More Stuff I've Read and Seen
Last weekend, out of sheer blind luck, I ended up seeing two movies in the theater. That's a personal record since the kids were born.
On Saturday, I saw In the Land of Women with my friend Diane. Nice chick-flick fare. Good characters, steady storyline, nice drama balanced with humor. Little bit of romance. The wrap-up was a bit anti-climactic, but closed the story anyway.
Sunday, we saw Meet the Robinsons. I liked it. A kids movie with time travel - and for the most part, a pretty good use of time travel paradoxes. Yoshi thought the characters were a little mismatched with their voices, and not all that fleshed out. The characters were wacky. Nothing tremendously scary happens (although there is a bit of a chase scene and some dark moments), and nobody's parents die. Why is is that in so many Disney flicks, the parents die?
Also, last week I read two books. (I had lots of time to read since Lappy was in the shop for the week.)
The first book was The Book of Secrets
by Deepak Chopra. When I started it, I thought, "Well, it's the same stuff I've read with all the other Deepak books." It came highly recommended though from a friend who like similar books as I do, so I kept going. I'm glad I did. I wrote a lot of notes. This isn't a pop-culture book for sure, but it's certainly interesting food for thought. I like how he mixes the meta physical, the spiritual and real science together. Deepak is one smart guy, however you slice it.
The second book was Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
. This book shocked the heck out of me. So much of our day to day interactions and processes stem from our unconscious mind. If it didn't, we wouldn't be able to function with all the information we're bombarded with. Also, much of what we do is based on snap decisions that we have no control over. He gives a ton of examples of experiments, studies, life experience and situations that use the unconscious mind to make decisions we aren't even aware that we're making. Two things kept going through my mind when I was reading this: 1) The brain is a friggin' amazing piece of machinery and 2) Mike V. would dig this book.
I got a couple more books from the library tonight. And Monday is the Library book sale! Woot! 25-50 cents a book. I love the library book sale. Ten dollars gets me a huge stack of books. And gives a little donation to the library. How can it get better than that?
On Saturday, I saw In the Land of Women with my friend Diane. Nice chick-flick fare. Good characters, steady storyline, nice drama balanced with humor. Little bit of romance. The wrap-up was a bit anti-climactic, but closed the story anyway.
Sunday, we saw Meet the Robinsons. I liked it. A kids movie with time travel - and for the most part, a pretty good use of time travel paradoxes. Yoshi thought the characters were a little mismatched with their voices, and not all that fleshed out. The characters were wacky. Nothing tremendously scary happens (although there is a bit of a chase scene and some dark moments), and nobody's parents die. Why is is that in so many Disney flicks, the parents die?
Also, last week I read two books. (I had lots of time to read since Lappy was in the shop for the week.)
The first book was The Book of Secrets
by Deepak Chopra. When I started it, I thought, "Well, it's the same stuff I've read with all the other Deepak books." It came highly recommended though from a friend who like similar books as I do, so I kept going. I'm glad I did. I wrote a lot of notes. This isn't a pop-culture book for sure, but it's certainly interesting food for thought. I like how he mixes the meta physical, the spiritual and real science together. Deepak is one smart guy, however you slice it.The second book was Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
. This book shocked the heck out of me. So much of our day to day interactions and processes stem from our unconscious mind. If it didn't, we wouldn't be able to function with all the information we're bombarded with. Also, much of what we do is based on snap decisions that we have no control over. He gives a ton of examples of experiments, studies, life experience and situations that use the unconscious mind to make decisions we aren't even aware that we're making. Two things kept going through my mind when I was reading this: 1) The brain is a friggin' amazing piece of machinery and 2) Mike V. would dig this book.I got a couple more books from the library tonight. And Monday is the Library book sale! Woot! 25-50 cents a book. I love the library book sale. Ten dollars gets me a huge stack of books. And gives a little donation to the library. How can it get better than that?
by Thich Nhat Hanh. This is one of the essential Buddhist texts, IMHO. So basic, and doesn't go into painful detail of the eightfold path or the four noble truths. Instead, it's a story of peace, as a choice. Most of what he says in this book is said in many other books in many other ways, so if you are familiar with Buddhism, it won't be anything new. But with his parables and simple way of expressing the concept of mindfulness, it's a gentle review of the teachings of Buddha and how we can use that to bring peace to our lives. 
by John Gray. I've read several in this series already. But I love his view on the general differences between what men and women bring (and expect) from relationships. He's usually spot on. And when he's not, he's really close. In this particular manifestation of the Mars/Venus series, Gray talks a bit about the way relationships have changed in the past thirty years or so. Because of these changes, our parents weren't able to teach us the necessary skills and understanding in order to nurture modern day relationships. The traditional roles of wife and husband have broken down, and have become a more emotional bonding than it used to be. He says this isn't a bad thing - in fact, it has the potential to make marriages and relationships even stronger. But since few of us have role models for strong emotional bonds, our generation has to learn a new way to cooperate as men and women in long-term relationships. The rest, is a pretty linear repetition of his other books. Good for a reminder, and a good book if you've never read the Mars/Venus books before.
by Karen Maezen Miller. Not thrilled with this one. It was a nice zenny memoir, but nothing much more than that. I liked 
by Jacqueline Kramer better.
by Peter Watts. This is the first hard science fiction novel I've read in a long, long time. I really need to read more of these. I really enjoy hard science fiction. Especially when they intertwine social sci-fi in there too. Apparently, there are at least six other books with this title - none of which look like they are sci fi. So if you are interested in this book, make sure to get the right one. This story is about a few things. First and foremost - first contact. I love books about first contact. I believe that's our next big step in human evolution, if we don't kill ourselves over it. The second topic is the future of cyberspace. Again, a favorite topic of mine. Watts' version of what cyber life will be like is new twist I hadn't seen before. Lastly, it's about the nature of humanity. His conclusion? Humanity is a genetic anomoly, and destined to fall. But fall into what... I'll let you read about what paints the human race to look like after we evolve past our limiting human perspective. I didn't like the ending, but Yoshi thinks that it's going to be a series, and that's why Watts' leaves many things unresolved.
by Marcus Chown. Out of coincidence, I read this book while reading Blindsight. They were a good pairing. Quantum Zoo isn't a very long book, but it's heavy. But it's not so heavy that I couldn't parse the information. I read the damn thing from cover to cover. Quantum physics fascinates me. But man, it makes my mind twist up in a pretzel. Quantum Zoo did a really good job of explaining quantum physics, string theory, relativity and cosmology without exploding my brain. I am now at the point where I kind of, sort of, get it. I don't know how much of it will stick in long-term memory. So I might end up buying this one to read again at a later date, when I've had time to do some outside research and less intense reading. If you have any interest in quantum theory, and want a gentle entry, this is the book for it.
