Hibernator's last stand 2015

My name is Rachel, a scientist who is between scientist jobs. I currently work in the healthcare field and volunteer at a crisis hotline. I suffer from bipolar disorder and am very passionate about reducing stigma about mental illness and suicide. I am currently taking classes with the hope of eventually getting into a Physican's Assistant program. But I'm not in a rush. I'm going to stop and smell the flowers (i.e. actually enjoy my classes) on this journey.

Along with mental illness, I'm also interested in social justice, science, philosophy, and mostly fantasy fiction. I might JUST make it to 75 books this year. :)

Currently Reading / listening to

First Quarter

1. The New Testament Canon, by Harry Y. Gamble
2. Fire & Ash, by Jonathan Maberry
3. Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black
4. Mr. Monk and Philosophy, by D. E. Wittkower
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
6. The Remarkable Miss Frankenstein, by Minda Webber
7. Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon
8. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
9. Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
10. Rogue Knight, by Brandon Mull
11. The Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol, by Nikolai Gogol
12. The Daughter of Highland Hall, by Carrie Turansky

Second Quarter

13. Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
14. The Fifth Wave, by Rick Yancey
15. Al Capone Does my Homework, by Gennifer Choldenko
16. The Reason I Jump, by Naoki Higashida
17. The Meaning of Jesus, by Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright
18. Death Note Volume 1: Boredom, by Tsugumi Obha
19. Death Note Volume 2: Confluence, by Tsugumi Obha
20. Death Note Volume 3: Hard Run, by Tsugumi Obha
21. Death Note Volume 4: Love, by Tsugumi Obha
22. Death Note Volume 5: Whiteout, by Tsugumi Obha
23. Death Note Volume 6: Give-and-Take, by Tsugumi Obha
24. Death Note Volume 7: Zero, by Tsugumi Obha
25. The Girl with All the Gifts, by M. R. Carey

Third Quarter

26. The Great Transformation, by Karen Armstrong
27. Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin
28. The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
29. Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
30. Soulless, by Gail Carriger
31. The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien
32. The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N. K. Sandars
33. Gilgamesh, adapted by Stephen Mitchell
34. The Two Towers, by J. R. R. Tolkien
35. The Return of the King, by J. R. R. Tolkien
36. The Norton Critical Edition of Gilgamesh, by Benjamin R. Foster
37. Death Note Volume 8: Target, by Tsugumi Obha
38. The Blank Slate, by Stephen Pinker
39. Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett
40. The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert
41. Crazy, by Pete Early
42. The Biology of Desire, by Marc Lewis

Fourth Quarter

43. beta read of "Aurix," by D. J. Schuette
44. Girl of Nightmares, by Kendare Blake
45. Let Me in, by John Ajdive Lindqvist
46. Blood Child and Other Stories, by Octavia E. Butler
47. The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, by Andrew Solomon
48. Carmilla: A Vampyre Tale, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
49. Death Note Volume 9: Contact, by Tsugumi Obha
50. My Life as a White Trash Zombie, by Diana Rowland
51. Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found, by Frances Larson
52. Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer
53. Gilgamesh and Old Testament Parallels, by Alexander Heidel
54. The Evil Hours, by David J Morris
55. Missing Person, by Patrick Modiano
56. Quiet, by Susan Cain
57. The Martian, by Andy Weir
58. I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai
59. How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell
60. How to Be a Pirate, by Cressida Cowell
61. How to Speak Dragoneese, by Cressida Cowell
62. Shada, by Douglas Adams and Gareth Roberts
63. The Archetypal Significance of Gilgamesh, by Rivkah Scharf Kulger
64. Bipolar Disorder, by Francis Park Mondimore
65. The Three Sisters, by Sonia Halbach
66. How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse, by Cressida Cowell
67. The Psychopath Whisperer, by Kent A Keihl
68. Living in a Grey World, by Preston Sprinkle
69. Among the Creationists, Jason Rosenhouse
70. Sons, Pearl S Buck
71. Half the Sky, by Sheryl DuWunn
72. The Chimes, by Charles Dickens
73. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
74. The First Christmas, by Marcus Borg
75. The Well of Lost Plots, by Jasper Fforde
76. The Buried Book, by David Damrosch

The Three Sisters (The Krampus Chronicles Book 1), by Sonia Halbach
This book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Every Christmas Eve, Maggie has the same dream. Santa is walking on the top of her grandfather's manor, when suddenly he slides off the end. But this year is different. This year, it's a nightmare in which he is pushed by something sinister. Awakened from her dream, she decides to go sledding - ending up in an accident that leads to meeting the handsome (but older) Henry. Henry has come with strange claims: that Maggie's grandfather, who is well known for writing the poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, had plagiarized his poem.

While exploring the mansion for proof of plagiarism, Henry and Maggie are accidentally swept into a strange underground village named Poppel - a village strangely resembling Santa's fabled home. But not all is right in Poppel. It is ruled by tyrants called the Garrison, and Nikolaos is missing. She and Henry must find three hidden objects before the end of Christmas Eve, or else Maggie, Henry and their families are in terrible danger - as is the hidden village of Poppel.

This was a refreshingly unique story based on the poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and Alpine German folklore of the anti-Santa named Krampus. Who knew a world could be built just around such a short poem? And I'd never heard of Krampus before reading this book. (Of course, just yesterday I went to the theaters and found out that a movie named Krampus is soon to be released, though there seems to be no relation between the two.) I really enjoyed reading this book. It was cute, adventurous, and had a tad of romantic tension. And one thing I really loved about this book is that the story was complete at the end. That is the perfect beginning to a series, as far as I'm concerned. I will definitely watch for the next in the series.

Happy new one, Rachel!!

Happy new thread!

>1 The_Hibernator: Gorgeous photo!

>3 The_Hibernator: Mmm ... maybe, maybe ...

Congrats on your shiny new thread, Rachel. I love the photo.

>3 The_Hibernator: That looks good, I also want to read Krampus by Brom. I read of his other books and it was really different but in a good way.

*Waves* and *Hugs*!

Thanks Amber, foggi, and Barbara!

>6 humouress: Thanks Nina. It's a good book. If you're inclined, you should try it out. Small publisher and all that, but still quite a cute book.

>8 xymon81: Hi Matthew. Yeah, Krampus looks good. I might get it on Audible if I can scrounge up 16 hours of listening time. :) Do you know if it has anything to do with the movie?

>9 Ape: Huge hugs and kisses Stephen!!!! *****ooooo

Congrats on your latest thread Rachel.
*Joining Stephen in the queue for those hugs and kisses!*

Happy new thread!

Look at you cranking out a new thread for the end of the year!!! Six Snowflakes for you!

>11 PaulCranswick: Paul, Stephen: behave!

>11 PaulCranswick: Huge hugs and kisses Paul!!!! *****ooooo

Thanks Rhonda, Kim, and Nina!

>10 The_Hibernator: I think it is just a coincidence.

Abnormal Psychology Notes

In the past, there was an amazing amount of stigma against homosexuality. King Henry the VIII of England declared "the detestable and abominable vice of buggery" a felony punishable by death. It was not until 1861 that the maximum penalty in England was reduced to 10 years in prison. Similarly, in 1885, when lesbianism was about to be criminalized, Queen Victoria declared lesbianism to be impossible, and therefore there was no point in making a law against it. In the US, the last law prohibiting homosexuality was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003. As recently as 1973, homosexuality was a diagnosable disorder in the DSM.

However, homosexuality was accepted in non-Western cultures. For instance, in Melanesia, which is a group of islands in the South Pacific, a society called the Sambia believe that semen is important for physical growth, strength, and spirituality. They also believe that the body is only capable of creating a small amount of semen, so they must get the semen from elsewhere. In order to maintain adequate semen levels, boys exchange semen through oral sex. After puberty, the teens can penetrate the younger boys, thus providing them with semen. As the teen ages, he "transforms" into a heterosexual, and ends sexual intercourse with boys after the birth of his first child. Melanesian children who refuse such practices are considered abnormal and are therefore very rare.

Thankfully, Western culture is beginning to accept homosexuality. In the 1960's gay and lesbian people began to be more active for their rights. Such activist action led to increased brutality of police and homophobic citizens against homosexuals. Most recently, homosexual activity, although still highly stigmatized by some groups, is more widely accepted as within moral boundaries. Same sex marriages have become legal in all 50 states.

Despite the removal of much of the stigma against homosexual people, there is still a shocking amount of stigma against transgender / transsexual people. In fact, trans people are the minority most likely to be killed in the US. As of October 2015, 22 transgender women have been killed in the US. Considering how rare trans people are in the US, these are shocking murder rates.



Again, the stigma against trans people is most pronounced in Western culture. For instance, before being colonized by the British in the 18th century, transsexuals were revered as holy people who could remove the Evil Eye and bless homes and other places. But with the British also came stigma. Now, transsexual women resort mainly to begging and prostitution. (I will review a documentary on this subject on Friday.)

In the US, transsexuals must jump through many hoops and red tape in order be approved for surgery. It is a several year-long process. The first step is to be diagnosed with "gender dysphoria" - persistent discomfort about one's biological sex, or the belief that one should be another sex. Gender dysphoria can be diagnosed in children if six of the following characteristics are met: strong desire to be of another gender; a strong preference for cross-dressing in boys; a strong preference for cross-gender rolls; a strong preference for toys, games, and activities associated with the opposite sex; a strong preference for playmates of another gender; in boys, a strong rejection of typically masculine toys and activities; a strong dislike of one's sexual anatomy; a strong desire for the sex characteristics of the opposite gender.

Generally, boys with gender dysphoria more often turn out to be homosexual than transexual; however, the large majority of adults with gender dysphoria develop this characteristic as a child. Given that most children with gender dysphoria grow into emotionally healthy adults, there is some controversy about the inclusion of child gender dysphoria in the DSM-5. In fact, when children with gender dysphoria are brought in for counselling, it is often the parents who receive the most counseling.

In adults, gender dysphoria can be diagnosed if two of the following traits are present: an incongruence between the person's sexual gender and his perceived gender; a strong desire to be rid of one's sex characteristics; a strong desire for the sex characteristics of the opposite sex; a strong desire to be of the other gender; a strong desire to be treated as the other gender; a strong conviction that one has feelings of the other gender.

After an adult is diagnosed with gender dysphoria, he must undergo years of therapy, including a year of living as the other sex. Only after all these years of hard work can the transsexual be approved by insurance for gender reassignment surgery.

Disclaimer: I apologize for the male (or male->female) leaning of this post. I'm making these posts to help me study for my Abnormal Psychology class, and the book was mainly about men on this subject.

Black Five, by J. Lynn Bailey
In exchange for a fair and honest review,
I received an advanced release copy of this book through NetGalley
in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Penelope Jackson has had a hard life. Her earliest memories were living with her crack-addicted adopted mother - who died when she was 8. Scarred by horrible memories of that time, Penelope moved to live with her aunt JoAnne. Life for the next almost-10-years went pretty calmly. She wasn't popular in school, but she had her couple of good friends, and her loving aunt. But then everything changed. She found out that she'd been lied to her whole life. That she was a special immortal being called a "black five." She was the only one who could save the world from an evil tyrant.

I think this book would appeal to its target audience - perhaps 12-15 year old girls. Penelope is a unique, charming, and engaging character. The two romantic interests are handsome, powerful, masculine, mysterious, and totally enamored by her. This is also a nice story because the main character is a girl; but a loving, strong-willed, powerful one. Flawed, as well, which makes her likable. Most stories like this feature a boy as the magical-one-who-will-save-the-world (e.g. Harry Potter). Or if it's a girl, she's either a weak, needy one (yeah, I'm thinking Bella Swann); or a hard, unempathetic one (e.g. Tris or Katniss). I'm thinking of this book as sort of a mix between Harry Potter and Twilight. It's young, it's clean, it's magical, and it's got that love triangle. So, yes, if you've got a 12-15 year old girl who loves this type of book, it's definitely appropriate and enjoyable.

Now I get to the part that's harder to say, but this is a "fair and honest review" after all. This book was not for me. I doubt it's really for many adults at all. Love triangles? Ick. Not only do they give me the willies because I feel like the girl likes one guy and leads on the other, but they always seem to be leading on the guy that I think is better (so it always comes with disappointment in the end). Oh, and the Edward Cullen creepiness factor? It's in this one too. Except - oh change-up! - it's in the guy that I actually like. :) Another problem I had with this book is the lengthy journal section. The hand-writing was atrocious. The writer even admitted that his writing was atrocious. It was an incredible struggle for me to read.

Ok. So here's what I think. This book wasn't for me, but it's a great book for 12-year-old girls. Therefore, I think it's fair-and-honest to give the book 4 stars with the disclaimer: this is a book for young girls. :)

This classic book published in 1946 begins with a short introduction to The Epic of Gilgamesh, gives Heidel's translation of the Epic, and finally provides a comparison of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and other Mesopotamian tablets with similar stories. Heidel's translation is organized into tablet format, with fragments and unsure translations represented with an ellipsis and brackets.

Heidel begins his comparison with a chapter about death and the afterlife. In Mesopotamian literature, gods can die, evil was innate because humans were formed from the blood of a "bad" god, and there was an afterlife in which a person carried the objects buried with him into the afterlife. In Hebrew tradition, the one God can not die - he lives forever. However, there is a concept of original sin, similar to the Mesopotamian belief of innate evil. There seems to be some contradiction about whether Hebrews believed that there was an afterlife or not - most likely because of different beliefs of different sects.

The Mesopotamians partook in ancestor worship, which suggested that the ancestors could somehow intercede on behalf of their descendants. On the other hand, in Hebrew culture, there doesn't seem to be any contact between the spirits of the dead and the living people.

The second, and final, chapter of Heidel's book compares the Utnapishtim's flood story that took place in the Epic of Gilgamesh with Noah's flood story that took place in the Old Testament. There are obvious similarities. Utnapishtim and Noah both built ships to save them from a massive flood that the gods (or God) unleashed on the earth. They collected a male and female of every animal so that they could repopulate the earth. And at the end they released birds to let them know if the flood had subsided. Both the gods and the one God promised never to kill off humanity with such a calamity again.

But there were some interesting differences. First of all, Utnapishtim was not directly told of the flood. Nobody was meant to be told. But a god that favored Utnapishtim whispered to him through the wall of his home while Utnapishtim was sleeping. He told Utnapishtim to lie to the people around him - saying that one of the gods hated him, and that in order to save the entire community, he must leave in a ship. If the community helped Utnapishtim build the ship, they would be rewarded with a season of plenty, which would start with a "wheat-rain." The community built the ship. Utnapishtim loaded on his family and his entire household of servants. At the end of the story, not all of humanity had died - just most of them. Some had survived the flood.

In the Old Testament, Noah was told directly by God to build a ship. He was asked to warn the community - telling them they must repent. The community did not repent. Noah built the ship and took only his family with him. All of humanity died.

Finally, Heidel discussed arguments of whether the Old Testament story had been derived directly from the Gilgamesh Epic, or if they had the same origins from a different source. He also wrote an interesting, though incredibly theoretical discussion about whether the flood really did happen, and what could have caused such a flood.

In the end, this book was very interesting, though I was hoping for a little more from it. However, I'm not quite certain what I expected, or why I expected it. After all, it delivered what was promised in the title. I think part of my higher expectations came from the fact that pretty much every list of references for studying the Gilgamesh Epic included this book.

Besides the rather silly overly-detailed theoretical discussions about the origins of the flood, one other thing I found annoying about this book was his over-use of the word "obviously." These points were certainly not obvious to me, so why did he keep using that word? Perhaps his target audience was nothing like me.

The Martian, by Andy Weir, narrated by R. C. Bray

When a team of Mars explorers runs into some problems while on Mars, they think that astronaut Mark Watney has died. The rest of the crew avoid the storm by immediately heading back home to Earth. Unknown to them, Watney is still alive and must survive on Mars alone with meager supplies left behind by the Mars expedition. With his extraordinary resourcefulness, he manages to survive while desperately hoping that Earth will realize that he's still alive and come to rescue him.

This book was as fantastic as everyone says it is. Watney's struggle to survive is fascinating, and the action moves forward at a steady pace. Yeah, there's a lot of technical language, which made the book a little slower than I would have liked at times, but it was never so slow that I wanted to stop listening. It was more of an "ok, I get that you're doing awesome technical stuff, let's move on." But those scenes were only paragraph-long. I was a little amused at how much money and time America was willing to put in to save Watney. After all, he was only one person and there are so many people on earth that could have benefited greatly from that money. They could have helped thousands of people instead of just one. I get it. He's a hero. But he also made the choice to go on a dangerous adventure. The homeless and hungry in America and around the world did not make the choice to starve. Shouldn't they be helped first?

The narration in the audiobook was also excellent. The humorous parts were so well executed that I had to laugh out loud on numerous occasions.

Ok. Smore reading material for you. Hopefully I'll be able to stop by everyone's threads on Friday or at least over the weekend. :)

>18 The_Hibernator: Love triangles? Ick. Not only do they give me the willies because I feel like the girl likes one guy and leads on the other, but they always seem to be leading on the guy that I think is better (so it always comes with disappointment in the end).

I'm not sure I realized it entirely myself until I read your explanation, but this is exactly why love triangles irritate me so much! (In fact, after I finish Winter, I'm taking a break from YA entirely for a little while because I'm starting to get fed up with it...)

>22 bell7: You know what's funny about that review Mary? The author thanked me on Twitter for my honesty. :)

>23 The_Hibernator: Well, that's a pleasant surprise!

I'm skipping your review of The Martian for now as I just barely started it myself. It's really compelling so far, though!

The Archetypal Significance of Gilgamesh: A Modern Ancient Hero
By Rivkah Scharf Kluger

As a young student of Jung, Kluger was encouraged by her mentor to study the archetypes of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Throughout her career, she gave many lectures on the subject, and was working on this book when she died. This is Kluger's posthumous opus about the archetypes of Gilgamesh. As you can imagine, this is a very Jungian literary analysis. Her thesis was that the Epic of Gilgamesh was a coming-of-age story in which the character developed became fully aware (or conscious).

In the first part of the story, Gilgamesh has only an id. He is wild - forcing the men to slave night and day on his building projects. Mothers would weep at the untimely deaths of their husbands and sons who had died from overwork. Gilgamesh would rape the maidens. He would ride around on the shoulders of children (how he managed this feat, I don't know). Enkidu, likewise, was pure id - though in a different sense. He was someone who could run with the animals because he wasn't yet quite human.

When Enkidu and Gilgamesh met, there was the first inkling of ego - they became conscious that there was something else to their selves besides this wild energy. But even after they fought Humbaba, they were still a little wild. They scorned Ishtar, throwing insults (and bull haunches) at this revered and dangerous goddess. They were aware of their egos - they wanted immortality through glory - but they still had no self-control.

This insult to Ishtar was another step in their development. Ishtar was the mother goddess, as well as the sexual goddess. By insulting her, they separated themselves from their "mother figure," thus becoming men. Granted, immature men, but men all the same.

After insulting Ishtar and maddening some others of the gods, Enkidu died. Neither Enkidu nor Gilgamesh was ready for this turn. They had not come to grips with the reality of death. In fact, even after Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh was in denial. He waited for his friend to return until maggots fell out of Enkidu's nose.

This realization of death was a new step in Gilgamesh's life. He now needed to discover his superego, which is the part of himself that would moderate the impulses of the id - his child-like, uncontrolled desires - with his ego - the part of him that was aware of the needs of the real world. Basically the superego is his conscience.

He dressed himself as a wild-man, in some ways regressing away from his ego's consciousness, and went on a quest for immortality. Along the way, he was tested - over and over - by gods and men. They kept telling him to turn back, his quest was pointless. But he passed all of those tests and reached his goal: Utnapishtim, the man who had survived the deluge and achieved immortality. Much to Gilgamesh's disappointment, Utnaphishtim couldn't tell Gilgamesh how to become immortal. But he gave Gilgamesh a plant which would restore the youth of whomever ate it.

Instead of eating it right away, Gilgamesh decided to bring it back to his home in Uruk to share with others. Perhaps this was his first glimmer of conscience? But, of course, even this plan failed. A snake found the plant and ate it. Gilgamesh's journey for immortality had failed. But it was not pointless. Because in that journey, Gilgamesh had gained wisdom. He'd become aware of his conscience. He was fully conscious.

This was a very difficult book for me to read because I'm not very familiar with Jungian literary analysis. In fact, I don't think I really processed what Kluger was saying until I tried to put it into my own words. Therefore, this book wasn't very enjoyable to me, and it will not get a very high star rating. That doesn't mean it wasn't a good analysis, only that it wasn't for me.

The Biology of Desire, by Marc Lewis, narrated by Don Hagen
Neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis writes an engaging study of the biological changes that occur in an addicted brain, complete with personal stories about himself and several addicts that he interviewed. Lewis points out that there are two major models for addiction - the disease model and the choice model - and argues why he believes the disease model has outlived its use and is now harming rather than helping addicts.

The disease model of addiction is highly accepted by clinicians, psychologists, and insurance companies right now. It posits that the more an addict uses a substance, the more his brain changes, and the more he needs the drug. Furthermore, some people have a biological preinclination for addiction - it doesn't mean that they will become addicts, but the genetic preinclination raises their chance of becoming an addict under the right environmental stimulus. The combination of genetic factors and changes in the brain suggest to clinicians that addiction is a disease. A lot of money, therapy, and medication currently goes into treating addiction as a disease - often successfully.

Lewis argues, though, that changes in the brain and genetic preinclination do-not-a-disease-make. After all, every experience changes your brain - and some events, like falling in love, change your brain in much the same way addiction changes it. Furthermore, much as people have a preinclination for addiction, they also have a preinclination to temperament. For instance, an introverted, agreeable parent is more likely to have an introverted, agreeable child. Despite this heritability, temperament is not considered a disease. So why do we pick-and-choose which heritable brain-changing habits are a disease?

My answer is that addiction is considered a disease whereas in-love and temperament are not considered diseases because in-love and temperament do not generally cause clinically significant impairment in an individual's ability to function in the workplace and social interactions. And when they do inhibit the individual's ability to function, then they are considered a disease.

Instead of the disease model, Lewis supports the "choice" model. People choose to abuse substances in the first place, and continue to make that choice. And when they give up the substance abuse, it is generally because they have chosen that now is the right time to give it up.

Lewis spends the great part of this book describing why he feels viewing addiction as a disease is harmful to addicts as well as unhelpful for treatment. When an addict views his problem as a disease, then he might feel helpless to make his situation better. Whereas if he views it as a choice, he recognizes that he has power over this problem. You might notice that this is in stark contrast to the first step of AA in which the addict accepts that he is powerless over his addiction. In fact, in the stories of Lewis' interviewees, none of them mentioned AA or NA as a helpful tool for stopping their addiction.

Lewis also points out that although medication and therapy generally help the individual to give up alcohol to begin with, there is a very high relapse rate. And that is because although the individual doesn't want the negative effects of his addiction, he has not yet accepted the choice to give up the drug.

Lewis claims that many people view the choice model and the disease model as mutually exclusive, but he believes that they are not. I would tend to agree with him on this. I don't see the harm in viewing addiction as a disease - in fact, I think this model would be very helpful to a certain subset of addicts - it provides them a reason to say "this is not my fault, I have a disease, and I need to live as healthy a life as I can in order to not let it ruin my life." But I also think the choice model is helpful to another subset of addicts - it provides them the ability to say "I have the power to choose not to use. I am not powerless."

I'm impressed with all your reading, Rachel. Wishing you a lovely weekend.

>26 The_Hibernator: I'd vote for both disease and choice, not as either/or for different people, but as two aspects simultaneously. No experience with addiction, but depression runs in the family. Seems to have a hefty chemical component, but I've learned over the decades that there are things I can do to keep it from taking over.

I think the issue is how, in our day-to-day speech, we use words in a figurative way - and then those misuses of the word get adopted by scientists in a more literal way. Disease is a perfect example of that. I can't speak for its origins, but it was generally used to mean someone was afflicted with an illness. When people use it to refer to things like love and drug addiction, it sounds like a clever comparison at first, but then it is used to the point where people start using it in a literal sense, and then things like this happen, to the point where it actually effects how we look at the world.

I think the same is true with computers and the brain. At first, when people started comparing the brain to computers, it all seemed very clever, but now we are all autonomous machines because we've begun to take a figurative comparison literally.

I wouldn't consider someone who was poisoned by a chemical to have been diseased, nor would I consider someone addicted to a chemical to be diseased. With that said, if using the terminology helps someone overcome an addiction, then I see no harm in that. I feel the same way about using someone's spiritual beliefs to help them through a difficult situation. I might think it's nonsense, but whatever works, right?

My life experience has included living with a person with addictions. When addiction was first categorized as a disease I was drawn to this diagnosis as it encompassed the inheritance of addiction but it didn't explain why offspring of the same parents did not all become addicts. I also didn't like how it gave addicts an excuse for not trying to overcome their addiction. A combination of disease and choice makes the most sense to me as it puts some of the onus on the addict as well as explaining how addiction can be passed down in families.

>27 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

>28 qebo: >30 Familyhistorian: Yes, I totally agree. A mixture is best. Both logically and because each is a different way to help a person overcome their problem.

>29 Ape: Totally true! It's a different definition of the word "Disease." It's more of an illness, in the way that a mental illness is an illness.

This was a fantastic week. Work has been going well. Abnormal Psychology class has been going well. I had a bit of a mishap at the Red Cross when I was trying to donate platelets. They had to do quite a bit of "adjusting." But everything came out right in the end. On Saturday, I went to the Hippie Modernism exhibit at the Walker Art Center with my boyfriend and another friend (who is pictured above with me). The exhibit was fun, but we preferred some of the other parts of the museum. The Jack Whitten exhibit was fantastic.

Books Completed



Film Completed



Acquired

Communities of transsexual women called Hijra have existed in India for centuries - they began as a holy group which could bless people and places and remove the Evil Eye. But as the British colonized India, the Hijra began to be shunned and stigmatized. These communities still exist in India today, but now the Hijra are generally beggars and prostitutes. They are often shunned by their families and by society in general. Those who were once great have fallen due to Western stigma.

I will share my thoughts about two documentaries about the Hijra. The first is called Harsh Beauty, which was distributed by Frameline, a nonprofit LGBT media arts organization.

This hour-long documentary is almost entirely in Hindi and Tamil, with English subtitles. It is interview style - focusing on several people. These people range from holy people who ask for alms in exchange for blessings to politicians to prostitutes. Unfortunately, it appears that the former (more "presentable") categories have very, very few people, whereas the majority of Hijra are beggars and prostitutes.

In some ways, the trans communities in India are tighter than those in the US. In India, the Hijra live, work, and die together. They form very strong bonds. However, this also means that they do not have strong relationships with their birth families. They do not live with their families or marry (at east not conventionally, as I'll discuss later). In fact, many have been shunned by their families, or must visit them only discretely.

Transsexuals in the US have to jump through an amazing amount of red tape for years in order to get their surgeries, but when they have the surgery it is in a safe, sterile, finely-tuned environment. A man->woman surgery can rearrange the nerve endings to form a clitoris. Although this is a major surgery in the US, and it takes much dedication to jump through all the hoops, it seems to me that the Hijra must be even more dedicated than American trans people to get their operation:.

In India, the surgery is much more "brutal" than it is here. There's no anesthesia (because this is a spiritual ritual). The boy stands naked in a temple looking up at his deities. Then, the guru cuts off his "manhood" (testicles and penis). There is no delicate reorganization of the nerves in this surgery. After the surgery, hot oil is poured on the wound for 41 days to help it heal.

This procedure may make me shudder in its "brutality," but I doubt it seems brutal at all to the Hijra community. As I said, to them it's a spiritual experience. After the surgery, Hijra from all over the area will come to have a huge festival of celebration - because a new member of their community has been initiated.

I would say this documentary was an excellent introduction to transsexual culture in non-Western cultures. However, because of its format (interviewees speaking in a foreign language, and very little other action), it wasn't the most dynamic of documentaries.



The second documentary I watched was The Third Sex, which was episode 10, season 5 of National Geographic's Taboo series.

This film had a fantastic description of a Hijra festival which takes place in Koovagam, Tamil Nadu. This festival celebrates the wedding of the god Aravan, who was destined to die in battle in one day. He prayed to be married before his death, but no woman would marry him and become a widow so quickly (widows do not have very good lives in India). So the male god Vishnu came in woman's form and married Aravan. Every year, Hijra from all around India flock to Koovagam to celebrate their own marriage to Aravan. It is a happy marriage festival with much celebration. Then, the next day, the Hijra cover their faces in turmeric, beat their chests, wail, dress in white, and morn the death of their husband.

Watching this documentary was a much more enjoyable experience than watching Harsh Beauty. It was more dynamic and had beautiful filmography; however, it was also more sensationalized and less realistic and informative than Harsh Beauty. Of the two, I think Harsh Beauty was the better.

Great photo. Thanks for sharing it, Rachel.

>32 The_Hibernator: Love your footwear!

>33 The_Hibernator: Interesting subject. I do hope/ assume, for that traumatic-sounding temple ceremony, that the conversion is the boys' choice?

>35 humouress: I don't know if conversion is usually the boy's choice or not. For the people interviewed in the documentary, it was. But I was already familiar with the book Narcopolis, in which the Hijra was sold into prostitution at 9, and so it was an unwilling conversion. My guess is that really happens in real life.

That's deeply saddening that something so painful shouldn't be by their choice. If only the world was perfect ...

>37 humouress: Agreed!

Living in a Gray World, by Preston Sprinkle
This advance release copy was provided through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

(Disclaimer: I do not agree with everything stated in this book. However, the message of love and acceptance is very timely, necessary, and wonderful. My own views on the topic of sin and Bible interpretation are unimportant for my review of the book, since I agree full-heartedly with the message of love and the importance of educating teenagers on how to deal with a situation that still draws too much stigma and ignorance in schools and Fundamentalist Christian communities.)

In Sprinkle's short and to-the-point book for teenagers, he explains his views on homosexuality - suggesting that although homosexual sex is a sin, Christians should show love and acceptance rather than hate, disgust, and venom. In a conversational format, Sprinkle educates the readers on the differences between being attracted to people of the same gender (homosexuality - which is not a sin in itself) and actually acting on those desires (which, according to his interpretation of certain Bible verses, is a sin). He also educates the readers on the nature of transgender and transsexualism.

Throughout his discussion, he asserts that although Christians should hate sin, they should not be the ones to cast stones. He points out that name-calling, or even incautious unaccepting statements, can cause great pain in a confused and vulnerable teenager - it can lead to self harm and suicide. The behavior of the Christian adults around Sprinkle's readers might show disgust, but this hatred is not becoming of a Christian and is just as sinful as the sin they are judging. Sprinkle calls his readers to love without judgement. He points out that sinners more easily change their sinful behavior if they are gently called to the church by acceptance and love. Sprinkle also addresses homosexual and transgender teens themselves - urging them to build a support network of loving and accepting people, hopefully Christians. He even provides his own contact information in case the teen can't find someone understanding to talk to.

At the end of his book, Sprinkle provides an appendix with Bible verses and discusses why these verses show that homosexual sex is a sin.

Sprinkle suggests that this book is aimed towards young teens through early twenties, though personally I feel the book was a bit to "young" for even older teens (unless they have lived a very "sheltered" life in the comfort of only a society of people with similar beliefs). Sprinkle has another book, People to be Loved, that might be more appropriate for older teens and adults, though I haven't read it.

All-in-all, I loved the message of acceptance throughout Sprinkle's book. As a person who works in a suicide hotline for teenagers, I know that there are a lot of teens out there who are just realizing they have homosexual desires. These teens can be confused, scared, and self-loathing. The reason they are self-loathing is often because of the rancor about homosexuality that they have been exposed to through a supposedly "Christian" living. But in my opinion, and apparently Sprinkle's, it is more sinful to hate and judge than it is for a person to feel something that he can not control and did not choose. Next time I deal with such a teenager I will suggest this book as a way to know that he is loved.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, Rachel.

Thanks Barbara!

Weekly update

This was a stressful week, and I'm ready to start a new one and move on with life! Yay! A new week!

Here's what happened: On Monday I was upset at work because I had to play the bad-guy and tell my employee that she might not be able to take her vacation on the days requested, despite having already bought the tickets. I told her she may have to reschedule, and she cried, and I felt awful. So I went shopping with my good friend, and I bought this awesome Chanel purse at Goodwill. I didn't get much studying done, but I certainly felt better.

The next day, my employee texted me (it wasn't her day to work) that her last day would be December 31st. I told her that she'd have to sign a resignation form on Thursday, when she returned. After a couple of stressful hours of trying to remake the schedule (which is already short one employee) work without her, she texted back "But don't you WANT me to work for you?" Apparently, she'd been bluffing and hadn't expected me to take her up on the offer to quit. I was enraged. Another night that I would rather just relax rather than study.

To cut to the chase, I ended up taking my test on Thursday without studying at all. It looks like I did ok, and am still going to be able to pull off an A in the class. So here's to next week and studying for my final exam coming up on Thursday!

Books Completed



Film Completed

Oh dear, what a week. Well, I hope the upcoming one will be better.

Sorry to hear about your tough week, Rachel. I hope that you're able to put it behind you and enjoy the weekend.

>43 Ameise1: So far it's going better. We'll see how my final goes tomorrow.

>44 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl. I feel a lot better this week. :)

Good luck with your final. Hope you ace it!

Thanks Meg! It went well!

Weekly Update

Well, finals are over and Winter is coming. Revisiting the health goals that I set for myself at the beginning of Fall semester, I see that I didn't add in any exercise (well, my work is exercise and its hard to find energy to go above and beyond that), I didn't give up caffeine, and I ended up getting stuck in a bipolar mixed phase that I'm lucky to have safely pulled out of without ruining my grade for Abnormal Psychology.

This semester, I'm going to make similar efforts. As soon as my training for the COLUMNS is through (see >1 The_Hibernator:) I'll add in some exercise. I really will this time. :) And as for the caffeine, I'm going to white-knuckle it between semesters instead of trying to slowly remove it from my diet. Hopefully people will cheer me on. :)

Books completed this week



Books acquired this week

Oooh, The Serpent of Venice is a good one!

>48 The_Hibernator: Master and Commander is a great book. I commend the whole series to you. The movie with Russell Crowe was fun too.

Happy force Friday!!

>48 The_Hibernator: Adding exercise can be as simple as adding more steps to your day. Since I got my Fitbit I am more contentious about doing a fair amount of walking everyday.

>49 scaifea: I like Christopher Moore. This one was Audible's daily deal a few days back. :)

>50 Oberon: Another Audible daily deal. :) But I'm looking forward to it. I tried to add it to a classics challenge for next year, but I was called out on the fact that it was published in 1969, which is AFTER 1966. haha

>51 xymon81: May the Force be with you (and also with me).

>52 Familyhistorian: I already have an awful lot of steps in my day because I'm constantly walking at work. The only way to add more steps is to walk outside of work, which would be adding exercise to the day. :) Not sure how I can add more. I used to have a fitbit - one of the ones that goes around the wrist. But I realized that it was counting hand movements as steps and got fed up with it. What good is that? I guess I could buy one of the hip ones.

>53 The_Hibernator: I'm happy with my hip FitBit. You might be pleasantly surprised at the number of steps you achieve if you're on your feet all day.

>54 qebo: Yeah, perhaps I should buy a hip one, but I was feeling pretty discouraged after the whole arm-movement issue with the other one.

Missing Person, by Patrick Modiano

Ten years ago, amnesiac Guy Rowland hired a private investigator to figure out who he was and where he came from. Soon afterwards, the PI gave Guy a new identity and a job as the PI's assistant, saying that sometimes it's best not to remember who you are. But now that his good friend and employer has retired, Guy again begins his search for identity.

Reading this book made me understand why Modiano won the Nobel Prize in literature. The prose was almost poetic, and the imagery was gripping. For instance, he found a drained, emotionally dying clue to his past in a run-down bar. The whole chapter was filled with coffin and morgue imagery, complete with an "embalmed man" who observed everything, no matter how stimulating, without blinking an eye. All of Modiano's chapters were set up in this way - with vivid imagery fitting the clue that he had found - though the imagery was always dark and mysterious.

Unsurprising for a book about amnesia, the over-arching theme of the story was identity. Who am I? Does my past change who I am? These questions are explored as Guy's own vision of who he is transforms as he gets more clues. We can only wonder at the end if he's really found his real self, or if he's just adopted the identity of a man who fits the person Guy wants to be.

I definitely urge you to read Missing Person. I hope I find the time to read more Modiano in the future.

Great photo of your nephew! Can't start those Jedi too early! So, have you seen it yet?

>54 qebo: I wonder if it works if one hooks a wrist Fitbit to a beltloop or in a pocket. I don't see why it wouldn't, but I haven't tried it.

I haven't read anything by Modiana but I was struck by your wonderful review.

Rachel: I was feeling pretty discouraged after the whole arm-movement issue with the other one.

Really? Yeah, I could see how that could be inaccurate. I'm pretty sure I'd take a million steps a day, with long stretches of inactivity and short bursts of frantic step-acquisition! ....

>56 The_Hibernator: That one sound excellent - adding it to the list! Thanks for the great review!

Wishing you a lovely weekend, Rachel.

>48 The_Hibernator: Beautiful photo!

Nice review of Missing Person. I don't remember anything about it, though, even after your comments about it (no pun intended).

>55 The_Hibernator: I have a hip Fitbit which is pretty good. It doesn't over record my steps. If anything it under records them.

Merry Christmas, Rachel!

Hi Rachel! Just getting caught up. It's been a busy month. Congratulations on doing so well in school! I've enjoyed following your notes.

>26 The_Hibernator: Great review. I've added that one to the pile. I tend to agree with the general idea of choice, with some allowance for genetic tendencies, which can lead us back to choices... Anyway, looking forward to reading it.

>53 The_Hibernator: I have a FitBit, and I find it works well enough for my needs. I don't worry too much about hand movements. It doesn't count them so much that I find my steps to be way off, and when I'm doing something like vigorous piano playing, I am often working up a bit of a sweat anyway. It doesn't work on things like elliptical machines and stationary bikes, but I've seen people attach theirs to their shoe and it seems to count steps then. Interesting...

Wishing you a Merry Christmas while I'm here, because I won't have heaps of time this week. Hope it's full of books and fun.

>48 The_Hibernator: Great picture!

Good luck on the exercize. THat's one of my resolutions as well. If you already have a lot of walking, maybe something different? Yoga? Dance?

>57 streamsong: Thanks Janet! But actually that's a picture of my niece. My nephews look like this:



and this:



No, I've not seen the movie yet. I'm not a big fan of going on opening night. Tim and his little brother (16 years old!!!!) went to it on opening night. My friend Todd and I are going to go to it later when the fever has died out a little.

>58 Ape: Yeah, Stephen, you should try that out. :)

>59 scaifea: I hope you enjoy it Amber!

>60 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara

>61 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl. I know when you read a lot of books it becomes difficult to remember one from the other. But I certainly enjoyed this one. :)

>62 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg, maybe I'll get one for the hip. I certainly enjoyed using the wrist one when I thought it was measuring my steps accurately.

>63 connie53: Thanks Connie! Merry Christmas!

>64 nittnut: Thanks Jenn! I hope you enjoy Biology of Desire, it certainly was interesting. As I said, I'm more of a mixture between the two. Whichever view helps the person kick the habit, it doesn't matter what is "really" true - if there even is such a truth. My Fitbit was WAY off because of the hand movements. On days that I did laundry, you should have seen how many "steps" I took. :) Merry Christmas!

>65 banjo123: Hi Rhonda! Those are good ideas. I'm a bit uncoordinated for dance, but maybe yoga would be a good idea. If I paid for a class, I would go, right? Or perhaps self-defense - I've been thinking about that, as well. Belly dancing also sounds fun, though, again, coordination.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching A Klingon Christmas Carol performed at the Historic Mounds Theatre in Saint Paul. In case you're wondering: yup, that's a thing. It is the first play written and performed in Klingon (preceding the Klingon Shakespeare plays). The playwrights are Christopher Kidder-Mostrom and Sasha Warren. Its translation into English, shown on a screen behind the actors, was by Sasha Warren.

SQuja' is a cowardly money lender who not only refuses to take place in the yearly warrior festival of Kahless, refuses to donate money for orphans to be trained as warriors, and forces his assistant to work so much that he is unable to train his crippled son tImHom to spar.

But on the eve of Kahless, his friend marlI', who is as dead as a "red shirt" appears to SQuja' to warn him that he will be visited by three spirit warriors on this evening. The spirit of Khaless past, present, and future visit him and at the end of the night SQuja' has gained courage to become a generous and brave warrior himself.

The play was quite funny and well-performed by our local Klingons here in the Twin Cities. The only thing that struck me as a little off was that marlI' was as dead as a "red shirt" but appeared as a doorknob, like Marlee of the Dickens story - if you remember he was as dead as a doorknob. marlI' should have appeared as a red shirt.

I'm currently listening to Stress and Your Body, a set of Great Courses lectures by Professor Robert Sapolsky. Sapolsky is a professor of biological sciences, neurology, and neurosurgery at Stanford University. His lab focuses on how stress affects the nervous system. He also has extensive field work, studying a particular population of wild baboons in East Africa - where he examines how social rank, personality, and sociality affect vulnerability to stress-related disease. He is a fantastic lecturer, and if you get the chance to watch a YouTube video of him lecturing, go for it.



The main text for Stress and Your Body is Sapolsky's own Why Zebras don't get Ulcers, though there are a few scientific papers and books to supplement this course.

While I go through the lectures, I'll give you some bullet point updates. Here are the first two lectures.

Lecture 1:

• When a zebra gets stressed by a lioness, it activates all sorts of pathways that help it survive the fight-or-flight response. Systems that use a lot of energy, like digestive and immune, slow way down to conserve energy for the run. Blood pressure rises to get oxygen to the limbs. When the zebra successfully escapes, these pathways turn off.


• When we get stressed, we often worry about things in the future - impending disasters that may or may not come. Tests. Presentations. Work. Since there's always something to worry about, your body is always suppressing those systems that are turned off during the fight-or-flight response.


• For the zebra, the fight-or-flight response is helpful, but to the constant worrier, it causes extreme wear-and-tear on your body.

Lecture 2:

• The sympathetic nervous system is for stress / fight-or-flight; whereas the parasympathetic system is for non-stress situations. These systems control the automatic functions of your body like digestions, immune system, heat beat, constriction of blood vessels, etc.


• To really simplify things, you can think of the brain as triune; including the hypothalamus, limbic system, and cortex. The hypothalamus does all the regulatory stuff (like the parasympathetic and sympathetic control). The limbic system controls emotion. The cortex is all about abstract reasoning and long-term memory.


• Upon certain stimulation (like stress or fight-or-flight), your brain stimulates the release of hormones (chemical signals) that control your body's response.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert; Narrated by Anne Twomey

This book documents the mass extinction that Kolbert (along with quite a few scientists) believes is due to humans. It's not only about hunting animals out of existence. It's about carrying invasive species (including animals, plants and fungus) into new environments. These species are destructive to foreign ecological systems because each system did not develop in parallel with the new species - thus the system did not develop immunity and protection against the invasive species. For instance, our travels around the world transport fungus that have caused plague among bats world-wide, and frogs in the Southern Americas. This book is mainly a scientific endeavor written by a journalist, but we also get to follow Kolbert as she shadows scientists around the world in their quests to study and prevent extinction.

At first, this book made me feel guilty for the extinctions that humans have caused. But then I realized that we are a kind of invasive species too. Is it really our fault that we developed minds and then tools capable of carrying us around the world? Had we any idea of the destruction that we would cause? No. We were just doing what any species does - procreate, expand, and diversify. I also feel that Kolbert was catastrophizing a bit in her book. Although humans have certainly caused a lot of damage to our planet, I don't think we are capable of destroying a world that has survived so many other massively destructive events. We are just another blip in the planet's development.

How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell; Narrated by David Tennant

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III isn't what you would call a Viking hero, He's small and scrawny, and prefers scholarly entertainment rather than ruffian ones. However, he is the son of the tribe leader, so he must be a hero. When, in an initiation-to-tribe trial he must find a baby dragon to train, he ends up with the smallest, toothlessest dragon he could imagine. But he must persevere in order to be accepted into his tribe. Little does the tribe know that danger lurks near.

This was the funniest book I've listened to in a long time. And, of course, it's narrated by David Tennant, which makes it absolutely fantastic. This isn't just a story for 5th graders, anybody can enjoy it. But don't expect it to be anything at all like the movie.



How to be a Pirate, by Cressida Cowell; Narrated by David Tennant

In order to learn to be pirates, Hiccup and his friend Fishlegs learn to sail ships and sword fight. But while sailing, they find, floating in the ocean, a coffin labeled "do not open." Of course they open it, and when the dead rise, unlikely adventure ensues. I'm really enjoying this series so far.



How to Speak Dragonese, by Cressida Cowell; Narrated by David Tennant

In this installment, Hiccup and Fishlegs must learn to board enemy ships. But when they accidentally board a Roman ship, they are kidnapped. They must escape before they are killed in a tournament. Again, fantastically funny with wonderful narration.



How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse by Cressida Cowell; Narrated by David Tennant

In the fourth installment of How to Train your Dragon, Hiccup find out Fishlegs has been bitten by a tiny poisonous dragon. Hiccup must steal the vegetable-that-must-not-be-named from a dangerous nearby tribe in order to save his friend.

All four were hilarious. I loved Tennant's narrations. I will certainly pick up the rest of the series soon.

>66 The_Hibernator: Whoops and blushes. My apologies to your beautiful niece. Yay for women with sabers!

Great review on The Sixth Extinction. I hope to get to that one in '16. And I've heard nothing but good about The How to Train Your Dragon books read by Tennant so I'll try to get to those, too.

For my Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Holiday image this year (we are so diverse!), I've chosen this photograph by local photographer Mark Lenoce of the pier at Pacific Beach to express my holiday wishes to you: Peace on Earth and Good Will toward All!

Thanks Barb and Roni!

>69 The_Hibernator: I don't think we are capable of destroying a world
Oh, the planet will be fine. We, indeed, may just be a blip.

Merry Christmas!

>75 qebo: Yup!

>76 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg!

The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien; narrated by Rob Inglis

Anyone who cares knows what Lord of the Rings is about, so I'll skip the summary here. What I will say is that among my favorite narrations of audiobooks, Inglis' narrations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are among my favorites. He not only reads the book perfectly, but he sings all the songs! I would listen to these books over and over again.

Lord of the Rings is a difficult book to write about because so many have already written so much. Some critics hate it as cult literature which has few (and flat) women characters and a too-black-and-white contrast between good and evil; worst of all, it's escapist literature. Others praise his allegories - attributing themes such as nuclear war, the Passion of Jesus, and anything in between.

Tolkien's strong religious beliefs - and his own admission that The Lord of the Rings was a deeply spiritual work - support the Savior allegory. And there is no question that Tolkien was strongly impacted by his experience in WWII - enough that his writings would most certainly reflect his thoughts on war. But I think it's also important to remember what Tolkien himself thought about allegory:

“I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned– with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”

I think this is a beautiful quote. Although I grew up believing that all good books are allegories, I appreciate what Tolkien is trying to say. Allegories, in his mind, are very specific messages that the author is trying to convey. They can often be stuffed down the readers' throats. When the reader is left with the freedom of interpretation, then the book is so much more alive and meaningful. And that meaningfulness is what is so special about The Lord of the Rings.

I propose to call The Lord of the Rings a parable - a story that has meaning and applicability, but is left open for interpretation.

I guess it depends on how literally you interpret "destroy the world." I don't believe we are remotely capable of destroying it, as you mentioned, the earth has seen MUCH more extreme conditions in the past and things balance out eventually. We are certainly capable of ruining it for awhile, making it unpleasant to live in, and causing widespread death and mass extinction.

>79 Ape: Well, yes. that's what I mean. We can destroy it for ourselves - to the point where we can't live there anymore. But I don't think we'll destroy it altogether.

The First Christmas: What the Gospels really Teach About Jesus' Birth, by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan;
Narrated by John Pruden

In this fascinating little book, Borg and Crossan explore the historical meaning behind the birth-of-Jesus story. They first point out the factual differences between Matthew's and Luke's versions of the birth story. Then they explain how, after the Enlightenment, many people want everything to be either literally true or false. Many Christians are in denial of the "factual inconsistencies" in the Bible, and the ones who are aware of the inconsistencies often feel a little uncomfortable and don't know quite what to think about them. Borg and Crossan point out that the stories are meant to be parables. They were not meant to be taken as literal truth. They explore a deeper truth within the limits of historical culture.

Borg and Crossan study (practically line-by-line at times) each birth story separately, explaining the cultural, literary, or mythological meaning of the Biblical text. For instance, in his story of the Magi and Herod, Matthew was bringing to mind parallels to the Moses story in his Gospel. Like Pharaoh, Herod wanted to kill all the baby boys because he'd heard that one was born who would overthrow him. As with the parents of Moses, Jesus' parents had divine inspiration to have a child despite great obstacles - in the case of Moses' parents, they had to have faith that their son wouldn't die; in the case of Joseph, he had to have faith that Mary was yet a virgin. Against all odds, both boys survived and became great leaders. Such parallels to the Moses story would help justify to first century Christians the divinely-inspired leadership of Jesus.

I really enjoyed learning about the cultural reasons for the choices Matthew and Luke made while writing their gospels. At times, I felt the book didn't translate well to audio, though, because the authors went into great detail in their lists of gospel references (for instance, every reference of to Jesus as "light," and what the word "light" meant in that sense). The lists didn't translate well to audio since they were something I would normally either skim over or use as a Bible study guide. Neither could be done in an audiobook. Regardless, I'm glad I had the chance to listen to this book, and I hope to read their first book The Last Week. I'll save that one for Easter, though.

There is no chance that I will manage to get caught up with the threads but I had to make sure that I stopped by your thread Rachel to wish you the very best for the holiday season!

Have a lovely holiday, dear Rachel

Wishing you very Happy Holidays, Rachel!

Thanks Lori, Paul, and Nathalie!

Merry Christmas to all of my readers! (Disclaimer: Happy Holidays too!)

This week has been a good one. It's been really nice being on break - and I got so much stuff done I can't believe it. For one thing, I supposedly fixed my financial aid problem. I was told when I filed my FAFSA that I couldn't get financial aid until I declared a major. But I didn't want to declare a major. My major is "getting myself into PA program." So this week, I declared a major. I am now pursuing an AA with emphasis in Biology. HA! That's a step down from my PhD. Anyway, I'm hoping that if I get proper funding, I can move down to a part-time job (hopefully as an EMT) and take more classes each semester. That'll speed up my process quite a bit.

If you remember from my last update, I was entering into a #nocaffeine challenge. The first week is complete, and I never even suffered from a headache! I did suffer from mildly crippling exhaustion, though. That may have been exacerbated by giving platelets on Monday. In fact, sometimes I wonder if giving platelets is just really bad for me. It seems like every time I give platelets, I get exhausted. But there are always extenuating circumstances. Like last time - I worked till 1 am and then was in to work at 6 am the next day. Isn't that reason enough to be exhausted? So for right now, I'm going to continue my donations. :)

Next week I'm going to start reading chapters in my EMT textbook - getting ahead for the semester. My reason is that 1) I know how much reading there is because I tried taking the class last semester and 2) My first month of the class will be difficult since I will be busy two evenings per week training for the COLUMNS program (you know, the one where I work with a life-term parolee recently released from prison). I plan on keeping bullet points of things I've learned from the chapters and from class so because I think it's sort of fun. You are welcome to peruse, skim, or skip.

Books Completed:



Books Acquired:



Film and Theater:



Bookish Gifts to Others



These I got for one of the residents at the nursing home I work for. They all got presents on Christmas Eve.



This is going to my boyfriend's nephew.



For my mom.



For my best friend



For my aunt

And may you have a lovely New Year filled with books (and bunnies!) and all your favorite things!

Rachel, I'm so glad you are posting regularly again. I am a fan of your thread and life journey. I hope your Christmas was filled with peace and joy. May that feeling follow you throughout the upcoming new year.

>87 streamsong: >88 Donna828: Thanks Janet and Donna!

The Chimes, by Charles Dickens, narrated by Richard Armitage

When Trotty's daughter brings him a happy surprise (tripe and news of her engagement for the upcoming New Year), he is quickly disillusioned by a group of wealthy people who delight in "putting-down" poor folk. That evening, Trotty explores his beloved bell-spire and sees things that he never expected to see.

This story was hard to read at first because it was so darned depressing. I mean, here Trotty was as happy as a clam (because we all know clams smile all the time) and suddenly these horrible wealthy men stomp all over his happiness. As the story goes on, the family becomes even more downtrodden. In fact, I was wondering if the story was going to turn around into a happy Christmas story until the very end.

This wasn't my favorite of Dickens' works. It's nice to read another of his lesser known Christmas stories, but I guess it's lesser-known for a reason. It was quaint and a good poke-in-the-eye to the strong who "put-down" the weak. But other than that, it was kind of a "meh" book for me.

*Hugs*

>91 Ape: Hugs Stephen!

>92 Berly: Thanks for the present Kim! :)

The Hobbit (1977), directed by Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.
The Lord of the Rings (1978), directed by Ralph Bakshi
The Return of the King (1980), directed by Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.

When I first told my aunt that they were making a Lord of the Rings movie, she disinterestedly said "meh, there's already one of those." These three gems are what she was talking about. After re-reading The Hobbit and LOTR, I decided to hunt down these movies. I borrowed the first from Netflix, saw the second in a theater, and couldn't find the third.

The Hobbit was undeniably a children's movie - just as the book was a children's book. There was silly dialog, and silly action scenes and the dwarves were just as silly as they were supposed to be. In fact, it took me quite a while to get used to the animation because the old-fashionedness of it added to the silly factor.

The Lord of the Rings, in contrast, was very serious. The battle scenes were surprisingly violent for a cartoon. Neither my boyfriend nor I remembered that much violence from when we were kids watching the movie, so it must not have been too very traumatic, I guess. :) The story of The Lord of the Rings ends quite suddenly after the battle at Helm's Deep because they couldn't get the rights to the third book in the trilogy.

The Return of the King was not a sequel to The Lord of the Rings, but to The Hobbit. The same animation studio was used for both, though the second movie was a musical, which added to the movie greatly. In fact, this song is one that I remember from childhood, and I was thrilled when I could find it again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW_ocZLaRdI

Ive watched The Hobbit but neither of the others. It is one of my favorites from my childhood.

I remember watching the second one as a kid, probably on New Year's Eve, that was when my mum and a friend of hers sent the dads with the kids to see a movie while they were preparing the party food. I was definitely "traumatized" - it all started in a nicely animated world (the Shire) and then those horrible red-eyed "monsters" fell in. Clearly remember the scene when those riders were stabbing the beds in the inn, I think that's when I closed my eyes and didn't open them again until the movie was over. :)
I must have been about 7/8 years old and was still in full Disney mode then (we went to the movies twice a year as a special treat).

>95 xymon81: >96 Deern: I think the first and last of them were the best. The Lord of the Rings was very violent, as Nathalie points out. I imagine I didn't see it as such a young age as you, Nathalie. I hardly remembered the movie at all. But I remember being a bit traumatized by the missing finger on Frodo, so I must have seen Return of the King at a much younger age.

Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer, narrated by Phyllida Nash
When Kitty's cantankerous care-taker insists that one of his own nephews marry Kitty for her to inherit his fortune, three of them rush to Kitty's home to propose. When she spurns those three, they patiently explain that she must marry one of them or else she will be left destitute. Kitty hatches a plan (which the reader is left only vaguely aware of) to free herself from these constraints - but it requires her to go to London for a few weeks. That's where her cousin Freddy comes in. He didn't propose - had no wish to propose - but only came because he was curious what this big summons from his uncle was about. In secret, Kitty convinces Freddy to propose marriage so that he could take her to London. Of course, she'll break it off when the few weeks are over....

This is my first book by Georgette Heyer. I've heard so many great things about her that I wanted to see for myself. At first, I wasn't too pleased with the book, but I warmed to it once time had passed, and Kitty matured in London. You see, I didn't like Kitty at first. She seemed so manipulative - getting Freddy to propose when he clearly didn't want to. And it seemed her plan could end up destructive to both of them - even if we didn't know what the whole plan was about. I realized as she grew that the plan was just naivete and not pure manipulation, but I still found all the dangerous lies a bit disturbing. Regardless, everything turned out well in the end, and I was left with a warm fuzzy feeling about the novel.

Heyer's writing is delightful. She mixes humor with the beloved Regency Romance genre, and she's often suggested to readers who have finished all the Jane Austen novels. They definitely have the same feel as an Austen, though the humor has a slightly different tone. Austen has more sarcasm in her books. Both writers have a mixture of wit and silliness. I will hopefully have time to read another Heyer soon. Just think, a brand new author to explore!

Hi Rachel! Glad you had a good Christmas.

Nice reviews.

Hi Rachel. There's an absolutely cute little baby handing out snowflakes on my thread, whom I came over to thank you for.

I'll just remind you that when you give blood, you're depleting your supply for a while, so you should plan not to do anything exhausting for the rest of the day ;0) Well, I think it's brave of you to donate regularly. Myself, I hate needles, not helped by the fact I have to be tested every so often for thyroid levels and my GP's office is freezing, so he has to try a few times to find a vein that gives enough blood. Not my favourite thing to do.

And also, you're one of the LTers who keep making me want to give audio books another go.

Here's wishing you a merry Christmas (belated) and a joyful 2016!

>99 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda!

>100 humouress: You're welcome! Yeah, I know I should relax after giving platelets. (Blood I don't give anymore because I generally faint during the process. I guess it's the dehydration. With platelets they rehydrate you with saline.) Somehow I never end up doing that, though. :( I'll try next time.

I love audiobooks. They are my constant companion. But it took me time to get used to them.

Among the Creationists: Dispatches from the Anti-Evolutionists Front Line, by Jason Rosenhouse, Narrated by George Orlando

This is the story of Rosenhouse's exploration of Creationism. Rosenhouse is an intelligent, rational mathematician and declared atheist (though the way he describes his beliefs I'd put him in the agnostic category myself). He decided in college to explore the seemingly irrational views of ultra-conservative Christians to try to understand how they can possibly deny evolution. This book describes his journey through conferences, museums, and personal conversations. It also has a light smattering of history of the creationist-evolutionist debate.

This was a surprisingly considerate and fair book considering the fact that it was coming from an atheist talking about Creationists. From the beginning, Rosenhouse insisted that although he was well-known as "that atheist guy who goes to Creationist conferences," he was almost always treated with respect and kindness. This is possibly because his main goal was to educate himself rather than to change anyone's mind. He did, of course, make public comments/questions to the speakers at the conferences, but they always were polite and seemed to be answered politely as well.

Despite this even-handedness, there were a few times that I cringed while reading this book. For instance, he lumped Intelligent Design, Theistic Evolution, Christian Science and and other lesser known ideologies all in with Creationism. He even said that they were pretty much the same thing. They're really not, though. Denying the possibility of evolution is not the same as saying that God directed evolution. Yes, I can see where an atheist might think the second option wasn't sensible either. But the basic difference remains - one set denies evolution altogether the other does not. To me, and I would imagine to many atheists as well, an all-out denial of the evidence for evolution is less sensible than saying God directed the evolution. Another lapse in his even-handedness was when he criticized the Creationists as being name-callers - as if that doesn't go both ways. Trust me, I've been disappointed in interviews and essays by prominent evolutionary theorists like Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins. Scientists can disparage and name-call too.

From what I could tell of his book, the conferences were all about getting together with people who totally agree with you to say "Here's what we agree on, now how can we get others to see the light?" Then they'd have the requisite book signings and other gatherings. So Rosenhouse had plenty of time to hobnob. In his book, he related several interesting conversations between himself and Creationist individuals. Most of these conversations seemed to include teenagers. He'd give information about which authors to read if they wanted to learn more about evolution, or just have an interesting discussion about the points of each argument. I imagine he had a lot of conversations with teenagers because they're less jaded about trying to convince people of their points of view.

This was an interesting book, and I'm glad I read it. It had some shortcomings (noted above), but listening to this book actually educated me on certain things. For instance, years ago I was turned off by Richard Dawkins when I heard an NPR interview in which he disregarded a question from a Creationist. This question could have been easily answered: it was the old "how could evolution be scientifically possible when entropy (chaos) is always increasing?" (This is the second law of thermodynamics.)

The answer is: entropy always increases in a "closed system." A closed system is one that doesn't have any exchange of energy with the outside. Like the entire universe. There's only one universe. There's nothing that it can exchange energy with. On the other hand, Earth is not a closed system. It's always losing atmosphere to the space surrounding it. It's always getting light and heat from the sun. That's called an open system. Animals are open systems too. We breathe, we eat, we poop. That's energy exchange. Evolution took place in an open system, therefore the second law of thermodynamics doesn't apply and there is no contradiction.

Ok, maybe that wasn't easy to explain...Point is, Dawkins could have answered the question politely instead of rudely disregarding it. Although I still think Dawkins was in the wrong, after reading this book I now understand how frustrating it might be to be constantly answering exactly the same question over and over and people ignoring my answer.

Merry Christmas and happy reading Rachel!

Thanks Megan!

Sons (The Good Earth Book 2), by Pearl S. Buck, narrated by Adam Verner

This second book of The Good Earth trilogy picks up exactly where the first book, The Good Earth, left off. Wang Lung, the protagonist of the first story, is on his deathbed and his sons solemnly promise not to sell this precious land. But as time passes, the men who have barely known the sweat and blood that went into that land begin to sell it off piece by piece. Meanwhile, Wang "The Tiger" has become a rising warlord. In distant parts of China, a revolution is gaining force. The story takes place in a time of warlords between between Imperial China and WWII. It focuses most of its attention on Wang the Tiger and his slow rise to power, though it jumps over to Wang Lung's other sons frequently.

This book was powerful - almost as powerful as the first. It was a story of disintegration and rebellion. It showed how dedicated sons of a hard-working land-owner can become soft and negligent with wealth. The sons of Wang Lung rebel against his wishes not to sell his land. Their sons become even softer and less willing to fight for the wealth they've been born into. And, of course, the seeds of revolution are rumored but never seen.

Buck's writing is as subtle as it is powerful. I found myself learning a bit of Chinese history while listening, even though there was no outright explanation of what was going on. It just became clear. What's more, it made me want to read more about the fall of Imperial China, the time of warlords, and the subsequent revolution. To me, the fact that she can teach and make me crave to learn more shows what a fantastic author she is. I definitely recommend that everyone interested in classics pick up a copy of The Good Earth. And if they really enjoyed it, this is a fantastic sequel.

That will be my last post for this year. Movin' on over to 2016

>102 The_Hibernator: Nice long review! I read Among the Creationists a couple years ago.

he lumped ... all in with Creationism
Rosenhouse, IIRC, doesn't see any middle ground between evolution and God, thinks theistic evolution is a misguided effort at rationalization and prefers a straightforward either/or. Intelligent Design is clearly an updated (and dishonest) version of Creationism, and its proponents loathe theistic evolution, which accepts the science but builds theology upon it.

constantly answering exactly the same question over and over and people ignoring my answer
Yeah, the 2nd law of thermodynamics argument has been around forever, and though it may not be deliberate ignorance for all individuals, it is deliberate ignorance for Creationism as a political movement; it tends to be accompanied by an implied gotcha! and in return elicits eyerolling. Dawkins is not one to suffer fools.

>107 qebo: Yeah, you've always kept better notes than me. All I remember is Rosenhouse saying that "they're pretty much the same," and then saying a little more on why he thought so. But I can't really take notes while driving, so I do the best I can do.

As for Dawkins, by ignoring a question, he's encouraging ignorance in people who are ignorant on the subject. If he doesn't answer the question, it seems like he doesn't have an answer to the question, and other listeners who don't know the answer will wonder why he "couldn't" answer the question. Arrogance breeds ignorance. If he's going to keep a high profile in educating the public about science and evolution, he needs to get off his ivory tower, in my opinion.

>108 The_Hibernator: I'm not disagreeing about Dawkins. He is abrasive.