More times than I care to admit I have heard the U2 song lyrics "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" run through my head. Have you ever felt lost? Wondered "what am I doing here?" Asked yourself  "Is this all there is?"  I am guilty of asking these questions many times over the years. 

 A new friend of mine must have sensed my troubled sole (or not) and thrust this silly little book into my hands about a week ago and said "read this". It sat on the table for 5 days until I finally decided to pick it up. "Stupid title"  I though as I started to read page 1. After I turned the first page I was hooked, a very quick read.

"Tuesdays with Morrie"  Is a lesson about life love and how to live. It's a true story about a university professor who is in his seventies and is dying from Lou Gehrig's disease and his favorite student "Mitch". Mitch finds his old prof 16 years after graduation in the twilight of his life suffering a slow certain death. The two proceed to meet every Tuesday for the remaining days of Morrie's life where Mitch receives the last class his favorite teacher will ever give.

"No books were required, yet many topics were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, marriage, forgiveness, and finally, death. The last lecture was brief, only a few words. A funeral was held in lieu of graduation."

and a couple of my favorite parts...

"The most important thing in life is how to give out love and how to let it come in. We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said 'love is the only rational act..'"

This part made me remember my mothers last night and the feelings I had as I helped her sit up in the hospital bed hours before she passed away.

"I leaned over, locked my forearms under Morrie's armpits, and hooked him toward me, as if lifting a large log from underneath, Then I straightened up hoisting hm as I rose. Normally, when you lift someone, you expect their arms to tighten around your grip, but Morie could not do this, He was mostly dead weight, and I felt his head bounce softly on my shoulder and his body sag against me like a big damp loaf...Holding him like that moved me in a way I cannot describe, except to say I felt the seeds of death inside his shriveling frame, and as I laid him in his chair, adjusting his head on the pillows, I had the coldest realization that our time was running out. And I had to do something."

This is one great book. It's funny how clear life's mysteries become when faced with your own mortality. Morrie's clarity is startling and his wisdom profound. Get this book, read it and then share it with someone you love.  .

"When you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

 Mitch Albom also wrote "the Five people you meet in heaven" Both books were made into movies.

  I was reluctant to read this book for several reasons. First off I’m not a big fiction reader. I like to think of reading as educational and usually seek out books that teach substance or improve ones state of mind. Second, this is a book that a lot of people have read and that just made me think of here today gone tomorrow fads, which I don’t like. But after reading Voltaires Bastards I felt a nice, easy, fun read was in order, so I relented and turned the first page.

The books main character, Robert Langdon is a Professor of Religious Symbology. Robert happens to stumble into an intriguing secret society – "The Priory of Sion" – A European secret society founded in 1099, which functions as the keeper and protector of a religious secret that would shake the foundations of Christianity as it is known today. Throughout the story Langdon is tracked by a member of the Opus Dei – A deeply devout Catholic sect, whose soul purpose is to prevent the "secret" from being exposed to the general populace.

The book is comprised of 105 Chapters, all of them very short so its easy to pick up and read a few pages when ever one has a moment. I would describe the story as fast, exciting and thought provoking. It would seem a great deal of time has been spent trying to "prove" some of the claims made in the story. The book has also upset the Catholic church enough to generate Many official statements “Enjoy the read, but discount the history.” Cardinal George notes that The DaVinci Code, in the name of historic accuracy and scholarship, pushes an attack on the Catholic Church. The claims made in The DaVinci Code, the cardinal says, are preposterous."

As usual I feel compelled to share a couple of paragraphs from the story that struck me as very interesting.

"Nobody could deny the enormous good the modern Church did in today’s troubled world, and yet the Church had a deceitful and violent history. Their brutal crusade to "reeducate" the pagan and feminine worshipping religions spanned three centuries, employing methods as inspired, as they were horrific."

The Catholic Inquisition published the book that arguably could be called the most blood-soaked, publication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum-orTheWitches’Hammer-indoctrinated the world to "the dangers of freethinking women" and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture, and destroy them. Those deemed "witches" by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gathers, and any women "suspiciously attuned to the natural world." Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to ease the pain of childbirth-a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God’s rightful punishment for Eve’s parinal Sin. During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women."

"The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall Magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved throughout countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book."

Months ago I had a conversation with a fellow who had a "Christian weblog" the title of my post was "Does God have a Penis?" After reading this book and some of the other books on philosophy I think the answer to my question is –Yes, god has a Penis and it belongs to man. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. Its fun, captivating and thoroughly enjoyable. And for arguements sake, yes it is fiction.

 I turned the last page on this book over a week ago and needed time to let my head clear somewhat before I tackled the review. Voltaire’s Bastards is a book about the decline of our Western Civilization, how we are approaching the end of an era and some of the serious issues that confront our way of life. Saul paints a bleak picture of our current society, our language, our politics our economics and our leadership. The book was a long read, I found myself re-reading sections several times either because I didn’t get it or I couldn’t believe it. My wife and I have had several discussions about Saul’s point of view on various issues in the book, most of which have been approached with disagreement. The overall tone of the book is kind of gloomy, many problems are described in detailed, a great deal of research was performed to support the position and very few solutions are suggested. It is however an excellent catalyst for discussion which may have been his intention from the beginning.

Saul claims that our western society has been in the "age of reason" for the past 200 years and this "age" is nearing its end due to several factors such as the breakdown of our language, the perversion of democracy, the specialization of the individual and poor leadership. Some of his views on things like the economic practices of our society and the individualism approach to our lives are quite disturbing. Over all I found the book well written and well researched. As I read I found myself marking pages and underlining passages that pulled at the strings of my consciousness. Here are some of them, what do you think?

"The new Holy trinity is organization, technology and information. The new priest is the Technocrat – the man who understands the organization, makes use of the technology and controls access to the information, which is a compendium of ‘facts’."

"To this day, men who find themselves burdened by the adjective Machiavellian also find their careers severely limited. And yet the question that might be asked is: Why do so few men carry the adjective? If you were to edit the sixteenth-century references out of ‘The Prince’ and then to re-title it Power and the executive of Effective Government, the book would immediately be adopted by all contemporary management courses aimed at training businessmen, civil servants and professional politicians. It would be considered an ideal manual for the preparation of the modern world leader."

"In the nineteenth century, doctors were at the centre of political, social and cultural change. Today, a doctor tends to reach her summit when her view of the human body consciously limits itself to a single organ. Is this woman not illiterate."

"A predefined argument in which the people’s questions and answers would inescapably lead them to accept the pope’s authority. Everything lay in the advance definition of the form of the interchange between the priest and the individual. Rhetoric was the science of that form….This is precisely the method used today by the MBA or the Enarque. The modern technocrat attempts at all costs to initiate any dialogue. Thus he is able to set, in the first sentences of any exchange, the context of the theoretical discussion about to take place. In written arguments briefing books play the same role. The intended audience unthinkingly accepts the parameters laid out. It is then caught up in the coil of the resulting logic and kept busy rushing back and fourth between the questions and answers which the predefined structure imposes. In the process it feels the satisfaction produced by simply keeping up of the despair of inferiority if it does not. There is no time for reflection or consideration of the basic parameters."

"Seventy-two million Americans are illiterate, the majority of them white. This doesn’t include the functionally illiterate. One-quarter of American children live below the poverty level. Forty percent of children in public schools are from racial minorities. The whites who can afford to are slipping away into the private school system. Twice as many children are born to American teenagers as to those of any other democracy. But if you begin to add such facts as that forty million Americans do not have access to medical care, you are also obliged to wonder if the problem lies not with the population but with the elite’s, their expectations and their own education.

If Harvard, to remain with the same example, is what it claims to be and its graduates are to be found everywhere, then why are they showing no signs of dealing with their society’s terrifying problems? Were Montesquieu’s proverbial Persian to look in upon American society today, the only possible conclusion he could draw would be that never has such a magnificent elite failed so miserably and done so with such little grace, insisting as it does upon blaming the lowest end of the social scale for much of what is wrong….Or about developing a common sense line linking general with elite education. Or about evaluating why the most complex and competitive higher education systems ever seen in the history of the world do not produce elite’s capable of addressing the problems of their society."

"We are now caught in the midst of great economic and moral confusion. Public officials, appointed or elected, of the Left or the Right, are terrified to speak out against a sector which, according to universally accepted dogma, stands between us and economic collapse. Many of them believe arms production to be a weight tied around our necks. But this is an heretical and therefore secret belief. As a result armaments dominate our economies in a silent, sullen manner, without the public knowing quite what to think."

"The more the United States and Canada modernize – or rationalize – their mail delivery, the less mail they can deliver at a slower rate to fewer places, with increasing irregularity and at both greater expense and higher cost to the user…Meanwhile, in Canada, in order to cut employment costs, post offices are being closed. The postal service is being franchised to variety stores as a sideline. These offer little more than stamps. They also cut the public off from their public servants in the post office.

The question of employment is particularly interesting. Humans deliver mail. If you reduce costs by reducing employment, you undermine the systems performance. This sets in motion the spin towards shrinking services. Systems analysis doesn’t understand this because it is busy realizing that a public service is not a separate, private corporation but part of a whole which is the entire public structure. If the profitability of a service were to be measured accurately, it would have to take into account the effect of that service on the lives and businesses of the population."

"There is a whole series of governmental and paragovernmental services in which the assumptions of modern management are quite simply wrong. In education is it cheaper to keep a teacher unemployed or employed? All the costs must be calculated, not just salary. The cost to the state of that teacher’s own education, for example. And the increased value to the future economy of the education given to a child in a class of twenty, or better still ten, rather than the current thirty or forty. And the cost to the state of rampant illiteracy. All the Western nations now admit that their universal education systems are not working. They are all in structure, method and content. But education – quantity and quality – is above all the result of teaching. And teaching requires teachers, the more the better. A national education strategy may sound reassuring but without more bodies a strategy is just a strategy."

"Governments use the weapon of quantity as often as the weapon of retention in order to sell their point of view. Factual attacks from the outside can be neutralized by a volley of governmental facts. Governments and large corporations always have more material than their critics….How is the citizen to choose among so many "True" statements? The factual snow job is one of the great inventions of the late twentieth century."

"The scientific community has changed our life more in this century than any parliament, and yet it feels obliged to justify nothing."

"The New Right is even more undisciplined than the liberal middle classes, which have redefined personal freedom as the privilege not to give of themselves when it comes to protecting or advancing the public good. Throughout the West they have gradually withdrawn from public life, claiming that politics si too damaging to their private lives. These lives tend now to be devoted to careerism, travel, holidays, sport, exercise and the caressing of a private state of mind which might be described as an obsession with their personal well-being. For both the New Right and the middle-class liberals, individualism has come to mean self-indulgence. Such a childlike approach to the role of the citizen has allowed them to invert logic in a remarkable way. The public servant- Police officer, soldier, tax collector, health authority – who is paid by the citizen, now becomes the enemy of the Citizen."

"The theory is that competition draws each individual along, bringing out of him or her the best he or she has to offer. Competition and the resulting fame are thought to be among the great achievements of our rational meritocracy. They promise both self-improvement and participation.

The reality is almost the opposite. In a world devoted to measuring the best, most of us aren’t even in the competition. Human dignity being what it is, we eliminate ourselves from the competition in order to avoid giving other people the power to eliminate us. Not only does a society obsessed by competition not draw people out, it actually encourages them to hide what talents they have, by convincing them that they are insufficient. The common complaint that we have become spectator societies is the direct result of an overemphasis on competition."

"The novelist was constantly pushing at the front edge of specific knowledge and understanding. Today’s novelist, living as he usually does in the isolation of literature’s own professional box, is unable to do this. What is it that he now knows profoundly enough to be able to write about? First, he knows about writing; second, about the world of writers; third, about the writer’s inner life; and fourth, about his own practical situation, on the margins of the normal world, where he may exist in comfort or in poverty. At on extreme are those who write about writing – the university novelist and the experimentalists. At the other are those who, like Raymond Carver, refuse this self-indulgent cocoon in favor of charting their own experiences on the edge.

In neither case do we have the novelist running ahead of society, dragging everyone else behind. Walter Bagehot had already seen the problem looming late in the nineteenth century. "The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.""

I must confess I have not read this cook book from cover to cover, yet. Primarly a recipe book about baking, the authors have traversed the globe in search of the tastiest things made from flour.  We have tried 2 recipes so far and from what I see their will be many more to come. The authors approach to baking is 'simplicity and fun'

"In the city, we have floors that are level and walls that meet at right angles, but at the farm everything is less than percise, including, sometimes, what we bake. We had never used a woodfired cast-iron cookstove before. When we'd try to stabilize our oven temperature, we couldn't always do it. And if we were an ingredient short, we'd think twice about going five miles into town. Perhaps we could do without. And, of course, sometimes things didin't turn out perfectly, but then they still tasted good.  The farm has been a reminder of how skills and expectations are relative....There are times to be precise, and times to deliberately work against the impulse to be precise. Flavor and taste are relative."

If your thinking of doing some baking this is a great place to start.

 Today marks the 8th annual World Book Day. To think I might have missed it.  I am currently reading Voltare's Bastards (review coming soon). I would like to take this moment to mention how reading books seems to be out of style and the trend is to do less and less of it. Lets stop this trend people! And please, don't forget to read to your kids everynight.

Mark Kingwell writes-"Suddenly, reading is a pleasure with too few ostensible-use payoffs, too many private costs for the realized social benefits. And North Americans are doing less and less reading all the time, as newspaper reports tell us over and over. The difference lately is that the emphasis has shifted, and routine expressions of misgiving or embarrassment are now countered by assertions that this or that person is simply to busy, too harried, or just too interesting, to read books; as so often elsewhere, shame is replaced by aggressive selfregard. Where before a lack of literate interest was regarded as a fault, nowadays we hear people express pride in their unwillingness to read for pleasure, the way teenagers report themselves proud of being easily bored."

 I personaly think World Book Day is a great thing! We need more World Book Days.

"A main aim of World Book Day is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own."

"Giving and receiving a recommendation of a favourite book is a real pleasure and it’s never been easier. Pick up one of our eight special postcards at any of our bookshop, library or other partners, look for it as an insertion in one of your usual newspapers or magazines or click here to send an e-card to a friend or colleague."

Happy reading everyone! 

 I have heard the names of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle mentioned countless times, never really knowing anything about them other than what scraps of information were passed on to me in random conversation. I knew that there were myriad’s of thinkers who have also tried to answer man’s most pressing questions throughout history. Ask me a name of one and all you would get is a dumb look and a head scratch, that is until now. With a desire to know more about whom the great thinkers in History were but not knowing their names I came across this basement box book, which appeared to solve my problem within the Title – Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers by S.E. Frost. Jr.

Frost takes readers on a Philosophical journey through Western Civilization, starting from the early Greeks right up to the 20^th century. Each chapter of the book looks at the most basic questions that have been posed by mankind and outlines the theories of various logicians in a chronological order. (The Nature of the Universe, Man’s Place in the Universe, What is Good and What is Evil, The Nature of God, Fate versus Free Will, The Soul and Immortality, Man and Education, Man and the State, Mind and Matter, Ideas and Thinking and Some Recent Approaches to Philosophy) The thoughts of over 125 philosophers are outlined (some more than others) on these various subjects.

After reading the book I now have a general concept of who these people were. I also feel better informed about life, values and concepts that had never occurred to me before this. The book made me question many things I previously just accepted. I also have some insight as to which ones I would like to study further.

Here are a few of excerpts that I found quite interesting. What do you think   

David Hume- ‘Belief in God, Hume taught, does not come from man’s reasoning but from human desire for happiness, fear of death and future misery, and the thirst on the part of many for revenge. Because we have these emotional and impulsive characteristics as human beings, we construct a belief in God and then seek to prove that such belief is justified by reason. Hume writes at length in his attempt to show that while, from the point of view of reason, we must be skeptical about God, from the fact of our impulsive and emotional nature we do not believe in God and construct a theory about God, which is necessary for us. This approach to the problem of the nature of God was, as we shall see later, the part of Hume’s philosophy, which stimulated Immanuel Kant to make a distinction between pure reason and practical reason.

Immanuel Kant – ‘Kant attacks the arguments fort he existence of God advanced by philosophers before him, seeking to prove that each one is full of inconsistencies and logical fallacies. But, although it is impossible for one to prove the existence of God by reason, belief in His existence is necessary for the moral life. We need this Idea of the Whole, this transcendent theology, as a foundation for our ethical principles.

William James- ‘James recognized that many men believe in the existence of a soul which has immortality and that such a belief has a certain usefulness in man’s moral life. But he was not able to make a place for this belief within the structure of careful thought. John Dewey is more certain than was James that there is no basis for such beliefs. Indeed, he is convinced that the doctrine of the soul may be definitely harmful since it carries a load of tradition which weights man down or causes him to give up altogether the attempt to understand experience which has the quality of the religious.’

Miguel De Unamuno- ‘The basic urge of life, thought Unamuno, is not simply to go on living, but to grow and to develop. Therefore the fundamental problem of life is the necessity of coping with the idea of death, which stops all growth. Each man lives in the agony of conflict between his will’s need for a life after death, and his reason’s denial of life after death. If one is to exist in meaningful terms, on must accept this frustration, and in spite of the awareness of death one must will passionate action. For even meaningless action, if it is profoundly motivated from the inner core of an individual’s existence, will provide the necessary balance to the twentieth century’s stifling, all-pervading dependence on impersonal reason.’

I love the way this book has made me ponder about things on a deeper level. If you are looking for a tool to assist you in initiating conversation at a party, this book will not let you down. You have my word on that!

 Since reading ‘Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ I have been overcome with an intense desire to own a motorcycle. I have a vision of my son and I cruising along the back roads of Canada, making our way out to Halifax for a tarry with an old friend. Or flying along the wide open prairie stretches of the TransCanada highway with a summer thunderstorm pressing our backs and the Rocky Mountains far ahead, ready to surrender their rewards of majesty and beauty. Or it could just be that I turned 40 recently and I need to awaken the youthful rebel spirit in me that threatens to vacate my sole, knowing it’s days are numbered as it slowly drain’s away under the weight and responsibility of adult life.

The Complete Motorcycle Book – A consumer’s Guide almost leaped off the shelf when I saw it at my local library. This book fulfilled my thirst for knowledge regarding Motorcycle’s in an immense way, covering every topic I needed information on. Incredibly informative, packed with useful data from Mechanics and maintenance, Safe riding, Purchasing, history and bike selection. I am now ready to progress to the next step with my bucket full of the required wisdom to select, purchase and care for my very own ‘crotch rocket’. The first chapter is excellent as it examines the motivation behind wanting to ride a motorcycle titled accordingly ‘When someone you love wants to ride a motorcycle’. Throughout the text there is a constant underlying tone of ‘safety’

"There are old motorcycle riders, and bold motorcycle riders, but there are no old, bold motorcycle riders."

Packed with statistics and 'preventive avoidance' safety techniques to assist any new rider in evading the many dangers involved in riding. This is a book I am reluctant to return to the library because I know I will want to reference it many times in the weeks and months ahead. Looks like its time to visit Amazon.

 This quote sais it all....

"...if someone of any age called me up...and said 'I want to try motorcycling; what should I do?'...I would recommend the book." - Rider

 My wife bought me this book for Valentines Day. Partly because I have been reading a lot lately, partly because I have been organizing a family fishing trip for the last 3 years now and partly because I have been reading a lot of books with a philosophy twist. In the past 8 months, Americans have written all the books I have read, with an American perspective. As a consumer of content I haven't paid much heed to this and for the most part was unaware of "the American perspective"  After reading Kingwell's "Catch and Release" I felt like I was allowed into the mind of a Canadian. Kingwell is not only a Canadian but also shares my timeline in life. This was by far the most enjoyable book I have read in the last year. It's one of those ones that are hard to put down. Not because of an overwhelming desire to see what's next but just because it's enjoyable. The imagery he uses is very Canadiana and is easy (for me anyway) to relate to. His writing often made me smile in a comfortable, reflective kind of way.

"I am far too near the beginning to feel this tow of delicious craziness, but I see already wisdom in the observation that "the man who has discovered fishing counts the world well lost" Adrift in a happiness without higher purpose, occupied but not directed, my thoughts veer off in random directions. I looked around and suddenly felt for the first time as if I were inside my country's money-the old kind, anyway, with the loons and woods, and, yes, the slow, low flight of a surprisingly massive osprey over the lake's slight chop."

Kingwell packs this book with humor, reflection and wisdom that is both practical and thought provoking. Even though the book has a constant thread, fishing, it is not about fishing so much as it is about life and peace of mind. In the beginning he is very much opposed to the idea of "Fishing" and names the second chapter "Fishing Is Stupid" but comes to the conclusion that this is not the case at all:

"I now found myself, against all odds, entirely happy, miles from my computer or the nearest library, untroubled by philosophical arguments I need to untangle or positions I need to defend. The state of mind peculiar to fishing, which I have called reflection, is neither precisely analytical nor entirely aimless; rather, it's a happy wandering that may outwardly resemble calm yet inwardly accommodates the most felicitous meanders, a quivering suspension in the delights of the moment. You are there but not there, concentrating but immobile, sharp-eyed but relaxed. Fishing is as close to prefect mental equilibrium as a mortal may wish to approach, it seems to me, since the asymptotic end point it sketches is probably indistinguishable from an out-of-body experience or, indeed, death. It is, says one devotee, a sport "capable of reducing the most inquiring mind to the happy indifference of a turnip." And how determinedly do we seek that vegetative state of contentment, this oddly welcome fever of peace, this therapeutic disease."

Near the end of the book he talks about his divorce and failed relationships, he writes:

"You cannot be happy alone, and you cannot be happy together. Mourning mourns the loss of a possible future, the not-yet that now will never be. Everything ends, including you. Love is not eternal, it is not even hardy. Accepting this takes a form and amount of courage that nobody but you will see, or appreciate. You can't change any of this; you have to live with it. Is that funny or sad? You know that it is both, and neither. Once again-and as always-that is the Point."

A book that is well worth the time. I am of course going to be reading more Kingwell in the future.

I picked this book up after seeing the movie 'The Tao of Steve" .

Thinking that their was more to the religion than the movie revealed. The book reads like a factual high school text book, not surprising since it was written by a teacher. It systematically covers the Taoism religion from Origins and history, beliefs, rituals, meditation and Taoism Today. Packed with lots of interesting facts it makes for a light read and only scratches the surface of the philosophy behind the religion. One of the interesting facts I picked up was Taoism was the birth mother of alchemy, as Taoists believed that a golden elixir of eternal life existed and early sects were devoted to the discovery of this 'life juice'. In the process many other chemical compounds were uncovered. i.e. gunpowder. Taoism is a religion that can be learned but can't be taught according to the Taoist masters.

Look, and it can't be seen. Listen and it can't be heard. Reach, and it can't be grasped... You can't know it, but you can be it, at ease in your own life.

and

The supreme good is like water, Which nourishes all things without trying to. It is content to take the low places that people disdain. Thus it is like the Tao.

In conclusion: The meditation disciplines and the philosophy of Taoism sound very interesting and may require further reading to gain a better understanding (knowing that it can not be taught may make this the best way to approach the subject) than this book provides. Yet for an overview of Taoism this book was worth the read.

I have always wanted to read this book because of its dark, evil reputation. Machiavellian -(Suggestive of or characterized by expediency, deceit, and cunning.) was a word I became familiar with long before I picked this book up. The Prince was a very short read broken down into many chapters. Some of it was tricky due to my lack of knowledge regarding the political landscape of his time but many of the ideas Machiavelli talks about translate well into the present. For instance:

'On Fortune's Role in Human Affairs and How She Can Be Dealt With'

"I conclude, therefore, that since fortune changes and men remain set in their ways, men will succeed when the two are in harmony and fail when they are not in accord. I am certainly convinced of this: that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, because fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, in order to keep her down, to beat her and to struggle with her.And it is seen that she more often allows herself to be taken over by men who are impetuous than by those who make cold advances; and then, being a woman, she is always the friend of young men, for they are less cautious, more aggressive, and they command her with more audacity." - He was definietly no Taoist.

and

"Without a doubt, princes become great when they overcome difficulties and obstacles that are imposed on them; and therefore fortune, especially when she wishes to increase the reputation of a new prince, who has a greater need to acquire prestige than a hereditary prince does, creates enemies for him and has them take action against him so that he will have the chance to overcome them and to climb higher up the ladder his enemies have brought him. Therefore many judge that a wise prince must, whenever he has the occasion, foster with cunning some hostility so that in stamping it out his greatness will increase as a result." - I wonder if this book is required reading by US Presidents?

If this book was written today I could see the title being "How to be a successful Prince for Dummies" or with a little editing "How to run Microsoft for Dummies"

In conclusion I think the 21st century - 500+ years have taken a lot of the edge off the 'deceit, and cunning' contained in Nick's work. I mean the Pope is probably still reeling from it but the rest of mankind has demonstrated over and over again that Machiavelli did not invent these ideas he just took the time to write them down. A quick fun read.

 My wife bought me this book on a recent business trip to SanDiego. It covers the history of the Medal of Honor from inception to present and looks at the lives, before and after, of recipients from the American Civil war up to Vietnam. Some of the notables are Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Samuel Woodfill, Vernon Baker, Hiroshi "Hershey" Miyamura and Dwight Johnson. I found the book an easy read and the lives of the subject's fascinating. I also found the Political/Military involvement in the issuing of the award somewhat disturbing. In places the awards history is intertwined with Prejudice, political bureaucracy and a selection process that in some cases seems to lack the honor that went into achieving the award in the first place. I also felt ashamed for America and the fact that it seems to place such little concern for the well being of so many of their veterans after their service has ended. A case in point is the Death of Dwight Johnson who was shot and killed by a store clerk in a half hearted robbery attempt which was obviously undertaken by him as an act of desperation and depression.

'On May 26, an in-depth article written by Jon Nordheimer appeared in the Times. A reader responded to the article with a letter to the editor that offered poverty as a possible answer: "Sergent Johnson couldn't have bought a can of soup with his Medal of Honor at that grocery store."'

In conclusion this is a very interesting book that gives insight into what makes someone go above and beyond the call of duty at great personal risk and self sacrifice. It left me with the question "could I do the same if it were me?"

I have been meaning to read this book for about 20 years, and now that I have, I’m glad I waited. A younger me wouldn't have made it past page 100. It was a very slow read with lots of philosophical concepts and cerebral thoughts. The book is comprised of 3 parts, a cross country motorcycle journey made by a father and son, a story about a man’s mental illness and an in-depth look at the philosophical meaning of the concept of ‘quality’. I enjoyed Pirsig’s account of the journey, the imagery he created and the romantic feel of the trip. It inspired me to want to buy a motorcycle and take my son on a tour across Canada. The ‘Phaedrus’ section of the book, about a man’s obsession with a concept and how it consumed him, resulting in him being institutionalized was difficult to stay focused on. Not to say it did not have its moments but I really felt I was inside the head of a madman on numerous occasions. I also found some aspects depressing, especially regarding his relationship with his son. The part regarding the meaning of quality and the philosophical meaning in its relation to life was very intellectual and lost me on more than one occasion. (I forgot to get my PhD in retoric) I did however enjoy the pieces I was able to grasp and found myself marking several passages in the book.  Here are my favorites:

"This book has a lot to say about Ancient Greek perspectives and their meaning but there is one perspective it misses. That is their view of time. They saw the future as something that came upon them from behind their backs with the past receding away before their eyes.

When you think about it, that's a more accurate metaphor than our present one. Who really can face the future? All you can do is project from the past, even when the past shows that such projections are often wrong. And who really can forget the past? What else is there to know?

Ten years after the publication of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance the Ancient Greek perspective is certainly appropriate. What sort of future is coming up from behind I don't really know. But the past, spread out ahead, dominates everything in sight."

" You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it’s going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt."

"To travel is better than to arrive"

"Getting stuck is the commonest trouble of all. Usually, I say, your mind gets stuck when you’re trying to do too many things at once. What you have to do is try not to force words to come. That just gets you more stuck. What you have to do now is separate out the things and do them one at a time. You’re trying to think of what to say and what to say first at the same time and that’s too hard. So separate them out. Just make a list of all the things you want to say in any old order. Then later figure out the right order."

" You’ve got to live right too. It’s the way you live that predisposes you to avoid the traps and see the right facts. You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally. That’s the way all the experts do it. The making of a painting or the fixing of a motorcycle isn’t separate from the rest of your existence. If you’re a sloppy thinker for six days of the week you aren’t working on your machine, what trap avoidance’s, what gimmicks, can make you all of a sudden sharp on the seventh? It all goes together.

But if you’re a sloppy thinker six days a week and you really try to be sharp on the seventh, then maybe the next six days aren’t going to be quite as sloppy as the preceding six. What I’m trying to come u0 with on these gumption traps, I guess, is shortcuts to living right.

The real cycle you’re working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from quality together."

In closing, I found myself wondering a lot about his personal life and the events preceding his trip. I would have liked to see more details about his current circumstances included. Not that it has much bearing on the overall message of the book but it would have rounded out the character better. I also think that his views on education were very fascinating. I wish some of my teachers would have applied the concepts he speaks about during the course of my education.

When I first set eyes on this book at the public library I thought about the wine I had made the previous year at my local brew your own swill joint. I thought about how excited I was to make my own vino (all 60 bottles of it) and about how disappointing the end product eventually turned out to be. I decided it was time I understood why my Syrah tasted like a stinky wet dog and my Chardonnay tasted more like lemon-aid than the buttery oakey flavor description on the box of juice I bought. 

This book was a very long read. Not because it was difficult or uninteresting. Quite the contrary, it was informative and engaging, often encouraging the reader (in a suggestive kinda way) to whip out to the liquor store and grab a bottle of Cabernet Franc or Baco Noir. Not for the pleasure of the drink but strictly for study purposes. I mean how one can expect to fully comprehend the information with out correlating it to the product you're studying is behond me.

This constant necessity to acquire study material, as you can imagine, caused numerous distractions when trying to read. And lets not forget the effects of the beverage and the way it makes you want to impart your newly acquired knowledge on anyone who will listen.

Upon completion of the book, I can now say with confidence that I know far more about wine than I did pre read. I can also say with great conviction  that by learning how much information exists on the subject, 'I still know very little about wine.' I did however aquire enough information to advise my younger brother on future 'can't go wrong' wine purchases in one word. Inniskillin.

This book inspired me to:

check out the cost of vineyards in southwestern Ontario, find a place to buy fresh grapes and fresh juice for this years batch of home brew, find a place to buy grape vines and

 a place to plant them. (thanks Scott)

In closing here is an excerpt about Ordering Wine in a dining establishment:

"Your server should place the cork on the table beside you so that you can examine it. The end that has been in the bottle (referred to as the business end) Should be swollen and wet. This tells you the wine has been stored on its side. A wet and swollen cork seals off the bottle more completely, leaving little room for air to get in and oxidize the wine. You should also sniff the cork to check for moldy smells that indicate a bad bottle."

 

 Who buys the Rolex watches, Porsche's, Yacht's and Alligator shoes? According to this book, not who you would expect. The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D. takes an in-depth look at who the typical Millionaire in America really is and how they got that way. This book contains lots of survey results, tons of charts and graphs and a very focused look at the lifestyles of the rich and not so famous millionaires, their families, and occupations, spending and investing habits.

"It would seem the key factor to accumulating wealth is frugality, living below your means and knowledge in investing your surplus income. The Lifestyle of a typical American Millionaire (Jonny Lucas) is hard work, discipline, sacrifice, thrift, and sound investment habits. Why are so few people in America affluent? Even most households with six-figure annual incomes are not affluent. These people have a different orientation than does Jonny. They believe in spending tomorrow's cash today. They are debt-prone and are on earn-and-consume treadmills. To many of them, those who do not display abundant material possessions are not successful. To them, nondisplay-oriented people like Jonny are their inferiors."  ~The Millionaire Next Door~

I found this book to be very interesting and informative. The information was admittedly a bit of a suprise. It certainly makes me think a lot more about my own purchasing habits almost as much as it makes me wonder about the outward appearances of others who I always thought to be "wealthy". An easy/fun read that will inspire some interesting conversation around home for sure.

This 717 page biography leaves no stone unturned and gives a complete rendition of the life and times of Benjamin Franklin. It includes numerous references from Franklin himself. Both from his published articles and personal letters. I am fascinated at the amount of correspondence he sent over the course of his life. Here is a guy who would have loved MSN Messenger. After finishing this book I almost feel like I knew the man personally. I even shed a tear when he died. Prior to reading this Bio I though Franklin was just a crazy guy who flew a kite in a thunderstorm and invented the light bulb. Funny how cartoons watched as a child can shape ones perception of one of the greatest figures in American History. I really enjoyed this book, even if a bit long. I found his life very inspirational. Here are a few "quotes" from old Ben....

"You would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing."

"Well done is better than well said."

"There are no gains without pains"

"Diligence is the mother of good luck."

and in closing Franklin wrote this epitaph at the precocious age of twenty-two.

"The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, its contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be wholly lost, for it will, as he believed, appear once more, in a new and more perfect edition, corrected and amended by the author."

is the story of Julian Mantle, a superstar lawyer whose out-of-balance lifestyle leads him to an almost fatal heart attach in a packed courtroom. His physical collapse brings on a spiritual crisis that forces him to confront the condition of his life and seek answers to life's most important questions.

I found this book to be an easy read with lots of tools/exercises for self-improvement. There were numerous  parallels to the Tony Robbins book I just finished coupled with some new techniques on how to apply the changes discussed. I found the relationship between the 2 lawyers adequately served the authors purpose in providing a vehicle to present the key concepts. I do think Sharma could have spent a little more time developing the principal characters and exploring their relationship within the context of the subject matter. This would have provided the reader with a better foundation for establishing commonality with the characters. 

A sample from the book - 'Julian had one final thought to share on the subject of time. "Perhaps most importantly, John, stop acting like you have five hundred years to live. When Jane brought that little hourglass to me she offered some advice that I will never forget."   "What did she say?"  "She told me that the best time to plant a tree was forty years ago. The second best time is today. Don't waste even one minute of your day. Develop a deathbed mentality."

And in closing

'Happiness is a journey, not a destination.'

If you are looking for answers you may find some in this book. Worth the read.

 

 

After watching several episodes of "A cooks tour" on the food network I felt like I was missing somthing. You could tell that in some cases we were not hearing everything that was going on in Tony's head. This inspired me to read this book. Tony is a but smoking, booze chugging, gruff, mealy, tell it like it is, no BS kind of chef/writer who will put almost anything in his mouth. The story as per the title is about his quest to find the perfect meal. His travels take him to some very interesting places (Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, San Sebastian, Pailin and Fez just to name a few) where he dines on some delicious sounding and sometimes very bizarre cuisine. I very much enjoyed his writing style and his Macavellian sense of humour. Here is a sample from the beginning of the book where he is deciding to attend a pig slaughter in Portugal.

"Understand this about me - and about most chefs, I'm guessing: For my entire professional career, I've been like Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part II, ordering up death over the phone, or with a nod or a glance. When I want meat, I make a call, or I give my Sous-chef, my butcher, or my charcutier a look and they make the call. On the other end of the line, my version of Rocco, Al Neary, or Lucca Brazzi either does the job himself or calls somebody else who gets the thing done. Sooner or later, on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, or as far away as Scotland - something dies. Every time I have picked up the phone or ticked off an item on my order sheet, I have basically caused a living thing to die. What arrives in my kitchen, however is not the bleeding, still-warm body of my victim, eyes open, giving me an accusatory look that says, 'Why me, Tony? Why me?' I don't have to see that part... I had never, until I arrived on a farm in northern Portugal, had to look my victim in the face - much less watched at close range - as he was slaughtered, disemboweled, and broken down into constituent parts. It was only fair, I figured, that I should have to watch as the blade went in. I'd been vocal, to say the least, in my advocacy of meat, animal fat, and offal. I'd said some very unkind things about vegetarians. Let me find out what we're all talking about, I thought. I would learn - really learn - where food actually comes from." - Tony Bourdain

If you like cooking and you like to travel then you should like this book. A fun read that can make you a little peckish at times.

 

 

 

As I sit here contemplating what to write about this book I can't help but think about my state of mind. 10 days ago I found myself saturated in worry about copious issues surrounding my life. A state of stormy turmoil which drove my desire for change and directed me into my basement where in a dusty old box filled with books from past days I found some answers.

Have you ever wondered why you do the things you do? What factors are involved in formulating the questions you ask yourself on a daily basis? Why your beliefs, convictions and values are yours and not necessarily mine? Who you are? Are you "happy"? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you may want to give this book a few hours of your time. Filled with inspiring quotations from a plethora of great minds of history. Tony enlightens us on our true potential and asks us to take a deep look at ourselves, examine our motives, and then guides us on a journey of self discovery, constantly empowering us along the way on how to avoid Pain and find pleasure during our existence here on earth.

"Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, Pain and Pleasure... they govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it."  - Jeremy Bentham