Tuesday, October 26, 2004

3 Books, 3 Quick Reviews

Over the weekend I finished THREE books that I have been working on... here is a short review of each:


1.) In Praise of Slowness by Honore - Excellent book that goes chapter by chapter through different areas of our lives and encourages us to SLOW DOWN. To Savor. To Appreciate. To be Mindful. Fast has its place, for sure. But our culture is REDICULOUSLY out of balance. To help bring us back to balance, this book speaks of slow, well-cooked meals, working less hours, spending more time with kids or being outdoors, walking or biking instead of driving, living in "slow" cities... In essence, everything that America needs to re-learn how to do.


1.) The Marriage of Sense and Soul by Ken Wilber - Ken Wilber, one of the forerunners of consciousness in our day, shares how to best integrate Science and Religion. There is much that is excellent here, especially the call for religion to be (or become) more of a Yoga... or a spiritual science. In other words, heady theology that is complete speculation is dogmatic and is no longer of use in a postmodern setting... rather, we should do as the Zen Buddhists who when asked a question such as "Who are you?" or "What is the meaning of life?" would not provide an intellectual answer, but would rather sit in stillness and EXPERIENCE the answer.

1.) Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut - One of the most creative and fun novels ever written. This is a wonderful and joyous read and speaks about humanity's capacity for evil, the balance of morality, and the fictional religion of "Bokonism" in an "A.D.D-friendly" format... where most chapters last between 1-2 pages - - or less. Genious book.

1 comment:

Amy Harden said...

Honey, It's great that you love those books. In fact I'm excited about reading the slowness one soon. Just one small request, El Conquistador, PLEASE use spell check. Ridiculous.Spelled with an I and not an E. Petty, I know, but it very much bothers me. I love you.