Readings
2005.12.27–Alfred, Ohio. You might also be interested in my old reading pages 2005 or 2004.
Freedom from Fear
2006.06.22–Alfred, Ohio. The author, Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest and has been so for over 10 years. Every page on the Asian Tribune carries her picture and how long she has been held captive. She won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Her story is an interesting one.
The book is divided into three broad sections. The first covers the history of Burma, a comparison of India and Burma under British rule, and events that lead up to Independence of the country. Chapter three was an eye opener for me in how much role our language plays in us. The second section of the book are various speeches she wrote. The Freedom from Fear speech was a very well thought out discussion. This is not merely a good read, this is something that moves you (at least it did me) to think a bit differently about things. The last section of the book was written about people who knew her before she became famous.
This is not a book for everyone. Those with such interests will find it more than you bargain for. I highly recommend it for such people. It will probably end up as one of my top 10 influential books that I’ve ever read. I’ll give it a year before saying that for certain.
Improving Your Storytelling
2006.06.04–Alfred, Ohio. Improving Your Storytelling by Doug Lipman. I picked this book up at a bookstore in Morehead, Kentucky while on a recent visit with Nick. The title sounded like something that may may help my writing become better. It may, we will see. It is not something I would have ever found or bought at Amazon.
The book turned out to be more about verbal storytelling. That is a subject I’ve given very little thought to. It turns out that I really enjoyed reading the book as it discussed topics that I would probably never think about on my own.
The DaVinci Code
2006.04.17–Alfred, Ohio. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. It is easy to see why this book has become popular. The extremely short chapters make it easy to read. We all deal with codes, some more so than others. I had to google Phi today and was surprised (utterly amazed would be a better term) to see that the ratio of neighbouring Fibonacci numbers tends to Phi. I don’t recall that from my number theory class… but I digress. The book was OK, the movie will do well, I’ll probably even go see it, but it would not make my short list of favorite or most influential books by a long shot.
1421: The Year China Discovered America (extended review)
2006.04.09–Alfred, Ohio. 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies is a fascinating read. It appears to be very well researched (the first appendix is a synopsis of evidence and contains over a hundred pages and the notes contains over a dozen pages of citations. The author sailed for nearly 20 years in the British Royal Navy and had command of a submarine for two years. His evidence and experience become overwhelming to the point that I can not dismiss what he proposes.
Curious George and the Dump Truck
2006.02.26–Alfred, Ohio. Curious George and the Dump Truck by Margret & H. A. Rey’s. I had never heard of Curious George until the movie came out. Angie dropped off the book last night. I read it this morning. It would probably make a nice adventure story for very young readers. Funny how something could apparently be so popular for so long and completely escape my notice.
Sugar Blues
2006.02.12–Alfred, Ohio. Sugar Blues by William Dufty is a relatively short book that has become a classic. It took a couple of chapters before I was sold on his basic premise. Once I warmed up to the book, it became what I hope to be a life altering experience.
The basic idea is that sugar is a leading cause of health problems. The author explores a variety of historical examples and ties them together nicely. He has made a strong enough case that I intend to remove as much sugar from my diet as possible. No one has ever died from not eating sugar that I know of. That way I can judge for myself if it makes a difference in my body. I plan to re-examine this topic during the birthday month.
CAUTION: Sugar Blues tends to present a very bleak image of the food and drug industry. Reading this may make you a little more paranoid than usual.
