The Traveler's Gift

I recently finished this Andy Andrews book, after having read The Final Summit first (which, chronologically comes after The Traveler's Gift).  The Traveler's Gift finds David Ponder at a life changing point in his life.  Having lost two jobs in a row, deep in debt, and with a child who needs surgery, he is at a heartbreaking, desperate point in his life.  In a mindless drive through the countryside trying to escape or make sense of his life, he has an auto accident.  What follows next is a very interesting trip "through time" during which he "visits" various people through the ages, and one notable "angel".  All of the people he visits have a "gift" for him; a message to help him on his way through life.  They are the Seven Decisions for Success.  Each person who gives him a message also has words of wisdom and stories to tell.  Mr. Andrews uses these personal stories from famous, and some not so famous people to impart advice on how we might improve our chances for personal success.    After receiving seven pieces of paper with the decisions written on them, David Ponder awakes in a hospital room with his concerned family and a doctor surrounding him.   He asks himself  "Was it all a dream?".   Upon going through his belongings brought to him, he finds a real memento that assures him it was not.

The Final Summit then finds a very successful David Ponder, much later in life, after he has tried to adhere to the Seven Decisions given him by the people he met on his "Travels".  Gabriel, who he met in The Traveler's Gift, comes to him with a strange request; an "eleventh hour" need to find an answer to a very pressing question.  David is then taken to the Summit where he meets many more of  History's notable personages and other "Travelers" and the group must work together to save humanity.

Either book alone is a good read, but together they weave a tale that gives us all points to ponder, and re-enforces guidelines that will help us achieve greater success in life....Another great book by Andy Andrews!

Finished Another Book!

I really do like Andy Andrews books.  Always nice to read something uplifting and promising, instead of all the "bad" news that inundates us these days.  I just bought a Nook Color and am going to search for the rest of his books that I haven't read yet and download them for those days I need a boost.  
I have this year been trying to catch up on the "electronic" age.  Some things I resisted for a long time, just on some general principle.  But, now I really enjoy my digital photo frame, and with the NOOK, feel like I have really "come up".  Next, maybe, a smart phone of sorts, but not ready for the additional monthly bill.  


THE FINAL SUMMIT
by Andy Andrews
 Having read other Andy Andrews books, I was looking forward to this one. I must now go back and read The Traveler's Gift, although this book does make sense alone. It is a participant event, so to speak.....I kept searching for the answer, along with the Traveler's, to the question posed by Gabriel. The overwhelming feeling after reading it is one of hope, faith, and just sheer pleasure, with a sprinkle of foreboding. It is very entertaining and enriching to read the interactions between the Travelers from different historical eras. I was always interested in Joan of Arc in my childhood, and of course Winston Churchill is "larger than life". Having Mother Theresa and C.S. Lewis at the same forum, along with Cleopatra, and Dr. Schweitzer among others, and hearing everyone's opinions on what the answer might be really makes it one of those books you want to read straight through. I agreed with all of the answers offered, and thought of some of my own; but of course, without the final answer, none of the others matter!

Long Time NO Post!

Didn't realize how really long it had been since I had posted something.  FaceBook seems to have taken over for the past several months.  But, here I am.  I have a book review to post and may be back later to post other thoughts and musings.
I recently finished Star Parker's Uncle Sam's Plantation.  It took me forever to finish it.  It has very interesting information, but my reading attention span has decreased over the past year.  I have been reading mainly magazines, and shorter online articles.  I think it has something to do with my sleep patterns.   Snore, Snore....but, here is my review.


I came to the close of Star Parker's book, UNCLE SAM'S PLANTATION, with some mixed feelings. I heartily endorse the "How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It" statement, underneath the Title, but I do not wholeheartedly agree with some of her generalizations. She has definitely done her homework, including living in the situations she describes, and providing the reader with an impressive amount of research on her topics, which include, to name a few, What Is Poverty?, Liberals Hijack History, The Welfare State, and OPM (Other People's Money). She does a great job of showing how "Uncle Sam" has undermined the family, hijacked the dream of personal wealth for marginalized people, and contributed to the breakdown of societal mores. As a late 50'ish female who came from the "left" in my college years, to become a "liberal" in my middle years, and now a self proclaimed Libertarian, I found her analysis of the state of welfare and how our current social, economic, and political conditions have evolved, refreshing. I particularly liked Chapter 9, where she summarizes the Freedoms that we are losing and need to start protecting (Freedom in the Womb, Freedom in Education, Freedom in Health Care, Freedom in Retirement, to name a few). I think she does a disservice though, to the many honest, hard working, caring, moral people whom she excludes when she discusses the definition of Family. I have lived long enough, and seen enough different family "configurations" to know many such people who are positive contributors to society but that do not fit into her discussion of the Traditional Family; and I have seen more than enough "Traditional" Families that have not made a healthy imprint on society. To pull a few quotes from the author's last few pages......"Whoa! Wasn't this country supposed to be about freedom?", and "There's no substitute for the fruits of personal responsibility." Star Parker's book does a startling job of discussing those freedoms that we are in danger of losing, or have already lost, and the resulting consequences if we do not strive to protect them.

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Andy Andrews latest book, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, is a wonderfully packaged inspirational message about how every single thing we do matters.  He uses examples from history to show us how one thing, one action, can lead to another and then another, that "snowballs" into something that really effects more people than the 2 or 3 that were involved in the original decision or action.  It gives us a long term view of otherwise short term actions.  For those of us who sometimes have "blinders" on, taking life one day at a time (which is not always a bad way to do things) it provides the reminder that what we do today does have an effect on what might happen tomorrow. Although I found his examples of the "Butterfly Effect" to be very interesting historically, I think perhaps it might be hard to relate some of the more mundane, "ordinary" events in our lives to such broad, far ranging effects.  BUT, this is perhaps the main focus of the book----to help us do this, to help us see day to day decisions and events on a much broader scale.  As an inspirational package, it is very well done; a beautifully made, well written book with a wonderful, uplifting message.


THE BOY WHO CHANGED THE WORLD
    by ANDY ANDREWS
This is the companion book to THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT.  Written for children, the book relates the story of how the lives of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, inventor George Washington Carver, and Vice President Henry Wallace were influenced and interwoven by decisions and choices that were made around them and by them.  It's core focus comes from the message in  THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, that each person is made to make a difference, and that everything you do matters. It is very beautifully illustrated by Philip Hurst, and written in language that will engage both younger and older children.  I found it to be very entrancing to read to myself, and think that it will be inspiring, and thought provoking for the children I read it to, besides just being a plain good bedtime story.

Oh Canada!

Mike and I had a great trip to Canada last weekend.  We had 5 nights, with one night in a hotel in Ottawa, two nights camping in Gatineau Park, across the river in Quebec Province.  Then we had 2 rainy days, Saturday and Sunday, so we drove toward Montreal.  Since this was a fairly spur of the moment, play it by ear trip, we didn't have reservations in Montreal.  We found out quickly that all rooms anywhere near where we wanted to be were taken up by parents of McGill students, and perhaps other local colleges.  That was the weekend before the start of school.  SO, we headed back out of Montreal and up toward Mt. Tremblant.  We stopped in a scenic little village called Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts, about 2/3 the way up to Tremblant.  There we found a room at a Super 8!  with a fairly large indoor water slide/park.  Another day I would have been thrilled to try it out, or if Hayden had been there.  We went out to eat and visit a local music bar instead.  The last night we spent in a wonderful old inn at Quebec City, in the Old Town (Upper).  We had the afternoon and the next morning to explore Old Quebec, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is now on our list of places to go back to, along with Canada in general.

To backtrack just a bit, before I go off to work, we also thoroughly enjoyed Ottawa.  It was very green, and being right on the river had lots of scenic waterfront to see, and the architecture was entrancing.  We did a lot of walking, rented bikes, and saw a lot of historic sites.  Camping was also wonderful.  We rented a canoe, walked some, and enjoyed the wildlife (4 legged kind).  If it had not rained the weekend, we would have continued in the camping mode as we headed east.

I have put all the photos up on flickr, along with a few videos and photos of Hayden in Haverstraw with me earlier in the month.  As I have time I will post a few of the best photos here, but for now, please feel free it look at my flickr site.

Gloves

I just had to post this photo after reading Margaret's most recent entry.  I too have a photo of gloves that I just love.  Mine was taken in Nova Scotia a couple years back while visiting a friend.  And, while I am looking at that trip's photos, here is another one I really liked; with two versions:

The one photo has a rain drop on the lens.  I was trying to "erase the smudge look" and ended up experimenting with color saturation.

THE SELFLESS GENE

The Selfless Gene  LIVING WITH GOD AND DARWIN,  by Charles Foster, is a very thought provoking book.  The blurb on the back of the cover says "Intelligent, provocative, and highly readable..... a reconciliation of what are popularly seen as two opposing worldviews."  I must agree with this, although the "highly readable" part I might beg to differ.  I have always, since childhood, had a tug of war in my head and heart concerning how to reconcile what I was learning in Sunday School with what I was learning in science classes the other 5 days of the week.  For those of us, like me, who have a deep interest in the natural world around us, and an innate curiosity with a leaning toward scientific process and inquisitiveness, The Selfless Gene provides a wealth of information that may help us integrate two different views, and perhaps somewhat resolve the inner conflict. 

 
The technical writing aspect of the book is very readable; "plain English", so to speak.  The wealth of information offered though, and the intense amount of research (with almost 40 pages of notes and bibliography) put into the author's discussions throughout the book made it a gargantuan project for me.  I frequently put it down  after reading only 4 or 5 pages to ponder and mentally chew on what Mr. Foster was offering up.  This made for rather slow going in getting through the book. It is a book that I feel I will refer back to and re-read to see what parts I have "missed".  I appreciated the fairly neutral position of the author. I have shied away over the years from some treatments of the subject of Darwin versus Creation due to the sometimes hysterical nature of each side.  It was refreshing to read a calm, academic discussion.  It provides the possibility of accepting aspects of both beliefs into a personal ideology that I can live with. The book will not be satisfying to those who are extremely diametrically opposed, but for those of us who see a world that includes both natural evolution/selection (a "wholly self-centered process") and God, it provides some promise of peace.

In his closing paragraphs Mr. Foster asks the reader to consider that "consistently, another force has been at work molding the shape of the biological world--the force of community, of altruism, of selflessness.  Sometimes this force might have been the tool of natural selection--there is no problem at all with that.  Sometimes it might have been a self-energizing force."  It is a book that I will read again, and recommend to anyone needing answers to the ongoing debate.