Origins: How Earth's History Shaped Human History by Lewis Dartnell

I picked this one out of curiosity. And, yes it was a good pick.

This talks about how Earth's evolution over a billion years shaped the existence of life (human life) on the planet. How over the years the Earth went through various transformations creating the things/elements which will eventually support the human sustenance. Of course, humans were responsible to identify the use of each of these elements and exploit it.

One thing which is also a central point is that cooling comes more naturally to Earth as compared to heat. Human activities in the last 200 years (largely after the industrial revolution) has been responsible for the heating of Earth (global warming) disproportionately. But cool is more natural (that's why the Ice Ages, and yes that is plural) so one fine day its going to be unbearably cold but not in a lifetime.

Larger point is that human life has always been looked down upon as a speck at the astronomical levels. And that's more than true. Even after all the scientific developments the existence of life as we know can be wiped in a moment, and the cycle of life starts again from null.

So, next time you're worried about something than think about it at a tectonic level :)

Peace

Childhood, Boyhood, Youth by Leo Tolstoy

 Nothing beats Tolstoy.

This one is an autobiography where he has written about the three stages of his early life as Childhood, Boyhood and Youth.

All the three stages have a same detailed exploration of people and situation of his life which he is famous for. One thing which may pose a question is about remembering all this so clearly after such a long time but a close look and you can see that most of the stories are woven around the people which most of us remember from our lives. We may not remember a lot of situations  but we do remember the people (specially the teachers, friends, family etc).

Tolstoy intended to write another part for the Youth but he couldn't do it. What a miss for us!

Well, its a must for fans but for others as well who can initiate in his writing.

Love!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I knew Maya always from her quotes. I came across a lot of them specially around struggle of woman, African Americans, repression, rape etc. 

But I never read any of her work, and this is the first one I read. And this is her first autobiography. Yes, there are seven of them so this is not the end.

This is an amazing read. The power of the book is how it can help you to relate with the characters even if you don't know anything about them, and this does a pretty good job. You will immediately feel how that Store would have been like or how that god fearing Grandma would have treated you. Of course, she was brilliant and successful that she could tell her story because I was thinking of all the kids who were not that brilliant academically or got a scholarship. Their story would have been more frightening.

It doesn't make sense to narrate an autobiography but if you jump into it you will come out wiser or more empathatic.

I may not be actively looking for her other books but if I come across another one, I'm definitely going to pick that up.

Love

Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom Editor: Ostling Michael

 This is a classic textbook, full of references, and covering a larger range. It consists of essays from different scholars who specialises in knowledge of wide range of cultures, and countries.

Fairies was something which you know from the Disney movies. There are some folklores but they are mostly treated as entertainment, and not really a scholarly discussion. It may not even worth it as well.

Firstly it covers that to show the seriousness the scholars to prove that they exist, they build a whole catalogue. And all these mythical creatures are divided into different categories like somebody defining the flora and fauna of planet earth. There is a catalogue of these creatures who don't exist. What were you thinking.

Secondly, it talks about how the local gods were painted as demons or local minions under the influence of Christianity. To prove it to be the only god, everything else was to either go or marked as demon. Which happened and so went down the history of a whole culture. And, it did later created some tension when people started recalling the values that they have grown with or inherited from the ancestors.

The one thing which was a bit strange was an argument that you can't prove the older thoughts/beliefs wrong in the light of new discoveries (specially scientific ones). Well, if you were so serious about it than those older arguments would have never brought into the discussion. They should have been marked as redundant in the light of new knowledge. However, its unfortunate that they are not only used as a prime argument but put as a self proven truth which no rationality can question.

Complicated to read but maybe worth the efforts if you're into it.

Peace

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers

This is a record of conversation between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers for a documentary, and later Bill Moyers edited those talks to present in a book form. But this is still the record of conversation and not a regular book.

The book format is more like to present the complete talk in a written format so at times it feels like you're listening to two people talking which is a beauty of the presentation.

As far as the narrative is concerned, this was not a good read after Richard Dawkins :) 

This book stands in contrast to what Dawkins says. I've read Joseph's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and that was a good one as long it talks about myths. However, once you believe those myths to be more than myths than the problem starts. Myths are good to know to understand the cultural nuances as these are the building blocks. These are good for imagination and at times it is a healthy entertainment. It can even build the character to an extent but than we need to toe the line on how far we're going to believe these myths. There are a reasons for calling those literary works as epic but that doesn't dictate the terms in real life.

Myths are good to know, remember, cherish and share. Every era has its own myths, and the best one survives to tell a story. It is good to have healthy myths but more important is to know where you segregate myth from a reality. The path of taking myths for truth is a road down the hills, and it will be a speedy descent.

Peace