Book Reviewed: Fearless in Tibet by Matteo Pistono.
This is a book for a specialist in Tibetan Buddhism
This book is written mainly for a reader knowledgeable in Tibetan Buddhism that focuses mainly on the life and works of nineteenth-century mystic Terton Sogyal, the teacher of Thirteenth Dalai Lama. Sogyal had incredible power to foresee things which he acquired through deep mediations and clear understanding of the teachings of Buddha.
There is one chapter on creating peace between Tibet and China that partly discuss the political situation at that time. The end of 19th century was a precarious for Tibet because of the threatening behavior of powers like China and Russia. Tibet was under constant threat of Chinese invasion and Dalai Lama sought help and counsel from Terton Sogyal. Sogyal used peaceful methods of Vajrayana and the vast knowledge of Buddhist teachings. He performed rituals to defend Tibet. He discovered terma treasures and received prophecies and gave specific directions. His counsel included building temples and Buddhist stupas that would deter an aggression. He advocated Tendrel Nysel, eliminating flaws in interdependence, a practice created to reduce conflict and establish harmony and peace. His instructions were timely at a delicate and dangerous moment in the history of Tibet.
I recommend this book to someone familiar with Tibetan Buddhism. A casual reader may be bored by the terms and words commonly used in Tibetan Buddhism.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
Such Good Girls: The Journey of the Holocaust's Hidden Child Survivors
Book Reviewed: Such Good Girls - The Journey of the Holocaust's Hidden Child Survivors by R. D. Rosen
These real-life stories are absolutely fascinating!
This is truly a fascinating story of three women who survived the holocaust and lived to tell their stories. The author coins the phrase "Such good girls," to describe these women who were brave enough to live through one of the greatest genocide that ever occurred in modern civilization and tell the rest of the world what happened during the reign the Third Reich. Sophie Turner was raised by a Catholic family to protect her Jewish identity; Flora Hogman was also protected and raised by several members of Christian faith, and Carla Lessing struggled to live through the war and atrocities of gestapo with her family concealed by Dutch strangers when Holland was under occupation. All the three women grew up under terror, later migrated to United States and excelled in education and in their field of study to help the hidden child survivors. Finally it looked like the American dream came true, but it was built on the foundation of nightmares, tragedies and un-healing wounds. This book tries to re-create the event that took place, and as seen through the eyes young women who did not know that there is such an evil that lurks in this world.
Sophie, born as Selma Schwarzland in Lvov, Poland, lived in the Polish ghetto before escaping with her mother has the most vivid and frightening experience of the three women. She lived through scenarios where German shot and killed almost 5,000 Jews who were sick and elderly on Janowska Street in Lvov ghetto. 15,000 more Jews sent on their way to Belzec not far from Lvov for extermination. In the following few week almost 150,000 women, children and elderly lost their lives. Sophie under the constant protection of her mother lived with the imminent threat of death, and despaired to understand the cruelty perpetrated in the name of ethnic cleansing.
Over the years I have read many news stories and editorials about the struggle of Jews in German occupied Europe and this is one of the best books I have read and it is truly fascinating. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and the survival of Jewish people, especially children.
These real-life stories are absolutely fascinating!
This is truly a fascinating story of three women who survived the holocaust and lived to tell their stories. The author coins the phrase "Such good girls," to describe these women who were brave enough to live through one of the greatest genocide that ever occurred in modern civilization and tell the rest of the world what happened during the reign the Third Reich. Sophie Turner was raised by a Catholic family to protect her Jewish identity; Flora Hogman was also protected and raised by several members of Christian faith, and Carla Lessing struggled to live through the war and atrocities of gestapo with her family concealed by Dutch strangers when Holland was under occupation. All the three women grew up under terror, later migrated to United States and excelled in education and in their field of study to help the hidden child survivors. Finally it looked like the American dream came true, but it was built on the foundation of nightmares, tragedies and un-healing wounds. This book tries to re-create the event that took place, and as seen through the eyes young women who did not know that there is such an evil that lurks in this world.
Sophie, born as Selma Schwarzland in Lvov, Poland, lived in the Polish ghetto before escaping with her mother has the most vivid and frightening experience of the three women. She lived through scenarios where German shot and killed almost 5,000 Jews who were sick and elderly on Janowska Street in Lvov ghetto. 15,000 more Jews sent on their way to Belzec not far from Lvov for extermination. In the following few week almost 150,000 women, children and elderly lost their lives. Sophie under the constant protection of her mother lived with the imminent threat of death, and despaired to understand the cruelty perpetrated in the name of ethnic cleansing.
Over the years I have read many news stories and editorials about the struggle of Jews in German occupied Europe and this is one of the best books I have read and it is truly fascinating. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and the survival of Jewish people, especially children.
Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins by Robert Spencer
Book Reviewed: Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins by Robert Spencer
This is another great book by scholar Robert Spencer who is a fearless leader in pointing out the evil effects of Islamic terrorism and Islamic culture across the globe. I have been following his timely articles on his website JihadWatch.org and also read instant messages on his Twitter account; it is an honor to know that we have a fearless scholar amongst us who dares to say that Islamic terrorists are savages and substantiate his statements with facts. We need to read works such as this at times when various Islamic terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and ISIS are waging war against order and civilization. The Islamic culture is truly barbaric and the savage acts of ISIS in Iraq and Syria are becoming yesterday’s news and much of the Islamic world not only tolerates such evil acts but also help promote it. Recently a well know Islamic cleric by the name of Hussein bin Mahmoud invoked Qur’an 47:4: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” and suggested that ISIS beheadings are sanctioned by Islam.
This book explores the life of Muhammad and his prophetic career. The historical records discussed in this book casts doubt on his existence. A careful investigation shows that the Qur’an is not Muhammad’s revelations, but actually borrowed from the Jewish and Christian scriptures. His order is nothing but a terrorist fraternity filled with intolerance to other faiths. The concept of forgiveness reflected throughout the gospels and New Testament is a sharp contract to the preaching of Muhammad. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend this to anyone interested in the long term influence of global jihad.
This is another great book by scholar Robert Spencer who is a fearless leader in pointing out the evil effects of Islamic terrorism and Islamic culture across the globe. I have been following his timely articles on his website JihadWatch.org and also read instant messages on his Twitter account; it is an honor to know that we have a fearless scholar amongst us who dares to say that Islamic terrorists are savages and substantiate his statements with facts. We need to read works such as this at times when various Islamic terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and ISIS are waging war against order and civilization. The Islamic culture is truly barbaric and the savage acts of ISIS in Iraq and Syria are becoming yesterday’s news and much of the Islamic world not only tolerates such evil acts but also help promote it. Recently a well know Islamic cleric by the name of Hussein bin Mahmoud invoked Qur’an 47:4: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” and suggested that ISIS beheadings are sanctioned by Islam.
This book explores the life of Muhammad and his prophetic career. The historical records discussed in this book casts doubt on his existence. A careful investigation shows that the Qur’an is not Muhammad’s revelations, but actually borrowed from the Jewish and Christian scriptures. His order is nothing but a terrorist fraternity filled with intolerance to other faiths. The concept of forgiveness reflected throughout the gospels and New Testament is a sharp contract to the preaching of Muhammad. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend this to anyone interested in the long term influence of global jihad.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann
Book Reviewed: Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann
William J. Mann is a well-known Hollywood historian with many books to his credits. He has researched in this field widely and written several books about the role of gays and lesbians in Hollywood during golden era. In this book he focusses on the well-known murder mystery of director and actor Desmond Taylor during 1922 that has been discussed and opined upon by numerous authors, investigators and close associates of Taylor himself. This homicide has all the intrigues of a typical Hollywood film that makes the reading this book even more fun. The murder occurred around the time of another celebrity Roscoe Arbuckle who was on trial for the murder of a young actress named Virginia Rappe. A spate of newspaper-driven Hollywood scandals included the death of Olive Thomas, the mysterious death of Thomas H. Ince and the drug-related deaths of Wallace Reid, Barbara La Marr, and Jeanne Eagels was bad for the image of Hollywood studios which were struggling to establish themselves as the leading players in the world of movie industry. Studios were too powerful, Los Angeles Police Department was too corrupt and the newspapers were too scandalizing and in some cases fabricating the circumstances of murder. This did not help to solve the homicide and hence Tayler's case went cold. Several suspects were named in this mysterious killing, the leading names were Desmond Taylor's much younger girlfriend, Mary Miles Minter and her mother Charlotte Shelby. Shelby was the chief suspect for a long time. She was consumed by the greed and the career her daughter in a highly competitive world of movie business. Learning that Taylor had no interest in marrying her daughter or helping her career, Shelby took matters into her own hands. The most compelling evidence was her rare .38 caliber pistol with unusual bullets that were similar to the kind which killed Desmond Taylor. The author discusses in light of many recently acquired FBI files and police records. This is certainly a good book to read in light of author's own investigation but does little to solve this 1922 case where all witnesses have passed on. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Hollywood and murder mysteries of the golden era.
William J. Mann is a well-known Hollywood historian with many books to his credits. He has researched in this field widely and written several books about the role of gays and lesbians in Hollywood during golden era. In this book he focusses on the well-known murder mystery of director and actor Desmond Taylor during 1922 that has been discussed and opined upon by numerous authors, investigators and close associates of Taylor himself. This homicide has all the intrigues of a typical Hollywood film that makes the reading this book even more fun. The murder occurred around the time of another celebrity Roscoe Arbuckle who was on trial for the murder of a young actress named Virginia Rappe. A spate of newspaper-driven Hollywood scandals included the death of Olive Thomas, the mysterious death of Thomas H. Ince and the drug-related deaths of Wallace Reid, Barbara La Marr, and Jeanne Eagels was bad for the image of Hollywood studios which were struggling to establish themselves as the leading players in the world of movie industry. Studios were too powerful, Los Angeles Police Department was too corrupt and the newspapers were too scandalizing and in some cases fabricating the circumstances of murder. This did not help to solve the homicide and hence Tayler's case went cold. Several suspects were named in this mysterious killing, the leading names were Desmond Taylor's much younger girlfriend, Mary Miles Minter and her mother Charlotte Shelby. Shelby was the chief suspect for a long time. She was consumed by the greed and the career her daughter in a highly competitive world of movie business. Learning that Taylor had no interest in marrying her daughter or helping her career, Shelby took matters into her own hands. The most compelling evidence was her rare .38 caliber pistol with unusual bullets that were similar to the kind which killed Desmond Taylor. The author discusses in light of many recently acquired FBI files and police records. This is certainly a good book to read in light of author's own investigation but does little to solve this 1922 case where all witnesses have passed on. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Hollywood and murder mysteries of the golden era.
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