This was an interesting overview of Buddhist practices and their spread to the West, specifically the US. The way things changed were to open more to everyone and less focused on the teaching and efforts. This was great to look at how some Buddhist practices were getting really cult like, and some had died from these practices. The teachers teaching that there don’t need to be teachers kind of got me. I thought that part was pretty funny.
This was a very strange book, although I knew that going in. The ideas in it are ones that I’d like to think could never happen, and some of them won’t due to the internet. At the same time, things like wikipedia being changeable make it possible for untrue things to become commonly accepted. There are many examples of this, and the way it can become the readily accepted facts makes it very interesting. The full acceptance without thinking is something that I don’t think could happen. The double think is also something I don’t believe could happen. There is too much going on for it to happen now, and the internet is too untamed, and untamable. The base story itself is just depressing.
This book was very interesting, as it really dived into what we know about the lives of these great people. Besides the religions they started, and the traditions surrounding that, there isn’t much in the way of written records of their lives. The written records also tended to be written years to centuries after their lives. The similarities in their teachings was also interesting, with the Buddha being the most different. All the others were dealing with how to live well with others and how to have good lives. The Buddha taught about how to let go of life, and not worry about earthly things anymore. The others taught variations and specific instances of the golden rule.
This was an interesting book. The focus is on the history of the texts and not as much on the content of those texts. The history of thought on all of these texts seems to be a movement from infallible single source, to a scientific view of being an amalgamation. This is especially true of the old testament. The most interesting part was the section on the Koran. The source is the most infallible, but it is still slightly questioned by recent findings of the oldest known versions that have slight changes. It is only a few words, but it would make the complete infallibility of the text questionable. There is also an interesting part in this section about the views of the Koran on Jesus and other prophets. With the way the texts have been shown to be amalgamations the view of the other prophets is very appropriate. I also really enjoyed the section on Baha’i. My personal world view is still most closely related to this religion, but there are too many fundamental differences for me to claim to be Baha’i.
I really enjoyed the 7ish mile hike with Jeff and Patty. They are really great to chat with and share a lot of world views that I have. They are active and energetic, but relaxed. I get the feeling that the work at Apple grates on them especially badly since they are of the relaxed temperament. Patty had just left Apple, and she was really enjoying the mini retirement. She is using mainly to get back in touch with friends and previous co-workers. Jeff is working hard, harder than he’d like, and is doing well at Apple.
This book was really good, but they took out one of my favorite parts. There wasn’t any empire perspective, and I think that it not being mentioned was a big oversight. Since the empire ships were watching the battle they should have at least mentioned what the empire plans would be at that point. I still really liked the book.
The action in this book was great. I really like the overview of the battle from the Empire perspective. Their incredulousness is one of the best parts of the entire book. I was surprised by the ending, but I suppose the series was setting up for it more or less.
This book was pretty good, the action picks up and is still building up at the end of the book. I really like the cloud that they run across, but I don’t understand how it would work. I will have to look that one up since I really like the idea of the sphere. I was a little disappointed by the tiny amount of info they give on the empire, but I understand the need to not let anything out.
This book as it’s main point said that you need to understand where the other party is coming from in a negotiation. The secondary points were that negotiation starts with research and building up leverage, along with that you should continually negotiate for information. I really like the lessons that it puts forth and need to remember then when I next am going to be negotiating.
It's an Exciting World 