An Immaculate review of "An Open Heart"

     The book "An Open Heart, Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life" by the Dalai Lama and edited by Nicholas Vreeland has a special ability that few books possess. The power to change your life.
      What makes this such a moving read is not only the well thought out content displayed by the Dalai Lama, but how the book is put together. This book is essentially a guide,  creating a starting spot for those uneducated in the Buddhist religion and the art of meditation. We begin with learning how Buddhists see life through their eyes, eternal suffering; and the goal of this religion being to escape this suffering by clearing the conscious.
      Once comfortable with the basic premise of the religion, and lifestyle the pole of Buddhist belief follow we begin to be led down a path on how to end our own suffering. But to create this understanding we must first acknowledge that we are in fact suffering. To build this case The Dalai Lama carefully chose explicit examples to display our non-virtuous emotions and habits to ourselves: selfishness, hate, desire, and lack of compassion. By proving to his readers that we do in fact hold many non-virtuous characteristics in our personalities he is able to make us believe that we need to change something. This is how he is able to change us through a 190 page book.
     Now that we have come to the understanding that we do have flaws, which consequently lead to emotions and habits such as anger, insecurity, and over-attachment we all want to find out how to move past this. He answers this with a simple solution: meditation. To many readers, especially in the United States where Buddhism holds the faith of under two percent, it is only logical to start off with the most basic forms of meditation as a way to ease the reader into it. The Dalai Lam does just that and makes sure to thoroughly explain the technique, importance, and usefulness of this practice through examples that tie into our lives, making it very easy for the reader to begin their practice with faith that it is worth it.
     With the reader now putting faith in his hands, the Dali Lama takes his time to slowly integrate new and more complicated forms of meditation, all the while explaining the importance, holding the readers hand through this new experience and making sure that we stay faithful to the idea.
     Once we have progressed through these multiple steps the Dalai Lama leaves us with some words of wisdom that only make sense once you have read through the whole book.
     If one is truly invested in beginning a change in their life, this is a great place to start. There are plenty of books that go into more depth in the practices of Buddhism than this, but none will be as patient with the reader throughout this new journey as this one by "His Holiness" himself.


Tristan Purdy

The Hot Zone

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is a thrilling book about various strains of a level four virus that could kill off the human population in just weeks if it were to break out. Richardson became inspired by his first hand account of the virus when he paid a visit to Africa and saw the impact of epidemics. When he read an article was published in the New York Times called “Crisis in the Hot Zone,” Preston became inspired to write this true story. After extensive research on the virus and the story, the book began to fall into place. He educated himself by doing comprehensive interviews with the books contacts, Dr. C.J. Peters and Nancy Jaax.

            Interestingly enough, the book starts with Preston’s attempt to “see through people’s faces into their minds and listen through their words into their lives.” He includes a few pages that captivate the human urge to understand things that they can’t. His illustration of an ID card which is required for authorized entry into an infectious area, suit AA-5, a biosafety level four zone that consists of an air-lock door and a decon shower, grabs the readers attention without any words. The desire to find out what is behind those doors makes it tough to not read on. He then opens the book with character Charles Monet (who’s name was changed), a plantation worker along the Nzoia River in Africa. He tells the story of Monet’s New years spent by Mount Elgon and his detailed descriptions of nature’s effect on Kitum Cave. Kitum cave quickly becomes a location of interest for Part One of the book. This trip into Kitum Cave held the life of Charles Monet in its hands. Preston takes us through the grueling attack an unknown virus would have on this innocent mans life.  Then, Preston dives into the vivid details and effects of this unknown virus as

“The bag swells up. Perhaps he glances around, and then you see that his lips are smeared with something slippery and red, mixed with black specks, as if he has been eating coffee grounds. His eyes are the color of rubies, and his face is an expressionless mass of bruises.”

He introduces us to black vomit, blood clotting, depersonalization and the utter liquefaction of all internal function that this brutal virus causes inside of humans. Charles Monet dies, bleeding out on the floor of the hospital in Africa. He made an preferable host for this virus, but as readers we quickly learn that we all would be the perfect hosts for this ruthless killer.

            After Preston “hosts” a trip through many cases in Africa, he makes this virus more real to the typical American readers, by flying the them to a location right outside of our nations capital in Reston, Virginia. There is a primate quarantine unit where a shipment of monkeys from the Philippines had just arrived. This shipment of monkeys would be a major cause for concern rather than the cute little primates they appeared as on the outside. These “animals were dying of Ebola Zaire,” a level four hot agent that the discovery team feared could wipe out the entire population of humans. This is where emotion flooded the book. These real characters had to contemplate their exposure to this virus. They would be put in the Slammer or the “The Biosafety Level 4 containment hospital,” that the Army uses to put people in for a month after they have been exposed to deadly hot virus. This slammer makes people go crazy. After they have determined that this deadly hot virus is plaguing the Monkey House, it is up to the team of the C.D.C. and the USAMRIID’s to figure out how to contain the virus and protect the safety of the human population. They go though a suspenseful process, but you will have to read the book to find out if this virus will break out. Will the United States itself become a Hot Zone?

            Preston is a brilliant writer and the way the book is written makes it very intriguing, emotional and relatable. He writes detailed description of his characters and his settings and the readers can picture themselves walking in the area of Mount Elgon in Africa. Just as you think the book is going to get boring, he comes in with a suspenseful account of how Ebola and Marburg have affected the lives of well-developed characters. He instills an attachment to the characters before he illustrates their brutal deaths. This gives the book a sort of deep emotion and evokes fear in the reader. It also talks about the first hand account of the lives of the career path and the mental sanity that is required to deal with level 4 hot agents daily. If the is one slip of this virus, these people could also bleed out and die. They volunteer their lives for the safety of the public. This book is an amazing read and it offers a clear and deep explanation of the potential effect a hot virus could have on the world. I would highly recommend reading it because readers get an exclusive view into the lives of those who live in the “Hot Zone,” and protect our lives everyday.

Malcolm H. Major
1/10/13
 AP Lang: Book Review

         “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything” co-authored by an economist, Steven D. Levitt and a New York Times writer, Stephen J. Dubner, claims no unifying theme. As this book progresses we see a theme materialize, which is looking at the world in a revolutionary way; from an economics perspective. Levitt looks away from conventional “wisdom” and looks through the eyes of an economist, from parenting to crack dealers to the secret codes of the Klu Klux Klan and Real Estate agents. By wading through mountains of information Levitt shifts the data into cohesive answers to his many questions.
         This duo of Dubner and Levitt have created a book that conveys large amounts of information without boring its readers. It uses clear and concise language to change some of the many misconceptions surrounding our world. He looks at names, race, cheating sumo wrestlers and Schoolteachers, and abortion, all in ways that have not been thought of before. As you progress farther into the book, the duo makes many surprising statements that upset the preconceived ideas of the masses. The book begins with by asking what Schoolteachers and Sumo wrestlers have in common. It is our first look at incentives, which are the main focus of economics and at how easily these incentives can change our actions. It also explains the three basic incentives types: economic, social, and moral, with an example of the anti-smoking movement to easily show the meaning. The following chapter entitled “How Is The Klu Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?” deals with using information to get a leg up. It shows how these two incredibly different groups use information asymmetry (where one group has better or more information than the other and use it to their benefit or the detriment of others). In the next chapter the book deals with conventional wisdom and how flawed it is. It turns out to be made up or flawed in an alarming amount of cases, with “experts” lying about statistics for personal gain. They show the damage of crack cocaine among black Americans while showing how only a small amount of drug dealers make it to the top while rest make very little money, exemplifying the falsities of our conventional wisdom. The next chapter asks “Where Have All The Criminals Gone?” where the authors plunge into massive amounts of data to discover the cause of the crime drop-off in the 1990’s. They argue very controversially that legalizing abortion has cut crime rates in the United States by using logical analysis of facts and dispelling fictitious ideas. In the following chapter they say that parenting doesn’t affect the child, but genetics plays the lead role. It also looks at experts that contradict each other despite seemingly being sure of what they are saying. The books final chapter deals with names and how they affect success. As the parents “first official act,” Levitt shows just how much effect names have on the outcome of the child. It also talks about the difference in black and white names and why names are chosen in the first place. The final chapter ends the book with giving you a little more knowledge about the world we inhabit and how it works.
          I really enjoyed this book, it was interesting, a word I do not usually associate with nonfiction book. Levitt’s mission to find out how the world works deeply interests me, which is part of the reason I enjoy this book so much, but also because how is it is written so to be easily understood. I would recommend this book to any.

“A Book We’d Miss,” Cleopatra Review

“A Book We’d Miss,” Cleopatra Review

Amber Furnée

January 12th

        Cleopatra: A Life is the phenomenal, extensive biography of Cleopatra herself, and “a book we’d miss if it didn’t exist” (Wall Street Journal). Within its pages Stacy Schiff covers the female legend’s family history, bureaucratic duties, representation as a goddess, and affairs with the two most powerful men of her time. Schiff covered everything she could about Cleopatra’s life and death, and succeeds in exposing and breaking down the biased image modern society has come to accept of her.

Stacy Schiff, the author of Cleopatra: A Life, has written three other biographies and has been presented with 15 honors and awards for writing, including the Pulitzer Prize for Vera, her book about Vera Nabokov, wife and muse of Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Williams College in 1982, was a senior editor at Simon & Schuster for 8 years, and has regularly had articles and essays featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Times Literary Supplement. One contribution to The Times was a whimsical and informative article called “Cleopatra’s Guide to Good Governance” including tips such as “obliterate your rivals”, “appearances count”, and “go big or go home”. This similar type of writing pervades throughout Schiff's book and helps the history she describes to flow off the page. This humor comes in handy when pointing out the shortcomings and biases of past historians.

In Cleopatra, Schiff tries to shed more light on an infamous historical figure whose real life, motives, and even appearance has remained shrouded in mystery. Her interaction with the other 'characters' in the book are thoroughly described and analyzed. Several of these times were Cleopatra’s meeting with Caesar and Mark Antony. Schiff does so in a way that includes each party's relevant past, personalities, and motives for each possible decision. When Cleopatra appears in a “sack of hemp” in front of Caesar, Schiff goes into his background of arriving before “the messengers sent to announce him" and having a “firm...grasp on human nature,” both ways to surprise his adversaries, as a way of showing why this move would surprise and impress him. However, Schiff often digressed on mostly unrelated tangents while trying to provide all relevant information. While still interesting, valuable information, it seems like there should be a better way or place to discuss a family’s incestual past or the scenery of the Nile than with 10 pages in the middle of a war. Apart from these tangential passages the book read very smoothly and like an adventure novel in the second half despite the several thousand year old ‘spoiler’..

I’ve never been a big ‘history buff’, but this biography gave me a rich taste of ancient civilization and the fascinating people who have made their mark on this world; a taste that pleasantly lingers on my tongue and makes me crave more. This is a book I would enjoy reading multiple times, and even has me interested in other historical biographies, so I would highly suggest it to anyone who doesn’t mind stumbling over highbrow vocabulary or lavish descriptions.

Maddie Gumerman's Review

In Defense of Food

There’s so much of it, so many decisions, and so many factors. I’m talking about food. The little things you need to know and the big things as well. What the difference is from what you need and what you want. Michael Pollon wrote In Defense of Food, a wonderful book, he does a great job describing what it means to eat healthy. He set the stage right by writing this book and not using it as a guide on how to eat, it’s simply a book defending what food has become.

Pollon wrote Omnivores Dilemma prior to writing In Defense of Food. Omnivores Dilemma captured the attention of many. After reading it people became curious to what they should eat. As the world questions what we “should” eat Pollon can only say it in a few simple words, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Well that seems easy, but still there is wonder to what are we are supposed to eat. Ok mostly plants, what about everything else in this world.  You need nutrients as Pollan describes, you need the food that is full fat rather than low fat. The labels on the products are tricking the world and we need to understand what’s right to eat. As the book continues on Pollon describes with great detail how a lot of the food we eat today has changed more than ever over that past hundreds of years and what we need to do about it. He is very persuasive and uses good examples and information to support his arguments to show the reader to believe in what he is saying.

Food has changed, yes that is very true. Food is becoming more processed and full of chemicals. The world isn’t recognizing what is good and bad for you. Pollon explains what America is mainly eating today is not essentially “real” food. Then we question what is “real” food. He describes that the food our country should eat is the food our ancestors would recognize as “real” food. That is so true. The food most people eat today is full of chemicals, colors and all this weird stuff, words we cant even pronounce. Our ancestors would have been shocked seeing some of the food we eat today. To eat good and healthy, eat what our ancestors would have eaten. Eat what is essential, Pollon explains.

As the book goes into detail about food, there was one thing that stuck out to me. Pollon did a great job showing me what is important when it comes to food. We need to find what is good for us, and escape the food that isn’t “real”. There is “real” food out there for us, in fact it’s good food, there just needs to be patient and dedication to finding that “real” food, as Pollon explains. You may in the end have to spend more time and money on food, making a decision to eat better, but truly it is better in the long run, for your health as Pollon describes it is better for everyone to eat healthier. Pollon truly believes the best way to be healthy is to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” That’s it.

His book is not a book advising people to what to eat. It’s a book advising us to “eat food” and “to see it in a more positive light and count ourselves fortunate indeed that there is once again real food for us to eat.” Pollon doesn’t want us to give up, we have the opportunity to eat right and it’s worth it!

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Over winter break I had chose to read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. This non-fiction story was about a group of people who had come together and experimented with LSD and many other drugs, escaping conviction of crime, and the crazy life style of the 1960’s hippies.

    Ken Kesey was the main leader of this movement, which he called the psychedelic movement. Within this he wanted to conduct and acid test. We never really found out what the acid test was, it was basically just all these people, Ken Kesey, the Pranksters, and even Tom Wolfe taking acid.

    Kesey and the Pranksters all take a trip from the west coast to the east coast, during this trip they travel in a day-glo painted bus that they called Further. On the days that they traveled they had taken lots of acid, along with that they had someone filming them and their whole trip. A documentary called ‘Magic Bus’ was even made about it, with some of the footage taken. As this merry group of people drove through the towns they would play music and get on top of the bus while they drove by. You could say that this was definitely a crazy bunch of kids back in 1964. Ken Kesey would say to those traveling on the bus, “You’re either on the bus or off the bus.”

    After the they had returned they all went back to La Honda, where they all lived together. People from else where would even come join and live with them. Unfortunately for them the FBI had showed up and arrested them all. Kesey had gotten arrest many times for being in possession of marijuana. Soon they all came out on bail together. However, later on Kesey was wanted again, with this he fled to Mexico in order to avoid prosecution. Even some of the Pranksters tagged along with him.

    While Kesey was down in Mexico he had realized that it was time to move past drugs and that drugs weren’t everything. He then returned to the states to let people know this. Him and the Pranksters even tried after a while to start back up what they had back in 1964, but nothing felt the same to them. It was over and time for them to move past the acid test and the psychedelic movement.

    The author of this book, Tom Wolfe, had a new journalism writing style. He really captured the moments and events that had happened during this period. He had tried to describe as much as he could in detail of everything that happened, even some of the trips that people were going through when they were on LSD. I really enjoyed this book because of all the details Tom put into it. It was a fun and exciting book to read. Just the crazy thought of all these people experimenting with drugs really intrigued me. I wanted to know what happened and how each one of these hippies felt and how they reacted to what they were experiencing. The fact that they were making a movie about it was well was very interesting to me. I can’t wait to sit down and watch the documentary about these crazy hippies taking LSD, DMT, Speed, and whatever other crazy things they got into.

    I would recommend this book to many of my friends. I thought that it was very well written and an exciting, interesting book, that made me want to keep reading. I think that if you are someone who enjoys reading about other peoples experiences and learning about the 60’s then you should read this book. I also think that those who are interested in knowing about that start of the hippie would really enjoy this, because I know that I did.

Doors of perception Review Over winter break I was lucky enough to randomly choose to read Door’s of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley. I say I was lucky because I happened to stumble upon this great book by chance, almost solely choosing the book based off the title. Not a very proven way of choosing a book, but I got lucky this time and found a gem. This story is one of new worlds and new perceptions of life. Aldous Huxley happens to find himself in the middle of a peyote, and more specifically Mescaline experiment; attempting to further our understanding of the effects and more literally the way Mescaline works within the human brain. Over the course of many random trails and many different spiritual journeys the reader is thrown into the world of Huxley while “tripping” Mescaline. He describes to the reader the numerous effects and feelings he has while on Mescaline, all the while painting a vivid picture for the reader to get a better grasp of what is happening to him while he is on Mescaline. For example he explains to the reader the “glowing” of objects and the new profound understanding he has of objects. Huxley takes the drug in a number of different environments, leading to a number of different experiences. Each one giving the reader a new understanding of Mescaline and the effects it has in someone; and giving the reader a better understanding of the life changing experiences the can happen to a person while on Mescaline. By doing this Huxley allows the reader to see through his “door of perception” and into the world of Mescaline and beyond. This writing of this book is very eloquent and laid together in a fluid and cohesive form. Huxley uses his deep vocabulary to give the reader a better grasp of what is happening to him while he is on Mescaline. Huxley uses a number of different writing techniques, such as vastly extended analogies and an extensive use of other authors writings in order to clearly describe and more importantly make it possible for the reader to understand what the hell he is talking about, because much of what Huxley is talking about and much of what he is experiencing the majority of readers have never experienced and most likely never will. So it really is quite a feat that he is able to bring the reader into his Mescaline tripping world in a way that doesn’t leave the reader lost after every sentence. So I applaud Huxley for the work he has done, and really appreciate his ability to dive into such complex ideas while still keeping his writing simple and easy to read. I very much enjoyed reading this book. It was actually very fun to read, and I enjoyed the ideas and concepts the Huxley dives into. As a reader I never found myself board reading this book and instead was constantly engaged in the reading. Huxley really got my attention when he began to talk about the greater meaning of things he found while on Mescaline. It forced me as a reader to look at life in a different way and really question the perceptions and ideas I have within my own life. It also got me very curious about the workings of the brain and certain ideas, such as: If our brain is filtering out so much of our reality, what are all the other things we are not perceiving? What ways can we bypass this filter? Are there ways to get past this filter without drugs? Is the Mescaline reality “more real” than our normal reality? All of these questions I continually was asking myself through out the course of reading this book. And this was really cool to me that he could make me question my reality so much by just talking about his reality on Mescaline. I would most definitely recommend this book to almost every reader. However if you are the type of person who I uncomfortable with challenging the reality that we have become so familiar with then this is not the book for you. This book is constantly pushing through the boundaries of what is familiar to us and forces the reader to question his reality and contemplate what other realities could and do exist. But if those types of ideas interest you as a reader then this is a great book for you. Huxley takes the reader into a new a fresh world that forces you to question your reality, and look into new realities through the doors of perception.