Review: Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I get the feeling this is one of those “it’s not you, it’s me” books. I wanted to like this, and expected to like this a lot given the topic and many excellent reviews by other readers. But I found the book different than I expected, less on Buddhism in general, more on psychology and research. It reads like a pop psychology book. I found the writing was entertaining, but the examples where so similar to other pop-psychology and meditation books I’ve listened to recently it did not stand out. I suspect I wasn’t in the mood. I may need to try this again at a later time to see if my focus could be sharper…

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Review: American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China

American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book starts with the background of the author, who writes himself as a character. He’s smart – he gets into an Ivy college, but he’s a free spirit – working on a religion degree instead of a degree conferring money-making skills. He paints himself a bit of a fool, deciding to go to China soon after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations to learn Kung Fu from a school that he doesn’t even know is real. The early part of the trip is a humorous fish-out-of-water story, which did nothing to dispel his image as a bit of a fool. However, as the story proceeds, you get the idea that he is using his head to better understand Kung Fu, treating it not as a religious practice but more a sporting competition. He applies thought into approaching his fighting opponents to look for weaknesses, which appears to be a tactic used only by the best fighters he runs up against. The author makes it quite a way in the sport, and meets a number of individuals in his training, many with unique personalities and stories (e.g. Iron Crotch - just what you'd think given a sport that focuses on kicks). The combination of the fish-out-of-water story with the sports paradigm, and with the display of growth in understanding the sport as well as the culture makes this a doubly interesting book. I really enjoyed the story – I am near the same age as the author and I recall my cousin buying mimeographed Karate instruction books when we were in junior high, planning on using the martial arts to beat up those bullies that cross us. That’s a very similar story to how the author got invested in martial arts, and I suspect many boys had similar thoughts, especially when martial arts movies or TV shows were popular (David Carradine’s “Kung Fu” for me, “Karate Kid” for the next generation.) I found the thoughts of the writer quite familiar, and really wanted to know where the story went. I found myself cheering on the author as he succeeded in his martial arts training as well as his understanding of the Chinese people. Enjoyable.

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Review: Dog Soldiers

Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Detailed busted drug deal that is very much of its time, the 70s. Much senseless violence, much weird goings on, from dumpy apartments to dreary hidden hippy hangouts in the mountains. What happens when you get a bunch of folks who believe that they are tough guys on the take, when they are actually a bit slow. Was mostly depressing to read, but with interesting dialog that would work well matched with a plot that wasn't such a downer. This doesn't make me want to run out and read another by Stone, but I know I'll take another shot at his work.

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Review: Business for Authors: How to Be an Author Entrepreneur

Business for Authors: How to Be an Author Entrepreneur by Joanna Penn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Perhaps not exhaustive, but if you are a budding author, this book will give you plenty to think about. Covered are the basics of accounting, as well as detailed discussions of self-publishing down to the best software for creating covers, international rights, and the basics of hiring editors, proofreaders, and agents. Substantially answers most of my basic questions.

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Review: Wake Up!: A Handbook to Living in the Here and Now-54 Playful Strategies to Help You Snap Out of Autopilot

Wake Up!: A Handbook to Living in the Here and Now-54 Playful Strategies to Help You Snap Out of Autopilot by Chris Barez-Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The author provides a number of examples of how to "wake yourself up". Many of the "strategies" are described with the instructions of trying it for four days. I found nothing earth-shattering here, but I can see that I have the issue of often operating on autopilot, and I can imagine many of these strategies would allow me to become a bit more mindful, at least for a bit. Pleasant.

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Review: Senlin Ascends

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the concept behind this novel – a massive Tower where each level contains a world, bringing to mind ascending social levels as one rises, as well as getting closer to one’s God. Bancroft built a very compelling steampunk-y world, and his characters provide some interesting conjectures on purpose that provide the impetus for me to consider reading more books in the series. However, I felt the concept was familiar, similar to “Martin Dressler” in the era and the magical kind of world it describes. And I felt the book lost some of its steam in the last third or so, as our hero, a country headmaster and bumpkin at the beginning of the book, suddenly and without warning becomes an astute and politic leader of men and schemer. Much of the last third of the book is positioning for further episodes, and this is done in a heavy-handed way. I might read more in the series, but I might not.

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Review: Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required

Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required by Kristy Shen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another in the recent crop of books on young people saving enough money to reach financial independence and retire early. I’ve read quite a few of these books, and many, if not most, tend to the how-to, with some personal details of the journey to provide insight into the unique ways that the author pulled off their financial feat. This was very similar to most of the others, with some distinct differences that really set it apart. First, the author begins her story in her youth, as a very poor child in China. She relates tales of her family and her upbringing, which started with need and hunger. She uses these anecdotes, at times shocking, to help explain her “scarcity mindset”, which is what she attributes much of her ability to save prodigious amounts of money. Note the author is married, and her husband did not seem to have this mindset, but still worked with the author to save over half their pay for many years. The author then described the steps in her financial development, figuring out the ability to become financially independent over time and through a few leaps of thought. This reads like a book by a researcher explaining where they got their ideas. I found this very interesting and similar to my own lines of thought. Shen then describes the issues she has dealt with and what she has learned along the way, with topics such as budgets, financial benefits of travel, tax avoidance, buckets for planning, insurance, and more. I found the idea of buckets well described. Shen is good at coming up with names for some of the strategies she followed, such as her cash cushion and yield shield. Nicely done. And while she provides mostly generic budget information or samples in the body of the book, she saves a few appendices for her actual budget and savings numbers. Quite interesting. The writing has attitude I have come to expect from the millennial generation, where cursing is second nature. I found the attitude unnecessary and a bit overwhelming from the story.

As for the advice, it seems mostly reasonable. Shen is Canadian, so provides both American and Canadian examples throughout. As I compare her situation to mine, I see that her advice really revolves around not owning real estate, trusting medical insurance will always be there (Canadians, nuf said), having a mindset to massively save from large engineering salaries, and not having kids (although her chapter on kids say retiring early is done with kids all the time, they don’t have them). Most interesting advice -- foreign travel to lower costs. I’ve heard this before, but Shen’s descriptions were compelling.

Note that the author is a computer engineer with a head for math, which she talks about quite a few times throughout the book. I found one of the few math equations in the book, on page 179 of the paperback, had a set of parentheses missing, leaving the equation incorrect. While she might have gotten her math order of operations out of whack, Shen seems to have her financial operations in order..


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