"The Boy with the Incredible Brain" Part 1

"The Boy with the Incredible Brain" Part 2

Holy Crap...

Passing away a lazy Sunday evening watching TV, CZF and I came across and episode of 60 minutes and heard an incredible story about a English Man not much older than us by the name of Daniel Tammet. Tammet is a Savant--one of only about 50 known living in the world today-- but he differs in that he is also able to manage social interaction, something that has never been seen in before in a Savant. Some are describing him as the Rosetta Stone of brain's. Well, maybe you aren't impressed yet, but give me a second here to tell you some unbelievable facts about him that just might make your mouth drop: He used his incredible memory to learn the first 22,514 decimal places of pi. He recited the numbers at Oxford (on Pi day of course) it took him over five hours, and he didn't make a single mistake. He is also fluent in English, German, French, Spanish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Icelandic, and Esperanto. There was a documentary made about him, called Brain Man (U.S.) or The Boy with the Incredible Brain (U.K), in which he took on the task of learning Icelandic (known for being one of the most difficult languages to learn) in 7 days, and then went on a national Icelandic television show to be interview in the language, and is said to have spoken rather eloquently, although I can't confirm that with my Icelandic being so limited and all. If that weren't enough he has created three new languages called Mänti, Uusisuom, and Lapsi. And for the enjoyment of us all a memoir he wrote was released here in the states on January 7th, called Born on a Blue Day. You can buy an autographed copy of it on his webpage if you feel so inclined. As if I didn't already have enough books on my "to read" list...

Part III of III: Some books I plan to read...

What's the point in talking about books if you don't list off all those books you are wanting to read. To begin with, here are the recommendations I got from you bloggers back in December:

Books & their Recommenders
Moby Dick by Herman Mellville; czfinke
Little, Big by John Crowley; DieDan
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell; annb
The Crow Road by Iain Banks; Scarlet Zapata
Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West; Bryant
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; whb
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; Cat C.
The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco; jc
Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen; JDM

And some other books on my list...

Les Miserables, Victor Hugo: DePaul Reads Together, has chosen this beast of a book as the next book club option...I've always wanted to have read (past-tense) Les Mis but have never really want to read (present-tense) Les Mis. For some reason I group him with Tolstoy (why I'm not sure, maybe because they both wrote massive massive books) whom I'm not particularly fond of. We'll see, this one might not happen.

The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch: I've heard nothing but amazing things about Murdoch's writing, but haven't read a page of her work yet. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think I know anyone who has read her, but when she comes up in a book or a review or wherever writers come up she is always highly praised. I choose The Sea, The Sea because it's one of her more popular and well know novels & happened to win the Booker in 1978. Seems reliable. The story: Narrator, Charles Arrowby, is a tyrannical director-playwright who, after 40 years, again makes contact with his worn-out childhood sweetheart, bullies her without being able to change, and then starts an affair with an equally monstrous 18-year-old girl.

The Name of The Rose, Umberto Eco: Yes, I know its up on the list of recommended books, but I had to mention it again because I'm so damned excited about it.

Our Enduring Values, Michael Gorman: Yes, yes...it looks boring I know. But really its rather intriguing. It is about libraries after all.

The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila: I have been highly intrigued by the lives of the saints lately, particularly female saints. Which makes me pretty pumped about reading this book.

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading, Maureen Corrigan: Maureen Corrigan is the Fresh Air Book Critic and recently wrote about book about her life as a reader. I feel kinda cheesy wanting to read about about reading books, but then I heard Terry Gross interview her, and it really sounds awesome. And apparently she has a fixation with the Live of the Saints as well, so that will go good with the last book I talked about on this list.

Well, I suppose this could go on forever, and I should probably just go and read instead of talking about it...

That Revolutionary Spirit, pt. deux

"We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity." Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil.

Awesome. It excites one to read something and get that charge that used cause sparks of fire in your stomach. Salinger and Kerouac and Merton, they all provided that little stir in the soul that originally made you want to read a book in the first place. I didn't think former prime minister victorian conservative Disraeli would draw from that same pool.
(Interesting sidenote-Disraeli was Jewish, which was pretty unwelcomed in England, to put it mildly--Jews were not given civil rights until the 1850s, about 25 years after Catholics were given civil rights. Anyway. Disraeli was the first, and so far, only Jewish Prime Minister of England.)
Here is a pitcture of Benjamin Disraeli, the latest to stir the waters of my soul.

That Revolutionary Spirit

Well. I have a few minutes and thought I would comment a moment on what I'm reading, which is Sybil, by Benjamin Disraeli. My Victorian prof informed us that the first 80 pages or so were pretty dry. She's right.
But it picks up and I am very much enjoying the rallying feeling of the spirit of Disraeli. Standing up for the poor, leaving behind the landed gentry and joining the plight of the prols! "Home is isolation, there for anti-social. What we want is COMMUNITY."The PEOPLE, he likes to write in capitals.
There are The great ass characters, like Lord Marney, the landowner and one-who-keeps-down-the-millions (that's my homage to Heidegger). "I say that a family can live well on eight shillings a week!"
Also, there is some great religious stuff going on. It's pretty good, after the slough of despond that is the first eighty pages.
Here's a passage I much enjoy: "The Church of Rome is to be respected ast he only Hebrao-Christian church extant; all other churches established by the Hebrew apostles have disappeared, but Rome remains, and we must never permit the exaggerated position which it assumed in the middle centuries to makes us forget its early and apostolic character, when it was fresh from Palestine, and as it were fragrant from Paradise." Not bad from the mouth of an Anglican Vicar.
I know many find Victorian literature boring and dull (which about fifty percent of this book is) but I thought I would let you all in on the good parts.

What more is there to say?

Paris Hilton has a book out: Confessions of an Heiress. Maybe I'm behind the times but I hadn't heard of it until this morning when Scarlet Zapta informed me of it. And according to at least one source she is reported to have said, "If I read, I would totally read this book." I guess that means we should read it too....

Part II of III: Some Books I'm Reading:

Another important subject that I have not covered in a while, the currently reading list:

Stereotypically I never read more than one book at a time unless I am in school, I usually find that I get caught up in one and disregard the others, but lately this problem hasn't been bothering me so much. That or I've become a much better multi-reading-tasker. And I also find that I read more books outside of the literature genre if I read several books at a time, which is very nice. So as of right now...

Library: An Unquiet History; Matthew Battles: Yet another book that I discovered when looking through Mrs. Osborn's shelf. You can all guess why I decided to read it, I'm sure. Right now I am about half way through it and have found that I should probably be reading "The Idiot's Guide to World History" along side it, but alas you will not find that on my list. It is fun to be learning so much though. I'm also highly surprised at how well Battles, who works for the Widener Library at Harvard, pretty much convinces you that the Library is basically the center of everything. Here I was thinking I was the center of everything....

The Last Temptation of Christ; Nikos Kazantzakis: I know this one was posted on quite some time ago, and some of you have even picked it up and read the whole thing since then, but good news: I too have finally started it. Honestly, I wasn't the least bit excited to read it. I've heard the gospel stories, I've even read them (that's right, Bethel!). BUT much to my surprise, I'm really loving it. Now, I'm only 70 pages or so into it but I like that Christ has such a hard time with God and doesn't want anything to do with him. I know its fiction but it's changed my stagnant view of Christ a bit, and makes him much more relateable.




***In addition, I've decided to add a new feature to the blog. That is putting up pictures of the books I am currently reading in a side bar, so you can stay updated and I don't have to bore you with talking about them before I have ever finished reading them.***

New Years 2006!!

The Newest of Newly Married Couples, and oh so cute!

Craig and Mandar, looking sexy!

...and a few drinks later!

Susan & Mystery Guest.

David feeling a little disoriented the next morning!

Part I of III, Some Books I've Read:

It's been a while since I've written about any books I've read so I thought I would do a little highlight of the past few months reading...

The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgokov: Despite taking me over two months to finish this beast of a book I can finally re-shelve it's beaten self back on my book shelf. The first half went horribly slow for me, I would read a few pages on the train and get nowhere with it, every chapter seemed to introduce a new character and I just couldn't get into it. But luckily the holiday break gave me plenty of time to finish it up and the second half not only breezed by but was rather enjoyable. It was funny, smart, enjoyably philosophical and had a fun-loving Devil right in the middle of it all, what more could a girl ask for over her Christmas break? I only wish I had read the whole thing with such enjoyment. The end wasn't quite as great as I expected. I had heard all sorts of fabulous comments about how great it turned out, but I found myself a bit confused, maybe because the Devil didn't fit my stereotype, who knows? What about those of you that have read it? I'm interested to hear what you think about the pace of the book and how it all came together. In the end, I can happily say that this book continues in holding up my love of Russia as depicted in novels. What a great place.

Unless, Carol Shields: I loved loved loved this book. Charissa recommended it to me and what a wonderful recommendation it was. Unless was the last book Shields (pulitzer prize winner) wrote before she died of cancer. Her reflections on being a writer and what it means to live your life in a worthwhile manner are expressed quite eloquently through her characters story. Personally I couldn't help but often get the impression that she wasn't really writing a fiction novel but scratching her frustrations down in a journal that she just happened to publish. Of course there very much is a story line that is fictional and it too is heartbreaking. Her main character, Reta Winter is a 44 year old writer whose oldest daughter up and dropped out of university one day to sit on a street corner in Toronto with a sign that says "goodness". It's an amazing story and the ending only reaffirms that. The point is, read it. It's well worth it and it'll only take you a couple days at the most.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, John Wood: I discovered this book while listening to NPR back in my jobless days. The author was talking with Terry Gross (I think) describing the experiences he had that led him to give up a very high ranking position with Microsoft to bring books to remote areas of the East for children who had never even so much as seen dreamed they would get a chance to hold one in their tiny little hands. I picked it up right away (AND IT'S ONLY OUT IN HARDCOVER!!) and fell head over heels in love with this man and his organization, Room to Read. For someone who loves books and is interested in libraries as well, John Wood is a God-send. His NGO is only five years old but is spreading like wild fire. They have built over 3,000 libraries for children in the developing world and reached 1.1 Million children's lives, from new libraries to schools to scholarships for girls. It's an incredible organization, that just doesn't take no for an answer. And lets just be honest, how can you not love someone who gives their life to make the world a better place for children?