Two old books from boxes in my storage unit

Instant Cartoons for Church Newsletters ~ compiled by George W. Knight, 1982, humor, 160 pages, 6/10

These cartoons, which are copyright-free to local churches, were drawn by cartoonists Jo McKeever, Howard Paris, and Howard Stringer.  These three artists contributed to this whole series of books.  The cartoon on the cover with the steam whistle going off has this caption in the book:  "Well, I see my time is up."

Reading Group Journal: Notes in the Margin ~ by Martha Burns and Alice Dillon, 1999, journal, 192 pages

Reading group members show up at meetings with their books highlighted and dog-eared.  Some carry battered spiral notebooks; others dig through their handbags for scribbled notes.  Reading Group Journal offers a handy alternative.

This notebook also provides ample space to record all the practical information needed to participate in a reading group.  An introduction providing tips about how to make the group both pleasurable and productive is followed by inspiring lists of recommended reading and winners of important literary prizes, from the National Book Award to the Booker.

Additional pages provide places to jot down names and addresses, meeting schedules, and information about the next book to read.  Each book read by the group is allotted several pages for note taking and record keeping, with plenty of room for personal reflections and group observations.

And finally, there are fill-in pages for the reader to use in creating a personal a list of books to read, a log of books already read, a record of books lent, a compendium of interesting words, and a selection of memorable quotes.

Monday Musing

Whoops a daisy! ~ by Norah Clegg and Don Hughes, illustrated by Steve Smallman, 1988, children's picture book, 16 pages, 10/10

It begins with a dog  and a cat falling out of a tree.  Yes, we adults know dogs can't climb up onto a tree limb, and a cat is unlikely to simply FALL (though the cat pictured doesn't seem to have any claws at all).  However, "tree" and "Mrs. McGee" do rhyme.  So when the animals fall, she says, "Whoops a daisy."  Other words rhyming with "Mrs. McGee" are tea, ski, and key.  This simple book lets children giggle as Mrs. McGee keeps saying "Whoops a daisy!"

A week of wisdom, love, rainbows, consciousness, and celebration

Words of Wisdom ~ edited by Louis Untermeyer, 1968, sayings, 46 pages, 8/10

These quotes are from the last page of this tiny book and not spoilers:

   It was an unknown Persian philosopher who pointed out the way of wisdom.

... He said:

    He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool.

Shun him.

    He who knows not and knows that he knows not, is a child.

Teach him.

    He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep.

Wake him.

    He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise.

Follow him.

For You with Love ~ by Louis Untermeyer, illustrated by Joan Walsh Anglund, 1961, poem, 20 pages, 8/10

My daughters were in town this past week, so they helped me get a bunch of stuff out of my storage unit, which is mostly full of books.  This lovely little book (a mere 20 pages) may have been the one in which I found a card with this inscription from me "to my favorite Mother!"

Noah and the Very First Rainbow: Did You Know Bible Story ~ by Sunny Griffin, illustrated by Donna Lee, 1994, children, 48 pages, 9/10

This series of books is designed so children can point out the main person or object in each story.

Cosmic Consciousness: A Study on the Evolution of the Human Mind ~ by Richard Maurice Bucke, 1901, evolution, 114 pages

Pictured is the hardback copy, but the one I found in my storage unit this week is a paperback that I bought on August 16, 2001 and read by the next day.  I wrote on the back page:

I read this book 20-30 years ago, and it was much thicker — I still have that copy somewhere, in some box.

To see what I have shared about this book in previous blog posts, click HERE.

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo, whick means "fifth of May" in Spanish, commemorates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.  It is celebrated by Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.  (Sorry, folks, I hope using a cat in this context doesn't offend you.  This illustration just struck me as funny.)

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.

Meaningful May

Click to enlarge calendar

This Meaningful May Calendar from the Action for Happiness folks has daily actions for May 2024 to help us find ways to be part of something bigger.  

TWO more books my neighbor Betty shared with me

Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean ~ by Matt Strassler, 2024, quantum theory, 384 pages

A theoretical physicist takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey — found in "no other book" (Science) — to discover how the universe generates everything from nothing at all:  "If you want to know what's really going on in the realms of relativity and particle physics, read this book" (Sean Carroll, author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe).

In Waves in an Impossible Sea, physicist Matt Strassler tells a startling tale of elementary particles, human experience, and empty space.  He begins with a simple mystery of motion.  When we drive at highway speeds with the windows down, the wind beats against our faces.  Yet our planet hurtles through the cosmos at 150 miles per second, and we feel nothing of it.  How can our voyage be so tranquil when, as Einstein discovered, matter warps space, and space deflects matter?

 

The answer, Strassler reveals, is that empty space is a sea, albeit a paradoxically strange one.  Much like water and air, it ripples in various ways, and we ourselves, made from its ripples, can move through space as effortlessly as waves crossing an ocean.  Deftly weaving together daily experience and fundamental physics — the musical universe, the enigmatic quantum, cosmic fields, and the Higgs boson — Strassler shows us how all things, familiar and unfamiliar, emerge from what seems like nothing at all.  Is this the ultimate guide to our place in the universe?

Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy ~ by Evan Thompson, 2017, philosophy, 496 pages

A renowned philosopher of the mind, also known for his groundbreaking work on Buddhism and cognitive science, Evan Thompson combines the latest neuroscience research on sleep, dreaming, and meditation with Indian and Western philosophy of mind, casting new light on the self and its relation to the brain.

Thompson shows how the self is a changing process, not a static thing.  When we are awake we identify with our body, but if we let our mind wander or daydream, we project a mentally imagined self into the remembered past or anticipated future.  As we fall asleep, the impression of being a bounded self distinct from the world dissolves, but the self reappears in the dream state.  If we have a lucid dream, we no longer identify only with the self within the dream.  Our sense of self now includes our dreaming self, the "I" as dreamer.  Finally, as we meditate ― either in the waking state or in a lucid dream ― we can observe whatever images or thoughts arise and how we tend to identify with them as "me."  We can also experience sheer awareness itself, distinct from the changing contents that make up our image of the self.

Contemplative traditions say that we can learn to let go of the self, so that when we die we can witness its dissolution with equanimity.  The book weaves together neuroscience, philosophy, and personal narrative to depict these transformations, adding uncommon depth to life's profound questions.  Contemplative experience comes to illuminate scientific findings, and scientific evidence enriches the vast knowledge acquired by contemplatives.

Beginning ~ with an eleven-year-old

INTRODUCTION

On the sixth day, God gave the gift of creatures that live on the land:  those that walk on four legs, and those that walk on two, those that walk on six legs or eight or a hundred,  And God made people, in God's own image, and told them to take care of the world.

Well, that's the day where God made a mistake.

                    — WILLIAM, eleven

In Deep Waters: Spiritual Care for Young People in a Climate Crisis ~ by Talitha Amadea Aho, 2022 (on April 26), YA science & religion, viii + 259 pages

The starting point for this book is not news: the world as we know it is shifting.  Several millennia of climate stability have come to an abrupt end.  But, observes Talitha Amadea Aho, the young people of today do not remember stability.  They see the world through crisis-colored glasses.  Climate change is creating a spiritual emergency that is hitting their generation harder than any other.

Today's climate crisis calls people of faith to a communal spiritual practice of care, especially for those who are more vulnerable because of their youth — the children, youth, and young adults of Generation Z.  We must learn how to offer spiritual care that is informed by the spiritual-ecological crisis of their generation.

This book will help you keep young people at the center of your community and listen to the troubles they have to share.  Whether you are a Gen Z peer or a caring adult of any other generation, In Deep Waters will show you how to offer ecologically informed spiritual care.  We need to do it today; we cannot wait until one of today's youngest generations grows up.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Science fiction and fantasy

Misha Burnett's Endless Summer: Twelve Strange Tales of Mankind's Future ~ by Misha Burnett, edited by P Alexander, 2020, science fiction, 193 pages

Misha Burnett is a master of the macabre and champion of the New Wave.  His talent for tales runs the gamut of weird fiction from contemporary Urban Fantasy to Sword & Sorcery to Science Fiction, all with his unique (and slightly twisted) take!

Misha Burnett's Endless Summer is a collection of strange and chilling tales of humankind's future, near and distant, from tomorrow until beyond the mark of history, through civilization's zenith, decline, destruction, and ultimately, the rebirth of humans!

Embark on an incredible and breathtaking journey across the ages, beginning with the time-travel thriller "The Bullet from Tomorrow" and running through eleven original stories that hold up a mirror to the worst and, more importantly, the best that humanity has to offer.

Small Worlds ~ by Misha Burnett, 2023, science fiction and fantasy, 240 pages

Small Worlds has all of the hallmarks of Misha Burnett’s fusion of Science Fiction & Fantasy (SFF) with classic weird, inviting the reader into the uncanny realms where the mundane has been pervaded by the strange, but also brings to the table his unique brand of white-knuckle thrilling adventure.

The story behind these stories

I was talking to a friend about books, and she mentioned this writer.  So I came home and looked him up.  Those of you who've been reading my blog know some of my very favorite books are science fiction, right?  So I looked up this author, liked what I saw, and bought one of his books for my Kindle.  Guess what I'll be reading in the near future!

I downloaded the top one, with the stories.  I chose it because the man from the future in the first story is given the fictitious name "Ernie Sutcliffe" (p. 15).  I knew that because I read the sample Amazon allows us to peruse.  Look at that name again.  "Sutcliffe" is an English name, derived from the "South Cliffs" of Dover.  Friends know why I'd notice that.