this review is built from my experiences with a review copy of Holy Bible: Mosaic sent by Tyndale House Publishers as part of their blog tour. Please feel free to read, to click, and to leave comments - Editor Keith Williams will hopefully be able to stop by in the comment section to interact, and I'll be posting later on an opportunity for you to receive a copy of this Bible as well. Stay tuned today 10/13 on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/rickcaffeinated - for details. Thanks for your continued support - the Management]

I’ve had an opportunity the past few weeks to take part in a blog tour and today is my day to host. We’re sharing information and opinions of the new Holy Bible: Mosaic (copyright 2009, Credo Communications), and I was intrigued by the subtitle-ish statement on the cover, “Encounter Christ on every continent and in every century of Christian history”. Wow, what a huge sweeping rolling bold proclamation, and what an excellent idea to bring out just how thrilling and huge and sweeping and rollingly bold our faith is across all time around the world. Too many times, frankly, our faith is too small. Would this compilation bring some scope and depth to our faith, give it something to share with so much backstory?

MOSAIC (dictionary.com) -
1. a picture or decoration made of small, usually colored pieces of inlaid stone, glass, etc.
2. the process of producing such a picture or decoration.
3. something resembling such a picture or decoration in composition, esp. in being made up of diverse elements.

The hardcover edition I received has two main parts – the second is a pretty bare bones NLT-translation of the scriptures. And for me, that’s perfect. If there’s too many notes or articles or clarifying points in the middle of the biblical narrative, I find it way too easy to be distracted and get off track. I’m drawn more and more to plain text minimalist Bibles where the reader can fall in and out of the story without the fluff that too often fills someone else’s gaps. And the New Living Translation (NLT) is very readable, very meaningful, and very accessible for following Christ through the Word.

The main push for the Holy Bible: Mosaic is the first portion, basically a devotional arranged around the Church Calendar. The calendar has been peripheral to my own faith journey, not growing up in a more liturgical denominational background. But it work as a “tie that binds” here, bringing together as advertised writers, thinkers, faith-ers from across the ages and around the globe to speak into our day and time right now. The website is helpful for folks like me who need to know what week we’re on, and then the Bible picks up there with readings around the topic. For example, this is week 22 in the calendar, Remembering – and there are selections from Malachi 3, 1 Corinthians 11, A.W Tozer in the 20th century, John Flavel in the 17th century, Patrick of Ireland in the 4th century, and a spot for my own notes and reflections in the midst of living life in the 21st.

And that’s what this new book brings out for me, a living dialogue with the past, with other cultures, with other stories, all ultimately wrapped in and through the Word that’ doing the exact same things – bringing us all together across the span to proclaim the truth of God and His Son sent to us. The devotional portion would stand on its own, and that’ll be the way I’m planning on partaking in this book for the time being. Having the scriptures in the same binding is of great benefit, giving perspective on our widespread story by tying it together with His.

I look forward to digging more into the themes of the calendar, and am planning on using this for Advent devotionals in the upcoming Christmas season – something we’ve, again, never really participated in but that I see holds real meaning and depth for our faith as it’s lived out together.

Enid Blyton’s 'Famous Five' in ‘Five on a Hike Together’: ‘I Say -- This Has Boiled Up Into Quite an Adventure, Hasn’t It?’

Enid Blyton has been translated into more languages than anyone except Walt Disney Productions, Agatha Christie, Jules Verne and Shakespeare

The Famous Five: Five on a Hike Together. By Enid Blyton. Illustrated by Eileen A. Soper. Hodder Children’s Books, 196 pp., varied prices. Ages 12 and under.

By Janice Harayda

Enid Blyton is the Agatha Christie of children’s literature. Not all of her books are mysteries. But like Christie, she was born in Britain in the 1890s and achieved an unparalleled fame for her suspenseful plot-driven novels that remain popular worldwide with readers and filmmakers. And like Christie, she has drawn fire from critics who have accused her of perpetuating the stereotypes of her era and social class.

Blyton is best known for the 21 novels in her “Famous Five” series, most of which have been adapted for television. Each book involves three English siblings, their cousin, and a mutt named Timmy. Five on a Hike Together is the tenth, and it suggests why the novels still appeal to children: Blyton gives her young characters a freedom that if allowed by real-life parents might bring a visit from the Department of Youth and Family Services, if not an arrest.

In Five on a Hike Together the four children and their dog spend several days hiking unchaperoned on moors during a long weekend in October. They are undeterred by their discovery that the heather may shelter a convict who has escaped from a local jail. But they split up when Timmy gets hurt chasing a rabbit down a hole. Julian and Georgina, known as George, set out to find someone who can tend to the dog’s injury, and Dick and Anne go off to look for Blue Pond Farmhouse, where all of them hope to spend the night. Nothing goes quite as expected. Dick and Anne get lost and end up at a ramshackle house where Dick gets a message from the escaped convict, who passes him a cryptic note through a broken window pane. All of the children realize when they reunite the next day that they must take the note to the authorities, but when a policeman scorns their efforts to help, they resolve to decipher the clue on their own. Soon the four are paddling a raft with Timmy on board in search of a treasure that may lie at the bottom of a lake.

Five on a Hike Together has several of Blyton’s hallmarks — a fast pace, well-controlled suspense and little character development. The four children don’t grow so much as carom from one exciting adventure to another, and their appeal lies partly in their enthusiasm for all of it. They are cheerful, intelligent, self-sufficient and generally kind and well-mannered. For all their limits, you can’t help but agree when a policeman tells the children in the last pages, “You’re the kind of kids we want in this country – plucky, sensible, responsible youngsters who use your brains and never give up!”

Best line: No. 1: “I say – this has boiled up into quite an adventure, hasn’t it?” (A comment by Julian, the oldest of the Famous Five.) No. 2: “A wonderful smell came creeping into the little dining-room, followed by the inn-woman carrying a large tray. On it was a steaming tureen of porridge, a bowl of golden syrup, a jug of very thick cream, and a dish of bacon and eggs, all piled high on brown toast. Little mushrooms were on the same dish.” Both lines suggest an appealing quality of the Famous Five: their infectious enthusiasm for their circumstances, whether they are lost on a moor or getting a good breakfast.

Worst line: Blyton wrote most of the “Famous Five” novels during the 1940s and 1950s, and they reflect their era. Julian, for example, tells his cousin Georgina, known as George: “You may look like a boy and behave like a boy, but you’re a girl all the same. And like it or not, girls have got to be taken care of.” George puts Julian in his place by telling him that he’s “domineering” and she doesn’t like being taken care of. But some critics see the series as sexist, though the girls of the “Famous Five” novels show far more courage than many contemporary heroines. Other books by Blyton have been faulted for racial characterizations that are today considered slurs.

Published: 1951 (first edition), 1997 (Hodder reprint).

About the author: Blyton is the fifth most widely translated writer in the world, according to UNESCO’s Index Translationum Statistics. The five most often translated authors are “Walt Disney Productions,” Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, Shakespeare, and Blyton, followed by Lenin, Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steel, Hans Christian Andersen, and Stephen King.

Furthermore: Helena Bonham Carter will star in a forthcoming BBC movie of Blyton’s life.

Children’s book reviews appear on this site on Saturdays.

From Ferintosh Manse to Keswick Preacher (4)

In February 1888, George MacGregor was asked to preach in Aberdeen East Free Church and made such an impression that a congregational meeting was immediately arranged and a decision made to call him as the colleague of the current minister who was in declining health. Among his predecessors as minister was James S. Candlish (son of Robert) who had been appointed Professor of Divinity in the Free Church College, Glasgow, in 1872. William Robertson Smith had been one of its elders, and one of the elders who welcomed George was William Alexander, the editor of Aberdeen Free Press. The involvement of James Candlish and Robertson Smith indicates the outlook of the congregation, and explains why it had no difficulty calling a person who did not belief in the verbal inspiration of the Bible.

The days between Monday April 30 and Friday May 4 were very significant for George. On the Monday his father died, on the Tuesday he was licensed by the Edinburgh Presbytery, on the Thursday his father was buried, and on the Friday Aberdeen Free East elected him as their choice of minister. He was ordained on Thursday 28 June, but had another sore bereavement before then when his brother died at the age of 26. George himself was 24.

The congregation had been declining in numbers for several years, although it is a reminder of how church attendance in Scotland has changed when it is realised that the congregation numbered about 500. MacGregor set about recovering the church and engaged in earnest evangelistic preaching. Soon numbers increased: over 120 joined in his first year and by the time he left in 1894 the membership had doubled. George delighted in evangelistic work and was a strong supporter of the missions of D. L. Moody who came to Aberdeen during that period.

George married the daughter of one of his elders in 1891. Two other details are highlighted by his biographer as of importance and they indicate the outlook of MacGregor. The first was his initial attendance at the Keswick Convention in 1889 and the other was the death of William Robertson Smith in 1894. A tribute to Smith by George indicates that he accepted Smith’s higher critical ideas. Returning to 1889, George longed for fresh experience of the power of the Holy Spirit and taking the advice of several ministerial colleagues he went to the Keswick Convention. His visit to the Convention was a turning point in his life as he understood in a new way the place of faith in sanctification, the significance of union with Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The biggest change in his character as a result of what happened to him was the suppression of a bad temper, a feature of his character from childhood. Apparently, it seldom revealed itself after this convention experience.

MacGregor became a conference speaker during his Aberdeen ministry. His next visit to Keswick was in 1892, but he went back as a speaker and did so each year until 1900. In 1892 he published So Great Salvation, which had a preface by fellow Keswick speaker, Handley Moule, and which went through three editions.

George MacGregor has come a long way from the Ferintosh manse. Still denying the verbal inspiration of the Bible and commending the life of one of those who introduced such notions into the nineteenth-century Free Church (Robertson Smith), George has become an effective evangelist, a revitaliser (to use a modern concept) of a moribund church, an author, and a regular speaker at one of the biggest annual conferences in worldwide evangelicalism. This has all happened before he was thirty. It is not surprising that vacant congregations elsewhere are interested in calling him out of Aberdeen.

But what is happening in his denomination during his years in Aberdeen from 1888 to 1894? Conservative ministers and elders are trying to prevent doctrinal decline, and among them are the ministers of Ferintosh (Angus Galbraith who was there from 1890 to 1893 and Donald Munro who was inducted in 1894). I wonder what they thought of the journey taken by the son of their predecessor in the Ferintosh manse?

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the bible in mosaic

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Enid Blyton’s 'Famous Five' in ‘Five on a Hike Together’: ‘I Say -- This Has Boiled Up Into Quite an Adventure, Hasn’t It?’

From Ferintosh Manse to Keswick Preacher (4)

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