Book Commercials & Misanthropic Observations

Literary Rubbernecking

Recently Hannah was kind enough to let me add to her library. Why was it kind? Because she listened indulgently while I excitedly explained to her my favorite chapter in War & Peace: all the selfish individualism that lost the battle, and took a copy I gave her to read.

I also enthusiastically informed her that the grace and compassion I observe in Hannah was so like the character Sonya in Crime & Punishment that she MUST read it. She agreed- But it wasn’t on my bookshelf! Augh!!

So after all that, instead she let me give her Anna Karenina. – Which brings me to my topic: literary rubbernecking.

When a character’s life in a great novel is a total car wreck I find complete joy in rubbernecking and exploring the consequences of mind bogglingly bad decisions without actually having to deal with the total drama of experiencing it real life.

I highly recommend the practice and the 2 best novels for such diversions are Anna Karenina and The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby can be read in a few hours, so give it a try; dip your toe into the water of vicariously experiencing blatant materialism, utter self absorption, complete ignorance of consequences and melodrama. If you like the Great Gatsby, give Tolstoy a try- you may fall in love with the Russian novelists as much as I have. They are not as easy to read as F Scott Fitzgerald, but just as delightful.

And another wonderful recommend: All you coffee shop lovin’ postmoderns will love the long discussions of the meaning of life in The Brothers Karmazov. There’s plenty of dysfunction to enjoy in that one too.

How Long, Oh LORD?

I am reading Mao: The Unknown Story, per Jeff Burton’s review. I had it on audiobook, but found myself not listening well enough to follow the story. So now I have the book. And I am struck by an overwhelming “How Long, Oh LORD?”. Why does this man continue to breathe? Why is he allowed to continue being so wicked? Year in, year out, scheming, killing, backstabbing. Why does he have such success at utter manipulation?

Piper on the trials of Martin Luther

Seeing such things in the lives of the saints has caused me to think twice before I begrudge the trials of my ministry. How often I am tempted to think that the pressures and conflicts and frustrations are simply distractions from the business of ministry and bible study. Luther (along with Psalm 116:67, 71) teaches us to see it all another way. The stresses of life, the interruptions, the disappointments, the conflicts, the physical ailments, the losses- all this may be the very lens through which we see the meaning of God’s word as never before.

Piper, When I don’t Desire God; p.135

Mr. Epstein’s kind reply

What a wonderful way to start the workweek by finding this email in my inbox:

Dear Ms. Dopkins,

     Many thanks for this generous and charming e-mail. “Like a sorbet for the brain” is a wonderful simile, and I am proud that my scribbling has been the occasion for it.

     People tell me that I do talk as I write. Whether this puts people off or not, I do not know. Fortunately, my wife talks much the way I do, so thus far this has not proved a crippling problem.

Best wishes, Joseph Epstein

Now I like him even more.

Dear Joseph Epstein

Thank you for an enjoyable weekend of reading

I picked up copies of both Snobbery and Friendship last week from Borders and have enjoyed the refreshing observations, insight, and humor. It has been like sorbet for my brain, and I feel re-charged to face daily life after having had a rest in observation of human behavior. I look forward to acquiring a copy of Envy the next time I visit a book store.

I find myself wishing I sounded more like you write in my daily conversation, but my co-workers would be confused by the sudden improvement in vocabulary and wit and I promise not to try.

Thanks again,
Brandy Dopkins
Hudson WI

All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward

 Simon & Schuster (1994), Edition: 2, Paperback, 352 pages

Is it an indictment of the public school system, or my lack of attention in history class that exactly Watergate was all about has never been quite clear to me? I never even remember it being in the curriculum. This book corrected that oversight in a way that was clear and fascinating. I thank you, Mr. Woodward.

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo.

Random House Trade Paperbacks (2008), Paperback, 576 pages

The description of the Stanford Prison Experiment (first half of the book) was difficult to read- not because it was poorly written, but because it was emotionally hard to swallow. I talked to the characters like I was yelling at a football game, trying to get them to stop what they were doing.

I have such respect for the author’s honesty regarding the responsibility he bore for the experiment, especially a description of how he manipulated the mother of one of the prisoners as she expressed her reservations, and how easy it was for him to slip into doing so.

My world was a little shaken as I read real-life descriptions of dehumanizing cruelty, and the culpability of those who don’t participate but commit the sin of inaction. It’s not enough to be the “good guy” by being a little nicer. One must act against brutality. I appreciate having my eyes opened, and this book gave me a passionate hunger to lay the foundation of a solid character now, to grow in fearlessness and integrity in preparation for ever meeting such situational evil face to face. - I’m not talking about war or prison here, I’m talking about mundane daily life. Zimbardo helped me understand that under the “right” circumstances I could find that face in my mirror. That is a gift of wisdom beyond measure.

The photographs and descriptions of everything from ethnic cleansing in Bosnia to the abuses at Abu Ghraib were a bit hard to see and read; this book is not for the faint of heart. I highly recommend it for the lessons it teaches.

I couldn’t put it down and read it in 2 days- even when I did put it aside to take a cleansing breath a few times, I found myself picking it up again a few minutes later, unable to stop thinking about it.

The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics by Gary Zukav

bdopkins’s review: “Silly Drivel; Welcome to the world of pseudo scientists claiming that quantum physics can prove any theory. Deepak Chopra would be proud.
If this book were what it claimed to be, a sort of physics for the layperson, I could get behind that. But its not- it’s more about Zukav trying to use physics to prove his favorite flavor of eastern philosophy.
Anyone who thinks by reading this book they can hold their own in an actual scientific conversation will be sorely embarrassed. You will be pegged as a new age nut job in the first 5 minutes.”
Quill (HarperCollins) (1980), Paperback, 350 pages

Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood by Julie Gregory

bdopkins’s review: “This book was one of those life-changing moments for me. I recongnized so much, sometimes verbatim, in her descriptions of being raised by abusive and mentally ill parents. I feel sane for the first time. I am soo grateful. I needed this.”
Bantam (2004), Paperback, 256 pages

Long awaited design fix

By long awaited, I don’t mean that anyone other than me actually cares- only that I have been really wanting to do this well for a long time.

Problem: My wonderful book collector program has a handy export to html feature. It doesn’t have a handy export to excel or mySQL and I have been insisting on trying to create our online book inventory in these formats to allow for a search query- after all, who wants to browse a million HTML pages? Without a search this online inventory is well, boring.

Secondary problem- I needed to find a way to manage the handily exported HTML pages, because, let’s be realistic, I’m only going to keep it up if it’s “1 click” easy. And well, the “1 click” pages are ugly. I wanted a customized header, a pretty page, without all the extra work of adding this header to each “1 click” exported page.

Answer to problem 1: Zoom search engine - this post’s random helpful tip-

Answer to problem 2: iframe pulling of “1 click” pages into single pretty page.

Leading to problem 3: how to make Zoom search engine work with iframes; which I have been too lazy to learn the answer to - until today.

Now I will actually keep the books database updated- it’s 1 click easy. Ok, 3 clicks- 1 to export pages, 2 to upload new pages, 3 to update search database.

See final result here - the book review, recommend part