Reading Notebook

A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens.

Dad and Nadia had A Tale of Two Cities on audio CD, unabridged, so I borrowed it from them. I had to listen to the 1st couple of CD's over and over to follow the story, so I decided to read the book and listen to the CDs. So I finished the book but am just over 1/2 way through the CDs! It takes good concentration to listen to this story, so I've been mostly doing it on my drives to D.C., and even then, I've typically only listened to one CD each leg!

Even reading the book was not always easy. There is an amazing amount of detail in just about everything that happens, and for the 1st half of the book, how the characters are all going to tie together is not always clear. But one thing I can say after having finished it, that I really think this is an example of a masterwork. It is really amazingly well done in so many ways. Yes, it is difficult, but it is very well worth it.

 

Good to Great. Jim Collins.

This book was given to all employees at our last All Hands meeting, as the company is taking steps to implement many of the ideas of the book. Originally all of the managers read it, and then it was passed to the rest of us. I normally don't read business books but I read did read this one and overall I found it quite good. I did find a few quotes that I will include below:

• "This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end -- which you can never afford to lsoe -- with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of you current reality, whatever they might be." -- Admiral Stockdale
• Life is unfair -- sometimes to our advantage, sometimes to our disadvantage. We will all experience disappointments and crush events along the way, setback for which there is no "reason," no one to blame. ........ What separates people ...is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life..

What Einstein Told his Cook. Robert Wolke.

Mom got this for me for Christmas (it had been on my wishlist for sometime), and I finally got around to finishing it. I've been reading it off an on for some time. This is a "must read" for anyone that likes to cook and has a scientific background. Even those without such a background may get a kick out of it. While I wasn't impressed with any of the recipes, that is certainly not the heart of the book, so that's not important.

 

Stranger in a Strange Land. (uncut). Robert A Heinlein.

This book has been in my top 4 all time favorites for some time, but after re-reading it, I'm not so sure I will keep it there. I'm don't know what is different this time around. I'm older and have of course changed. And this is the uncut version, which I'm not so sure is what I read originally. The uncut came out in '91, and while I am sure I read it after that time, it was a library copy and therefore could have been the original.

I still love the overall concept, and I still find it fascinating in many aspects. How a human who has no human culture would react to all the silly/crazy things we do, which often don't look silly and crazy from our perspective since we are so culturely biased. But I do think reading this can help you learn to step out of a culture bias, as much as that is possible anyway.

I dog-eared a bunch of sections so here they are:

• "... a governement is a living organism. Like every living thing its prime characteristic is a blind, unreasoned instinct to survivie. You hit it, it will fight back."
• "Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary, it resents any attempt to serve it. So now I do what pleases [me]."
• on the compulsive reading of news: "...most neuroses and some psychoses can be traced to the unnecessary and unhealthy habit of daily wallowing in the troubles and sins of 5 billion strangers." (I do like to read the newspaper every day!!!)
• "Everything and anything about a culture can be inferred from the shape of its language..." (Something I don't completely agree with... While it has some merit, I believe there are no absolutes in this case.)
• "Thinking .... doesn't pay .... Just makes you disconteneted with what you see around you."
• "A desire not to butt in to other people's business is at least 80% of all human wisdom ... and the other 20% isn't very important."
• "obscurity is usually the refuge of incompetence..."

Maybe I'll read this again in 7 or 8 years and see if I've changed my mind again. For now I'll leave it in the list of favorites, but I may remove it in a few months after I've had time to let it settle.

Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages. Harold Bloom.

I've read a couple of Harold Bloom's books and he is tremendously knowledgeable of literature. I read this book, and while I really enjoyed it, I do question its title somewhat -- many of the stories are beyond "children of all ages," at least in my opinion. I was hoping to read some of these to Riley, who just turned two, but it will be a few years before I do for many of them, and longer for others. There are a few that would be ok at this point.

I did find some of the stories quite dark, and I don't think I'd want Riley reading them until she is much older. Perhaps some of this is due to the structure of the book. The stories and poems are divided into four sections -- Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, with Winter being last. And "winter" stories I suppose can tend to be darker than Spring stories.

Overall, the selection of material was quite agreeable to me (other than what I've noted above on the applicability to young readers). It seems that the short story genre doesn't get it's fair due today, or at least I have not found the proper outlets for it. So I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the collection.

Images of a Champion. Lance Armstrong. Photos by Graham Watson.

Well, Lance just won his 6th straight tour, so this is a good follow up to watching as much of that as I possibly could. This book chronicles Lance's pro career, with images from Watson, an introduction to each year by Lance, and then a page or so about Lance from folks like Eddie Merckx, Chris Carmichael, his mother, etc. There are some beautiful shots in this book. The most impressive, and somewhat lucky (right place at the right time!) are the ones in sequence when Lance and Mayo fall in the 2003 tour. I wish Watson had captured the famous cyclo-cross Lance had to take when Beloki fell in front of him that same year!

 

The Winter of Our Discontent. John Steinback.

I picked this hard-back library edition at the annual Pittsboro Library book sale in 2003 for just $1! I missed the 2004 sale, though, so who knows what bargains I were there!

For some reason, after the first 20 or 30 pages, this book gripped me and I had trouble putting it down. I was able to go to bed at a decent hour with about 50 pages left, so I guess it wasn't that strong of a pull. But it has been a long time since I've wanted to keep reading a book like this one!

It's really an interesting story of an American man who has lost most of his family's fortune and is now just a grocery clerk. He's a honest man, turning down a bribe/cutback from a vendor to switch who he buys from, etc. But somewhere along the way, he starts scheming a way to win back his family honor and fortune and more. And while he does struggle with it a bit, he also finds it quite easy. He debates whether he can slip back into an honest, integrity filled life after his one time scheme will get him back to the top.

Here are some tidbits I liked:

• "A crime is something someone else commits. "
• "A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. A story must have some points of contact with a reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept wonders."
• "It has been my experience to put aside a decision for future pondering. Then one day, fencing a piece of time to face the problem, I have found it already completed, solved, and the verdict taken." -- This is so true. I guess at a subconscious level you are still working on the problem, and often that type of solution is the best.
• "Man being alone thinks about things. You know most people live ninety percent in the past, seven percent in the present, and that only leaves them three percent for the future."

All in all, a great book!

The Source. James Michener.

It looks like I haven't been reading much this year since there hasn't been much posted, but part of that is because I've been working my way through all 1100 pages of this book! After burning out on Michener in the mid 90's, I started reading him again last year with Chesapeake (which was fantastic!), and now with The Source. This book chronicles the history of the Jewish people in and around Israel, how they interaced with the Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims, Crusaders, etc., and is truly a great read and a way to learn and perhaps gain a greater understanding of the Jewish religion and people..

I think I'll limit myself by not reading too many Michener's in a row going forward, but I do want to continue working my way through some of his books. Reading this and Chesapeake confirmed for me that he was an amazing writer -- both a good story teller, a good researcher, and a good writer, all combined into one. And "historical fiction" is probably my favorite genre.

I had a few quotes picked out, but not many, and I don't think I'll include any here other than this one: "If your faith is capable of encompassing Jesus it can certainly absorb historical contradictions." Out of context that probably doesn't mean much, but it stands out to me none-the-less. This was a part of a conversation about Josephus, the Jewish historian, and the contradictions in some of his writings and the fact that he never mentioned Jesus -- i.e. was that intential supression the authors doing or was Jesus really that insignificant at the time. The latter would be hard to fathom, while the former is not given Josephus's track record. (All this according to the conversation in the book.)

 

Great Masters: Mozart -- His Life and Music. Audio CD course. Robert Greenberg.

Greenberg is simply fantastic -- I've loved all the Teaching Company courses I've listened to that he's led. I listened to this 8 hour course in 2 days on a quick trip to DC and back, and it helped passed the time quickly. Mozart had an amazing life in short time, and Greenberg helps to break many of the myths surrounding his life. He does not take anything away from Mozart's genius and incredible music feats, but he makes it clear that Mozart was not an idiot savant or autistic. And the samples of music he pulls out are perfect.

The Book of Great Books. A Guide to 100 World Classis. W. John Cambell. March 2004.

I was browsing a bookstore next to a Chinese restaurant while waiting for my food to be cooked. :-) This book has 100 summaries of classic books, each about 8 - 10 pages long. I've just read the summaries for those classics that I've read in the past year, namely The Iliad, The Odyssey, Moby Dick, Lord of the Rings (yes this made the list!), Walden, and The Republic. Overall, the summaries are good, but I'm pretty sure I saw at least one error in terms of the order of events, though perhaps I am just not remembering correctly. Also, sometimes definitions are given for words in each section, that are probably not necessary once, let alone many times. (Examples include oracle, prophecy, simile, etc.) It's still nice to have this book to read before and after reading a classic, though.

The Aeneid. Virgil. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. March 2004.

I started this quite some time ago, but read several other books while working my way through this one. In fact, this was the one book on my wish list for finishing in 2003 that I did not quite complete.

I had heard several people say the Aeneid, especially this translation, was one of the most beautifully written works in the English language. I only felt that way when I really slowed down my reading, which is not something I do often enough. I guess I always have an urge to plow through books, since there are so many to read. In fact, the stack of books I have lying around the house that I want to read is quite large! So, when I did slow down, I really enjoyed the writing too.

I did find the names hard to follow. After last year, in which I read both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and I listened to the Great Course "Classic Greek Mythology," I had all of the Greek names (Gods, Goddesses, Hero's, etc.) down. To be thrown into the Roman version took quite some time to get used to, which made it a bit difficult to follow everything that was going on.

 

Coach Wooden One-on-One. John Wooden and Jay Carty. February 2004.

I received this as a gift at Christmas from the Allenbaughs, and I think they may have gotten from the pastor of their Church David Helms. As most everyone knows, John Wooden is one of the all time great college basketball coaches. His UCLA teams dominated the sport in the late 60's and early 70's. (And I like to note that NC State knocked them out of the '73 tournament ending their run at 7 straight. :-) ) This book has about 60 daily devotionals though I did not read it that way. On one page is text from Wooden, and on the opposite page is text from Jay Carty, who was an assistant coach for Wooden at UCLA as well as a brief player in the NBA. Carty now runs Yes! Ministries.

There were many good points in this book, and as usual I'll just highlight a few of my favorites:

• The 1st few pages have quotes from all kinds of favorite people, and I really liked this one from Steve Largent: "My favorite quote by Coach Wooden is "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your charachter is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others thinkg you are." Largent goes on to say that the definition of integrity is lining up who you are with who others think you are.
• Wooden: "The more concerned we become over things we can't control, the less we will do with the things we can control. My father often quoted Abraham Lincoln on this point: 'We'd be much happier if we magnified our blessings rather than our disappointments.'
• Carty: "Punishment is for the punisher's benefit -- to make him or her feel better. Discipline always has the other person's best interest in mind."
• And finally a poem, "Walk Slowly," by Adelaide Love, that Wooden included:

  If you should go before me, dear, walk slowly
  Down the ways of death, well-worn and wide,
  For I would want to overtake you quickly
  And seek the journey's ending by your side

  I would be so forlorn not to descry you
  Down some shining high road when I came;
  Walk slowly, dear, and often look behind you
  And pause to hear if someone calls your name.

Skywalker. David Thompson . January 2004.

Brian and Jenny Ricker gave this signed copy to me for Christmas. It's normally not the type of book I would buy, but I read it and am glad I did. The book was almost a play by play of David's life -- and sometimes a play by play of the biggest games of his career. I thought that some of the level of detail surrounding particular games was a bit too in depth, and that the level of detail surrounding his personal life was a bit too shallow.

David was a high flying high school and college player (3 time all american, national player of the year, National Champion in 1973), and had a somewhat good but not great ABA and NBA career. He got into drugs and alcohol and had some injuries that limited is professional potential. The problems he had eventually brought him back to God, and now he spends most of his time giving speeches to kids about drugs and how they can ruin a life and how you need God.

The next several books I either read or browsed sometime other than 2004, but I am going to include them here rather than in the 2003 notebook.

The Healthy Kitchen.  Andrewe Weil and Rosie Daley. Sometime in 2003.

I got this sometime last year in 2003, and did read most of it then. But I never finished it so I'm going to put in a brief word now. This book has a lot of good information in it. I've always liked Weil's advice and have read most of his books. This one also has lots recipes from Rosie in it. The green colored pages are Weil's and discuss his current nutrional beliefs, which I must say have changed over the years. Before it was no peanuts and cheese, and now he believes both can be good parts of an overall diet. That is just one examle of many, and I won't get into all the details of everything that is covered. Suffice it to say that it is a good book with good recipes!

Camping & Wilderness Survival. Paul Tawrell. Sometime in 2002 - 2003.

I bought this in Black Mountain, NC, just before the Black Mountain marathon in 2002. There is a ton of information -- almost too much. Each page is just packed full of information, advice, pictures, etc. I have to admit that I never made it that far, though. The book doesn't really lend itself to sitting down and reading cover to cover. However, it is useful as a reference, or to just pick up and flip pages every now and then.

Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Jamie Oliver. Sometime in 2003.

Kelly got this book for me for my birthday. We have all of Jamie's books, and they all have great recipes! My style of cooking is much more like Jamie's than anyone else's. Basically fresh produce and herbs and simple to prepare, yet delicious. I really need to take time to make more of his great recipes! Once you make most of his dishes, it's easy to change and improvise slightly -- add new ingredients, etc.

 

John Rosemond's New Parent Power. John Rosemond. Sometime in 2003.

I read Rosemond's weekly article in the news paper every week, and I often, though not always, agree with him. Many people would call him "old fashioned" or worse, but I really think much of what he says is true. Babies and kids today are treated, too often, like equals or friends by their parents. And this fact is what leads to so many having problems. Sometimes his discipline tactics may seem a bit harsh to some, but again, I'm on the same page. There are in fact some things Kelly and would never do (well, we say that now -- ask again in a couple of years!!), such as his potty training method (no diapers for a week once the child is two or older, and use $75 to pay for the carpet cleaning).

Another area we differ, though I am beginning to agree with him, is on child proofing the house. Kelly and I have chosen only to child proof in terms of things that are dangerous -- gates on the stairs, chemicals in higher cabinets, etc. We did not want to put locks on all of our new houses cabinents, or to put many things away, etc. And of course, Riley gets into lots of things that we'd rather not have her get into. And right now, at about 18 months, she doesn't understand consequences, so things like timeout just don't help. As soon as she's out of timeout, she's right back into things we don't want her to be into. Rosemond would have us put all such things away, or make it impossible for Riley to get to. I'm hoping she learns consequences soon enough!