A Chosen Faith, by John Buehrens & Forrest Church

I bought this book when, to my surprise, a local Unitarian Universalist minister couldn't (or chose not to) explain much about the "theology" of her church during a purported orientation session. But Buehrens & Church answered my questions.

The story of the king who asks his blind subjects to describe an elephant, nets it out. After hearing each person describe the elephant from their own experience of it (a basket, a pot, four pillars, etc.), the Buddha comments: "How can you be so sure of what you cannot see? We all are like unsighted people in this world. We cannot see God. Nor can we know what is going to happen after we die. Each one of you may be partly right in your answers. Yet none of you is fully right. Let us not quarrel over what we cannot be sure of." [p95-96]

I'd feel remiss if I didn't write down the "real" principles of Unitarian Universalism:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The Engine 2 Diet, by Rip Esselstyn

I came across this book circuitously: I was watching a set of videos from a health conference sponsored by Dr. John McDougall. One of the speakers was Jeff Novick, who was the source of Esselstyn's chapter 3 material on reading packaged food labels. Another speaker was John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, who described an ambitious and impressive program for the firm's employees, and mentioned partnering with Esselstyn for a line of foods. So... I figured I'd might as well see what this guy is about for myself.

Bottom line: amused that he uses the phrase "plant strong" to avoid the (presumably more frightening) term "vegan." But a great book, based on great science.

Oh, and a chapter on exercises, and a number of (what seem to be great; eager to try some) recipes.

The Farnam Method of Defensive Handgunning, by John Farnam

I was disappointed in this book; fewer than 10 pages were of real use to me, and those not until after 194 less interesting pages had passed.

The Complete Book of Wild Boar Hunting, by Todd Triplett

This is a pretty broad view of the topic, but it is mostly just surface deep.

The Better Part of Darkness, by Kelly Gay

Time on airplanes leads me to unpredictable book choices. I'm not even sure how to categorize this one: paranormal'ish, fantasy, sci-fi; kind of aliens on Earth with a magical slant.

So I've set this up to explain away how I distracted myself during a flight with some crummy novel, right? But it wasn't! This was well written, interesting, suspenseful and a generally enjoyable read that even took two flights to complete (a big bang for the buck!). I do tend to enjoy books with a strong female hero (possibly due to years of having read "The Paper Bag Princess" to my kids), and that notion of female independence is strong in this novel.

I'm even planning to read the sequel. (Warning: there were a couple of moments that felt as though we were descending into romance literature; fortunately the author quickly raised the elevators and we returned to a safe altitude. Go figure.)

Daemon, by Daniel Suarez

I do one of two things on airplanes: read magazines or read books. For the latter, this one was just perfect -- it completely fit within my flight and kept my interest.

The story line: a multi-player online game developer distributes a program across the internet to affect people's actions after his death from brain cancer. Key characters include the bold but unfortunate police officer, the brilliant NSA scientist, two genius hackers, one evil and one good (but with a checkered past), and a mysterious and possibly naughty government agent / assassin. Stir ingredients, but don't over mix them, and saute on low heat for 617 pages.

By the end of the book it was clear that there would be a sequel, which I see has been published -- and is now on my reading list.

How to Survive the Most Critical 5 Seconds of Your Life, by Tim Larkin

This is a tough book to read -- not that it is poorly written, far from it. Rather because of the subject matter. This book is about violence; it is somewhat graphic and definitely disturbing.

The essence of the text is, if you are in a situation where a criminal will apply violence to you, then you must choose: either to apply violence to him, or to be a victim.

The author differentiates anti-social situations (e.g., when a drunk at the bar hassles you, the easiest solution is to walk away, avoiding confrontation) from asocial situations (e.g., when the criminal has a knife to your neck, and you have to decide if you will fight, perhaps literally for your life).

As I've mentioned before, sane people in the USA prefer to not think about such things. Larkin quotes Jeff Cooper early on:

"...many men who are not cowards are simply unprepared for acts of human savagery. They have not thought about it (incredible as this may appear to anyone who reads the papers or listens to the news) and they just don't know what to do. When they look right into the face of depravity and violence they are astonished and confounded."

Larkin also touches on the Virginia Tech situation, about which I've also commented in the past, asking, why didn't any group of students swarm Seung Hui Cho, even when he stopped to reload? This is a (sad) commentary on our readiness as a nation to protect ourselves in general, the culture of political correctness swirled with litigation-as-a-way-of-life.

As an (is this controversial?) aside, this culture of acquiescence is why the USA is today ill-suited to deal effectively with terrorism. Maybe that's why terrorism protection theater at our airports continues to suffice to appease the masses, or at least the politicians.

But Larkin's book isn't really about theory or politics or philosophy; it is about deciding if violence is a realistic choice for you in dangerous situations.

The Pocket Field Dressing Guide, by Andrew Harris

Not that useful; but if each typo were replaced by an additional diagram, might be worth the price. The author clearly doesn't live in the southern US, as he repeatedly points out the importance of speed when the temperature is above 45° Fahrenheit; sigh.

Just 2 Seconds, by Gavin de Becker

This is an excellent, albeit niche, text; unlike de Becker's prior book, which addressed a broad civilian market, this one is meant for the personal protection professional.

Dave Grossman addresses a general audience topic in Appendix 12, where he points out that most Americans are sheep. What does he mean by that?

We're trained to not think about defending ourselves. We're trained to think that those who do worry about such things are a bit off. We're trained to think that nice, liberal thinking folks who drive Prius cars are somehow immune to the violence of the world.

One example of this is the zero-tolerance of violence in schools -- a fine notion, except for how it applies to self-defense situations. If a child is attacked, shouldn't we want her to fight back, without worry about being expelled as part of a politically correct policy? (I've written about this before.) In fact I advocate a response to force which is slightly disproportionate -- make it just a bit more uncomfortable for the attacker, so they never consider you as a target again.

Another example is the reaction I sometimes get about some of the books I read about handguns; in the USA today, folks who (legally) carry handguns are considered fringe, even nut cases, especially by folks who live on the coasts (NY and California). (Sorry about that generalization people, but you know it is true).

But these same people will conscientiously ensure their smoke alarms work in case of a fire, and will only buy vehicles that have plenty of air bags in case of a crash -- as we should. So, why not be prepared in case of a violent attack -- as we should?

Law enforcement is not (per case law) responsible to protect you, only to investigate afterward, unless they accidentally are in the right place at the right time and do the right thing (and they have immunity from liability if they do not).

Firefighters show up when the flames are enveloping the building, and EMTs show up after the car's hit the tree. That's why you want smoke detectors and airbags and such.

That's why some folks carry handguns or mace or stun guns, learn martial arts techniques, and the like. It really isn't so crazy to act counter to popular culture.

Back to Grossman's sheep analogy. He says there are also wolves. (Think bad guys.) Wolves prey upon sheep. And then, there are sheepdogs. They attack wolves who threaten the flock.

Usually we think of sheepdogs as representing our military and law enforcement professionals. But sheepdogs also represent those of us who refuse to be sheep.

Grossman writes, "[Sheep's] only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, 'Do you have any idea how hard it would be ... if your loved ones [were] attacked ... and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?'" [p626]

Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me, by Howie Mandel

This book was a failure for me -- in that I couldn't get past page 29. Just too bleak. I'm sure this book is quite helpful for many people; I'm just not one of them.

Now I feel doubly guilty: that I gave up so quickly on this book, and that my empathy to folks with a variety of disorders might be lacking.

My rationalization on the second concern: empathy isn't lacking, I just don't want to read about this topic.

Just like some folks probably don't want to read about how to field dress a deer.