Mark's #2 - Life of Pi (A Novel) by Yann Martel

 Piscine Molitor Patel, known as "Pi" tells his life story and epic adventure as an adult looking back at both his childhood in Pondicherry, India, and his survival on a life boat in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days with a Bengal tiger.   As the son of a zookeeper and owner, Pi is forced to use all of his knowledge about animals (which is quite extensive) in order for him and his tiger to survive.

As a story of survival, Yann Martel, does a great job of writing and engaging the reader.   From this perspective, the story was thoroughly enjoyable.  However, toward the end, an already bizarre adventure took some even more bizarre and unbelievable twists... such as encountering yet another (at this time blind) castaway (a Frenchman) on the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.  Hours before what seemed the inevitable death for Pi, the Frenchman, and the tiger, both castaways decide to join in one lifeboat as 'brothers' in their death.  Yet, the Frenchman decides instead to try to murder Pi and eat him, but first he is eaten by the Tiger instead.

The other plot twist toward the end, which still leaves me scratching my head, was when Pi and the tiger land on a floating island of algae, trees, and docile meerkats... here Pi is able to eat his fill of juicy algae, drink from freshwater ponds, and eat fish who apparently swim in from the ocean and die... Oh, by the way, as it turns out, the Island also consumes humans at night??? So, inspite of some weeks of luxury and comfort, Pi decides to take his tiger and once again head out to sea.  It was at this point, though late in the book, that I began to realize that much more of the story had to do with metaphor and allegory than I had previously taken it.  Perhaps, or more likely, probably this whole scene has some sort of metaphysical and religious symbolism that I can't quite place.

Speaking of religious things, Pi is a very religious boy.  Here is where the author was clearly trying to put forth a worldview for his readers to embrace.  Pi is what theologians would call a religious pluralist or syncretist.  As an Indian boy, he grew up for a love of all things Hindu.  During one family vacation, he stumbles into a Roman Catholic church, and subsequently becomes a Chrsitian (I use the term loosely here).  It's not that he rejects Hinduism, but rather he adds Christianity.  Later he does the same with Islam, and in his mind there is no contradiction.  In fact, this seems to be what the author would have the reader himself do... don't worry about the nature of truth or the law of contradiction... that, in his mind, is besides the point.  One can worship the god of Islam which fiercely claims that there is only one God, and at the same time worship the multitudes of gods and goddesses within the Hindu pantheon.

While this view of reality certainly will appeal to the postmodern mind, it turns out to be both philosophically untenable, and also religiously ignorant and offensive to those who hold dearly to each one of the faiths Pi embraces.  How can Pi embrace the Bible and ignore the first commandment - "You shall have no other gods before me"?  How can Pi be a devout follower of Islam and yet burn incense to the god Vishnu?  How can Pi embrace the pantheism of Hinduism AND the transcendent God of both Islam and Christianity? How can Pi acknowledge pain and suffering from the perspective of both a Hindu (it is an illusion) and Christian (it is very real, and God's own Son suffered under it)?  Simply put, he can't do this.   The syncretistic, postmodern view of ultimate reality that Yann Martel puts fourth may make for an element to a good story, but as a philosophy it is a shoddy bucket that can't hold water.

Conclusion: Enjoy the story, but don't turn your brain off to the philosophical implications of Martel's worldview.

Mark's #1 - Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer

Socrates thought the unexamined life was not worth living.  How much more so the unremembered life?

One of my life goals is to memorize the New Testament book of Romans.  Last Fall, a buddy of mine said to me, "so let's start doing it today!" To which I responded, "well... it's really just a life goal... you know, something out there to go after one day in the future."   After calling my bluff, the mnemonological  pursuit was on... and after a couple chapters I stumbled and drifted away like an unnoticed 'man overboard' watching that ship sail away. Then I saw this book, and thought to myself this will be a perfect book to get me back on board and also kick off this year's 52 books.

Journalist, turned author, Joshua Foer (think of a man 'joshing' with you broken up into four pieces) stumbled upon the world of professional memorizers known as mental athletes (MA) who compete internationally each year in the world memory championship.

It was at both the United States National Championships and subsequent World Champions where  Josh witnessed the MAs perform amazing mental feats such as memorizing entire decks of shuffled cards in two minutes, or reciting 100 lines of previously unpublished poetry from memory after studying it for five minutes, or recalling hundreds and even thousands of random binary digits, and more.   Josh was impressed by this apparent group of geniuses, and later perplexed as he interviewed several of the world's best who all insisted that they were not special or particularly intelligent.  A couple of them even challenged Josh by saying, "with an hour of training a day, you could compete and win next year's United States competition" (U.S. MAs are not among the world's elite). Thus, Joshua Foer accepted the challenge and began training as a MA.

During the course of his training, as a journalist, Josh researched many aspects of human memory.  He looked to the past where he found, unsurprisingly, that people used to be very good at memorizing many things.  As technology advances, our memories are increasingly stored via these external devices such as books, computers, smartphones, post it notes, and most notably Google and Wikipedia.  But all these 'advances' are not necessarily good advances as many books of late have pointed out (see my review of Hamlet's Blackberry and The Next Story).  In addition to the past, Josh examines other aspects of memory such as those who by brain damage have no memory, or those who are affected by autism who seem to remember otherwise trivial items in great detail.

This book is not a memory self-help book.  Rather it is an overview of memory and a story of the author's own pursuits to improve his memory and compete in a memory championship.   This does not mean, however, that there isn't much to be gained personally from reading this book.  I was encouraged to learn about the Memory Palaces that almost all memory experts since the days of Simonides used in 300 B.C.  In one chapter, as we follow the author's experience, the reader also learns some great tips for memorizing your a lengthy to-do list, or the names of people you meet for the first time (this has already helped me out).

Unfortunately, the chapter titled "How to Memorize a Poem" (which I figured would be most personally beneficial for me in my pursuit to memorize Romans), did little to help encourage or equip me to memorize Scripture.  As it turns out, almost all of the MA loathe this type of memorization because, well, it's really really hard.   Here's the best tip from that section:

The anonymous author of the Ad Herrenium suggests that the best method for remembering poetry ad verbum (word for word) is to repeat a line two or three times before trying to see it as a series of images.

In sum, this was a very engaging and enjoyable read.  I'm glad to be off to a good start on my reading for 2012... If you're wondering just how well Josh did at the United States Memory Championship, you'll need to read the book, I think you'll enjoy it!

Last memory Tip:

The general idea with most memory techniques is to change whatever boring thing is being inputted into your memory into something that is so colorful, so exciting, and so different from anything you've seen before that you can't possibly forget it (pg. 91)

Mark's 2011 52 Books Year End Review

Here's a quick recap of  insights and highlights in reading during 2011:

  • This is the second year of reading through 52 books... As such, I found it easier to get through the reading than the previous year.
  • I read several 600+ page books this year
  • I continue to be a fan of my kindle (though I wouldn't touch a Kindle Fire - it's junk)
  • This year our local libraries back in colorado began ''lending' kindle books - This is a great feature that has already saved me hundreds of dollars.
  • For Christmas, my daughter Zoe (age 8) received a Kindle pre-loaded with 12 books checked out from our local library (she loves it and has hardly put it down)
  • I read a lot of Biography this year, particularly Christian history biographies in preparation for a sermon series I did this summer on Church History
  • This year I also continued to pursue some literary classics and other books I should have read in high school but did not.
  • Next year I would like to begin reading some more difficult books both in the area of theology and historical classics.

 

Here's a list of my favorite books from 2011:

  1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson 
  2. 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King
  3. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell
  4. Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just by Tim Keller
  5. Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle 
  6. Hamlet's Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age by William Powers
  7. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer
  8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  9. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
  10. Calvin by Bruce Gordon 

Mark's #52 - Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus edited by Nancy Guthrie

This is an Advent book made up of 22 daily readings to prepare your heart and mind to "experience the peace and the promise of Christmas."  Nancy Guthrie culled together various Christmas related writings and sermons by faithful men and women from the Protestant Reformed tradition both past and present.  There were contributions from the likes of George Whitfield, Martin Luther, John Piper, Tim Keller Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Augustine, Calvin, J.I. Packer, Joni Eareckson Tada, etc... If you know anything about theses people, you know that each reading was rich in meaning and theology (this is not a Chicken Soup for Your Christmas Soul kind of book). This was the first year that I've read a daily advent reader, and I found the experience very enriching for my mind and spirit as Christmas approached.  I plan on reading this short book (140 pages) again next year.

Merry Christmas!

Mark's #51 - Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Mere Christianity is widely recognized as a classic of the Christian faith.  Lewis appeals to a broad range of Christian traditions, from theological conservative to liberal.  Originally given as radio addresses during WWII and a few years following, C.S. Lewis tried to explain and defend the basics of the Christian faith. I have read this book more times than any other book outside of the Bible (perhaps five or six times now).  On this reading I realized two things; First, I can see where much of my own thinking and preaching has been deeply influenced by Lewis in general, and Mere Christianity in particular.  Second, as I grow in my own understanding of theology, I realize more and more where I disagree sharply with some of Lewis' thoughts on Christianity.  For example, Lewis' philosophical and apologetic reliance on his view of 'free will' is much more arminian in thinking than mine.  In addition, Lewis seems to presuppose the validity of human evolution, as well as a kind of universalism through salvation of adherents of other religions if they are sincere (something he also implies in The Last Battle in The Chronicles of Narnia Series).

Some have even argued that Lewis is very much like Rob Bell in these areas.  However, these are not focal points or even essential teachings of Lewis (whereas it seems that Bell is doing just this, or at least capitalizing financially on these issues).  Furthermore, there is much to be gained from Lewis' thinking and apologetics.  Therefore I would continue to encourage believers and non-believers alike to read carefully through this classic book.