Reviews with TLC

Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults by Steven Hassan is an interesting and somewhat disturbing book. I rarely listen to audiobooks and even more rarely review books I listen to as audiobooks because I often don't feel like I can do an audiobook justice. However, Combating Cult Mind Control stuck with me. Hassan's story of becoming indoctrinated into a cult, the Moonies, his experience in the cult, and his eventual deprogramming is fascinating. Combating Cult Mind Control offers insight into the methods cults use while seeming to miss similarities to some groups not considered cults. Hassan tells his story and the story of helping others with a level of compassion and insight that reminded me of the fear of cults and the lack of compassion for the indoctrinated during my teenage years. I had never questioned where those fears or the lack of compassion came from, but Combating Cult Mind Control pushed me to revisit ...

A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian delves into the Socratic method in an interesting and accessible way. Boghossian's writing technique is both academic and approachable. There's an air of arrogance that bleeds into the writing that left me wondering if Boghossian applies the same principles to his own beliefs that he pushes other people to apply to theirs  A Manual for Creating Atheists offers myriad examples of Boghossian using the Socratic method in debate and/or conversation, but sometimes feels like one-upmanship rather than efforts to lead people to epiphanies. I wanted to love this book but ended up only liking it well enough but with caveats. Anyone wanting to better understand the Socratic method might find A Manual for Creating Atheists helpful even if left questioning Boghossian's motives and willingness to apply the methods he promotes to his own beliefs.   Currently Reading: Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Dea...

The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief by Francis Weller came highly recommended from several sources. I'm grateful for those recommendations because I doubt I would have read it otherwise. I have mixed feelings about The Wild Edge of Sorrow . Weller writes well making the material accessible and understandable. There are many beautiful moments in The Wild Edge of Sorrow that urged me to think about my aversion to ritual as a general rule. I enjoyed the reflection on the importance of community and connection as well as the descriptions of myriad cultures' grief rituals and beliefs about grief. Even given those descriptive explorations, there were moments when Weller, like many in this type of work, seems to make assumptions meant to be inclusive that exclude those who might view the suggested ideas from a different perspective. At times, I also felt like the goal was to convince me to enroll in one of the paid grief ritual events. If so, it ...

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer dropped me gently but intensely into a deeper understanding of how plants and humans interact with one another. There were moments that surprisingly reminded me of my dad in ways that felt comforting. Kimmerer weaves science, culture, and history into an engrossing story of humans and nature  that feels like coming home while also feeling like a lesson in living in cooperation with the planet as well as each other. Kimmerer creates an immersive environment whether in forests, marshes, gardens, ponds, or a home.   Braiding Sweetgrass braids memoir, history, and modernity into a story that travels through time and place creating a sense of being oriented, then disoriented, and then oriented in a whole new way. Currently Reading: Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment   by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Ren...

Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha delves into the variations of the name of Palestine as well as the history of the peoples who have inhabited the land for the past four thousand years. Masalha explains the reasons the names have slight variations over time, mostly linguistic variations of the same name. He illustrates how the culture has changed over the years as well as traditions that have survived. Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History details the importance of the ports and the land for trade among myriad countries. Masalha also delves the importance of farming to Palestine over the past four thousand years. He really focuses on how the name of Palestine and the people have survived over the past four thousand years. He demonstrates how multi-cultural Palestine was for centuries as well as how myriad religions survived in land with the peoples of those religions interacting peacefully, building community, and living as friends and neighbors. While at time...

Let's take a slight detour from my usual reviews.  Recently, I was compiling a list of books I've read about Palestine and Jerusalem to possibly share for the Corvallis Palestine Solidarity resource guide and realized I haven't reviewed most of those books or otherwise shared them. I decided to share a list of these books I've previously read complete with a few of my thoughts on each one. Future books will receive their own reviews like all the other books I read. In the meantime, if you're looking for more information on Palestine, Israel, and Jerusalem as well as the intersection of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the discussion, here are a few books to get you started. Nonfiction: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi – A very informative and well-written book. See my full thoughts in my earlier review . The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilian Pappe - I just started this one, s...

  I read quite a few nonfiction books in 2022 over a relatively wide range of topics. I enjoy learning new things, so I tend to read a lot of nonfiction. This was an interesting year of reading for me in that I was working through my to-be-read piles but couldn't resist a few new releases. I found most of the nonfiction I read in 2022 interesting and informative.   The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss  by Mary-Francis O'Connor, PhD offers an interesting perspective on the grieving process. The research O'Connor has done as well as other research she cites offers a glimpse into the functioning of the grieving brain as we move through the process of grief. The idea of the brain needing to relearn habits as part of the grieving process struck me as particularly important and interesting. While much of the research O'Connor discusses is still influx and therefore perhaps not as definitive as some would like, it is still very interest...

  Dangerous Journey by Joanne Pence is an ebook that I've had for quite a while and just got around to reading. It's a love story with the usual twists and turns of a romance but also with enough of a unique touch to keep me interested. With a dash of humor, a dash of adventure, a dash of family dynamics, a dash of insecurity and then another, a dash of romance, and a dash of crime, Dangerous Journey fits a lot into a quick, easy, and fun read that also reminded me why romances often get on my nerves. Yet, I must admit I rather enjoyed it for a light read that didn't require me to think all that hard. Rachel Pollacks's Tarot Wisdom: Spiritual Teachers and Deeper Meanings by Rachel Pollack was another of those books I bought and then kept moving down in my to-be-read pile. I bought this book as research for a character I was toying with including in a book/story. As of yet, that character hasn't materialized and the initial idea fizzled away. I finally started rea...