The City of Ember

This is a book by Jeanne DuPrau. It was written for young people, but like the Harry Potter books, adults can enjoy it as well.

In this book, Ember is an underground city that is cutoff from the rest of the world. The residents don't really know where the city is, or if there is anything outside of their city, however. They do know that there is no light outside the city, so they cannot leave. They have electric lights, but no portable lighting of any kind. The city is running out of supplies, and their electric supply is starting to fail.

Two residents of the city find a document that explains how to leave the city, but it is damaged. They do figure it out in the end and go.

There are three other books in the series. Looking forward to reading the others as well. Recommended.

The Yoga of Jesus

This is a book by Paramahansa Yogananda. It shows how the teachings of Jesus are actually similar to and in-line with Yoga (meditation) teachings from India.

Actually, the book described here is a collection of selected excerpts from a larger two volume work "The Second Coming of Christ ..." by Yogananda. It is meant to give readers a flavor of the much longer presentation in the two volume work. The larger work goes through all the Gospels.

Yogananda makes many very interesting points that I think make a lot of sense. I especially liked the last chapter "The Kingdom of God within You", although others were good as well. It may be worthwhile tackling the 1700 pages in the two volume version some day.

Give it a try if this seems of interest. Let me know what you think.

Studying French (Again)

I am from south Lousiana and am of Cajun ancestry - which means that most of my ancestors were French and/or French speaking. When I was growing up, parents were discouraged from teaching their children French at home, and my home was no exception. I learned English only. Adults used French to talk about things they did not want children to understand.

By the time I got to college, most people in south Lousiana felt that it had been a mistake to suppress the French language there. As I had to take three semesters of foreign language to graduate, I took French.

I did very well and had a much easier time than students who had not grown up with French speaking relatives. I had the "ear" I guess, even if I did not know many words when I started French 101.

Here we are about 30 years later and like most things you don't use, I have forgotten most of the French that I learned. As most of my old relatives who spoke French are gone, I decided that maybe I should make an effort to learn or relearn to keep it alive in the family.

I found a really good book in a used bookstore and have started up with it. I am also reading simple articles on the internet in French to practice. It might be a little like riding a bike after all, because I am picking it up again very fast after a little review and practice.

We'll have to see how far I get, but I hope it is pretty far this time and that it sticks.

A Disturbing Book

I saw this book by Claudia Koonz in a bookstore a while back, and the title caught my eye. When I saw the title, I wondered what the author was up to naming it this. "The Nazi Conscience" does seem to be a bit of an oxymoron.

The author's premise (and I do think she might be on to something) is that one reason the Nazis were able to do all the bad things they did with so little resistance was their use of a slow campaign before WWII to make the German people believe that "undesirable" groups were "other" until they fell outside of the German "moral space". Conscience was adjusted so to speak. This may have been easier to do than what might be expected given the German people's weariness, shame and anger over the loss in WWI and the subsequent moral, political and economic crisis.

I was surprised to learn just how chaotic Nazi philosophy was on the subject of race and how most of the big Nazis condemned overt violence and crude verbage against groups they did not like - before WWII started at least. It was interesting to learn how much dissent the Nazis tolerated within Germany itself albeit within some limits. Perhaps this was a master stroke by Hitler in reality.

I think that there is a lesson to be learned from this book that is very applicable to the world situation today. When people start to feel that they are in the midst of a moral crisis, especially when the political and economic situations are bad, then extreme groups could come in and start a dangerous backlash; moderation in all things seems the way to go to avoid this. The author seems to recognize such dangers given statements on the very last page of the book at least.

As to the writing in the book, it was better at the beginning. Later in the book, it seemed to me that it would have been better if the author had summarized things more than she did.

Give it a try, but be warned that some of the illustrations and things the books tells about are quite disturbing.

Taming Chaos

This is a Kabbalah book by Rav P. S. Berg.

I have read several books by authors associated with the Kabbalah Centre as is this one. I find them to be organized in a strange way, but they do offer many interesting and useful insights. This one is no exception.

It would be difficult to summarize this book and do it justice. Let me just say that it offers good ideas on how to change your outlook on life that might really help.

Give it a try.

The Burgermeister's Daughter

This is a book by Steven Ozment.

We had a power failure the other day, and I had to find something to do where there was power. Don't ask me why, but I visited a university bookstore, and I noticed this book was being used in a graduate history class. It looked really good, and they actually had it at the library near my house.

This book tells the story of Anna Buschler of the town of Hall in Germany in the early to mid 1500's. She was the burgermeister's daughter (hence the title) and a bit wild. She and her father had a falling out and he threw her out and they ending up suing each other. Things got worse when he died - there was litigation over his will. Like a car wreck, you have to look!! Really, it is an interesting story, and the author tells it within the greater historical and cultural context existing then.

I liked the book, but was a bit surprised that it got out of the publishers without better editing. Ambiguous language and small contradictions were common. The author is a Harvard professor - hmm?

Anyway, it is worth a read if this sort of things interests you.