Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a thoroughly fascinating journey into some of the latest research & findings on the workings of the human brain. But, even with the great advances made in this field in the last couple hundred years, there is still so much mystery left uncovered & unresolved--and not comprehendible. Why? Because the human brain--which has so much in common with many/most animal brains--is so much more stinking complex in what it does and produces and experiences than anything else like it. And, though some of its " inner secrets" have been better understood lately--there is still a universe within each human brain that is not understood and that goes beyond the "bits & pieces" and the chemicals and neural synapses & networks. As Eagleman states: "while it’s true that we are tied to our molecules and proteins and neurons—as strokes and hormones and drugs and microorganisms indisputably tell us—it does not logically follow that humans are best described only as pieces and parts. The extreme reductionist idea that we are no more than the cells of which we are composed is a nonstarter for anyone trying to understand human behavior. Just because a system is made of pieces and parts, and just because those pieces and parts are critical to the working of the system, that does not mean that the pieces and parts are the correct level of description."

I think the author does a pretty good job of showing that the reductionist viewpoint on the human condition--materialism that is only the result of chemicals & atoms/molecules randomly interacting & evolving over millions of years--is not the answer and probably never will be. There is too much complexity and unexplained depth that shows up in the most careful human studies & observations: "Arthur C. Clarke was fond of pointing out that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I don’t view the dethronement from the center of ourselves as depressing; I view it as magic. We’ve seen in this book that everything contained in the biological bags of fluid we call us is already so far beyond our intuition, beyond our capacity to think about such vast scales of interaction, beyond our introspection that this fairly qualifies as “something beyond us.” The complexity of the system we are is so vast as to be indistinguishable from Clarke’s magical technology. As the quip goes: If our brains were simple enough to be understood, we wouldn’t be smart enough to understand them.
In the same way that the cosmos is larger than we ever imagined, we ourselves are something greater than we had intuited by introspection. We’re now getting the first glimpses of the vastness of inner space. This internal, hidden, intimate cosmos commands its own goals, imperatives, and logic. The brain is an organ that feels alien and outlandish to us, and yet its detailed wiring patterns sculpt the landscape of our inner lives. What a perplexing masterpiece the brain is, and how lucky we are to be in a generation that has the technology and the will to turn our attention to it. It is the most wondrous thing we have discovered in the universe, and it is us." Well put...think on that for a bit, or for a few hundred years...No wonder God says in His revealed Word to us: "Who is like unto Me?"


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Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications by D.A. Carson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a deeply biblical and thorough treatment, in my opinion, on the issues of the so-called "Emerging Church." Carson shoots straight and points out the positive & the negative, carefully wrapping up with a solid biblical analysis of the trends that have been emerging. Biggest take-aways for me: 1) there's a danger of getting so focused on the present culture & its perspectives & hang-ups with Christianity that the Gospel starts getting watered down, and 2) there's a danger in basing too much on personal experience & interpretation, rather than on revealed biblical Truths--as well as a concomitant belief/teaching that we as humans really can't know everything about God, so we can be more tentative, vague, and less assertive & confident. Watch out--there's a Danger Zone ahead...


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Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament by Mark Vroegop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has been very good for me & has helped me immensely through these recent days of grieving for the losses of my dear sister-in-law, Holly, and a dear long-term friend/partner, Stan. I greatly appreciated Vroegop's approach, honesty, and transparency as he deftly takes readers through the solid biblical foundation of what prayers of lament mean and what purpose they have in a believer's life. We face the pains & difficulties of life's realities--and do so honestly, crying out Why? & How long? in anguish & personal pain--but we also do so with a great hope and with a growing trust in The One who is forever sovereign & is faithful & good. As he states:

"The practice of lament—the kind that is biblical, honest, and redemptive—...is a prayer. A statement of faith. Lament is the honest cry of a hurting heart wrestling with the paradox of pain and the promise of God’s goodness...lament is rooted in what we believe. It is a prayer loaded with theology. Christians affirm that the world is broken, God is powerful, and he will be faithful. Therefore, lament stands in the gap between pain and promise. To cry is human, but to lament is Christian."

Because it has been revealed to us WHO our God is and how much He cares for & loves us. Because we don't always understand His purposes & plans, but we have been learning how trustworthy & faithful He has been. Because even though this world is broken and we are puzzled & in pain, we can acknowledge those realities and be rightly saddened by them. Because if Jesus hadn't risen from the dead & broke the power of death-blazing the trail for us who believe in & follow Him--then we would only cry, to no avail, as all would be fleeting, meaningless, impermanent, and hopeless. But, alas, the cross & empty tomb have clearly demonstrated that a revolution in our eternal destinies has happened--and we have hope & can continue to grow in our trust of God our Father. Amen & Amen.


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The Big Fat Surprise: Why Meat, Butter, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bottom line--you gotta read this book! Don't you want to know why the American public has been hoodwinked for the past 65 years regarding a healthy diet? Don't you want to know the ridiculousness of all the "low fat" products still cramming America's supermarket shelves? Doesn't it make you wonder why--after so much pushing & pulling to switch people to a low-fat, no/little eggs & dairy, no/little meat diet--that Americans are at an all-time high level of obesity and are still having heart & clogged veins & other health issues? This book will give you some straight answers and will also show you why, alternatively, you should be enjoying more meat, butter, and cheese (& fat!) in your regular healthy diet. Teicholz writes in an engaging style and includes lots of research (more in the footnotes), as well as pointing out the paucity of research and scanty associations from them that led the American Heart Association and Food & Drug Administration to make--and to continue to hold to--some very, very wrong & dangerous recommendations to the American public. I was shocked, and I think you'll be shocked too. Shame on them. Get your act together, people! Don't you realize something's got to change--what you've recommended ain't working no way. I own this book and read it on my Kindle.


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Invested: How Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Taught Me to Master My Mind, My Emotions, and My Money by Danielle Town
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book had some great investing insights & principles--and was told in an interesting way, as the author works closely for a year--under the tutelage of her star investor father--learning about value investing, a la Buffet & Munger (investing titans). The main focus of the book is how to calculate the right/best purchase price for a good company's stock--best to get it at a bargain price, ensuring your ultimate financial recouping/rewards. Unless there's a good reason to do so (& those reasons are enumerated within), good attention is also paid as to why to hold a stock long-term and benefit from compounded savings. This book confirmed some of what I've already learned and also taught & highlighted new things to make sure I focus on when making sound investments. I'm looking forward to tracking further in these areas with Danielle's website's resources, as well as her father's. Borrowed from the library; read on my Kindle.


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Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another Metaxas book in the books--and this was another good one, highlighting seven godly & righteous men whose lives were exemplary for many reasons: George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jackie Robinson, Pope John Paul II, and Chuck Colson. Great insights into their lives & the impact they had on so many through the years. Read on my iPad; borrowed from the library.


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Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've had this book on my library wishlist for awhile--and was finally ready & able to get the audiobook version. What an amazing, complicated, whiz-bang, creative, smart-as-as-whip & hard-headed persister this man is. And to think that he landed in Canada looking for relatives to stay with (first one wasn't there any more--so he bought an all-Canada bus pass) and with very little money in his pocket! And has since gone on to be a part of revolutionizing internet payments/banking, rocketry, as well as the world of electric vehicles & efficient & usable large battery packs for vehicles. And then there's his boring/tunneling exploits and the hyper-loop concept (the book didn't focus on these last two industries, which are still emerging into viable businesses). Musk is a truly creative genius and out-of-the-box thinker/creator. He knows his stuff--and if he didn't know it, he learned it from interacting regularly with is engineers, picking their brains for the know-how. Amazing to hear how Space X and Tesla have been able to produce & deliver real products so much cheaper and more efficiently than other long-standing behemoths (like NASA, Lockheed & Boeing, as well as other major auto companies). Truly revolutionary stuff that has been done in the past 15-20 years on a scale unimaginable at the turn of the century. I think there's still a long ways to go in their continued development & improvement--in truly world-changing & improving ways. Enjoyed listening to this library audiobook on my iPhone.


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Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't know what to expect with this book, but was pleasantly surprised. I found the characters, plot, and context very interesting--and the whole area of what/who "dreamers" are to be quite fascinating. Having been out of the country for years, the whole upsurge in the news & politics concerning dreamers was something I didn't quite understand. Having the book set in NYC and around the financial crash/crisis of 2008 and the fall of Lehman Brothers made for interesting conflicts & crises--ones that were very real and affected many. I loved the Cameroonian characters in this book--and especially their accents & rhythm in the audiobook version. I borrowed this from the library & read it on my iPhone.


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The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow!--what a book! Amazing tour through the whole body, section by section. Bryson makes it all so interesting, engaging, insightful, and awe-some. Yes, awesome in the sense that one has to just step back and give praise to the Creator who designed such an intricate, amazing, incredible, complex, unrivaled piece of machinery--the human body. Oh, wait, it's not just a hunk of random man-made machinery...it's a divinely designed body, mind & soul that cannot be replicated. One of the common themes that crops up is--despite all the years of studying, the best minds still don't understand why or how this part of the body or mind works in such & such a way. A great treatise on all the amazing facts of how our bodies and minds work--and of the medical discoveries & the discoverers down through the centuries, as only a great writer like Bryson can pen. His writing just continue to get better in my opinion. I got this as a Christmas gift from one of my children--read it on my iPad. Check it out!


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Studio A: The Bob Dylan Reader by Benjamin Hedin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What--another Bob Dylan book? Yes, are there enough books on Bob? This was a Bob Dylan Reader--so had selections of writings on His Bobness ranging from his earliest years to his later ones (hard to believe that Bob will turn 80 next May!). Why called Studio A, you ask? Well, if you know anything about Dylan, you know he recorded some of his finest music in Columbia's Studio A in NYC. The classic being Highway 61 Revisited (cover pic of the sitting Bob in Triumph T-shirt under a psychedelic floral patterned shirt)--with the likes of "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Tombstone Blues" and the inimitable (one of my all-time Bob favs) "Desolation Row." The book is broken up into the following parts/time periods:
1. I Was Young When I Left Home (1961-1969) "Once upon a time..." he was 20 years old in the Big Ole Apple
2. Blood on the Tracks (1970-1978): "T'was in another lifetime...
In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes
I bargained for salvation and she gave me a lethal dose
I offered up my innocence I got repaid with scorn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm"
3. Saved (1979-1996): He became the "Property of Jesus" and Won't Look Back...
"I was blinded by the devil,
Born already ruined,
Stone-cold dead
As I stepped out of the womb.
By His grace I have been touched,
By His word I have been healed,
By His hand I've been delivered,
By His spirit I've been sealed.
I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb"
4. When You Got Nothing, You Got Nothing To Lose (1997- ): Bob's still singing about "Trying to Get to Heaven" and to the "Highlands"...
"It's dark and it's dreary
I been pleading in vain
I'm old and I'm weary
My repentance is plain
Beyond the horizon o'er the treacherous sea
I still can't believe that you have set aside your love for me"

Thoroughly enjoyed the various articles from well-known Dylanologists--as well as others who are not as well-known. Benjamin Hedin did a great job in compiling a variety of meaningful articles & analysis of Dylan's music & sources, lyrics, poetry, and Dylan's great impact down through the years on music in general. Highly recommended for insights & appreciation of a great artist--and performing minstrel..."who is still on the road, heading for another joint."


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The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock by Jane Riley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Got this from our Amazon Prime Reads freebie selection. Really enjoyed it and the characters that Jane Riley brought alive. And, Oliver Clock, is truly a character--a funeral home director, taking over from his father who was the previous director, and having to still deal with his mother, who is still very much involved in the business. Oliver is just a tad obsessive-compulsive. Reminds me in many ways of another fictional character I loved reading about--Edward of 600 Hours of Edward & Edward Unspooled, by Craig Lancaster. Read this on my Kindle; borrowed from the library.


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Flat Broke with Two Goat by Jennifer McGaha
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyed this memoir of a couple who--due to financial woes/mismanagement--had to move out into the wooded hills to a leaky/smelly "old" cabin, and to forge a new way of life that was much more earthy and subsistence-level. This included trying to grow their own food, as well as raising first chickens, and then goats (and learning to make various cheeses, as well as soap). Sad story of her first abusive marriage--gets one's blood boiling for a variety of reasons, especially the level of physical abuse (violence). And then to see her 2nd marriage becoming characterized by financial abuse--very sad. But some great life lessons learned from the new lifestyle they took on--as well as a new appreciation for her ancestors and the hardships they struggled with to make ends meet. Listened to on my iPhone; borrowed from the library.


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The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So, this was my first Bernard Cornwell book, though I have been watching the Last Kingdom on Netflix for a bit now. We are in Season 3 now, and so it was good to read this book, even though it was Book 2. I’ll have to go back to read Book 1 at some point, and then look forward to reading Book 3. The book dragged at some points in the middle, but overall it was a pretty interesting read, and this is a fascinating time period. I read this on my iPhone; it was purchased at a nice low price.


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Bringing the Heat by Mark Bowden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The inside scoop from a great writer who worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer's Sports Section for a few years, before becoming a best-selling author of books like Black Hawk Down. Loved learning more about the inside workings of an NFL team--in this case, the Philadelphia Eagles (not exactly friends of us New England Patriots!)--and of the players, coaches/trainers, owners, and wives/families. The days of the Minister of Defense--Reggie White--and Jerome Brown, and the razzle-dazzle (self-centered spotlight-must-be-on-me man) Randall (nicknamed "Ran-doll" by teammates) Cunningham, relative of Sam-the-Bam Cunningham, running back extraordinaire of the NE Patriots in the days of yore. Bowden did his research over 2-3 years and does a great job weaving all the stories of the main players into a tapestry. Bought this for a song on sale and read it on my Kindle.


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Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first Mira Jacob book--and I really had no idea what I was getting into! First off, I didn't realize it was fangled graphic novel, a mixture of drawings and photos. Very creatively done. Secondly, I had no idea that it was a novel tackling the issue of racism (& cultural superiority & appropriation) today in America--and especially the way East Indians (Indian Americans; South Asian Indians) have had to deal with these issues, increasingly after 9/11. Real life issues tackled in a humorous, but also serious manner. I gather it's autobiographical, though I've not yet really researched into Jacob's life & history. Borrowed from the library; read on my Kindle.


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Force of Nature by Jane Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyed this audiobook with a great Australian narrator. Ah, there's just something about that Aussie accent...The book moved well and I really liked the way the story unfolded, going between Falk and his inquiry and the actual events that the hikers were going through. Nice pacing in unfolding the climax--kept good suspense. Listened to on my iPhone; borrowed from the library.


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