"Future Babble", "Shock of Gray" and "Sex at Dawn" - read them all

Time for some reading recommendations. This past month I have been on a non-fiction reading kick. Each one has been an eye-opener and have made me think, think, think....it is all whirling inside and my mind is trying to absorb it all.

First, and I recommend reading them in this order, is "Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Fail and Why we Believe Them Anyway" by Dan Gardener. This book really got me thinking and more importantly, made me examine what I believe and why I believe it. The best part of this book is explaining why our minds grab onto expert predictions, especially expert predictions that are made with extreme confidence (by "hedgehogs" - read the book and you will find out who they are). I have read some of Dan Gardener's columns in the Edmonton Journal editorial section and I have always liked his way of exposing how politicians appeal to our "fears" while ignoring the evidence that exists. Why use reason when a good scare story will serve your party better. Dan provides many good references and explanations to studies that show how our brain works which is why we are so hell-bent on believing these expert predictions. What is even more amazing is how even in the face of contrary evidence that predictions have failed - the experts will wriggle it to make the failure into a success. I happened to be visiting a good friend after reading the book and we shared some good laughs at the way our own lives have reflected those tendencies - to ignore the evidence and try to make our "mistake" fit.

The second book I read was "Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World's Population and how it pits Young against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival and Nation Against Nation" by Ted Fishman. I did read this book with more caution after reading "Future Babble", making sure that I wasn't just buying into the "expert predictions". For the most part, Fishman does a good job of just using the present-day data and some good examples to help us see what a graying population is looking like. From there the expert predictions he was quoting were using projections of population numbers based on the current population numbers. With my own experiences of my own aging, my husband's and the aging of my mother -- a lot of the examples he used hit home. All I can say is that I am sure glad our daughter chose nursing as a career. Oh, and if you are interested in starting an "elder" community - let me know. I am ready to buy in.

The last book I just finished is "Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality" by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha. I bought this book for my husband when we went to Victoria at the end of January. He loves those "sex" books I buy him, he just thinks we should do more with them than "read"! I can hear our daughter right now -- "I don't want to hear this!" After Pat finished reading the book he passed it on to me and WOW - it really made my head whirl. This book made me question my belief system and it goes right back to the first book, "Future Babble". We get so much "expert" information, but all too often the "expert" information is shaped by our belief systems and any error in our belief systems can cause distortions in our understanding of what is actually going on. I am really going to have to think about this book a lot. The evidence they provide is quite profound and makes a lot of sense if you can suspend what you think you know about the evolution of human beings and our sexuality. And let's face it - if we have any big hang-ups, sex has to be on the top of the list. The authors make the case that moving to an agrarian society has more to do with how we bond than with the way we evolved and the "equipment" we evolved with. Lots and lots to ponder and I think it will be hard to find a "discussion" group for this one - I don't know of too many of my friends that would want to "open" up about this topic.

Those are my picks. Would love to hear what you are reading that has you totally absorbed. I am not ready to share my husband, but I am always up for sharing a good read. Happy reading.

I always wanted to be a witch...

I know. "Aren't you already?" Ha, ha. Now that you got that out of your system, let me explain what I mean.

I grew up reading. I could spend hours curled up with a good book. Our house had a good assortment of books and I definitely had my favourite ones. The first book that I truly loved was, "Go Dog Go" by Dr. Seuss. The story was simple and funny and the illustrations grabbed me. I wanted to be at the dog party in the tree at the end of the book. I wanted to be with the dogs in the house by the beach. I wanted to be the dogs driving those cool cars and I really wanted to be the dog who kept wearing more and more elaborate hats and asking, "Do you like my hat?" It was a place that was full of excitement, fun and interesting characters. As a child (and still as an adult), I lived in my head creating elaborate places where I could go and be anyone I wanted to be. When life was challenging or boring I could always go there in my mind and have it exactly the way I wanted it to be. If I created something that wasn't quite right, I could change it in an instant. I had total control (I know, still sounds like me).

I had a great big story book - "Cinderella" and that was another one that I loved to read and look at. It was the transformation from the little cinder girl to the princess that grabbed me. The illustrator had done a phenomenal job of the dresses she wore to the ball and then ultimately to her wedding. I dreamed of being her, of having that dress and living with the handsome prince. At the time I thought we would just play together forever. Now I know better, the fairy tale ends and real life begins with children, dishes, housecleaning, appointments -- all the mundane that weaves together a rich life with someone. And the "playing" together often goes on the back-burner to give priority to sleep. Who would have known in our teenage years that sleep would have been more important than staying out all night partying and having a good time with that good-looking fellow you picked up!

I read lots of the standard books, "Little Women" (loved it and still do), "Heidi" (loved it and want to do a "Heidi" walking trip in Switzerland someday - anyone care to join me?), "Dear God, it's me Margaret" (okay, you had to be a girl for this one) and a host of others.

But it was a book called "The Little Broomstick" by Mary Stewart that got me into the world of magic and opened up a whole new set of possibilities for my imagination. When I googled this book and found out it was by Mary Stewart, the author of the Merlin Trilogy I adore as an adult, it made sense why I had become transformed by this book. Getting to her website and finding the novel (published in 1972, probably the year I received it), with that same cover brought back a flood of memories for me. That book grabbed me and swallowed me completely. I was the little girl "Mary" finding that broomstick and flying into a magical world full of adventure. The book was real to me. As I devoured that book I never wanted it to end. I wanted to stay in this place and really fly on a broomstick. That's why I love the Harry Potter books, it takes me to a place that is full of adventure and magic. And it's magic that opens up possibilities where in real life you sometimes can't see them. It's magic that lets you suspend beliefs and see things from a different perspective. It's magic that stirs the imagination and creates a new reality. It's magic that lets you try a different approach and be a different person.

That's the fine line I tread in life and why I sometimes need a "break" from adult fiction (especially Canadian adult fiction!). Yes they have great stories to tell but they can be awfully depressing and too "real". It's like we forget our childhood of possibilities and find ourselves stuck in this mess of emotional tragedy. I don't want to read a book and say at the end, "well at least my life isn't as f&%@ed up as that person's life." I want to get to the end and feel like there is another possibility for the outcome. I want to be excited about living, about striving, about dreaming, about being and sometimes I need that escape into a different world where anything goes. And that is the fine line, I have to stay grounded here and not live in the escape but find the balance that brings joy, health and love to my life and others.

So I want to be a witch. I want to go on that grand adventure and conjure magical spells to create a world of possibilities. I want to see that every great fantasy novel is a metaphor for life: a journey of hills and valleys, of great joy and great sorrow, of incredible strength and incredible cowardice, of good and evil, of having companions and going it alone and finding that this is our internal journey of being fully human. We will stumble and fall, we will face our inner demons, we will meet a host of characters who help us on the way, and we will find that we are never alone on the journey, that God has equipped us with God's love and light - our magical powers to be the best we can be.

I am heading off on my broomstick right now....hope to see you on my journey.

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Am I Hip or What?

Okay, probably not if I am still using the word “hip”. I am up-to-date in what's the rage in reading with the younger crowd. I finished my book yesterday and picked up the next one on my shelf. It was “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. According to the Edmonton Journal in their A & E Section on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010, about the latest release of “Mockingjay”, the final volume of the Hunger Games trilogy, “This is going to be probably the biggest YA (young adult) book of the season.” And that's not all — Wednesday morning was the day I picked up the book to read. How is that for a coincidence?

Why do I have “Hunger Games” on my shelf? Well, I love to read, but don't necessarily like to be depressed. Adult fiction, and let's face it, Canadian adult fiction, can be pretty depressing. I have found over the years with my children that a lot of fiction geared to teens is very good. I just never know what to choose. That's when I found Greenwood's Bookstore in Edmonton. They have great staff in their Children's book section who have read many of the books on their shelves. I go in, tell them what I like in fiction and they go through the books with me pointing out the ones that they think would suit my tastes. They have always given good recommendations.

Some of my favorites are the “Wee Free Men” by Terry Pratchett (funny!), Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass), “After Hamelin” by Bill Richardson, Scott Westerfeld's trilogy – “The Uglies, The Pretties, and The Specials”, Lois Lowry's trilogy – “The Giver, Gathering Blue and Messenger” and YES, I am a “Harry Potter” fan. I still fantasize about going to school at Hogwarts. I am sure there are lots more but these are the ones that easily come to mind (and it isn't that easy having things come to mind anymore!).

So far, so GREAT, reading this book. I am giving it a good thumbs up and if you need a break from what's on your bookshelf, get this book. It does have a dark theme but young adult fiction manages to do dark in a captivating way. Enjoy!

A Great Read - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I picked up “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett a week ago and I have been absorbed in it ever since. You know it is a good book when you get totally wrapped up in the characters and their stories, feeling their anxiety, fear, joy and learning along with them. I won't tell you about the book, you can read that for yourself. What I will tell you is what I learned. I have been questioning the same things they have, who have I judged, who have I not seen, who have I dismissed as unimportant, who am I prejudiced against, who do I take for granted, who do I think I am being kind to but in a way that keeps them down and because of all of this, what opportunities have I missed for making connections with others?

This self-examination is hard. I waffle between the characters and plead ignorance, upbringing, culture, norms, fear of other people's judgments and just plain lack of attention to others and my self-absorption (like right now). I have missed so many moments to be “changed”. This book is helping me drop the veil from my eyes and see the world in a different way. In the biggest way it helped me see myself even though the story was set in another place, a different time with different values. It helped me see that we aren't removed from racism/prejudice, we have just cleaned it up a bit. We still have a ways to go and the first place we need to change is our own mindset, to question our day-to-day actions and biases, to really see the other and know that we are seeing ourselves. In the most fundamental ways, we are all human and our differences are the icing. The cake is still the same and it is the icing that makes it interesting.

In the end this book let me see that we are alone on our journey. Yes, we all have other people who join us for a leg or two, some who constantly criss-cross on our path, some who light a torch when we need it, some who steer us off or back on, some who put up roadblocks, some who have the lemonade stand on the side and some who leave their footprints for us to follow a ways. And each and every one of those people is important on our journey. They are our guides for a spell. Ultimately we are still alone. Ultimately we are the only one that starts and finishes on this path. A good friend helps us to keep trudging along and what we find out is that we have to be a good friend to ourselves, to know when to question our judgment, know when to give a pep talk, know when to open our eyes, know when to take a rest, know when to listen and know when to apply first aid.

That's why faith is so powerful. Whatever we call it, God, the creator, Spirit, Universe, All – we want to know that in our aloneness there is something bigger than the tiny person we are, someone that walks with us, someone we can talk to along the way, someone who will be there with us every step of the way, someone who embraces us in our darkest moments, someone who has an eternal beacon of light shining for us, someone who helps us find our way home. And that is our ultimate journey – to find our way home where we are one with all, that this separation is the illusion. Our reality is infinitely more.

That's what I call a great read, one that captivates me from beginning to end and brings “me” (the little “i” and the big “I”) into the story. It was entertaining and really made me think. Hope you pick up a copy and read it for yourself.