Book Review: The Martian

Grade: A+

This book is a genius thriller.  Pair excellent science with a hilarious astronaut, and it's irresistible. 

I mean it.  You can't believe how realistic the book is, and how the main character is always saying and thinking exactly what you would be.

This is not a spoiler, because you find this out on the first page - the book is about an American astronaut, Mark Watney, who gets stranded on Mars.

How do you survive on a planet in a research dome meant to last 30 days, when no one will be back for 4 years?

The twists and turns are unexpected and realistic.  The author didn't make up crazy things, he just studied mars really REALLY well to know what would naturally happen. 

There is a caveat to my recommendation.  There is a good amount of language in this book.  When a man thinks he's gonna die alone on another planet - he swears!  Mark Watney is the guy you want to be best friends with and invite over to BBQs at your house.  He is smart, funny, creative, down to earth, and just irreverent enough to make you laugh out loud over and over again.

You've been warned, and you've been also been teased with the promise of an amazingly awesome, fast paced, believable thriller.

Enjoy!

(and read it before the movie with Matt Damon comes out)

Book Review: Go Set a Watchman

Grade: A-

I have not read “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 20 years, and I remember very little about the book.
I refrained from reading it again because I wanted to see: can this book stand on it’s own?

Yes.

This book is not what I expected.  I expected a somewhat entertaining story that eventually told us, “don’t be racist” and did it in a very convincing and poignant way. 
Lee did much more than that.  She let us love the people around us without jumping to crazy conclusions. 

She let us be good people without being perfect people.  She let us be heroes, who have real lives, and live in the real world.

Though the book was written in 1957, it feels as though it was written for our day.  It was written to teach us that Paula Deen is not a racist monster, and we can have heroes and role models who don’t meet the current public criteria of “appropriate.”

This is a fairly quick read, even though the book is not fast paced.  Lee did a wonderful job of developing characters and relationships so that the climax of the book is real.  The emotions and interactions are real and heartfelt because we know the back story of each character.

Lee took the time to teach vital life lessons, and through this book she taught them wonderfully.

Book Review: Food, A Love Story

Grade: D+

I really wanted to love this book.  Jim Gaffigan is one of the funniest comedians I have ever heard.  I bust up when I watch his videos: Mr. Universe, Beyond the Pale, and Obsessed.  I watch YouTube clips and I constantly quote his material.

He is a comedic genius.  He is hilariously self deprecating and he knows what the audience is thinking.  His timing is precise and his delivery is practiced and polished and perfect.

And his book is a re-run.

I listened to the audio tape.  It is 7 hours of rehashed material I have heard before - with boring descriptions of the food across America mixed in.

I loved "Hot Pockets" the first time I heard it.  I also loved "Kale" and so many others... and I heard them all again.  ALL.  Repeated.  Slower, and much less funny.

This book is a sad money grab.  It is not original.  It is not new.  It is not worth the time or money. 

Go on Netflix and watch his specials.  Laugh so hard you cry - and then skip this book.  You'll thank me.

Book Review: Essentialism

 

Fast Read with Pearls of Wisdom

Grade: B+

 This book helps you develop more options in your life.  Push away all the clutter and figure out what you REALLY care about, and what you need to have a fulfilling life.

 It starts with a rather extreme idea - say NO to everything.  Seriously, when you are asked to do pretty much anything, say no. 

"Do you ever feel busy but not productive?" (p. 4) I do. This is because we do so many things that don't really matter to us.  We do things that we don't care about, that don't move us forward, that aren't part of our value system.  They don't advance our career or improve a relationship - yet we do them anyway.

"Live by design, not by default." (p. 7)  How many of us really choose what we do each day?  How many of us have daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, yearly goals?  Even if they are not written down - we know what they are and we know what we are doing each day to get us there.

"If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will." (p. 10)  Just like your dream.  If you aren't fulfilling your own dream , someone else will pay you to help fulfill theirs.

He then gets into some other great points about our homes, our belongings, our clutter:

"We tend to value things we already own more highly than they are worth." (p. 18)  We've been taught to never throw anything away.  Which increases our number of choices, increasing our stress, decreasing our space and enjoyment.

"This book is not about going back to a simpler time.  It’s not about eschewing e-mail or disconnecting from the web or living like a hermit. " (p. 27)

This book embodies the idea of Good Better Best.  Stop doing so many things that are merely GOOD.  WE can fill out lives with "good" things and miss out on everything that is better, and even the best.

"We aren’t looking for a plethora of good things to do.  We are looking for the one where we can make our absolutely highest point of contribution." (p. 112)

We need to reevaluate the way we look at opportunities: Don’t ask “How will I feel if I miss this opportunity?” but rather, “If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?” (p. 149)

This book took me a few days to read because it is well written.  The author gives interesting and understandable examples and it was easily applied to me daily life.  I am glad I read it.

I recommend it

****************************************************************************

Here are a few more of my favorite quotes:

Essentialism is not about how to get more things done, it’s about how to get the right things done. – p. 5

The more choices we are forced to make, the more the quality of our decisions deteriorates. – p. 15

We keep doing things we detest to buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like. – p. 26

Drip by drip we allow our power to be taken away until we end up becoming a function of other people’s choices – or even a function of our own past choices. – p. 39

Warren Buffet decided early in his career it would be impossible for him to make hundreds of right investment decisions, so he decided that he would invest only in the businesses that he was absolutely sure of, and then bet heavily on them. – p. 44

You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything – p. 45 (John Maxwell)

There are no solutions.  There are only trade-offs. – p. 55 (Thomas Sowell)

By abolishing any chance of being bored we have also lost the time we used to have to think and process – p. 68

The best journalists do not simply relay information.  Their value is in discovering what really matters to people. – p. 75

Play stimulates the parts of the brain involved in both careful, logical reasoning and carefree, unbound exploration. – p. 87

“If you think you are so tough you can do anything I have a challenge for you.  If you really want to do something hard; say not to an opportunity so you can take a nap.” – p. 94

The best violinist spent more time practicing than the merely good violinists…[AND] the best violinists slept an average of 8.6 hours in every 24 hour period; about an hour longer than the average American. – p. 97

If we could be truly excellent at only one thing, what would it be? – p. 127

When people ask us to do something, we can confuse it with our relationship with them. – p. 137

Sunk Cost Bias – it explains why we’ll continue to sit through a terrible movie because we’ve already paid the price of a ticket. – p. 146

Nearly 40 percent of our choices are deeply unconscious – p. 209

Every habit is made up of a cue, a routine, and a reward – p. 209

On my worst days I have wondered if my tombstone will read “He checked e-mail” – p. 232

 

Book Review: The Fifth Discipline

Grade: C+

This is the third book I have recently chosen not to finish.

Time is precious.  I am not a businessman.  I am not a CEO, or a manager.  This book was not worth the time and not worth the energy needed to learn a new language.

The Fifth Discipline is very dense, very detailed, and it makes up its own terms and then uses them extensively. 

There were many parts I loved, examples that were eye-opening, and stories that were inspiring.  I finished 85% of the book over 11 months of reading and finally gave up. 
The author appears to have spent too much time inventing terms.  He has his own name for each kind of system, and interaction, and leadership style etc...
After about 300 pages I got lost in the new lingo and couldn't even understand what he was trying to say.
Others will say this book is the businessman's bible.  To me, it is now a book to be given away or sold in a garage sale.  As my friend Jim would say "The juice ain't worth the squeeze."

Here are a few parts I liked and want to remember:

"Today's problems come from yesterday's 'solutions'."
 

"How do we see a business, as a human community or as a machine for making money?"

"If people don't have their own vision, all they can do is 'sign up' for someone else's. The result is compliance, never commitment."

 

Book Review: The Happiness Advantage

Grade: B

Riveting research gets a little stifled by the author’s pride.

Did you know Shawn Achor went to Harvard? 
No really. I’m quite certain of it.  He only mentioned it about 27 times in this book, so it was kind of subtle, but if you read between the lines you too can pick up this hidden gem.
I promise not to mention it again – because it was the only glaring annoyance in this otherwise useful book.

This book could also be called: The Placebo Effect.
It is very very VERY real.  People dismiss the effect of thought on our physical body – and it’s HUGE.

Thought is what leads to hormone release.  Perception of fear releases adrenaline.  Perception of happiness releases Dopamine.  This book discusses Oxytocin and Cortisol and many other hormones and it points out the absolutely real physiological effects of each.

Doing the exact same physical activity, with the thought that you are exercising – leads to more weight loss and increased muscle gain.  HORMONES matter.  THOUGHT matters.
Being “happy” can kill pain better than narcotics. Exercising can cure depression better than antidepressants. 
Being Happy decreases heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other PHYSICAL diseases.
This is not about positive affirmations or “think a happy thought.”  This book is not Peter Pan advice to help us fly away from tragic lives.
This book is science.  Research study after research study proving that our mental outlook on life makes a HUGE difference in our physical health, our finances, our family, our friends, our entire existence.

This book is very worthwhile – because the author doesn’t just say “Get Happy” – He gives you specific tasks and practices to accomplish it.

My favorite chapter was “Principle #6:  The 20 Second Rule”
It talks all about "activation energy."
It takes very little energy to keep a signal running along a nerve.  But it takes a burst of energy to start the flow.  You have to provide enough “activation energy” to start it.  Kind of like getting  a car rolling on a flat road.  You have to put in a ton of energy to push the car from a dead stop but once it’s going it doesn’t take much to keep it going.
It is the same way with habits.  Habits are very hard to start.  Forming them can be a nightmare.
The answer – DECREASE the activation energy.  Make it as simple as possible to do the habit each day.
What ever you want to do: put it in your natural path.  Take away all need for decision making. Make it harder NOT to do the new thing.

If you want to exercise first thing in the morning – sleep in your gym clothes.
If you want to learn to play the guitar – keep the guitar in the middle of the room where you will almost run into it every time you walk through your house.
The same is true for habits you want to STOP.  Make it much much HARDER to do the thing you want to stop.
If you check your e-mail WAY too often and you want to stop – delete your shortcut, and don’t let the computer remember your password.
Make it require time, energy, and a whole lot of work to do the WRONG thing.



This chapter is genius.  The entire book is good.

I recommend it.



Here are two of my favorite quotes from the book:

"Common sense is not common action." - p. 146

"Coercing employees into awkward icebreakers or forced bonding activities, like making everyone at a meeting share something about their private lives, only breeds disconnection and mistrust. Better that these moments happen organically - which they will if the environment is right. The best leaders give their employees the space and time to let moments of social connection develop on their own" - p. 193

Book Review: Walden

Inspiring and Deceiving

Reviewing this book is complicated.  If I had written the review yesterday it would have been mostly negative.  I would have compared it to Atlas Shrugged: a few good facts that are oversimplified and mis-applied to everything, surrounded by hundreds of pages of boring monotony.

Today I have quite a different view.  This book is a glimpse, a pause, an alternative perspective that is useful and applicable.

Let me explain.

The problem was in my initial assumptions.  I've heard of Walden and Thoreau many times in my life.  I thought it was about a poor author who decided to stop fighting economic hardship and instead go live on the side of a little pond in the woods by himself so he could sit and think and contemplate and write down his thoughts in a journal.  Then he eventually published what he learned while living in solitude in a little shack by a pond.

Then I found out that Henry David Thoreau studied at Harvard, and he could live by the pond for free because his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson owned the land.  Thoreau didn't live in solitude, but walked in to town on most summer days and visited friends, neighbors, local farmers, and also had regular visitors to his little self-built cabin.  He used tools that he found, like an axe and a boat, and the rest he bought used.

His book is NOT telling people to go live off the land by themselves.  He isn't recommending solitude or that society would work if everyone only lived with what they need.

His book is about an experiment. 

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.. and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived...I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."
"I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there.  Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one."

Thoreau never said that living off the land by himself was the best way to live.  He said he wished to reduce life to it's most simple form and see what he could learn.  After he had learned it - he moved on to a new form of life.

That is where I see the value:  The lessons he taught are to be applied to the life we wish to live.  We aren't supposed to abandon society and ambition and family and all comforts to live the most simple life possible - but we ARE supposed to see the superfluous parts of our lives.  See where we have excess, where we are indebting ourselves, and what we can do without so we can simply enjoy life.

This book is not a page turner.  The first 10 pages were great, and the next 20 really were monotonous.  It was worth it nonetheless.  This book is worth reading, because it made me think and increased my understanding.  What more could I want from a book?

The quote which made me think the most was this:
“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”  

That made me realize that med-school didn't cost 4 years, or $200,000.  Medical school will have cost me at least 15 years of life when I pay off the last debt.  It will cost most doctors 30 years of life. 
Not that we don't live while in medical school and internship and residency and fellowship and practice - but we don't live free.  We are still bound by medical school and it's debt and it cost me 15 years. 

Was it worth it?

My favorite quotes:

“As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.”

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”  

"The number of those who own a shelter is a very small fraction of the whole.  The rest pay an annual tax."

“Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.”

“Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.”  

“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.”


“My greatest skill in life has been to want but little”  
 
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
 
"The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is."
 
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

"I do not speak to the well-employed... but mainly to the mass of men who are discontented, and idly complaining of the hardness of their lot or of the times, when they might improve them."

"While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings."

“As for the Pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby, whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the Nile, and then given his body to the dogs.”

"Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only.  Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul."

Book Review: Unbroken

Eye-opening.

There is no other way to describe this book.

I remember WWII History in High School.  I learned all about Hitler and D-day and the battle throughout Europe and the concentration camps and Hitler's death and the victory and then the dividing up of Germany among the Allies, and Russia and the subsequent Berlin wall etc...

Then I learned about the Band of Brothers of Easy Company and more and more about the European side of the war.

What happened in the Pacific?
I knew that we were bombed at Pearl Harbor, then Japan tried to take over all the islands in the pacific, many battles were fought, then we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the war was over.

Seriously - that's what I knew about the battle in the Pacific.  I heard names like Iwo Jima, and Midway, but I had no idea what happened there.

Now - I'm astonished at my own ignorance.

I never knew how indoctrinated the Japanese were by their leaders.  They were convinced that it was better to die than surrender.  Any American who surrendered would really prefer death. 

While less than 0.01% of Japanese POWs captures by the USA died, 37% of American POWs died in Japanese camps.  The Japanese completely ignored the laws regarding the treatment of POWs.

It is sadly understandable now why the POW's in Japan were starved - the Japanese citizens themselves didn't have food either.  All their resources went to the war,  ALL.  All young men were enlisted.  All food taken for the war.
The Japanese were determined to die fighting, down to the very last child.

As I read I came to believe that the most humane thing the American's ever did in the war, was use the most horrific weapon ever created. 

Dropping the Atomic bomb saved hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives.

This book tells the amazing story of perseverance of Louis Zamperini, but what I learned was the history I had never heard. 

Many will read this book and enjoy seeing Zamperini prepare to break the 4 minute mile.  He was running 4:42 per mile in high school and was running under 4:10 in college.  That boy could run!

Some readers will be amazed to learn of the tragic loss of life in training accidents:


Almost 15,000 American soldiers died stateside in aircraft accidents.


I think most everyone will agree with what the POW's learned:

"Louis and Phil learned a dark truth known to the doomed in Hitler's death camps, the slaves of the American South, and a hundred other generations of betrayed people. Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen."

Dignity.  We can be deprived of many things in life, but to lose our dignity is to lose our very soul.

This book was excellent.  I recommend it.

Book Review: The Buddha and the Borderline

"my recovery from borderline personality disorder through dialectical behavior therapy, Buddhism, & online dating "

 

*Any book that has the subtitle like that has got to be interesting.

This book is quite impressive. It’s the best education I’ve received on what Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is, and how therapy treats it.

I have read the books by the doctors and grad students who came up with therapy for this disorder.  It's called DBT – Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.  I have worked for two years in a DBT adolescent treatment center.  I have collaborated with DBT therapists and seen our Borderline patients together.  I have attended lectures and read manuals and worked hard to understand this disorder and its treatment.

This memoir was better than all that.

Most people trying to overcome something won’t write a memoir until they’ve “succeeded.”  Once they’ve “recovered” or “beaten their problem” then they’ll tell the world about it.

If that held true then people with Borderline Personality Disorder would never write a memoir.  They can get better; they can have a great life, family, job, and be fully functional and happy people.

But they’re a little like an addict in that the “addiction” never goes away – it’s just managed, understood, accepted, and then together with it they build a life worth living.

Kiera Van Gelder understands BPD better than most anyone.  She has it herself, she has read more books about it, attended therapy and groups and has taken more notes than most anyone you’ll find – she’s a borderline.  She wants to fix things.  She wants to figure it out – and fix it.  She gets hyper focused and memorizes every word of the diagnostic criteria, as well as all the coping skills and terms used in therapy.

In this book, she is able to use all the DBT terms and skills like a therapist or researcher, while also showing what it means and how she lives as a person with BPD

For example: After writing one chapter entitled "Leaving the Dysregulation Zone" she entitled her next chapter "No Blow Jobs on the First Date." 

(FYI - this book is not meant to be fun, light reading - it's about the most emotionally unstable and self-destructive people you'll meet, so if you're going to read it, be prepared.)

She shows how functional she can look – speaking at a conference in front of hundreds of people, and then how she also spends the next two hours in the bathroom curled up in a ball crying.

She details how she destroys relationships, her fear of men and her desperate need for them at the same time.  She shows the “dialectic” of Borderline perfectly.  She wants things that are contradictory – all the time.   She doesn’t want to need other people, but she can’t live without them.  She wants physical intimacy, but knows she’ll go too fast and it will lead to anger and hate and self-loathing.  She knows she needs real, stable, relationships with people who know the real her – and yet she has five completely different on-line dating profiles.

She shows how (with the help of others and a lot of work) she got to the point when she is no longer cutting or attempting suicide even though she still feels as emotionally raw as when she was doing those things.

She shows that the disorder is cyclic.  It just keeps coming back – but she can ride the wave, accept the emotional rollercoaster without quitting her job or cutting herself or destroying her life. 
She can attain a life she enjoys; which includes her parents, her coworkers, Buddhism, therapy, friends, and even relationships with men.


To those struggling with borderline personality disorder themselves or those trying to help them and understand them – I recommend it.

Book Series Review: Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant

Divergent – This book is a 10/10.

It’s better written than the Hunger Games and far more interesting. (my Hunger Games review)

The characters are more interesting and the balance of character development, plot, and fun is perfect.

It reads like fan fiction of Hunger Games written by someone with a better understanding of the human mind and extreme emotions. It also doesn’t base the entire plot on kids killing kids so it isn’t nearly as grotesque and macabre as Hunger Games.

Veronica Roth is witty and wise. She understands teenage cliques and the dichotomous struggle to honor parents while striving for independence and freedom.

She understands the impossible topic of suicide:  

"He throws himself off a ledge and Eric's calling it brave?"
- "What do you want them to do? Condemn him? Al's already dead. He can't hear it and it's too late."
"It's not about Al." I snap. "It's about everyone watching! Everyone who now sees hurling themselves into the chasm as a viable option. I mean, why not do it if everyone calls you a hero afterwards? Why not do it if everyone remembers your name?"

Divergent is an excellent book and well worth reading.  It is a very fast read and though the basis of the book seems at first far-fetched, it makes a great landscape and background for a riveting story.

Insurgent – 6/10.  

     It’s still a very fast read and well-paced novel.  The problem is that the author kind of loses her way.  It’s a little like Hunger Games Book 3 – when an author changes the world in which their story is written, it’s very difficult to know which characters fit where and what they would do in different situations.  To me Ms. Roth knew her characters fairly well, but once the background changed they no longer felt fully authentic and the plot got muddled.  I still read it in less than 5 hours, and I wanted to read book 3, but the fun and the intrigue weren’t as strong.

Allegiant – 2/10.  Yeah, this book has 3 HUGE flaws.

1.      VIEWPOINT.  The first two books are written first person from the female protagonist’s viewpoint.  Veronica Roth writes perfectly from the mind of a teenage girl.  THEN - In the 3^rd book the author changes it up so every other chapter is written from the Male protagonists point of view… and it fails miserably.  At least 7 or 8 times while reading I was confused because the “male” chapter sounded the exact like the “female” chapters.  His voice and thoughts and perceptions were exactly the same as hers.  Roth may develop the skill of writing from a male viewpoint, but she isn’t there yet, and the book suffered terribly because of it.

2.       MORAL.  This book is “the moral of the trilogy.” But instead of letting it play out through the characters and natural plot – the author decides to tell you the moral of the story, over and over and over again.  She slams it down your throat like you’re so dense you didn’t get it the first few hundred times so she must explicitly state it again.  I got so sick of it that by the time she reached the emotional climax of the book and I was supposed to be crying like a baby – I was bored instead.

3.       PLOT.  This book falls victim to the same problem that plagued the 4^th Bourne movie and Hunger Games Book 3 and so many others.  The author had to expand the universe to keep the plot going.  She had to say “but wait, there’s more.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.”  Then she didn’t know what to do with the rest of the iceberg.  The plot pacing is off.  The characters get confusing as she tries to keep old characters, introduce new ones, change their alliances, and change their personalities and character.

She also refers to things characters said once, a thousand pages ago, and she expects the reader to remember what was said, who it was said to, and what emotions everyone was feeling at that time.

 

The series is not worth reading.  I was told that by multiple friends before I started, and they were right.  The first book is great and well worth it.  The second book is only valuable as a bridge to the third, and the third is a train wreck. 

The best thing I can compare this series to is the TV show Heroes. 

With Heroes – Stop after Season 1. 

With Divergent – Stop after Book 1.

Book Review: Dante’s Inferno (1308 AD)

Preface #1 -  I could write many blog posts about the history of this epic poem, why Dante wrote it, what it meant politically, and who all the characters were in his life.  But you can just read Wikipedia instead and you’ll get the gist of it.

Preface #2 - I am reviewing the 1954 translation by John Ciardi.  (If you’re going to read a 300 page poem, written 700 years ago in Italian, you want to take time to find the best translation)

This translation is ideal because each Canto (chapter) starts with a half page summary of the chapter.  Then you read the poetic chapter.  Then you find 3 pages of notes about the chapter, who the characters were and what they meant to Dante and Italian culture in the 14^th Century.

MY REVIEW: This book is excellent. 

It is an amazing work by a magnificent poet which explains what Hell might look like.  He details the suffering and punishment for each kind of sin.  As he descends further and further through the 9 circles of Hell, he finds people he knew, politicians, religious leaders, rival poets, etc…  He describes why each one is there, why they are suffering, and what they would tell those still living if they could.

The First Circle of Hell is genius.  There is no suffering, it feels like heaven.  It is reserved for the righteous and virtuous who were not baptized in life.  Here he finds Homer, Cicero, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and many others.  They are not destined to suffer at all, but are only in hell because without baptism they cannot be allowed into heaven.

Then Dante starts the descent into progressively more horrific suffering as he details the gradation of sin.  First Lust, then Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, and Heresy.  When Dante gets to the 7^th circle of hell which is reserved for the Violent - he breaks it into 3 levels.  1 – Violence against others.  2 – Violence against self.  3 – Violence against God and Nature.

Circle 8 is when he really hits his stride.  This circle is reserved for the Frauds and Dante details the ten different kinds of Fraud and why each is worse than the last: Seducers, flatterers, those who sold church offices, false prophets, corrupt politicians, hypocrites, thieves, evil counselors, the “sowers of Discord” and at last the imposters.  Dante doesn’t pull any punches as he describes which Catholic Pope is found in each section. He then even details Muhammad’s suffering for leading people away from Christianity. 

Circle 9 is the last circle of Hell where Satan himself lives.  This is saved for those who committed the sin of betrayal.  Cain who killed Abel, Antenor of Troy who betrayed his city to the Greeks, Ptolemy who invited all his enemies to a banquet of truce, and killed them all.

In the bottom of Circle 9 is the worst place in all of hell: Judecca.  This is where the three-headed Satan abides with one sinner being torn to shreds in each of his three mouths.  Brutus and Cassius are in the mouths on the sides, suffering eternal torment from Satan for their betrayal of Julius Caesar.

In the central most vicious mouth is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ.  Judas’ head is being constantly gnawed by Satan's jaws as his back is forever being skinned by Satan's claws.

The poem is then complete.

The detail of this poem is exquisite.  The profound symbolism is aweing as each sinner suffers in a manner symbolic of the pain they caused others in life. 

I don’t know if I will ever read parts 2 and 3 (Purgatory and Paradise), but I am glad I read this literary classic.  It was well written, and in its own way, it was very inspiring.  I recommend it.

Book Review: The Blind Side

Four years ago I saw the film "The Blindside" with Quinton Aaron and Sandra Bullock.

The movie was excellent, and as usual - it shows a miniscule portion of what actually happened, and is completely inept at representing the book.

 
This book reveals so much more, and it's not useless details - its important back story.

The movie starts with Sandra Bullock explaining Lawrence Taylor.  Her one minute speech covers about five chapter of the book. 

The author explains the history of the Left Tackle, and then the physical aspects of Michael Oher.  Michael wasn't just big.  He was HUGE.  He was bigger as a sophomore in High School than most NFL lineman. 

And he wasn't just big.  He was fast.  Michael Oher didn't want to be a football player.  He wanted to play basketball, and he wanted to be a GUARD.  When coaches would put him under the basket and ask him to rebound and block shots - he would sneak back outside and play like a guard.  He was nimble, quick, and faster than anyone else on the basketball court or the football field.

There are lots of big kids.  Finding HUGE kids that are also quick is truly rare.  THAT is why he was noticed by NFL coaches when he was a high school student. 

He wasn't good at football.  He didn't know the game.  He was on the track team and was told in school that he might make a world class Discus thrower.

His physical build and ability were amazing - but without Big Tony (who acted like a father for years) and then the Tuohys, he never would have had the chance.

The movie shows a little bit of how the Tuohy's helped him.  Everything in the movie actually happened - from Michael carrying the lineman clear off the field to try to take him to the bus - to Leann having the coaches cell phone number and calling him during the game to tell him how to coach, to Leann finding a fake baby picture of Michael since none existed.

But there is so much more.  Even after living with the Tuohys, and having a private tutor, Michael could still didn't have enough credits to graduate from high school.  Sean found out that BYU offered on-line classes for high school credits.  Michael took a course a week after his senior year, and by August he had enough passing grades to graduate and go to college.

One last thing.  The Tuohys aren't just a rich family.  They are the richest alumni of Ole Miss EVER.  They have a private jet and fly to NBA games across the nation for fun on a Saturday night.  They are REALLY REALLY rich.  They had helped many kids over the years - buying them clothes, or lunches at school, or other things like that.  Michael is the only one they ever brought in to their own home and treated like their own child, but the Tuohys were used to helping out the poorer kids in town.  That's just who they are.

This book has two interweaving story lines.  First is the story of Michael Oher and the people who gave him a chance.  It's about the compassion and love and caring of people who have no obligation and no obvious connection to this young man - but they choose to get involved anyway.  It's about the inner city, the separation between black and white, rich and poor, the haves and the have- nots.

The second story is the one skipped over by the movie.  It is about NFL lineman.  It's about the slow mental shift about lineman - who they are and what they are worth.  Lineman go from being seen as interchangeable and not too valuable, to having very specific roles and positions and having amazing worth.  It shows how Left Tackles gained recognition as the most useful and thus the highest paid players on the field after the quarterbacks. The author shows the exact physical build that is ideal for a left tackle, and why Michael Oher was perfect for the role.

The Blindside is heart touching and also thought provoking.  This book can be enjoyed by the serious football fan and the football naive reader alike. 

I recommend it.