Pet Sematary

I can’t say that I am a huge fan of the horror genre, but I have to say this one was pretty frightening, on so many levels.  I did expect a Stephen King book to provide that for me, but was totally unprepared for the horror that was to follow.  I had never seen the movie, but when I mentioned I was reading it to others, the response back let me know this would be more than I could have expected.  And so it was…Pet Sematary made me abhor cats even more than I thought I could.  A funny aside…as mentioned in the previous blog post, I am in Abu Dhabi at the moment and there is this cat that sits outside the student residence hall.  It has been left to live by itself, seems like a kitten, super thin and sickly, but when I walked by it as I was reading the book it seemed to have those same green powerful eyes as “Church” – the cat!  I guess I’ll never look at cats the same way again!  King was influenced to write this book by his stay in Maine as a guest faculty member at U Maine, and the house and what he experienced with his young two-year old at the time gave this story life.  Imagine being a doctor, relocating your family to a home on a busy street in Maine while working at the University as a physician at the student health center (so far, ok?)… then comes the weird parts… a student is killed and brought to your health center, utters some nonsense that comes back to haunt you and your family later about your back woods – a place known to bury dead animals – after you just were there visiting with your 80+ next door neighbor.  Louis, the protagonist doctor, becomes enthralled in the new home, his old neighbor, and an allure he gains from his visit with Jud (the neighbor) and his family.  After hearing the haunting tale of the “pet sematary,” Louis’ cat is killed crossing the street (a problem that has haunted most of the locals) by oncoming trucks from the local area going too fast on the major thoroughfare.  Louis is drawn by Jud’s story and a desire not to disappoint his daughter of having the family cat dead.  Learning that other animals were “resurrected” after being buried in the back woods, Louis does so, unfortunately the cat comes back alive (but with some differences).  This book goes over the line with the possibilities of the after world.  You won’t believe how it all ends, bloodier and gorier than I could have guessed.  It keeps you on the edge of your seat.  Kudos to King, a brilliant writer.  I couldn’t put this book down!  Glad I was in a very populated hotel and not at my home in PA during a thunderstorm.  This is a thriller that is one for the ages.  I’d highly recommend this one.  I could imagine the movie is just as frightening.  Good read!

The Journey of Ministry

What a great book to be reading as I fly to Abu Dhabi for my journey on learning about life for students at our campus in the Middle East.  The Journey of Ministry by Eddie Gibbs was a favorite book by his granddaughter, Ash, who is one of the RAs on campus at NYU.  Ash is actually written about by her grandfather in the book!  Gibbs presents a series of insights from his life of “practice as a scholar and a minister” during his 50+ years in the field.  He has taught at Fuller Theological Seminary in California since he completed his ministry across the continents.  Originally hailing from the UK, Gibbs presents his story from youth and meeting his future wife while studying to become a minister.  The chapters flow nicely, matching his own growing up process as a youth.  From family, to finding different directions (unsure where the road will take us), to facing “hurdles” in life, how to handle the challenges of people you love dying, working within teams and organizations, networking to expand your circle of influence, how to communicate and staying open to God as life gets busy, all presented in a clear and thoughtful manner.  I enjoyed the reflection questions presented at the end of each chapter that makes you think through his life’s lessons and concepts of being a better person.  The chapters include stories from Gibbs and his family and how he applied his learning through those stories.  Amazing how diverse his family is, each of his four children married someone from a different ethnic/racial/socio-economic background.  He has the most amazing melting pot there is for a family!  I just love the fact that his granddaughter felt it was her favorite book!  That in itself should be compelling to pick up the book.  We all need to learn more about ourselves and how to deal with the bumps.  For those who are not overly religious, he does present biblical readings throughout, but it is to further illustrate his points.   I enjoy the biblical references, so for me it reminded me of things I need to think through in life.  A nice read and perfect for the religious depths of people I would meet on my trip in Abu Dhabi.  Thanks for sharing Ash and I can only imagine what a great grandfather you have!

A Mathematician’s Lament

How does one celebrate the real study of math, not be creating curriculum that takes away all of the creativity and intrigue of solving the problems inherit in the subject matter as our society has now done, or at least so goes the story of the decline of math in A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart.  This is a very short and fun read that begins with the lamentation of how school has cheated us out of our most fascinating and imaginative art form, the art of math!  Lockhart begins by illustrating how music has survived as a journey of learning conducted differently for each student and then leads into the decline and death of the study of math by rote education.  Our math education system has destroyed children’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making. He agrees with many students in school that study math… it is stupid and boring!  Lockhart deconstructs the simplest of concepts – straight lines intersecting, add numbers, counting and how to view cubes and other structures.  Lockhart provides the challenge and uses two characters, Salviati and Simplicio to talk through why math has become an elementary step-by-step progression that makes no sense at all starting with elementary to middle school and high school.  The arguments are fascinating and make complete sense (the presentation of these facts are done in a “sarcastic and comical manner.”  I loved his attack on the course progression in high school and how they make no sense at all.  I often hear from college students the silliness of high school calculus and how it is repeated in calculus in college – using the same examples!!  After reading the book, I too wish that I had teachers who made me curious as to the problems that math makes us think through.  I wish I had Lockhart for Math, he left college teaching and now is on the high school math track.  A great way to look at subject matter from a very different vantage point.  Every math student should treat themselves to this simplistic, yet very deep set of questions about math!  Read this one!   

The Innocents

Strange that as I began reading this book I said… I just read this.  Funny to find out this is an adapted story from a book I read last month, the Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.  The book I just finished is The Innocents by Francesca Segal.  Interesting that a contemporary author would find a famous tale and update it to the present day, but this time placed in the UK using American characters and not UK characters in the US, specifically NYC.  Segal does a nice job using current day issues, though I didn’t like her characters as deeply as I did Wharton’s cast.  This is a love story using the tried and true “triangle” of man is in a relationship but falls for the woman who has some “major character flaws” – at least from mainstream society.  Adam is a young 28-year-old Jewish man who is seen as an upstanding citizen very involved in his religion and the people in his community.  He falls in love with young beautiful Rachel and as they plan their wedding, we meet Ellie (Rachel’s cousin) who returns from America (full of the American traits) – beautiful, voluptuous, and a former porn star, Ellie gets Adam’s attention and he begins to focus solely on leaving Rachel for her cousin.  The triangle brings in the grandmother, who is an important character in the story as the matriarch of the family.  What can stop Adam’s attraction? If you read Wharton’s book, guess what, same thing!  I won’t give it away.  There are a number of secondary stories and characters that add to the complexity of Adam and Ellie’s attraction.  While the scene is a bit different the age old questions remain, why do we get tempted to leave a good thing?    Again, I thought the depth of the development of characters was more real for me with Wharton.  I find this story to be a reminder of the old Monday night at the movies on NBC (sorry I am dating myself).  Sometimes someone doesn’t get what they deserve, as is the case with Adam.  I enjoyed the final ending in Wharton a bit better than Segal’s version.  For those in the Jewish tradition, the depth of this story might provide at least some intriguing correlations to your own life, for others, some mundane day-to-day moments.  I’d take a pass on this one, unless you like reading somewhat-trashy beach novels.  This would then be a pretty good read.  Sorry, not my cup of tea, especially after reading Wharton’s work last month.

Critique of Pure Reason

There are some books that need to be slowly read and absorbed.  This very long and philosophical read is one of them.  I still am in awe that an NYU student noted that this book as his favorite (and when I told another NYU student I was reading it, they shared how it was one of their favorite books), hmm… really?  Nonetheless, I did read it and no I won’t say it would be on my list, but boy did my brain hurt while I was engaged reading and re-reading the same paragraph over a number of days.  If you choose to read Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, be prepared to examine your own ethical decision making, think through what is logical thinking, and when you think… you are.  I am what?  You got it!  What is reason?  A man is intelligent, I am a man, I am an intelligent man.  Really?  I guess.  Well maybe not. Learn the law of contradiction, what is rationalism, what is cause and effect without relying on empirical wisdom, had enough yet?  No, good, how about focusing on the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements and Transcendental Aesthetic or Logic? Transcendental analytic and its concepts.  You think that is easy, then we move on to Metaphysical Deduction and its principles.  I’m sure you are hungry for more so let’s look at Schematism and the system of Principles of Pure Understanding and Axioms of Intuition and Perception.  Clearly you are hungry for more so Kant goes into our analogies of experience and the Refutation of Idealism.  He hits his real stride when discussing Transcendental Doctrine of Method.  This is a philosophy book and should only be read by those who get excited understanding the “why” and “why not” of life.  For me, give me a great story about a character, a challenge overcome, or a lesson learned.  I tried giving up understanding life and began living it a long time ago.  Please take no offense that philosophical underpinnings of life just aren’t for me at this juncture in my life.  I congratulate and have great esteem for students and faculty who get excited by these BIG questions.  For me, it’s back to reading something I can relax and enjoy.  This was not for me.