The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen (3.5 of 5 Wandering Blue Sheep)

This novel is the story of one man's journey into the Himalayas. What begins as a hunt for the illusive snow leopard, becomes a spiritual quest as the author leaves his urban environment and presses forward into the snow-capped mountains. When he reaches the peak of one of these mountains, he seeks refuge in a Buddhist monastery. There he experiences the beauty of simple living.

Now that I think of it, it's a lot like a Himalayan version of Walden Pond. In both, one man goes into the wilderness to escape urban drudgery. Thoreau builds a small cabin; Matthiessen stays in a palace. David writes about birds for fifty pages; Peter writes about blue sheep for fifty pages. Our hero of the lake uses his birds as a spring board into the depths of philosophy and Christian theology while our champion of the mountains uses the sheep as a ladder into the heavens of idealized Buddhism.

The language is beautiful, but the story drags a bit. Basically, if you liked Walden Pond, you'll probably dig The Snow Leopard.

What other books have you read that follow this structure?

The World We Have - Thich Nhat Hanh (3.5 of 5 No Car Days)

I read this book a few months ago for my Environmental Literature class. It's a tiny little handbook that can probably fit in your pocket and because it's only about 100 pages, you could likely get through it in one sitting.

Short and sweet: it's a Buddhist approach to conserving the world we have. Most of the book focuses on the Buddhist ideology for protecting nature. The last chapter contains many simple habits that you can put into practice to make a difference in your home, family and community. If this angle to the green revolution sounds interesting to you, check it out. The worst case scenario is you lose an hour or two.

White Noise - Don Delillo (2 of 5 Soup Cans)

Has anyone else read this book? Of all the crazy books I've read, this one probably takes the toxic cake. This commentary on postmodernism was assigned reading for my environmental literature course last semester. The novel follows the quirky lives of a man, his wife and their four children. A good portion of the narrative takes place in front of the television. When they're not drooling in front of the tube, they are teaching Hitler studies courses at the local university, attending bible studies classes, taking pills to combat the fear of death, flying around the world, riding tricycles down freeways, running from airborne toxic events and shopping at grocery stores. Their existence is busy, but shallow and fragile.

For the first fifty pages I remember being quite taken with the writing style. It is blunt and eccentric, quite refreshing from dense writing of The Plague. The discussions of the characters are similar to those you might hear on Seinfeld, the "show about nothing." However, just like Seinfeld, you can only take so much of it. About halfway through the book I was ready to move on. The novel bounces around so quickly that it is sometimes difficult to follow. The characters are so intentionally shallow that I found a difficult time actually caring what happened to them.

I guess the real kicker is that Delillo wrote this criticism of consumerism way back in 1985, prior to our entering the Paris Hilton era. Imagine the firepower he would have writing this book today...

Granted, this novel did win the National Book Award in 1985. But like most books that win awards such as these, they have to be somewhat off the beaten track. Personally, I wasn't impressed, but you might be. Happy reading.

The Abstract Wild - Jack Turner (3.5 of 5 Walks with Thoreau)

Yep. I did it again. The scheduled post, posted without me. I should really just block out some time and write up all of these reviews. Most of these books I read earlier this year. The details are already packed away in the dusty corners of my memory. The longer I wait the less I have to say about them. For example:

Abstract Wild is a series of essays about returning to the "wildness" of nature. Jack Turner's work is heavily influenced by Thoreau's Walden Pond. Turner took a similar journey into the wilderness of the United States to reconnect with his origins. There are few passages here and there that are quite stunning, but most of it starts to sound the same by the end of the book. If going green and getting back to nature are your cup of herbal tea, I say go for it. The book is only about 150 and is a relatively quick read.

Shared Spaces

Today you all get a special bonus post.  This short video is my final project for my Environmental Literature class.  The title is "Shared Spaces."  Part of the assignment is to distribute the video to 25 people.  I tried to throw it up on YouTube but it got rejected because it was over 10 minutes long.  I thought this website might be a good alternative.  It's also on my Facebook page if you want to watch it there (viewing window is much larger).  I know it's a little out there, but I hope you still enjoy it.  I look forward to hearing your comments.

The Plague - Albert Camus (4 of 5 Coughing Attacks)

My dad asked if this lack of post was a creative approach to existentialism.  Well...I wish.  Rather, it's just one indicator of how busy I'm been recently.  I've been recording the titles of the books I've been reading, but haven't had the time to fill in the rest.  I set them to automatically post every Friday, and well, technology got ahead of me this time.

So, if you didn't read The Plague in high school or college here's the summary.  A small town in Algeria is quarantined when a black plague outbreak is detected.  The story follows several characters as they try to cope with the terrible conditions.

The reason why everyone read this book in AP English in high school is because everyone dies.  No surprise there.  And yes, it's pretty depressing.  However, I found that I enjoyed reading the book much more this time around.  Perhaps this is because I'm a little bit older and have experienced more of the joys and pains that life offers and can therefore connect better to the dire circumstances of the characters.  Or perhaps it's just because I had a better professor helping me through it this time.  You have to push through a lot of dense material for the first 250 pages, but the ending is truly liberating and intensely beautiful.  If you haven't read it in a while, I'd suggest you take another look.

Taking Care of Yourself - Andrew Weil (4 of 5 Vitamins)

I suppose you've probably heard enough about finances now. I think it's time to move on to a new subject of study (I can't promise though that you won't hear more about finances though...). For a variety of reasons I've started a casual investigation of organic food. Taking Care of Yourself is just one of the several books sitting on my bedroom floor. I would really appreciate hearing about any good books on the subject that you've read.

Taking Care of Yourself covers several elements of balanced living. Andrew Weil begins with an introduction to integrated medicine (the combination of modern and traditional medicine). He argues that a comprehensive approach to healthy living is better than just popping pills. I agree with him. It's always better to go to the root of the problem rather than treat the symptoms.

He discusses many subjects such as balanced diets, navigating health food stores and exercise. I enjoyed the book, though some of the nutrient/chemical names went in one ear and out the other. But I expected that. I don't remember a lot of things from my first finance book either. With time and more exposure to a variety of books regarding healthy living, I hope to get a more complete picture of the whole subject.

Zoom - Vijay Vaitheeswaran (4 of 5 Tesla Roadsters)

Zoom's subtitle is "The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future." The book is a brief overview of the issues related to the impending oil crisis. Much of the book is spent documenting the history of the development of the car industry. Vait starts by setting up a comparison between the gas-guzzling Detroit steel companies like GM with the Japanese Toyota. He argues that in order for these stale American companies to match the successes of the foreign imports, they will need to adapt a more practical business model that focuses on improving fuel economy through hybrid and electric cars.

He dabbles in United States foreign policy. He brings up some of the controversial moves that the US government has made in securing its rights to the oil reserves in the Middle East, and how those moves will make us weaker politically as oil becomes scarce. He naturally sees renewable energy as the all-purpose solution to breaking the OPEC monopoly.

The last section of the book outlines his method for making the transition from Detroit steel to electric cars (By the way, if you haven't heard of the Tesla Roadster, go look it up. I know what I want for Christmas...). He believes that a moderate approach is best, balanced between government funding and private investment. He also advocates a general oil tax that will increase gradually over the next 20 years, which will wean the US off of Middle East oil.

Zoom seemed a little superficial at times, but that's to be expected from an overview text of this kind. I enjoyed it. Check it out.