Book-Reviews
This was assigned reading in English 101 in 1982, I think. Santa Cruz was a very special place back then, a holdout for Hippies back then, Still is a little bit, but not how many tye-dies you see these days are made at home or just picked out at Nordstrom’s.
Reading
When I read it I never would have guessed that I would end up working as a Hospice nurse.
The book starts with this quote
Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not look for allies in life’s battlefield but to my own strength.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for the patience to win my freedom.
Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my success alone; but let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure. From Fruit Gathering by Rabindranath Tagore
……On Death and Dying was published in 1969, as popular nonfiction, so some examples feel a little dated, but it also shows how things have changed and yet stayed the same. It’s in most public libraries or should be
Adolus Huxley’s much less famous dystopian novel… much to say, later
It’s been a long time since I read this book…. noticed a trend, but I remember it was very powerful in how it changed my sense of Native Americans. It’s the story of Chef Crazy Horse. I will add more after I reread it
I have read this book several times. I am still “thinking” and I am “rich”. No doubt there are people who would disagree with both of those statements. There are some great ideas in the book. At the same time it feels cold and heartless in some ways… I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking and writing about this book.
A bit lazy and cheap to start by saying it’s been a long time since I read this, but honesty is cool too. I wouldn’t be living up to some people’s opinion of a Hippie if I weren’t Lazy and cheap. We all have a tendency to live up or down to the expectations of those around us….more to come
The hit song by Pink Floyd…..listened to frequently
I recently discovered James. He has a bunch of books, He is Black, and his mother’s family immigrated from Eastern Europe to escape the Nazi holocaust. His mother married a black southern Baptist, which as you might guess was a less than popular choice for many people. She left the South and took her kids to 5 points New York city. He writes fictional history about people in a way that is gritty, exposed, real, and forgivable. All great stuff
One of the first “American Self-Help” books from the 1960’s written by Laura Huxley. Organized into “Recipes for Life”
