This book explored the minds of young people, how they operate and how we can harness them instead of suppressing them. Adults, Siegel observed, usually loved routine, predictable schedule, which do away with creative exploration and makes life boring, almost lifeless. This is very different from a young mind, adolescent, which always experimenting, and seek ways to do things differently. Their passion for adventure and longing for a thrill.

Siegel also discussed the differences between old and modern times. During the old days, after a child enters puberty and adolescent, they quickly married and built a new family. Modern times however prolonged the period before adolescent ends, the need to be employed before starting a new family delayed this process for a decade or more, always with no clear endpoint. This is one of the challenges facing teens on modern age, as they search for meaning in the longer period of adolescence.

Siegel explained that the mind is not static but plastic. It can be shaped and build through experience. This plasticity remained at any age, we always can have a new experience and change the type of circuit connection we had in our brain, we can train our brain to learn and master new things at any age.

One of the parts which I liked the most is when Siegel explained that sometimes our emotion exploded, we cannot control our mind, we flipped our lid. Common views are when a person burst into anger, they revealed their true self. This is simply false. This happens to all human when their brain is in chaos and rigidity, at that moment there are little they can do. The best way to deal with this kind of situation is to remove oneself from the scene when the emotion builds up, and return when rational thinking was back again.

The period of adolescence must be viewed as a period full of potentials to nurture, not just to survived. The tendency of teenagers to seek novelty and experiencing thrills must be acknowledged, nurtured, and channeled in a productive way. This will create a win-win situation for teenagers and adults. The essence of the adolescent mind, their purpose, is to solve problems in new and innovative ways. This is important for human survival, as they look at the problem at hand and applied solution suitable for their era. This, in turn, promotes sustainability. The mind of an adolescent, which always experimenting and searching for novelty, is an important piece of puzzle for human to stay adaptive on earth.

Reading the mindsight tool on taking time-in, the concept was very similar to the main thesis of Eckhart Tolle in his book ‘The power of now’ where he advised the reader to be present, to feel the present moment and train the brain to get rid of the distraction of thinking about the past or worrying about the future.

Siegel also discussed how we create attachment models during our early years with our parent. These model will be the basis of how we communicate and interact with others later on in our life. Due to this reason, we must always be mindful when nurturing our children, it is important that they feel safe and have the bravery to explore the world when they were nurtured with a solid fundamental model.

In the modern world, we are not a sole parent, we practiced ‘other parenting’. What this means is that we share child rearing with other trusted adults which may include babysitter, teachers, and others. It is very important that all these figures mold a safe attachment model for the children. Some parent does not create a secure attachment model not because they don’t love their child, they simply did not have that skill to connect with their children.

Sometimes rupture does happen in our relationship with our children and others. In an event such as this, it is important that we initiate repairs and reconnect with them. We should apologize for our contribution to the conflict.

In his last mindsight tool’s section, Siegel emphasized the importance of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning will keep us sharped and keep our brain growth. It is also a source of challenges that hinder ourselves from falling into boredom. He also touched on how schools often kill creativity by setting up a standard of what is right and wrong, often cage student into a little box which they cannot think outside of it and explore.

In his conclusion, he wrote that we need to “embrace notions of spirituality and there is a deeper meaning to life directly”. Overall it was definitely a good read especially for readers who wish to understand the human mind, its development, plasticity in the face of experience and how we can harness its potential to create a better world.

This article is a review of “Brainstorm: The power and purpose of the teenage brain” by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, New York, 2015.

 

 

 

As Howard Zinn brilliantly puts it “you cannot be neutral on a moving train”. This book was written from the perspective of American’s interest on why they are losing their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The short answer is that America doesn’t have a clear quantifiable objective. Now, let’s deplore the long answer as Michael Scheuer puts it in his book ‘Imperial Hubris’.

Scheuer was part of the American intelligence community in the CIA specializing in Osama bin Laden, he uses his insight and specialty to argue the reason of the American failure and the options it had to move forward. The central thesis of his book is that the animosity the Muslim world had with America and its allies is not because of the values they hold dear, such as democracy, representative government, feminism, women empowerment, gender intermingling etc. While Islam may disapprove of these values, they are not the reason why people are blowing up themselves. The real reason Scheuer argues were specific policies such as attacks on their brethren, occupying Muslim lands, support given to corrupt tyrannies, and unconditional support towards Israeli brutal aggression on Palestinians. He wrote:

“To make this so, we send forth U.S. diplomats, politicians, officials, and preachers to coercively persuade Muslims to Westernize the Koran and the Prophet’s traditions and sayings, especially the parts of the Islamic canon dealing with education, charitable giving, the non-separation of church and state, and manage an Islamic Reformation that makes Muslims secular like us, all this unfortunate, nonsensical talk about religious war will end and Muslim will be eager to keep God in the same kind of narrow locker in which the West is slowly asphyxiating Him” pg 166.

Since the demolition of Ottoman Caliphate by the British in 1924, there is no central authority to wage offensive Jihad. But defensive Jihad is an individual responsibility that does not need authorization from anyone, once the religion is under attack it becomes an individual responsibility for each Muslims to defend the religion using whatever power he had.

Commenting on Afghanistan, Scheuer attributed the failure to the failure of America to learn from history. In what he called ‘the checkable’ which America should do before they enter Afghanistan. The vast amount of resources was not utilized, America failed to learn from history even though America has a vast knowledge to be tap with its 13-years program of supporting the mujahideen pushing back the Soviet. The biggest mistake was the American initiative to install secular democracy, a foreign idea to Afghanistan’s tribal tradition. A tribal tradition that will be united to repel foreign power be it the British, the Soviet or America, and again fight each other when they are gone. America naively thinks that they can depend on Afghan proxy to do their dirty work.

But reading the list of Al-Qaeda victories compiled by Scheuer, it’s hard not to think that he has oversimplified things. Different insurgencies have their own local context, to add it all and put it under Al-Qaeda is plain wrong. Although all of them are Muslim, they fight for a different cause. The Uighur are fighting China due to the Communist iron fist control over their communities. The Chechen are fighting Russia for their liberation. Palestinian are fighting Israeli occupation. They may share the same faith, but not the same goal.

Scheuer also dispelled the myth that the rage the Muslim have towards the West was because of the declined Islamic Civilization, but rather because of what the West has done in the Muslim world. Their post-colonial arrangement and support the tyrannies, limiting the population their freedom and wellbeing.

America ineffective force Scheuer argues is because it views the threat as a terrorist which had to deal with law-enforcing strategy. The need to do all the fighting abiding laws and under thorough media scrutiny, while the enemy wage unrestrained insurgency and never read the Geneva convention. He also explained the differences between US agencies such as FBI and the CIA. While FBI collecting data abiding the national law, CIA has done the opposite. CIA compiled data by torture, theft and luring foreigner to do an act of treason. Mixing and confusing these two agencies Scheuer argues, will make the matter worst.

Another reason why America is ineffective when the war with Afghanistan began, is the obsession of building coalition which delays the operation and dragged American feet. Although the coalition gave little impact on the overall operation.

At the end of the book, Scheuer concludes that American left with only two choices. The first, it changes its foreign policies towards the Muslim world, by withdrawal from their current aggression, stop supporting tyrannical regimes in the Muslim world, and do justice to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The second option, retain the status quo policies and prepared to shed more American blood and drain national treasures.

 

 

 

The Bible has many versions. We have King James Version, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible and a lot more others. Pelikan asked, what if a person want to buy the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible? Which one he should purchase.

To answer this question, Pelikan brought the readers back to the ancient time, to understand where does it all began, how it evolved and ended up as what we have today.

He started by introducing readers to the God who speaks. This is a crucial fact that the scriptures were based on spoken words, long before it was written down. This was a natural way even for us as human, as a child, we learn how to speak first, before we learn how to write. Pelikan cited the famous thinker Socrates, he was well known but never written any book. All of Socrates wisdom were spoken words, which later recalled and written by his disciples. This, Pelikan argues, is also true about Jesus. He speaks but never writes anything. His deeds were written “at least three or four decades” later.

The words were spoken by the prophets. The Jewish Tanakh carried a heading Nevi’im which means “the Prophets”. To explain this concept, Pelikan cannot solely depend on Judaeo-Christians tradition, he went to explain that in the tradition of the Quran, Allah declares that the message was brought through a man, Muhammad, which Muslims refer to simply as ‘the prophet’.

Pelikan reiterates the primacy of spoken words; “Modulating the tone of voice, speaking loudly or whispering, pausing, speeding up or slowing down, gestures, grimaces, and smiles – all of these are dimensions of oral communication and tool of persuasion” that no writing system can hope to reproduce.

Pelikan then drew attention to the question of language on his second chapter “The truth in Hebrew” from Latin translation of “Hebraica veritas”. “The Jewish Tanakh makes up at least three-fourths of the Christian Bible,” wrote Pelikan. Part of Jewish Tanakh, in Nevi’im, contained biographies which are not “idealized” according to Pelikan. Because it contained among others, the unexpurgated account of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah.

The Hebrew Tanakh consists of Torah or the Pentateuch which contain divine law and legislation. Followed by Nevi’im or the Prophets which contain historical background and setting of the prophets and formed a commentary on the history of Judah and of Israel. Then come to a section called Kethuvim or the writings which are a collection of sacred writings.

By the third and second centuries BCE, Jews has been dispersed throughout the Greco-Roman world, many younger generations did not speak Hebrew and only understand Greek, which was a fashionable language at that time. One of the cosmopolitan cities with significant Jewish population was Alexandria, Egypt. 72 Jewish scholars from 12 tribes of Israel were dispatched to Alexandria to translate the Tanakh to Greek. The translation was later called Septuagint, the Latin word for seventy.

This translation has a profound effect on the writing of the New Testament. For example, Hebrew Tanakh described the birth of Immanuel by a young woman without specifying any status. The Septuagint uses the word “parthenos” which later quoted in the Gospel as “virgin”.

Commenting on the cultural significance of the Septuagint, Pelikan wrote:

“..the creation of the Septuagint brought it about that the Bible became, willy-nilly, part of world literature. Anyone who could read Odyssey could now read the Book of Exodus, even though some of its Greek might seem rather quaint to a pagan Hellenistic reader (which was, of course, true of the archaic Greek of Homer as well). By contrast, the Qur’an would remain locked in Arabic for many centuries after it had been revealed and committed to writing, and would, therefore, continue to be inaccessible to friendly outside inquirers, not to mention all its enemies.”

Translation means that some meaning might be lost in the process. Pelikan noted that what is said in Hebrew does not have the same force when translated into another language. The Septuagint later acquired a special and inspired status in the Christian church, it became a Christian Bible. ‘The baptism of the Tanakh’ as Pelikan puts it, gave way for Christians to claim a long and distinguished lineage.

Commenting on the New Testament, Pelikan wrote that it was a work of several authors. The Gospels dealt with the life and teaching of Jesus, the Acts tells stories about early Christianity, the Epistles are letters by various leaders and the Revelation is an apocalyptic literature. The Epistle to the Philippians for example, was Paul’s personal letters. The second Thessalonians although said to be written by Paul, the authorship was disputed by biblical scholars. In light of the history of emancipation, in the Epistle to Philemon, Paul plead that a runaway slave, Onesimus, to be treated kindly, but does not demand him to be set free. Pelikan then wrote about how some Epistle such as Jude was appeared in some canon but rejected by others. Pelikan also questions evocative and anatomically explicit love poem in the Song of Songs. He asked, “what is such a book doing in the Bible?”.

At a later stage, having already been translated to Greek and called Septuagint, the Bible was translated to Latin by the work of Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus), this Latin version was called the Vulgate. In the Reformation age, the call for the return to the primary source in Hebrew resulted in the access of Hebrew text such as the Jewish Kabbalah. The mysterious world of the Kabbalah, the ultimate mystery of Being now can be manipulated to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Pelikan also mentions Erasmus in the Reformation age, where he omits several dubious lines which has no backing in Greek but creeps into Latin edition. After receiving protest, that this omission might undermine the concept of Trinity, he includes them back on the newer edition. During the Enlightenment critical examination was addressed to all form of authority, from political, intellectual, to religious authority. Commenting on the different level of militarism between old and new testament, Pelikan wrote that this is due to the different political setting. The new testament was written when there is no political power. This is the reason why Christ said, “Pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God”. Which beg a question, what kind of things belong to Caesar without belonging to God first? The critical method also probing the question of authorship. Whilst this question is not so important to the faithful. How does one really explain Moses writing his own obituary by describing himself died in the land of Moab? In the concluding chapter, Pelikan noted the ‘contrary lifestyle’ which existed in the Bible. How one square militarism in the Tanakh with the message of peace.

This article is a book review of “Whose Bible Is It?” written by Jaroslav Pelikan. Published by Penguin Books in 2006.

 

 

This small book which tries to tell a story about one huge world leader, really helps readers in a sense that you can understand a huge subject with fewer pages. Of course, it needs simplification, and also selection, in order to achieve this goal. A layman about the subject, I find the book helpful in my journey as readers. As I get to understand the subject in a less painful way (you need to sip through a few thick tomes to understand it as a whole).

I find Mao life story, struggle, family life, as interesting, strange, and often paradoxical in many cases. Born in 1893 at Hunan, he moved from being a librarian to the chairman of communist China. In the early life, Spence collected the habit of Mao, particularly his love for reading. Early in Changsha, Mao read rigorously in a library founded by late Qing’s reformist. He had a great interest in world geography and history. One of this early teacher was Yang Changji (Mao married to his daughter later in his life), which reiterate the importance of exercise. Mao absorbs this idea and would regularly go hiking with his friend and swim in the Xiang River.

Mao also active in organizing student association to go on strike against Zhang Jingyao, famously known as General Zhang, a military governor in Hunan. Mao also loves poetry, one of his beautiful poem written to his wife, Yang Kaihui in 1923:

I’m begging you to sever these tangled ties of emotion.

I myself would like to be a rootless wanderer.

And have nothing more to do with lovers’ whispers.

 

The poem was written by Mao as he left Yang Kaihui and their newborn child for National Guomindang Congress. The ties with Guomindang in a United Front later shattered, during this time Mao utter a mistake in party leadership, which neglected military affairs. He said that Chiang Kai-shek (his arc enemy) was right by raising in power with a gun in his hand. He then famously said, “We must know that political power is obtained from the barrel of the gun!”. This development later evolved into a civil war.

Guomindang latter suffered a great lost against Japanese invasion. The ‘rape of Nanjing’ by Japan in 1937 brought a literal end to their power and finally retreated deep inland to Chongqing. Japan then suffered two atomic bombs and later surrender. The communist with the help from Russia quickly taking over, and in 1949 Mao announce the formation of the People’s Republic of China at Great Tiananmen gate south of the Forbidden City.

The book also recalled Mao conversation with Stalin. On how propaganda is the main apparatus to achieve any goal. Stalin advised Mao to send propaganda team to Taiwan to foment an insurrection (Chiang Kai-shek has now retreated to Taiwan). On the final pages, Spence draws readers attention on how Mao grows into isolation and detached from realities. This caused a disastrous policy forced through the masses. Spence also noted that Mao rarely helps or promoted his family member to power. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao purged his dissenter such as Peng Dehuai causing further chaos and violence. He has several heart attacks and died in 1976.

This article is a book review of “Mao” written by Jonathan Spence. Published by Phoenix in 2000. Picture credit: Britannica.

 

“When Faith Turned Red” is the translation of the Hindi novel, Ujale ki Talash written by Sharad Pagare. Published by Rupa Publications India in 2011. The novel which was based on South India told a story about prostitution in the name of religion, Naxalite revolution and widespread state corruption.

In the background introduction, Pagare highlighted the mistake made by Pt Jawahalal Nehru, who was a supporter of British Fabian Socialism. Pagare argued that unlike European countries which already modernized and industrialized, India is still an agrarian nation with population deprived of education. He criticized the effort to embraced western-style socio-political system in poor and uneducated India. This step he believes only served corrupt politician and business class, while general population remain poor and caught in the middle of flawed democracy.

Pagare also created a character such as Prof. Venkatesh who struggle to climb the social ladder. From poor ordinary boy to a professorial career in the university. He conveys a message on how, one should always struggle to make life better, silencing critic not by fighting, but by working very hard and let the hard work and success speak for themselves.

The novel tells a story of how Surendran and Latika, who were born in rich families with high social status, came to understand the meaningless life they were living. They came to contact with Naxalite comrades and saw, how these poor people with no food or cloth fighting for the betterment of their community. The Naxalite gave them meaning, and a cause to pursue. They explain that life has a higher meaning, not just for food, drinks, and sexual pleasure, but a fight to end corruption and alleviate the poor and the oppressed. They even willing to give their life for the struggle. Bhushnam, the Naxalite leader said “Remember one thing, instead of living a long meaningless life, it is better to lead a life for the oppressed, exploited and crushed people even if it’s short. I think it is more meaningful and virtuous.”

Bhushnam character is one of the most interesting. Bhushnam, who went to the university, recruited the students to join their struggle. He is depicted as knowledgeable in Marxist and Leninist ideology. But Bhushnam, did not recruit the student merely on a theoretical basis, he brought them deep into the forest, so they can see for themselves, feel for themselves, the life and suffering of the oppressed tribal people, the Adivasi.

The novel was filled with more plot twist, when Srini, a boy raised to become a priest, suddenly caught up in the middle of the Naxalite struggle. The poor people used to give their daughters to the temple to marry the goddess and became devadasi – girl dedicated to serving God in the temple. This tradition, however, was exploited by the priest and created a network of prostitution. Realizing this corruption, Srini began asking the divinity of the idol and oppression in the name of religion.

Overall, the novel gave some good exposure to readers who are not familiar with Indian culture. The novel was full of Hindi vocabulary on traditional clothing, cuisine, and local terminology. It plays with readers emotion as they dive into family conflicts, love, the struggle for social justice and the fight over state corruption.

Picture credit: The Guardian

 

This article is a book review of Hiroshima written by John Hersey published by Penguin Modern Classic in 2001. The book was first published by New Yorker in August 1946.

The book started with the flashing light from the bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The book told the stories of the six survivors, what they are doing before the bomb fell, and where they are at the exact time the bomb went off. The first was Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk. The second was Dr. Masakazu Fujii, a doctor who owns a private hospital. Third, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a mother of three. Forth, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest. Fifth, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young doctor. And the sixth, was Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a pastor.

Hersey vividly wrote about the devastation on the ground after US bomber dropped the world first atomic bomb. The clueless population beneath that immediately dead and slowly died. The burnt suffered by many of the resident, and how the survivors experience radiation sickness starting with vomiting and hair loss. After the war was over, Hersey described how the occupying force trying to conceal the information about the atomic bomb, despite the advancement of knowledge of the Japanese physicist.

The survivors of the atomic bomb were called “hibakusha” literally means ‘explosion-affected person’. Many of the hibakushas did not hold any agitation on the use of the nuclear bomb. It is widely accepted as unavoidable consequences of war. Many of them influenced by Buddhism which believed resignation leads to clear vision and a feeling of powerlessness against state authority. Over time, in the aftermath, they received Health Book which gave them free medical care. They also received monthly allowances from the state.

Hersey also wrote about reflection that Miss Sasaki had, she felt that too much focus was given to hibakusha (even though she was a hibakusha herself), whilst the root cause of the problem has not been addressed, which is the evil of war. The war that forced young American and Japanese to kill each other in a war that they did not understand. She later devoted her life to become a nun. Many hibakushas sustained Keloid scars after the bombing. Some left with an ugly face. Pastor Tanimoto later toured America to collect fund to build back his church and sponsored some girls a plastic surgery. Some were successful, but there are also some which ended with death.

The book overall was light and easy to understand. It gave a human detail behind the worlds first atomic military experiment. Hersey tells stories on how a normal human being later become a record in human history. A normal human being turned into hibakusha, and how their lives played out in the end. A collection of a human price that been paid for unnecessary war.

 

This book is written by two authors, Ameen Misran and Aiman Azlan. It captures diverse topics ranging from mental health up to marriage. The book offers fresh thought from the perspective of two Malaysian youth, their take on a wide range of issues. The book was more like a collection of short articles, so its good for people who like micro-reading (read for 3-5 minutes).

I especially like the notion of treating women with respect, giving them flexibility and also the roles of the husband in sharing house chores. I think our culture still value women as domestic helpers, but the trend seems slowly open up especially for younger generations. This echoed what was written by Sheryl Sandberg in her phenomenal book ‘Lean In’, that if you want to encourage women to be more involved in the workforce, men should be more involved doing laundry and taking care of children.

The book also touches on how we should live in the present, stop and feel the winds, be more conscious of nature and of our surrounding. This is very true, quoting Eckhart Tolle mantra “Live in the Now, not in the future or the past”. Human minds are exceptionally complex, they create things which later perceived as reality, but its turn out it’s not. We always held by our past and worry about the future, the truth is, nothing much we can do about it, what we can do is what we can do now.

I also want to offer some criticism of the book. Some of the writing has a very poor reasoning, some of them sound like a regular religious sermon and offering nothing new, some sounds more like authors whining (especially the part about boredom).

Of course, it’s not fair to compare the book with others, as every book have their own uniqueness. Overall, it still packs with fresh thinking and advises which we can always ponder and reflect.

This article is a review of Barbara W. Tuchman monumental book ‘The Guns of August’.

This book is an account of the first month of the World War 1 ( WW1) which was in August 1914. Barbara W. Tuchman was not an academician, but she was no stranger when it comes to world politics, her grandfather, Henry Morgenthau was Ambassador to Turkey during WW1. The book started with the funeral of Edward VII of England in 1910 which was a special occasion where many of Europe’s monarch convene peacefully before they went to war with each other.

The book was divided into 3 parts – plans, outbreak, and battle. The German’s plan was called The Schlieffen’n Plan the brainchild of Count Alfred Von Schlieffen. The plan from the start has been made clear, in case of war with France, Germany will violate Belgium’s neutrality. Schlieffen’s concentrate major German’s force toward France, only one-eighth of her force will hold her eastern front against Russia, as he calculated that Russia with its vastness and meager railroad will take 6 weeks to mobilize, by which France will already beaten and the army can be shifted east. Germany also believed that railways were key to war, the best military brain went to rail planning, Germany has mastered the art of logistics, which tuned to be very crucial and effective.

The French plan called Plan 17 centered on the doctrine of an offensive war, which was taught at the War College by General Ferdinand Foch. France has been weary of been defensive all the time. The plan was thought with the spirit of France to win the war, this spirit was called an ‘elan’. The doctrine however soon proven to be hard to sustain under heavy German’s shelling.

The Russian after a shameful defeat in the Russo-Japanese War began to reform its military. Corruption, weak leadership and clinging to obsolete theories, however, have hampered the reforms. Czar Nicholas was said to be uneducated in statecraft, instead, the real government was run by a class of bureaucrat called Tchinovniki, while the secret police dealt with the revolutionaries and guarded the monarch to stay in power.

The outbreak of the war came when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist on June 28. Austria with the backing of Germany declared war on Serbia and bombarded Belgrade. Prompted Russia to mobilize her army to defend her natural ally, Germany declared war on Russia. France having under obligation in a treaty with Russia began her mobilization to attack Germany, while the British, although were hesitant all the way, entered the war after Germany had violated Belgium’s neutrality.

Turkey which was crucial for Germans to ensure that their supply route through the narrow strait, hesitate to pick a side in the conflict. British betrayal, however, seizing 2 ships built in Britain that were already paid by the Turks pushed them to ally with Germany. Churchill was described in the book as “violently anti-Turk”. Eventually, Germans sold 2 of their battleships ‘Goeben’ and ‘Breslau’ to Turkey. German’s Admiral Souchon then used these ships now manned by the Turks to shell Odessa, Sevastopol, and Feodosia which caused Russia, Britain, and France declared war on Turkey.

The book ends with the battle of the Marne where the Germans were pushed back although it does not end the war that would continue for years. Overall the book dealt with the dilemma faced by the commanders and generals, how they made their decision and also the issue of strategy versus necessity.