Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Eight Lights: 8 Meditations for Chanukah






DovBer Pinson is a very accomplished proponent of the “mystical” view of Judaism, as seen though Chabad.   

This is clear in Eight Lights: 8 Meditations for Chanukah.  Pinson explains the literal and mystical meaning(s) of the holiday. His interpretations of the spinning dreidel are also clever and wise, and remind me of certain teachings of Rabbi Nachman.

But most importantly, he provides meditations for each night of Chanukah.  If you want experience, though meditation, the Oneness of HaShem, of the Oneness of All, this book it a great source.



Monday, December 23, 2019

Volcano, A Memoir of Hawaii, by Garrett Hongo





Garrett Hongo’s Volcano, A Memoir of Hawaii, is one of those rare works of art that operate on so many levels, yet still maintain a clear and steady narrative voice. In this strong work, Hongo tells a story that needs to be told,  that he is compelled to tell, and he does so in startling and unexpected ways.

Hongo was born in the town of Volcano, on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Just after he was born, his family moved to Oahu, and then Los Angeles.  Hong’s memoir is of the Japanese diaspora, of a people spread far from their homeland, wrestling with both memory and the urge to forget.  His memories are tied to one slice of that diaspora,  the general store his family owned in Volcano.  As Hongo’s life becomes broader, as he explores his poetry, as he marries and has children, and travels widely, he keeps returning, mentally, spiritually, but especially artistically, to the place of his birth.  The old family stories of the Big Island are his Ur text.

This is no ordinary memoir.  Hongo is a poet, and he deftly and carefully deploys language.   There are surprises in his narrative, bold turns of phrase, spiritual insights, and very often, humor. There is a care and exacting detail in the prose that often only poets can bring to narrative.  

This memoir is a about a small outpost in Hawaii, but issues of race, place, identity, and history, all orbit around Hong's quest for the history of his family.  Issues of identity and place haunt the book; in a world where so much is in moving, what do we call home? The author's narrative voice sets up a tone and range that can deeply explore the sadness and pain of this quest, and its unexpected joys.  

Friday, December 13, 2019

The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Nations






Humans are only as good at measuring as the ruler they use.  The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Nations, by David Pilling, aptly illustrates this.  Piling shows us just how arbitrary the Gross Domestic Product is as a measure of a country’s wealth.  GDP, as a ruler, is a blunt , amoral, and selective instrument.  It is predicated on continued growth.  Growth at any cost.

This is an important book.  Economists have become powerful gurus in our world, throwing around their concepts and explanatory tools as if they sprung from apriori from the head of Athena.   They did not; GDP is a construct – and as such, wide open to criticism by those who do not have a stake in keeping it sacrosanct.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

A New Hasidism: Roots






A New Hasidism: Roots, edited by Rabbi Arthur Green and Ariel Evan Mayse, is a book that has come along just at the right time.  Since the late-60s, the Jewish Renewal Movement (also called Neo-Hasidism, and here called a New Hasidism) has been digging deep roots into most areas of progressive Jewish life and practice.  It is high time for a book that explores the roots of this movement itself, and there is no better person to guide us than Rabbi Green and his student, Ariel Evan Mayse.

This first volume explores the writings of Buber, Heschel, Carlebach, Reb Zalman, and Arthur Green’s early work.  These are great picks, as they show the contours of the various incarnations of what would become Neo-Hasidism and Jewish Renewal. 

The issues, broadly, are what to take from the spirit of Hasidic worship, and what to leave behind.  Following closely behind this is the question of how much of halakah, the nuts and bolts of Jewish religious practice, should accompany this new movement.  There is a spectrum of answers, and they suit the complexity of the questions.  Finding a perch in this “new” Hasidism is actually an old question for American Jews, just in a new guise.

Overall it is a thrill to watch great thinkers go over these questions over the span of many decades (although I still understand very little of Buber's works).  One of the true gifts of Judaism is its fluidity and adaptability.  This volume clearly displays these qualities.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Out of Character: Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner (and Saint) Lurking in All







Out of Character: Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner (and Saint) Lurking in All of Us, by David DeSteno and Piercarlo Valdesolo, is only surprising if you think that our character traits are fixed and immutable.  I do not, therefore I did not find it at all unusual that seemingly good people will make unethical choices under the right circumstances.  So, if you are like me, this book will not be earth shaking.  

I do wonder about the experimental foundation upon which most of the conclusions in this book are based.  Most of the moral/ethical decisions that have to be made in these experiments are fairly low stakes compared to real world decisions.  The subjects are typically college students (18-22).  Are these subjects really indicative of the general population?  What about a wider range of ages, ethnicity, sex, gender?  Seems like this work rests on a floppy experimental base.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Big Island Journey, by Sophia Schweitzer





Big Island Journey, by Sophia Schweitzer, is a journey through the history of the Big Island of Hawaii that is narrative, but primarily photographic.  

The history of the island, its people and places, are illuminated through incredible historical photos. We get to see how much the island has changed; of the many people’s who have settled there; and the industries (like sugar) that have come and gone.

This book is pleasant to read and the photos are mesmerizing. 



Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Man V. Nature





Man V. Nature by Diane Cook is a marvelous accomplishment. I felt cautious going in; at first glance, this appears to be (yet another) suite of stories about the world winding down, the apocalypse, our slow decline as a species.  Yes, this is true.  But this collection adds something strange, off kilter to each story.  Cook’s tales spill over beyond the borders of post-apocalyptic themes.

What we get is the uncanny. Stories of worlds that are familiar and yet off; a persistent pull when reading for normalcy, of the standard emotions we all feel in any given situation, and Cook’s extraordinary ability purposely withholds this. What we get is a world we can’t grasp or understand.

Monday, November 25, 2019

The Value of Hawaii: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future





The Value of Hawaii: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future by Craig Howes (Editor) and Jonathan K. K. Osorio (Editor), present a variety of essays about the swirl of challenges that face our fiftieth state.  Far from being the paradise of tourist and ex-pat dreams, Hawaii is a real place with real, and difficult social, political and economic issues. This books shines a light on these problems,  while offering many solutions.

These essays were mostly written in and around 2008, at the start of the Great Recession.  So most of the writing on the economy and policy is colored by the collapse of Hawaii’s booming housing market, and the sharp drop in tourism.   Eleven years later, these essays are not doubt out of date.  How do things stand now?  As an economy with all of its eggs in the tourist basket, perhaps nothing has changed at all.   Hawaii is still a dangerously one note economy. 

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Tefillin: Wrapped in Majesty




Tefillin: Wrapped in Majesty by DovBer Pinson, is a Chabad, Hasidic journey through the literal and figurative meaning of the wearing of tefillin. Pinson is a non-dualistic Jew, which is the basis of Chabad.  All things are G-d.  There is nothing else.  Through this lens, Pinson examines the various levels of meaning of putting on tefillin, especially in the realm of the Kabbalah.

This is a useful book for those who want to add the spice of kavanah, intention, to the very Jewish act of donning tefillin.  

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Bone Dry: Hawaiian Natural History, Ecology, and Evolution




Hawaiian Natural History, Ecology, and Evolution by Alan C. Ziegler is the “go to” text for the study of Hawaii’s ecology.  You need some degree of natural science knowledge to read this book and get something out of it.  This book is a textbook, and the bone-dry prose leaves no doubt as to its status.  The writing here is inspirational.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao





The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, by Ian Johnson, certainly has an insider perspective on the topic at hand.  Johnson is fluent in Chinese, knows many people, and explores the issues generated by the practice of religion in China deftly and thoroughly.

Johnson shows how religion has become a greater part of life in China following Tienanmen Square.  Many people have turned inward following the political crackdown of 1989, mainly in semi-legal, small Protestant churches.  

The government, in turn, has attempted to promote some religion, especially Confucianism, to the replace now empty Socialist values of “Communist” China with a philosophy and religion of that is still ingrained in the Chinese psyche. 

Friday, November 8, 2019

The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science




Douglas Starr’s The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science, is a fascinating journey examining the emerging field of forensics in the late 19th century.

Catching a serial killer necessitate the tools of modern, mass life which were just emerging in the 19th century.  Medicine, psychology, police investigation, were all become more scientific.  The telegraph allowed police departments to share information about crimes in disparate location.   Physical details of career criminals were kept on file and widely shared.

Generally, what we now call the collection of data came into being;  with an organized, and accessible body of traceable information, serial killers could no longer move from place to place, commit their terrible crimes, and go undetected, as this book clearly illustrates.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself






Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself, by Harriet Ann Jacobs, is a first-person narrative of Ms. Jacobs, who was a slave in the antebellum south.  Her story as a slave really begins when she reaches puberty, and her master makes it known he will control her sexuality (he already has children by eleven other slave women).

Ms. Jacobs, although a slave, works tirelessly to avoid victimization and works for the betterment of her life and the life of her children.  Her sacrifices are monumental. She hides in a crawlspace for seven years after running away from her master before heading north. 

Slave woman were victims of sexual exploitation and violence, of course, in many if not most case.  But Ms. Jacob’s shows how much agency some slaves had; they tirelessly worked to improve their lot, and the lot of those around them.  The were real, whole people in every sense.

Friday, November 1, 2019

Devotion: A Novel, by Madeline Stevens





Devotion: A Novel, by Madeline Stevens, is certainly a fascinating work, full of tension and strangeness. Stevens is a strong writer, with a wonderful ability to build a sense of menace from all the accumulated details of life, both the banal and extraordinary.  She uses language powerfully.  Her sentences have punch. 

But when I was done, when I pulled back from the novel, I could not resolve broader, almost philosophical issues of the work.  It is about gender, power, class, sexuality and sexual power, the private self and the public self – all this is true.  But I don't know how they fit together. 
As I can't fit the pieces together, I fall back on the narrator as mentally unwell... which seems like a cop out. There is a vexing complexity or confusion at the heart of Devotion.


Thursday, October 31, 2019

On the Wings of Shekhinah: Rediscovering Judaism's Divine Feminine





Rabbi Leah Novick’s On the Wings of Shekhinah: Rediscovering Judaism's Divine Feminine is a very gentle introduction to Judaism’s premier symbol of God’s feminine side.  The Shekinah, in her most advanced form, acts as a seemingly independent entity in Jewish mysticism (although we are probably in the realm of allegory here).  She is the Queen, who yearns to be reunited with the King, God.

Allegory or not, there is no denying that the Shekinah injects a dose of the feminine into masculine Judaism.  Rabbi’s Novick’s treatment is a soft treatment the Divine Feminine across the centuries.


Wednesday, October 30, 2019

The Narrow Road to the Deep North





The Narrow Road to the Deep North: A novel by Richard Flanagan is far from easy to read.  Primarily about POWs in a Japanese camp building the Burma Railroad and starving to death, in a wider sense it follows the life of a Tasmanian doctor, his loves, losses, gains and failures.  The novel has a uniquely Australian, and what I suppose a Tasmanian voice, which gives it a firm sense of people and place. 

Flanagan does juggle many characters, stretching the narrative a bit thin.  The romance at the center of the novel is gripping at times, but perhaps veers toward hackneyed expressions and sentiments. 

But The Narrow Road rises above these faults.  This is a novel that has narrative strength and drive.  

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Frictions of War





Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice by William H. McRaven is an utterly fascinating book.  McRaven explores various special operations from World War II to the Raid on Entebbe, showing, by example and theory, how a successful special operation works to reduce the “frictions of war.”

The theory component of the book has great explanatory value.  It should be read with great care, as it is the key to the success of a special operation.

Friday, October 18, 2019

An Akiva for Everyone




Barry W. Holtz’s Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmud, part of the Jewish Lives series, is a well-written and plotted examination of Judaism’s most influential sage.  As Holtz shows, there is an Akiva for everyone.  He was an early hero of the Rabbinical movement; as a man without family connections or wealth, he achieved greatness through his own genius, pushing Judaism merit. 

Both of his origin stories stress his poverty and humility.  In the often rough and tumble world of rabbinical argumentation, Akiva is known for his gentleness.  Rabbincal Sages often bruised each other in debates, leading to bad feelings.  Akiva had a soft touch even when he was (nearly) always right on halakah; he was gentle with the vanguished.

He was a man of the people. There is a charming tale of Rabbi Akiva’s intense, long prayers.  But we are told when he prayed with others he shortened them so as not to overburden people. There is the mystic Akiva who was the only sage to make the journedy back and forth through Pardes alive.

Finally, there is the messianic Akiva, betting on the wrong horse in the Bar Kokhba rebellion and being flayed alive by the vengeful Romans when the revolt failed.  His actions and words when martyred would become a model for, unfortunately, all too many Jews after him.

Read this book.  If you want a distillation of what it means to be a rabbinical Jew, you will find it right here.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

American Shame: Columbine







Dave Cullen’s Columbine is difficult to read without getting angry, extremely angry, even twenty years later, even after public shootings are more prevalent and have higher death counts.  Cullen is relentless in his pursuit of details, and there are many, and most were lost opportunities documented in this book.

The killers told many people of their plans, or part of their plans; the police even had a search warrant (that was never executed) for the house of killer number 1, a record of his harassment and threats to another student, all of which they illegally suppressed after the massacre.  

Back then it was SOP for officers to secure the site of a shooting, and wait for the SWAT team.  A community officer assigned to Columbine engaged killer number 1, fired shots, and then failed to follow him into the school.  What armed public safety officer would fail to follow a shooter into a school?  Who would essentially condemn children to die by following procedures? He followed procedures, by made a cowardly moral choice.

And it goes on and on. The killer’s parents, in the dark as their own children planned mass murder.  The  SWAT team’s sluggish entry into the building.  The media circus, with its accompanying valorization of the killers by giving them free air time, creating a myth, showing images of the event on an endless loop.

Columbine created a model for mass murder and its despicable wake of moral, political and social failings.  It modeled an ugly legacy we still live today.