Gardner, James Finn: read by the author (abridged)
1997:Apocalypse Wow: A Memoir for the End of Time. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
I am beginning to dislike abridged works. For mediocre books, abridging the audio version may be okay, but for books of this quality, which really aren’t that long in the first place, why not keep it unabridged? This one was abridged so short, as there were even two tapes, just one.
Goleman, Daniel: read by Barrett Whitener
2003:Destructive Emotions: How We Can Overcome Them: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Santa Ana, CA: Books on Tape, Inc.
Although the Ramsey County Public Library North St. Paul branch doesn’t have a super big audio book collection, I have came across some awesome finds there like this one. I had not seen this audio book anywhere else before, so it was good to discover. This Mind and Life Conference which was the content of this book seemed like a very intellectually stimulating event. It reminds me some of the intellectual stimulation of Federation Without Television conferences. Although Howard Cutler in The Art of Happiness briefly mentioned that the Dalai Lama has a sense of humor, this conference really showed that side, as he fairly frequently made jokes. This audio book did not replay everything that happened at this conference, but it seemed to cover the highlights much like I did for 3 Federation Without Television conferences in the book Federation Without Television: the Blossoming Movement: Essays and Leaflets. A very thoughtful affair. Surely, I don’t agree with all the ideas, but the Dalai Lama and these scientists have some very good thoughts for us.
Hillman, James (abridged)
1996:The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character of Calling. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
One of the more thoughtful books around. I majored in Philosophy in College and as time went on, Philosophy lost its appeal to me, but such a work like this turns me on to Philosophy again. Hillman ponders the same type of questions that I often wonder and think about. Some of his answers were quite good and his exploration was good for my mind.
Jackson, Phil and Hugh Delehanty: read by Phil Jackson (abridged)
1995:Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Although I am not a big basketball fan, I was inspired. It’s interesting to see such a mainstream figure talk so openly about Zen. The Zen principles he discussed seem very simple, but as they say, in practice, it is different. As an athlete myself, I relate to what he says about sports. His approach is a good one.
Kasl, Charlotte Davis (abridged)
1992:Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the Twelve Steps. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
I have exposed myself to a few other of Kasl’s works, and I had not yet know how strongly she was opposed to “the patriarchy”. In this audio tape, she suggested that the 12 steps are not necessarily good for women and other “oppressed people”. I think she has some great points and some liberating new proposals. Her critique compliments the other critiques of A.A. I have come across, and I think her model is far better for among other reasons because she emphasizes tolerance, acceptance and flexibility.
Keith, Toby
2001:Pull My Chain. Nashville, TN: SKG Music Nashville.
The song “I Wanna Take About Me” seems like an ideal song for Karaoke. Generally the songs are too slow, but a couple were catchy.
MacKay, Harvey (abridged)
1990:Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Not interesting enough to check out the book version, but I think the abridged audio tape inspired me and helped me out.
McGiniss, Joe: read by James Naughton (abridged)
1991:Blind Faith. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
True crime is a fine genre, evidence of this fact is this work.
Messina, Jo Dee.
2000:Burn. Nashville, TN: Burn Records.
She’s one of those country artists who is not all that country. She has some good passion and love for living.
Meyer, David
2001:God Calls as Babylon Falls. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.
Meyer is a fundamentalist but a critical thinking one. Knowing him, I perhaps expected a more zealous sermon on this topic of 9-11, but it wasn’t quite so zealous, at least for him.
Meyer, David
2002:The State of the Union. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.
Given the title and Meyer’s political interest, I expected and wished for a very political sermon, but the sermon really wasn’t that political. I have looked forward to receiving Meyer’s more recent tapes, because I wanted to hear him slam the Bush administration. He is no fan, but the criticism was insufficient for my tastes. He considers himself a straight shooter and he really is, I just wish he would have criticized the Bush administration more than he did for there is little that is sweeter than non-leftists hating the Bush administration.
Meyer, David
2001:Babylon is Falling. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.
Lovely! I love how Meyer tells us that “Churches never tell you they don’t need any of your money because they have enough already”. Also delightful was when he slammed the Bush administration by saying Bush “wanted it to happen”, Bush is a “C student”, and in one statement, Bush used “second grade grammar”. He called Bush a “madman”. Awesome! He said 9-11 “was planned” and that the official story has lots of “inconsistencies”. He described a dream in which he tells Bush that Bush is not a Christian and Bush repeats that he is indeed a Christian. A delicious audio tape sermon is one which slams Bush and is not left of center. Keep up your anti-government rhetoric, David Meyer.
Meyer, David
2001:The Land that is Not Cleansed. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.
Among other gems on this exciting audio tape are when David Meyer condemns abortion and says our government sucks for arresting anti-abortion demonstrators. So somebody else besides me understands this about our government! If the cops were the good folks, they would not arrest the pro-life crowd. Cops serve the abortionists. Meyer also alluded to something he calls “the conspiratorial view of history”. He mentioned that the universities don’t teach this and that he criticized one professor he met in particular for this. The conspiratorial view of history sounds awesome and I would love to spread it around, at the least, to give people something different to think about.
Meyer, David
2002:The Last Days Golden Calf. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.
It’s hard to go wrong when you slam Bush. The biggest problem of this sermon was that it did not slam Bush often or hard enough.
Millman, Dan (abridged)
1988:Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Story that Changes Lives. Tiburton, CA: HJ Kraemer Audio.
Although a main character’s name was Socrates, I kept thinking that he sounded more like a Buddhist than the Socrates I remember from Philosophy. Then later, the narrator made reference to “being Buddha’s ghost”. It may have been more interesting if it was Platonic Socrates that was in the story, but it still was a good spiritual parable. I found the Socrates character to be too pushy and domineering. This story didn’t change my life as I have heard the Buddhist line before, and don’t completely buy it, but it might change someone else’s life and may even be something new.
MXPX
Year Unknown: Before Everything After. Santa Monica, CA: A & M Records.
MXPX is a solid band and pop punk is a reliable genre. A few of the songs were respectable while the rest weren’t so hot, but still alright. This is not something I could find myself listening to for tons of listens like I do with my favorite cds.
Payne, J.
Year Unknown:Some Things God Can’t Do. Location Unknown: Publisher Unknown.
This preacher is your typical fundamentalist delivering your typical fundamentalist church sermon.
He’s just crazed enough to be obnoxious and disgusting, but not quite crazed enough to actually be entertaining. One of God’s gifts to him is the ability to yell so much without losing his voice. There are energetic, lively, and dynamic speakers and there are insane speakers; the preacher on this tape falls into the latter category.
Pelzer, Dave: read by Brian Keeler
2001:The Lost Boy: A Foster Child’s Search for the Love of a Family (unabridged). Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, LLC.
I hesitated over whether I should check this out, but checking it was something I did and it was a good move. Again, this book affirms how much I am inclined to dig nonfiction narratives. I was inspired. Pelzer did a great job lauding foster care and detailing his life. I am amazed how these authors can retell their stories with so much detail. Though just the most parenthetical reference was made to Wayne Dyer’s Your Erroneous Zones, my ears perked up in a major way. Pelzer made a passing comment about the book being eccentric. Although I have read Dyer’s work, I haven’t read the book in question, but I do not get the impression he is eccentric, instead I get the impression he is eclectic. Also Dyer like Pelzer had a bad birth family and had to be a foster child, so I imagine Pelzer could relate if he has been aware of that fact. I did not know foster care had such a horrible public image back in those days as Pelzer says, but perhaps, it figures. Although such is not the case with everyone, both implicitly and explicitly, this book reaffirms that with some people, if they can make it through the horrible struggles, greatness and glory will come.
Redgrave, Lynn (narrator)
1996:Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Chinese Philosophy. Nashville, TN: Knowledge Products.
I learned about the subjects covered here in other places such as the Best Guide to Eastern Philosophy. More information was provided here and also the use of different voices was nice.
Shattuck, Roger (abridged)
1997:Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography. Los Angeles, CA: Audio Renaissance Tapes.
The topic had potential, but this work didn’t make it too worthwhile. Little insight and poor discussion, it just did not stimulate as much as something on this topic could.
Various Artists
2005:Patriotic Country 2. New York, NY: Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Many emotionally charged songs. Country musicians can be very skillful at creating such songs and this album is full of them. I think sometimes patriotic country songs are even better than standard patriotic songs, because they have the real person feel to them.
Various Authors
1996:Quest: Discovering Your Human Potential (abridged). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
The famous people on here pretty much have the same opinion and for someone who has listened to a fair amount of motivational and contemporary psychology material, it is the same old song and dance. Plus the format forced these figures to put their words into sound bytes.
Young, Stephen: read by the author with Barbara Rosenblatt and Bob Grundfest.
1993/1993:Seven Steps to Master the Interview and Get the Job. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
Some good suggestions, but perhaps they are too much hassle for me.
Ziglar, Zig
1976:How to Get What You Want. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Audio.
In a past issue of Catfish, I reviewed his work Success for Dummies, and I am a big fan of motivational literature, with proper reservations. I thus had some reservations about that book, but this tape generated few reservations. It was a treat to hear him speak, as he is quite talented at it. His style is marvelous. I do think the speaking style of evangelicals is far more exciting that eastern philosophy and religious speakers, even though I do think the philosophy and religion of the east is generally better. Early on, I observed that he sounded a lot like a Baptist preacher, then later on he even made reference to his Baptist heritage. I found his emphasis on credibility to be so inspiring. He discussed how he needed to be able to live what he has been saying or else he’s two faced. This type of integrity is awesome and unfortunately, neither rightists nor leftists seem to really grasp its importance. He even integrates some sound behaviorist principles into his lecture, and combining an inspirational message with behaviorist principles is one of the most powerful combinations on earth.
Ziglar, Zig.
1987:5 Steps to Successful Selling. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Audio.
I’m not so fond of his whole “You can get anything you want as long as you give enough people what they want.” I do not believe this is true in our world. Ziglar does have a point about “price” and “cost”. His example of buying a cheap bicycle for his son really hit home with me because I recently had an episode where I twice returned the same bike to KMART and I was about to return the same model for the third and final time, but it got stolen. This bike was a hunk of junk and it was cheap in price, but expensive in cost. I do believe there are some pragmatic suggestions for aspiring or preexisting salespeople.
Books
Arata, Michael, Jr.
2004:Preventing Identity Theft for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
This is one of the shorter for Dummies books. I even used one of the suggestions: getting your name off the preapproved credit card mailing lists, so this book was not read just for curiosity, but for actual. Good suggestions, which are ultimately common sense, but not such that you may realize right away. On the whole, it gets me motivated to be more cautious.
Arnoldi, Katherine
1998:The Amazing “True” Story of a Teenage Single Mom. New York, NY: Hyperion.
Since young mothers are my heroes, this book was just right as it wisely praised them through a great cartoon story. Those who choose life over abortion in such difficult circumstances as the main character did, are heroic. The character expressed the common trend of men wanting to avoid women with children, but to me such is backwards. Both single mothers with children and single mothers without children have their own benefits, so why limit oneself to just one of them? The story was very sad in parts, but ultimately good triumphed. The author purports not only to tell a story in part similar to her own, but also provide some usable advice to single mothers about college.
Browne, Mary T.
2002:The Power of Karma: How to Understand Your Past and Shape Your Future. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
I really like books about karma. There is something extremely fascinating about the concept of karma. I am not 100% convinced that karma exists, though it might be nice if it did. Karma is a good way; I just don’t know if it is real. The author wrote well and she made a good move by alternating vignettes of clients’ lives and supposedly, their experiences with karma with explanations of karmic concepts. Although, Karma 101 by Joshua Mack was better, this book was fine in its own right. One of the reasons I liked Mack’s book better than this one was because Mack wrote from a Buddhist perspective, which is sounder and Browne wrote as a psychic. I, like most people, am leery of psychics. No matter how convincing she tried to sound, something inside me won’t let me believe her. Many others allude to the logical link of karma and reincarnation; she flat out stated that it is absolutely imperative to believe in past lives to believe in karma. I don’t think it is necessarily imperative for a belief in karma to be tied to past lives, but it seems to make the most sense that way. I just can’t look at our world and believe karma exists if we live just one life (as both monotheists and atheists believe). Browne in her explanation of karmic concepts does often acknowledge that one’s karma could have came from a past life(lives), yet oddly, her vignettes supposedly demonstrated how her clients were experiencing bad karma in this life from what they have done in this life*. She surely wants to make a case for karma and her vignettes, whatever they are worth, do serve as “proof” (at least in her mind) for the “law” of karma. Her case is far less potent when the effects of karma come into play many years
down the road. Although she talked about past lives, her vignettes overwhelmingly suggested karma is a swift force in this life. I wrote a piece about me wondering if Weird Al would get bad karma for making fun of fat people in songs like “Fat” and “Eat It”. Browne, actually said that one reason a person is fat is because the person was mean to fat people in a past life. Obesity is unlike other physical traits because it is largely under one’s control, thus it is far different to make fun of someone with a physical deformity than to make fun of someone who is obese. The cause of obesity is largely sloth and lack of initiative and to let someone stay in such a condition should cause bad karma. Browne’s conception of reincarnation is baffling. She says a) one usually needs to live about 2800 lifetimes in order to advance to the state where one is enlightened and b) between each new incarnation, one must wait 800-1200. If you do the math, it would seem to take forever for someone to achieve enlightenment. In other models, enlightenment can come much more quickly (though it still may take a while). Thus, the earliest I could have lived before this current life was around the turn of the FIRST millennium. It is asinine that a person would reincarnate only once a millennium. What is 1000 times 2800? That’s how long it will take for you to achieve enlightenment on average? Will humanity even be there? How did she arrive at these numbers because they don’t make much sense, and serve as some of the least believable reincarnation figures. In the book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Reincarnation, the author, a past life regression therapist, shared many stories about past lives, which occurred far less than a millennium ago. In one case, he tells of a client’s past life as a Nazi. That was 60 some years ago. If you reincarnate within that time frame, reincarnation seems more likely. Plus, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Reincarnation seemed to suggest that current suffering is largely a result of past life experiences, while Browne’s vignettes suggested that current suffering is largely a result of very swift karma. I wonder if karma is nothing more than wishful thinking. If one believes it works in this life alone, or as it works in Browne’s vignettes, I find the concept ludicrous, which is why now, I am leaning to the notion that karma makes no sense independent of a link to reincarnation because there is no way the bad are always punished and the good are always rewarded in our current world. I wish it were so, but I just can’t believe it is. In fact, if anything, our world seems to reward the bad and punish the good. One book I read about the new age, stated that psychics selectively report their predictions instead of showing us them all right and wrong. Browne seemed to do exactly this as throughout she constantly made reference to her successful predictions. I do know that for every example she gave of karma taking its toll, I could look into our world and provide several counterexamples of it not taking its toll. Although most people don’t trust psychics, I do believe many in some form or another believe in her basic argument: that when something good happens it is because someone was good and when something bad happens it is because someone was bad. Again, this makes no sense when you look at our world. At least the evangelicals, however flawed their thinking is, do acknowledge that in our world sometimes or even often the good are punished and the bad are rewarded. I don’t need karma to be good or moral though regardless of whether it is logically feasible or not, I still fear the karmic consequences of bad deeds. This book is interesting, intriguing, well written, but I am not persuaded. Karma can exist and it very well might, and I do find it to be a good explanation for life, but Browne argument for karma falls short.