After checking out The Clan Of The Cave Bear on my kindle from my local library, when the two weeks expired and I was not finished with it I decided to go ahead and buy it rather than wait for the book to become available again. It is the first of a five book series by Jean Auel that are referred to as The Earth`s Children series. While I enjoyed the book and it held my interest, I have not yet decided whether or not I will read any more of the books in this series. The novel takes place in prehistoric times and a five year old Cro-Magnon girl whose family is lost to her in an earth quake is found by a clan of Neanderthal people who adopt her. She is considered the ugly duckling and although loved by many of the clan, she is abused by others. In fact in general the women of the Neanderthal Clan were not treated very well. I am not sure I want to read five books of cave men abusing cave women. Yet there are adventures and plenty of acts of kindness to go with the more negative parts of what Jean Auel`s imagination says life in prehistoric times might have been like. Please click on the title and the author`s name to follow the links and learn more. And enjoy the following video of an interview with the author.
This book should be required reading for all of us. In fact I am amazed that I have made it to age 55 and just now read it. (Or to be more accurate, I listened to it on audio. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is the book selection for my library book group this month. Since I am reading another book on my kindle I decided I had better listen to it in order to be sure I got through it in time for the meeting next week.) About half way through the book I decided that the reason I never read it as a teen as I was probably not allowed to. But I mentioned to my younger sister I was reading it and she said "Oh yes. I remember that book. I read it back when I was in school." So I can't blame rules at my home of origin on not having read it sooner. Still, this book should be required reading for all of us. If you have not read it. Do so.
This book is the coming of age story of a girl named Francie Nolan who lives in Brooklyn New York with her "Momma" and "Poppa". Also she has a younger brother. The family structure changes some over the time period the book covers which is roughly from the time she is eleven till she is almost seventeen. The family is very poor. Her grandparents were immigrants and unable to read or write. Her maternal grandmother is firmly convinced that education is the path out of poverty for the children and encourages her daughters to make sure their children receive an education. There are several places in the book that bring tears to the eyes and the ending even though a happy ending is a tear jerker.
Please click on the title of the book and the author's name above to follow the links to more information. And enjoy the video below. This book will be toward the top of my top ten list for books I have read or listened to in 2012.
Even though I was off this pm I still didn't get the TV turned on and the convention watched. But about midnight I looked for Bill Clinton's speech. It made me think of a blog I posted in 2008 just before the election which I will repost at this time with a few changes to make it appropriate for 2012:
Huston Smith
in his classic "The Worlds Religions" describes two schools of
Buddhist thought. While I am
unable to remember the correct names for the two groups, I do remember
the illustration that Smith uses to explain their differences. Those who
are compared to traveling in separate little boats are those Buddhists
who tend to stay apart from the world for a solitary journey toward
enlightenment. The second group are those who are compared to be
traveling in a larger boat with a several on it and are those
Buddhists who tend to journey toward enlightenment within a community.
The idea is of moving from one shore of unknowing to the opposite shore
where one is enlightened. Choosing to do so either alone or in a group
is a basic difference in outlook. As we approach this years election we have a similar choice to make. What is our outlook? Are we people who
travel from point A to point B in our own solitary raft not caring if
the water is full of drowning individuals? Are we intent only on "me,
myself and I" making it across the water? Or do we allow some others on our rafts? Who do we let travel with us? One life partner perhaps? Maybe we will add our children? Perhaps there is room for three
closest friends? Do we extend the group to include our neighborhood?
Where do we stop? Do we add our city, our state, our country? Or do we include the entire population of planet earth in our traveling
companions? Each of us has to make these choices for ourselves based on
our individual perspectives. My image of the Republican way of
thinking is that of the Buddhist in the little boat or an every man for
himself mentality. A wife and children might be allowed on the self
sufficient wise choice maker Republicans raft - as long as they
followed directions and did not rock the boat. My image of the
Democratic way of thinking is that of the big boat. A concept of group
cooperation. A long row boat with many people at the oars, working
together to make progress. I am not sure who I think should be in my
boat. Yet I am a person who feels that as a member of society I have
responsibilities in that society therefore my boat is a bigger boat
than some would choose their boat to be. November is approaching.
How big is your boat?
While I was looking for my blog that I re-posted above I ran across another post I had gotten from a contact on that site. I got a chuckle out of it again so wanted to share it here:
Political Science for Dummies
DEMOCRAT
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for
being successful. You push for higher taxes so the government can
provide cows for everyone.
REPUBLICAN
You have two cows. Your
neighbor has none. So?
SOCIALIST
You have two cows. The
government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. You form a
cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.
COMMUNIST
You
have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with
milk. You wait in line for hours to get it. It is expensive and
sour.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. You
sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY,
AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. Under the new farm program the
government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the
milk down the drain.
AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You
sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one. You
force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised
when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts
stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses. Your stock
goes up.
FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows. You go on
strike because you want three cows. You go to lunch and drink wine. Life
is good.
JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows. You
redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and
produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably
crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
GERMAN
CORPORATION
You have two cows. You engineer them so they are all
blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a
hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of
vacation per year.
ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but
you don't know where they are. You break for lunch. Life is
good.
RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You have
some vodka. You count them and learn you have five cows. You
have some more vodka. You count them again and learn you have 42
cows. The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really
have.
TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in
Afghanistan , which are two. You don't milk them because you cannot
touch any creature's private parts. You get a $40 million grant from
the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the
money to buy weapons.
IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows. They
go into hiding. They send radio tapes of their mooing.
POLISH
CORPORATION
You have two bulls. Employees are regularly maimed and
killed attempting to milk them.
BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have
one cow. The cow is schizophrenic. Sometimes the cow thinks he's
French, other times he's Flemish. The Flemish cow won't share with
the French cow. The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's
milk. The cow asks permission to be cut in half. The cow dies
happy.
FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown
cow. Everyone votes for the best looking one. Some of the people
who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black
one. Some people vote for both. Some people vote for neither. Some
people can't figure out how to vote at all. Finally, a bunch of
guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking
cow.
CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
You have millions of cows. They make
real California cheese. Only five speak English. Most are
illegal. Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.
A father is devastated. His six year old daughter has been murdered. Taken from their campsite in broad daylight, all that is ever found of her is her blood stained dress in an old shack in the wilderness of Oregon. Three years later this father returns to the crime scene to wrestle with his grief and anger. Paul Young (also known as William P Young) authored the novel The Shack as a gift to his adult children. He wanted to explain to them his belief system and chose to use a fiction book as the medium to do so. When evaluated from this perspective The Shack does a decent job of presenting the author's belief system in a clear way. It also holds the readers attention because it has a story line that holds interest. The book jumps on major life questions such as why tragedy is a part of our lives, the concept of forgiving those that have hurt us deeply, and the Christian imagery of the trinity. Written from what seems to me to be a mainstream protestant view point, this novel should hold a great deal of appeal to a large audience. It would not appeal to conservative Christians. There is no hellfire and brimstone point of view in The Shack. Two different colleagues at work suggested this book to me a couple of years ago. It did not seem like my kind of book so I thanked them and told them I appreciated their concern. Then a few weeks ago Audible offered it for free so I went ahead and downloaded it. After listening to the book I still am of the opinion that it is not my kind of book. The belief system explained is one that has at its center a very personified deity. My belief system has a creator that is more of a total sum of many parts. The belief system of the book is one with an afterlife with recognizable intact loved ones in it. My belief system is one in which after death many parts return to a creator to become again part of the total sum from which it came. The belief system in the book is one where a deity intervenes while my belief system is one where intervention is carried out by us taking care of one another. The belief system described in the book is one based on emotion while I choose to reason through things. Therefore, while this is not going to make the top ten list of my favorite books for this year, I would recommend it to quite a few friends who are mainstream Christians. It is a well written book which holds the readers interest. Click on the title and the author's name to follow the links to learn more.
