Great book thus far by Ben. I'm only about fifty pages into it, but I don't think we could have chosen a book more relevant to today's political environment. It's the fascist, extreme Right vs. the radical communist Left. I haven't quite figured out Doctorow's agenda here. I initially thought he would be fighting against all the conservative "red-scared" nut jobs that sent their neighbors to the electrical chair at the height of the Cold War, but he has been critical of BOTH sides in his novel. How is this anything like today? Well, while John McCain may not be seen as a right-wing extremist, Obama has CERTAINLY (and with some justification at times) been called a radical, Marxist, left-wing communist. We've sort of tip-toed around politics at times on this blog, but I think this book won't allow that. Perhaps that's why Doctorow has had just about every one of his books on banned-book lists all over the country--he brings to the forefront topics that make people uncomfortable, scared, and angry. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book. And even if you aren't reading it, take some time to think about the politics that are happening right now. It would be interesting to hear everyone's point of view, even at the expense of things getting heated and people disagreeing.
As an aside for Ben--midterms are in the summer because 2nd-year med students in the UTMB curriculum have class for 11 months. I had an 8-week "summer" during which time I did research in plastic surgery. Have you (or anyone) seen The Onion movie? I haven't seen it or heard anything...is it worth renting?
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Hurricanes and Midterms...
I'm glad people enjoyed The Alchemist. It's an easy read that seems to bring things into focus. A little self-meditation is good for everyone.
For those of you who were worried about me surviving Tropical Storm Eduardo...scratch that, did any of you even know that Eduardo was a big deal down here? I even called Dave when his entire state was underwater, but does he make any attempt at checking up on me when the hurricane is about to hit? Actually, the whole thing was way overblown. We were worried for awhile...gas stations were out of gas, people were fist-fighting over water bottles and beer at the grocery store, and in the end it was just a bad rain storm.
As if the possibility of a hurricane wasn't enough, I have been dealing with midterms all week. I'm heading out now to buy The Book of Daniel and I'm putting all studying behind me this week, so I can read what I want!
Congrats to Ben on the move to Colorado...maybe Hillary and I will see more of you now (her family is there). From what I understand, the further south you get, the better lawyer you are. Soon enough, you'll be down here by us!
I'm also gearing up for the olympics...
The Beijing Olympics: Are They A Trap?
...notice my favorite guy from the Sonic commercials! "What else did your body tell you to do? Did your body tell you to wear that sweater today?"
For those of you who were worried about me surviving Tropical Storm Eduardo...scratch that, did any of you even know that Eduardo was a big deal down here? I even called Dave when his entire state was underwater, but does he make any attempt at checking up on me when the hurricane is about to hit? Actually, the whole thing was way overblown. We were worried for awhile...gas stations were out of gas, people were fist-fighting over water bottles and beer at the grocery store, and in the end it was just a bad rain storm.
As if the possibility of a hurricane wasn't enough, I have been dealing with midterms all week. I'm heading out now to buy The Book of Daniel and I'm putting all studying behind me this week, so I can read what I want!
Congrats to Ben on the move to Colorado...maybe Hillary and I will see more of you now (her family is there). From what I understand, the further south you get, the better lawyer you are. Soon enough, you'll be down here by us!
I'm also gearing up for the olympics...
The Beijing Olympics: Are They A Trap?
...notice my favorite guy from the Sonic commercials! "What else did your body tell you to do? Did your body tell you to wear that sweater today?"
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Good Book
I enjoyed The Alchemist. I think the thing that I liked the most was the character Santiago. I thought he was extremely intelligent and thoughtful. Throughout the book I liked how he was so perceptive and caught onto things. I especially liked how he picked up on unspoken cues, the language of the universe, and acted on them.
To me the whole book seemed to symbolize life for most people. Santiago thought he had it all planned out but then another opportunity came up and he was wise enough to follow through with it. Most people aren't. I'm not sure if my life is following my personal legend or that I believe such things have been concretely ordained. I guess I need to watch the omens a bit more carefully! In the end though, his life became much more than he imagined it to be.
I thought it was clever that he ended up back in Andalusia. The story is obviously showing that the journey was just as important as the destination. It's good to be reminded about such eternal truths.
I can get behind Ben's suggestion and Nick's vote of The Book of Daniel despite Nick's obvious bias! As if we haven't had enough Russian themes in the previous books we've read (Epicenter and Asher Lev)! Just kidding. I read a small summary and it does sound good. I'll look forward to it!
Alchemy
I enjoyed the Alchemist. Thanks Nick. The subject matter (following your dreams/destiny) and the way it was presented (third-person omniscient narrator) really force introspective thought - something I like doing anyway.
The story invites us to find and pursue our personal legend. It glorifies those that pursue their dreams saying that the universe conspires to help them, that God is with them, that they will know the soul and language of the world, etc. etc. At the same time, it treats those that choose local, safe and secure paths as cowards who are no more than sheep only seeking food and water. You'll recall the crystal shop owner who won't go to Mecca and the Baker who wanted to travel that didn't as examples.
The only problem I had with the story is that I felt it didn't give the reader any credit. In the story, the boy was asked to 'read the omens' by paying attention to subtle signals that the desert/nature was presenting. He would come to know the language and soul of the world through this process. Yet, the author didn't give the reader omens to follow, we were herded along like the sheep. Instead of being asked to read subtle signals, we were beaten over the head with plain, repetitious statements of his thesis (following heart/legend =good, being a sheep/settling = cowardly).
It was entertaining to read and as I wrote previously, it forced me to look at my life decisions critically. I enjoyed the idea that things were continually evolving--lead to copper to gold. The idea that everything has a personal legend to improve, at which point the personal legend changes so that the evolution continues.
When I was younger I just knew (you could say it was in my heart) that I was going to be a baseball player and that I was going to be a good one. My commitment to my dream was challenged continually by the lack of stability in my legs. I pushed toward my dream only to have it fail spectacularly. I thought that harder work and more fervent prayers could make up the difference but they didn't or couldn't. I don't know if it was stubbornness or if I just needed to learn lessons from the fruitless struggling but I kept pursuing it despite the pain. Nowadays, I like to think that baseball had nothing left to teach me and that's why I was sent in a new direction, toward new legends. Perhaps I had already become copper or something. Perhaps I quit right before I was about to break through. Maybe if I had tried to come back from the back surgery and accepted the independent league offers for scraps... Who knows, right?
Anyway, I'd like to hear other opinions on the book and/or some of your personal legends. I would also like to invite Cameron back to the blog once again. Cam, I am formally apologizing for calling you pseudo-open-minded or something like that a while ago. I was joking but after re-reading my post, I'm not sure it came across that way.
Ben
The story invites us to find and pursue our personal legend. It glorifies those that pursue their dreams saying that the universe conspires to help them, that God is with them, that they will know the soul and language of the world, etc. etc. At the same time, it treats those that choose local, safe and secure paths as cowards who are no more than sheep only seeking food and water. You'll recall the crystal shop owner who won't go to Mecca and the Baker who wanted to travel that didn't as examples.
The only problem I had with the story is that I felt it didn't give the reader any credit. In the story, the boy was asked to 'read the omens' by paying attention to subtle signals that the desert/nature was presenting. He would come to know the language and soul of the world through this process. Yet, the author didn't give the reader omens to follow, we were herded along like the sheep. Instead of being asked to read subtle signals, we were beaten over the head with plain, repetitious statements of his thesis (following heart/legend =good, being a sheep/settling = cowardly).
It was entertaining to read and as I wrote previously, it forced me to look at my life decisions critically. I enjoyed the idea that things were continually evolving--lead to copper to gold. The idea that everything has a personal legend to improve, at which point the personal legend changes so that the evolution continues.
When I was younger I just knew (you could say it was in my heart) that I was going to be a baseball player and that I was going to be a good one. My commitment to my dream was challenged continually by the lack of stability in my legs. I pushed toward my dream only to have it fail spectacularly. I thought that harder work and more fervent prayers could make up the difference but they didn't or couldn't. I don't know if it was stubbornness or if I just needed to learn lessons from the fruitless struggling but I kept pursuing it despite the pain. Nowadays, I like to think that baseball had nothing left to teach me and that's why I was sent in a new direction, toward new legends. Perhaps I had already become copper or something. Perhaps I quit right before I was about to break through. Maybe if I had tried to come back from the back surgery and accepted the independent league offers for scraps... Who knows, right?
Anyway, I'd like to hear other opinions on the book and/or some of your personal legends. I would also like to invite Cameron back to the blog once again. Cam, I am formally apologizing for calling you pseudo-open-minded or something like that a while ago. I was joking but after re-reading my post, I'm not sure it came across that way.
Ben
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