The Journeys of Paul Books

Shurik, a friend of mine I used to share student dorm with, was a mathematician. Algebraist, to be precise. We talked a lot discussing multitude of topics, not necessarily mathematical ones. In those days hot water was customarily shut off across campus during summer season so students could prepare for exams without such a distraction as hot showers. That fact prompted me to comment that our lifestyle, while notably different, still somewhat resembles what a lifestyle in Upper Paleolithic might look like. Shurik was digesting my remark for a few moments with the stamp of intense thinking on his face (his Calculus test was next day), then said excitedly:

- Dude, you know why there was no hot water in Upper Paleolithic? That's because the water pressure was not strong enough in the Lower Paleolithic!

That insignificant episode from my student years characterizes true mathematicians very eloquently. They are quite unusual breed of humankind with extraordinary abilities to locate not very obvious properties and relations in seemingly regular objects and notions. Having been exposed to interaction with mathematicians for sometime I, by the time the book of Mr. Schechter was read through, felt I knew Paul Erdos almost personally. Very light and elegant writing style of the author was a contributing factor as well.

Mathematicians rarely can be aggressive. Usually, they are very sensitive and kind people. In this regard the portrait of Paul Erdos by Mr. Schechter goes along quite naturally with my experience of dealing with them. At the same time that portrait leaves a very sad impression of the true inner nature of Erdos - depressingly lonely person, with no family and no home. The deep tragedy of the Erdos family with Paul's siblings gone by disease, father's suffering in Russian exile, terrible WWII ordeals - all that makes you wonder how Paul and his parents can continue "to prove and conjecture" so successfully under such horrendous circumstances? Author partly explains this phenomenon very brightly describing the scientific and especially educational traditions in Hungary before the war. Indeed, the density of incredible talents generated in this small central European country somewhat shocking. It underscores how important the role of truly good teacher in elementary school can be. Taking into account all that and also the fact that both parents of Erdos were superior math teachers in high school themselves a reader can see the roots of the enormous productivity of Erdos, who published more math papers in multiple branches of it than any other scientist in history. But it also can be a city of Budapest whose streets, as per Mr. Schechter, are very inviting for any kind or scientific reasoning - although not a scientist myself, I did experience the same when I was roaming with friends along Duna shores in Buda one summer.

The mathematical content of the book is very engaging for non-mathematicians. It is explained almost with no formulas but Mr. Schechter manages to convey the depth of the mathematical ideas very well without them. It is especially applicable to the chapter about prime numbers. The primes, although endless in the set of integers, do have very strange properties. Take the theorem proved by Chebychev first and re-proved by Erdos by elementary means - between N and 2N there is always a prime. At the same time we know that the intervals without primes can be as long as one would wish. At first glance two facts seems to contradict to each other but they do not. Facts like that are abundant in the Numbers Theory with most enigmatic one as a problem of primes distribution and Riemann function. Mr. Schechter does a good job providing historical background of the Numbers Theory, its evolution, contributions of Paul Erdos and controversy of Erdos and Selberg.

I have to admit the author did a brilliant homework researching all kinds of details pertinent to mathematics and its origins. I did enjoy pages about clay table Plimpton 322 with its incredible content of Pythagorean triplets as well as multitude of other stories like most bizarre "application" of Numbers Theory when close collaborator of Erdos avoided deportation to Gulag just because he happened to have his publication on the subject in Russian mathematical magazine with him. In this regard, the book of Mr. Schechter can be considered as not so much as biography of Paul Erdos but as biography of mathematics as a scientific discipline. Humor, albeit sometimes very dark (for example, about math students, who were "studying" Jordan theorem being confined to "inner area", id est being imprisoned) sparking the text regularly and appropriately.

Mathematics is somewhat similar to soccer. While everybody can perceive the beauty of ball handling by say Riquelme or Robinho, very few of us can do the same on the soccer field. In math, formulation of the conjecture can be deceptively simple and elegant, and most of us can understand it well. At the same time, it is very different story once you start thinking about trying to prove that conjecture. In many cases it might require years of learning and tons of exercises. But even that no guarantee to success. The inclination to a special way of thinking is required. In this regard, magic of Riquelme on the stadium is direct equivalent of wizardry of Erdos in Numbers Theory. The books similar to Mr. Schechter facilitate our comprehension of the conjecture beyond mere formulation, opening the curtain after which the proof is hidden.

On the other note, I can't stop thinking of what kind of future European science might have should its development was not brutally aborted by sad realities of Second World War. True, many of bright Hungarian (and other) minds escaped from the inferno of warfare and extermination campaigns; true, many of them intensified their research in military related directions and achieved significant results. Still so many perished needlessly making a good number of famous European scientific centers empty and forgotten for a very long time. It seems incredible that one person's paranoia can mercilessly terminate so much in such a short period of time. Let's us hope the future Erdoses will never be forced to travel so intensively against their wills even with theirs brains open so widely.

If one has to define a perfect man of knowledge, one would come up with someone who is a genius, has done pioneering work in several areas of his domain, is friendly and sociable towards all (especially 'epsilons' or children), finds material possessions as a hassle and spends all his time doing what he loves best. In other words, someone just like Paul Erdos.

In this short and engaging biography, the author manages to inform and entertain at the same time. Apart from the life-story of Erdos himself which is fascinating, what I also enjoyed are the anecdotes on other greats like Gauss and Ramanujan. And there is just enough math in the book (explained very well) to interest us so that we get a glimpse of what lies at the heart of it all.

I cannot think of a better gift than this book to be given to any child to provide inspiration as well as a 'cool' introduction to mathematics. Highly recommended.

Bruce Schechter's book is exceptional. In telling this fascinating story of the eccentric mathematician Paul Erdos, the author manages to convey the recent history of math and capture the magic of this unique art/science. Quite an accomplishment for a book that is so enjoyable to read!

+++++

The four-word title of this book is "My Brain Is Open." If you keep the first word and form a word from the first letter of the three remaining words, you get "My BIO." And that's exactly what this book is. This ten chapter book, by Dr. Bruce Schechter, is a BIOgraphy of Dr. Paul Erdos (pronounced "Air-dish").

Erdos (1913 to 1996) is said to have been one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century (especially in number theory, the branch of math concerned with the properties of integers) as well as the most eccentric. Throughout this book, we also learn of the many others who collaborated with Erdos on his many published mathematical papers. (He wrote or collaborated on more than 1500 papers with over 450 collaborators.)

This book is also filled with the sorts of mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdos and continue to fascinate mathematicians today. Schechter does a good job of explaining these puzzles (with the aid of diagrams, tables, and graphs) so the reader does not have to worry that these problems will be too difficult to understand.

The reader is also taken on a tour of mathematics. We are introduced to such people as Pythagoras and his famous theorem, Karl Gauss who, when ten years old, was able to add up the numbers from 1 to 100 in less than half a minute, and Bernhard Reimann and his work on prime numbers.

Erdos was born in Hungry. By age seventeen he had gained international recognition as a prodigy. He eventually left Hungry and went to the Institute of Advanced Study at Princton in the United States. (Einstein was the institutes most famous resident then.) Because of his politics, he was exiled from the U.S. for a decade. From this point beginning in the 1950s, he became "the Bob Hope of mathematics" or "the travelling mathematician."

Since Erdos was constantly travelling, he had no home or job but still managed to meet with math colleagues all over the world. He had all his belongings in a suitcase and his mathematical papers in a bag when he arrived at their homes. Erdos also depended on the generosity of colleagues to sustain him.

The reader is introduced to Erdos' eccentricities throughout the book. For example, he invented a vocabulary where the U.S. was "Sam" or "Samland" (after Uncle Sam) and the Soviet Union was "Joe" or "Joedom" (after Josef Stalin).

There are more than fifteen black and white photographs found in the middle of this book. These photos span a period from 1916 to 1993.

To get the information needed to write this book, Schechter relied "on the memories of the many people" who met Erdos -- his hundreds of collaborators and friends. That is, he "primarily relied on interviews with many of the people who knew Erdos best." Schechter also "drew heavily" from biographical essays as well as magazine articles about Erdos. He also used the information from the over ninety sources listed in this book's bibliography.

Finally, as I said above, this book does contain mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdos. Personally, I found these interesting but some readers may find that they interfere with the flow of the book. As well, mathematicians who read this book may question the accuracy of a few of the mathematical concepts that are introduced.

In conclusion, this book invites the reader into the wacky world of mathematical genius Paul Erdos. If you're like me, you'll find this book both comical and enlightening!!

+++++

Paul Erdos was a unique individual. He never had a permanent residence; instead, he traveled from one mathematics conference to another with his few earthly belongings in two suitcases, one which held a few changes of clothes, the other a treasure of mathematics papers. He collaborated with mathematicians everywhere; the extent of these collaborations is so immense it gave rise to the Erdos number, which is this: You have an Erdos number of 1 if you co-authored a paper with Erdos, your Erdos number is 2 if you co-authored a paper with someone who jointly wrote a paper with Erdos, etc. About 500 people have an Erdos number of 1 and well over 5000 hold the Erdos number of 2. Erdos numbers go as high as 16 and the number of people with an Erdos number is said to be well above 100,000.

Stories about Erdos abound. It is rumored that he walked into a classroom, saw some writing on a chalkboard and asked if this was mathematics. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, he then asked what the various symbols were. Immediately after the explanations were given, Erdos took chalk in hand and in two lines proved the hypothesis that had baffled other mathematicians for some time, and this was in a field of mathematics that Erdos was largely unfamiliar with! Another story had Erdos taking a train fron Boston to New York; across the aisle sat a beautiful female who said "hello" to him. One thing led to another; by the time the train arrived the two of them had written a paper!

This book covered much of the life and mathematics of Paul Erdos; much of the mathematics in the book is number theory because it is a topic that is easy for anyone to understand yet difficult to prove. A typical example is Goldbach's conjecture, which says: "Any even number greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers." Sounds simple enough and logical; 4=2+2, 6=3+3, 8=3+5,10=5+5 or 3+7,... The problem has been around for about 300 years but as yet lacks a proof. Other mathematics topics touched upon include Ramsey theory, the division of a square into unequal squares, and Godel's Incompleteness Theory. The book also shows the strange language of Erdos, in which women were 'bosses', men were 'slaves', the United States was 'Sam' (from Uncle Sam), and the Soviet Union was 'Joe' (Stalin), to list a few of his own variations of English.

This book is easy to read, even if the reader has only a high-school background in mathematics. If you are curious about mathematics and/or human nature, you will find this book of great interest. I highly recommend this book.

This book is not one that you will sit down and read over a weekend. It is a slow reader, however the chapters are relativly short. There is typical Mark Twain humor, which I love. I wish there was more of his wit in the book. Not my favorite book by him, but for the love of the author, I read on!

This is the first Mark Twain book that I ever read. It is about his "Going West Young man" around the time of the Civil War. If you like travel books this is a classic. America and Americans, people and human nature and Mark Twain's take on the whole bit. If you have never read any of Mark Twain's non-fiction this is a great place to start. I don't really know if America has produced and funnier, more cleaver humorist than this man. If we have I have yet to find him. This book will never die - not as long as there are humans around with a sense of humor.

If you are into stories about the old west, Twain tells it like it was but with a great humorous twist. A great book, really enjoyed it. Wish I had found it years ago, but better late than never.

No need to beat around the sage brush: this book is fantastic. The funny passages are falling-down funny (the story of the coyote, the cat that fell asleep in a mine shaft, getting "lost" in a snow storm, the mad minister in Hawaii -- on and on it goes). But the bulk of the pleasure this book delivers, in my estimate, lies in Twain's brilliant descriptions -- and they're also a good part of the humor. Partly because behind Twain's humor there often seems to lie a sadness -- and at times a touch of cynicism. When he describes beauty, such as the sunrise over a layer of clouds from the top of a volcano in Maui, he forgets himself, and seems happy. If you know some of the places he visits -- silver mining country near Reno, Lake Tahoe, Mona Lake, San Francisco, the Big Island of Hawaii, Oahu -- it's all the more fun, to compare what has changed, and what hasn't. (According to Twain, he helped change some of it, accidentally starting a forest fire on Lake Tahoe.) The book is long, and almost too rich in humor and interesting anecdotes.

Twain begins by promising not to teach his readers anything. Despite his best efforts, quite a few interesting facts -- about silver and gold mining, eruptions at Kilauea, the Hawaiians, the real Old West -- do creep in, and I can't say they make the book any worse.

I listened to this book on CD, which added another dimension to the fun. Twain is brilliant at mimicry, and the reader matches that brilliance by providing distinct voices for each character that perfectly fit how Twain describes him -- the falling-down-angry drunk, the drunk-to-just-the-stage-to-tell-meandering-stories drunk, the ernest minister who talks about turnips and his correspondence with Horace Greeley, the dying vagabond who can't die without repeating Nevada's national anecdote, and so on.

If I can find the taped version (don't see them here), I'll probably get a copy or two to give away as Christmas presents -- a great way to wile the hours away on the road, especially if you're following in Samuel Clemens' meandering footsteps.

The Virginian (Signet Classics)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

When I was reseachering The Shopkeeper, I found two books especially valuable; The Virginian by Owen Wister, and and Roughing it by Mark Twain. Both were written by men who had actually experienced the Wild West first hand.

Mark Twain is best known for The adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Nowadays, most people forget that he also wrote travel memoirs. Roughing It describes his adventures roaming the Old West, with special emphasis on California and Nevada.

Twain, above all, was a humorist and he told tall tales - engagingly. I put this book in a class with Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Both reveal the good-natured man behind the world-renown accomplishments. Neither may be completely factual, but both give us a peek behind the curtain and entertain us to this day.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

Excellent book, interesting premise -- 16th century Spaniards lost in the New World. Covers pretty much every aspect of the experience. At times reads like Conquistadors for Dummies. Although the author touches on it, overall he goes a little light on the culture of the Indians, so you never REALLY get the feeling for what the Spaniards were up against.

The author feels that the most interesting individual in the book is the slave that accompanies the 2 other lost explorers. I might agree with this but only in the context that even the slave had the heart of a conqueror. Why? is my question, a question which goes unanswered in the book.

What is most interesting to me about the whole conquistador thing is the confidence these guys had. The most interesting aspect of this book was the right turn the 3 conquerors took to trek across the continent to the Pacific to FULFILL THEIR MISSION. With 3 guys! Forget that the initial plan was to conquer a continent with 150-200 men. We're talking 3 guys here. What was it in the Spanish make-up that allowed this? The author doesn't delve into it. In fact, he comes close to lampooning it, treating the gang as an almost Pythoneque group of Don Quixotes. It's a testament to the age we live in, I believe, that such displays of self-confidence are ridiculed -- out of fear, bewilderment, guilt, I don't know. The author admits that he is most interested in the aspect of these particular conquistadors moving from conquerors to conquered. A typical 21st century view. The 3 Spaniards, slave included, apparently didn't see it that way.

Anyway, a good entertaining read, but one that misses an opportunity to address deeper issues.

Schneider's account of this indeed-brutal journey describes the misadventures of a group of erstwhile Spanish conquerors who were licensed by the King to explore and colonize the land North of Cortes's Mexico. The effort ended in failure when the four survivors of the original 300-plus who landed on the west coast of Florida in 1528 staggered out of the wilderness on the Pacific coast of Northwestern Mexico nine years later!

The story is inevitably episodic, as it relies on the only two first-hand accounts of the journey, one of which was written years later with royal patronage in mind, the other available only in a paraphrase in a contemporary history, as the original has been lost to history. Schneider does a nice job of calling on archaeological studies and secondary sources to plug as many of the gaps as possible.

To see this journey in context of other voyages of discovery, see Tony Horwitz' excellent A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World

This a brilliant interpretation of a hazy piece of history. Four hundred Spaniards under the leadership of Panfilo de Narvaez invade "La Florida" with disastrous consequences. There is starvation, disease, despair and running fights with the natives. The much reduced in number survivors build rafts to sail from this wretched place. Most of the rafters also die one way or another but a few pitch up close to Galveston Island. More die but four tough, resourceful and fortunate Spaniards survive...years...to finally make it back to Spanish held Mexico.

This is a study in human nature and of sixteenth-century European attitudes. They have no problem with squeezing the natives for what little wealth they have and they certainly have no problem with slavery or land theft. Then again, the native Americans had little problem with these things, either. They lived in veritable gardens of war where torture and slavery were commonplace and superstition was everything. The four surviving Spaniards become great healers and, even, in one memorable episode, raise the dead.

Well, I loved it and loved how the natives move with the seasons as food dictates. Living in South Texas with it's great nopal [prickly pear] flats, I was especially fascinated by the story of various tribes migrating to this region on a seasonal basis to partake of the great abundance of "tunas" i.e. the fruit of the prickly pear. Heck, I enjoy making jam from these things, myself.

Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God" on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

I am fascinated by this topic, and have read several books about it - not only different translations of "The Account", but also the more academic works of Adorno and by Alex Krieger. I have also read the wonderful fictionalization by Morris Bishop. I was therefore skeptical that a new offering on this topic had anything useful to add. Boy, was I wrong!

Schneider does a great job of setting the stage for, and filling in the many aggravating holes in "The Account" in a very thoughtful and plausible manner. Even if you've already read all of the other books about the "brutal journey" of the Narvaez expedition - you must read this one as well.

Very gratifying, very well done!

This is the story of the travels and travails of Cabaza de Vaca; it is a survival story that is not only stunning within its period, 1528 -1536, it is astounding in its magnitude, over 5,000 miles on foot.

Sometime in April 1528, the Narvaez expedition, four hundred members strong, drops anchor in Tampa Bay under the command of this middle aged conquistador, hoping for a repeat discovery of Cortez' gold drenched Mexico. They promptly disappeared without a trace into the swamps and were soon assumed dead.

But then eight years and thousands of miles later three Spaniards and one Moroccan emerge at a Spanish settlement on the other side of the North American Continent, on the West Coast of present day Mexico. That's right, only 34 years after Columbus discovered America, these men spent 8 years circumnavigating the US portion of the Gulf of Mexico, from Tampa Bay westward to Brownsville, Texas, then moved up the Rio Grande to close to the headwaters in New Mexico, striking southwest through Arizona and Sonora to the Sea of Cortez, and finally linking up with their countrymen again around present day Mazatlan.

This is one of the greatest survival epics in the history of North American exploration. By drawing on Vaca's first hand accounts and recent findings of archaeologists and historians this remarkable achievement is presented in surprising detail.

Paul Theroux's travel books differ from most travel books;
he does not plop the reader down before a grand & famous site to behold it in silent and contemplative wonder. Theroux takes the reader with him on the train ride to the location which can be unbearably uncomfortable, tedious -- and delayed; and often interrupted by unpleasant if interesting men and women. This is travel as it really is not as we would wish it to be. This first-rate writer of fiction and non fiction, compulsively readable, is like the portrait painter whose portraits of the famous include 'warts and all.' Highly recommended.

Tackling a 25-hour cassette book is challenging enough without this narrator, whose gasping intake of breath is audible before nearly every sentence on most of the tapes. Perhaps he had a cold. I have not heard Theroux's own voice, so I will hear Dietz in my head from henceforth when Theroux is mentioned. When reading dialog spoken by Chinese or Filipinos, Dietz affects a high-pitched sing-song voice, although he is reading English. He does not do this for other non-English speakers. As for the book itself, a collection of travel-related essays is fine. However, such a huge portion of the book deals with Theroux's travels in China that these should have been made a separate collection. The essays on other travel writers and Theroux's own writing history could have been collected in yet another volume, though they're not out of place here. The essays on Defoe, Thoreau, and the polar explorers were enjoyable surprises. The couple on Bruce Chatwin were not. One essay on unusual social practices is particularly interesting. Nonetheless, after this behemoth, I'm through with Theroux for a while.

As someone first introduced to Mr. Theroux's works with "The Great Railway Bazaar" and who has savored a steady diet of his observations, insights and sardonicism since then, "Fresh Air Fiend" proves yet another palate-pleasing repaste. This is one you can nibble on here and there and see whether you can stop at "just one" in a single sitting.

By far the oddest, and most intriguing piece in this wonderful collection mocks a portion of the exceptional opening essay, Being a Stranger. In it, Theroux admits he has little use for the intrusion of two-way electronic communications in everyday life (revealing he lived without a phone in the English countryside for years): "Connection has made people arrogant, impatient, hasty, and presumptuous," he says, adding "... I found out much more about the world and myself by being unconnected."

This electronic aceticism (his nib pen, stolen during a burglary, he considers priceless for its memories), is a logical extension of the author's oft-stated preference for traveling solo, without a camera, choosing encounters and freezing impressions in his mind. Thus it was a bit of a shock to read the selection, "Connected in Palau," in which Theroux loaded himself up with every conceivable two-way gadget and trekked to a remote Pacific island to enact a new twist on Crusoe: would 'Friday' be his local guide, his brother Gene via uplink, or once again, Theroux himself, as he always seems to take solace in his own company?

"Connected in Palau" bounces back and forth from Theroux's monkeying with his gadgets in the midst of one of the most offbeat locations on earth to snapshot impressions of the habitat. Those impressions are interesting but not vintage Theroux. Did connectivity deaden Paul's powers of observation (I doubt it)? Did he deliberately engage in flash-in-the-pan descriptions of Palau to point up the dangers inherent in too much connectedness? And when he wraps up and talks about true silence finally descending upon this speck of territory, did he really mean from the lack of sound of water or from his own intrusive equipment? Finally, what price did the author personally pay in tethering himself to the global village for the purpose of writing this little morality tale when the odds of returning to Palau must have been remote?

"Connected in Palau" is just one of more than four dozen treats awaiting the reader of "Fresh Air Fiend". It's a great way to review Theroux's travels and musings over the period 1985-2000 and revel once more in one of the past half-century's most gifted writers and social commentators. Highly recommended.

You know that word, 'raconteur' - one who excels in telling stories and anecdotes. Paul Theroux is a raconteur. Oh, an erudite raconteur, a brainy man who has moved around the earth seeking out novel experiences.
This man sits across from you at a lunch table an begins telling of one time in China - one time on Cape Cod - one time in England - one time on Palau -
He has your attention; you become engrossed.
This book is from half-a-dozen years gone by, and more. The thought will cross your mind, "This China he is telling of - China probably is not like that now." No matter. The story is compelling; each story is compelling.
"Fresh Air Fiend,' will endure in memory.

Paul Theroux is one of only a few writers for whom I will immediately buy their new hardcovers based on name only, with great anticipation. This one does not disappoint, and I'd rate it right up there with my favorites of his, "My Other Life" and "Sunrise With Seamonsters." His writing on how to travel and how to write and thus how to live one's life is outstanding and inspiring, including the fact that he wrote "The Great Railway Bazaar" in the four months that the train trip took.

This review stuck a tender nerve. Hahn's theology is based on dogma and beliefs, unleavened by faith, which is why his numerous writings are so ultimately uninspiring and uninspired. Hahn squeezes out faith from memorizing and breaking down Old and New Testament passages into digestible chunks, sucking the juice of wisdom dry, and regurgitating to a worshipful audience. In all his theological meanderings and desire to prove his points, Scott Hahn heavily relies on quoting biblical passages and citing their numbers, yet he misses the bigger, far more complex picture. This numerical correctness lacks depth; Hahn emulates a lawyer debating points, rather than a philosopher with something real to contribute.

Hahn's descriptions of Opus Dei portray it as Catholicism with training-wheels, for those for whom Mass is Not Enough, actually reflecting a lack of faith. Members feel more devout by enacting little rights of self-mortification. In a world full of pain, why monstrously and egotistically borrow pain? Why not go help those who are really suffering in pain? Note to the pseudo-suffering: don't worry, if you live long enough, pain will come. Flagellation by choice or self-inflicted suffering is an act of enormous ego, of a superiority complex run amuck, not faith or devotion.

One of Hahn's cheesy favorite phrases is, "It doesn't get any better than this." It's surprising how many fall for this spiritual used-car salesman. He displays a zealous desire to convert non-Christians and Protestants to his faith. Though apostolic, the Church claims to understand that other faiths must be approached with respect. Hahn needs to soak his head in Ratzinger's (Pope Benedict XVI) "What It Means to Be a Christian," and read it repeatedly. Make it the Way. Absorb where the Pope wrote, "Everything we believe about God, and everything we know about man, prevents us from accepting that beyond the limits of the Church there is no more salvation, that up to the time of Christ all men were subject to eternal damnation" (pg 45). Interreligious dialogue is not synonymous with moral or religious equivocation.

Pope Benedict XVI has never said that Jews are unsaved unless they convert, in fact, he has described God's First Covenant with respect to the Jewish people. It is one thing to be a light to the world, but Christianity has a lot to answer for in two thousand years. Try James Carroll's superb "Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews." Faith has been horrifically misused by those who transform its truths into a bludgeon to force conversion. Currently, with the scandals of the Church sex abuse cases and cover-up, spiritual betrayal has been perpetrated on an unimaginable scale. What has Opus Dei done to assist victims of the Churches current sins?

But Hahn's fascination with his own process of self "divinization" is incapable of complexity. The Opus Dei he presents exhibits consistent, ardent elitism, insisting that baptism is the only way to God's grace. Even in Hahn's conversion story, he would not suffer in patience, there was no saintly Way for this man. No, he broke his covenant with his wife in order to leave her behind and convert to Catholicism before she was ready for this drastic transition. And Opus Dei helped him in this process. Hahn, in his typically self-centered way, found scriptural justification for this action, and broke his promise to his wife that he would wait till she was ready. He exhibits the self-centered narcism of his generation, focusing on his "divinization," leaving his partner in spiritual darkness. And Opus Dei was there to hold his hand.

Opus Dei exclusively consists of only the baptized, and attracts overzealous converts. For these aspiring lay people, simply attending Mass once a day is not enough, deep worship via Mass is simply inadequate to feed their narcissism. So their Dei consists of mimicking the Mass throughout the day, adding rules to the rules. Opus Dei is an elitist club within a club, completely counter to the humility of Jesus and His Dei, His work and His way. Hahn needs to prove the depth of his faith with a theological bludgeon, lacking grace and subtlety.

Pope Benedict XVI has in fact distanced himself from this egocentric, self indulgent organization. Hahn remains busy creating the Hahn New Revelation Catholic Church, with legions of ardent fans waiting with bated breath for his next pearls of wisdom. I feel obligated, having (wrongly) purchased several of Hahn's books (donated to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, a far worthier organization than Opus Dei), to warn others about this seriously misguided man and Opus Dei (Egomaniac Masochists). It's clear Hahn aspires to be a new Aquinas or Augustine, but future theologians will find his numerous books to be trite at best; quantity does not quality make.

Scott Hahn gives a full and wonderful view of the Opus Dei way of life. It is a way of life that can bring a person closer to God in profound and wonderful ways. The Scriptures come alive. Prayers are more focused and a conversation with God. A deep spiritual learning and progress in life takes place.

i don't have much to add as I am not a writer but a reader
i'm so thankful for this book
Opus Dei was what brought me into the church
Sedevacantism took me out and Scott Hahn's book helped to bring me back in
Thak you so much for this Scott!!!

There has been a lot of talk, even in Protestant circles, about "friendship evangelism." Prof. Hahn reveals it in Opus Dei. Another focus has been placed on scripture and Prof. Hahn tells us about that same focus in Opus Dei. Other groups, like Promise Keepers, have tried to stress the importance of spiritual males who live their faith in our culture. Opus Dei has been stressing the same from the beginning. Others have tried to reinstill the dignity of work in the life of Christians. Again, Opus Dei was already doing that too. Then there is the family of God focus in some groups and, again, Opus Dei beat them to the punch. Prof. Hahn exposes the "sinister" secrets of Opus Dei and shows us what we all have been seeking all along - a family that works together to the glory of God. To counter fear of the uknown, Prof. Hahn, with his always strong focus on the Scriptures, gives us inside knowledge to dispel the myths and fears. Would that all Christians take up the vocation of Opus Dei and stop fighting amongst ourselves.

I was extremely surprised when I was given this book as a gift. I had no idea that Scott Hahn was a member of "The Work" as OD members call it. As someone who has had many positive experiences with Opus Dei and who has wanted to know more about them for a while, I found this book to be exactly what I was looking for. There is not much of Scott Hahn's own biographical journey here, although it is briefly mentioned in places. It is really an introduction to the spirituality of Opus Dei for the ordinary person. Extremely clear and well written, and inspiring! After reading this book, I have a deeper understanding of the motive, mission and philosophy of Opus Dei (their charism, really) and a more profound respect for their work.

Paul William takes you on a memorable journey through India. If you loved (or even hated) your last stay in India, this book is for you.

Roberts is both a true seeker and a masterful writer. You owe it to yourself to check this one out.

I started off thinking this was brilliant, read bits of the Rajneesh chapter in the bookshop, and was well into the book by bedtime. The first half is all rather good. Then came the break and suddenly I find myself wondering about it all.
There are some quite appalling factual errors that undermine all confidence in the author. The worst is that he mistakes a very different prayer though well known for the Gayatri mantra not once but three times.....a little like a student of Christianity mistaking the Apostle's Creed for the Lord's Prayer and that from someone who claims to have studied sanskrit at Benares University.
At another point he claims ignorance of a story he has told himself in great detail in a previous chapter. His Hindu philosophy is sketchy and seems pulled from other books.
The set pieces in the second half become rather trite and the dialogue farcical as the book descends into poor travel writing from a poor travel journalist.
Thinking back from the end it can all be seen as a tall tale. Likeable yes, funny quite often, but remakably without substance.
For the hippie travel stuff you would be better served by "A Season in Heaven", and for India travel William Dalrymple and Mark Tully are great straight bats.

This book really varies in subject matter and in the author’s perspective. A lot of that is due to the nature of the book: half based on India in the 1970s and half based on India in the 1990s. But I think it is also due to the author having a lot of ideas and impressions he wants to communicate, but none of them able to entirely stand on their own. The book has a remarkable beginning with the author’s account of the time he spent in Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram in the 1970s. I found it extremely moving and very well written. My hope was that the book would continue on similar themes, but instead it took a nosedive toward drugs and sex and tales of conspicuous consumption. These can certainly be engaging at times, but at other times Paul William Roberts comes off as a little pompous or at least lacking in integrity. Over and over he finds himself in situations where people are being dominated and denied dignity. After chronicling all the gruesome inhumanity of the scene in detail, he think distances himself from it and attempts to present himself as the detached observer, bearing witness to others’ pain. You don’t stumble into the backrooms of seedy bars where young girls are sexually enslaved by accident. The book hits its lowest point in an odd chapter where the author goes to visit Mother Teresa. He more or less attacks the woman, interrogating her over the sincerity of her actions. Though an interesting subject and one perhaps worth discussing, I failed to see what the point was of literally confronting the woman. It came off as petty name dropping and an attempt to show the reader how fearless the author is – but the nature of the attack was unjustified. In the chapter he goes on to glorify a wealthy owner of a private social club in Calcutta, clearly implying that this man’s life choices were of a higher moral standard than Mother Teresa’s. Did I miss something in this chapter, or does it strike others as strange and tactless? I am curious to know what others think. This all sounds quite bad. It has to be said that Roberts is continually engaging and entertaining and even when I was questioning his subject matter, his writing ability never wavered. Sathya Sai Baba reappears twice more in this book – once in the middle and again at the end. We are told very little in the first of these (and I suspect that is because the author had nothing of value to say) and I was fairly let down by the second. In my opinion, this book revolved around Baba and his apparent grip on the author’s life. Roberts says as much. That being the case, I was left wanting more about Baba and how his presence affected the author twenty years after their first interactions.

Roberts absolute tenacity regarding his subjects and complete dedication to every word he writes ensures readers feel themselves present in every encounter and experience. Availing himself full range of expression to write and live as cynic, mystic, adventurer, good friend, and seeker, Roberts takes us on strolls through the beautiful, humor-filled, and the bazarre. His concept of displaying in this work varying perspectives between two different trips to India that are seperated by decades of time as well as personal growth offers readers great awareness of the country and more so the man writing of it.

I got this book from a family member, and wasn't quite sure if it was something good or bad, mainly due to the title, "The Hidden Pope". It kind of has a bad connotation to it, as if there's some dark secret. "A Personal Journey" might have been better as the title rather than the sub title. -2 points for a bad title that could send a conflicting message.

I bought this book a few years ago. The recent death of Pope John Paul II inspired me to take it off the bookshelf and start reading one night. If you are a gentile and think you know the meaning and impact of anti-semitism, think again and read this book. This is the history of 20th century Europe told through the lives and experiences of Lolek and Jerzy, two precocious small town Polish friends whose friendship helped change the course Catholic-Jewish relations after twenty centuries of misunderstanding and mistrust. It was providential that both ended up residing in Rome and worked together to change the perceptions of many people who have adopted anti-semetic attitudes based upon false assumptions and lies. Through their eyes see the horrors of Nazism and Communism as their friends and families are slaughtered by these inhumane political systems. By the end of the book you will feel like you know these two men (Pope John Paul II and Jerzey Kluger) as very very special human beings. It may be profane but they remind me of Pat O'Brien and James Cagney combination in the movie, "Angels with Dirty Faces." One, the saintly but very world wise priest and the other, a wise cracking but trouble prone friend. These two men teach us that at a personal level Jews and Christians are cousins in faith and these ancient misunderstandings should be resolved once and forever. The Hidden Pope would make a wonderful movie about two mensches for the ages!

I am an Irish Catholic that married a Jewish girl with roots in Poland, so this book took on special meaning for me. I was very proud of our pontiff for making extraordinary strides in Catholic-Jewish relations. His message still hasn't made it down to all levels of the church, but I hope that it will. Many Catholics still feel that Jews are doomed and must be converted/baptized in order to be saved, but the Pope clearly states that this is WRONG. We are all sons of Abraham, and the Jews are our older brothers.

I would like to write to Jurek Kluger and tell him so. If anyone knows his address or email, please forward it to me. Thank you!!

This book was so touching that I beg both Catholics and Jews to read it and meditate on the message. I laughed and cried. It is a great book.

This is a fabulous book. I am neither Catholic nor Jewish, but I was fascinated by the depth of the man we all call Pope. I had no idea of his personal journey, and the breadth of his goodness. Too many times, we don't look beyond the title and the robes. This is truly a saintly man.

Amazing to realize that this kind of stories are real, and that enven though they are terrible, they are not that unique in our world. It is a must to read if you are interested in a woman's bravery.

This book is about Phoolan Devi, aka the Bandit Queen. The book takes you through her early years, which were full of violence, racism/castism/and sexism, to her rise in India's parliament. It is a compelling read, if not a violent one, and at times I had to put it down to contemplate this woman and what she had to overcome in this life.

Phoolan Devi is an amazing individual no doubt who overcame obstacles bigger than most of us face. Here's what I like about the book: It was a tale told from the eyes of someone who was in poverty of what it's REALLY like... generally we hear about the situations of such people through the eyes of an empathetic outsider and here is a vivid inside perspective. Most impoverished people never get to tell their tales and I think the two authors who wrote what Phoolan dictated (she could not read/write) did the world a favor. This book has raised my awareness.

From a story perspective, it is more incredible than most fictional novels.

for an illiterate and uneducated person of a low cast this true story makes me see india in a new light. Now i am inspired to read more about indian mythology, religon and culture. Her death and suffering where not in vain...

Reviewed by Mary Greenwood for Reader Views (08//06)

"The Bandit Queen of India" is a true story of Phoolan Devi, as told to French journalists Marie-Therese Cuny and Paul Rambali who transcribed the story for her since she was unable to read or write. Phoolan Devi was born into a family of boatmen called Mullahs, who were the lowest caste, in a small village in Ottar Pradesh, India. "The Bandit Queen of India" is unrelenting in showing the grueling life of low-caste girls in India. If written as fiction, one could not believe that all this tragedy, cruelty and degradation could come to one person. Phoolan and her sisters are beaten by their parents, mostly by their mother. Times are so bad that her mother was thankful when twin daughters died after birth. Later, when, yet another girl was born, her mother refused to nurse her and made the rest of the family find food for her. Mothers pray to have boy babies. There never was enough to eat. Their caste was expected to do the worst jobs such as picking lice from others' scalps and not ask for anything in return. Her father told her it was her duty to do these things. Once when doing a menial chore, she saw mangoes and asked for a little piece. The upper-caste man slapped her very hard and said: `How dare you ask me for a mango! Today you want a mango. Tomorrow it will be something else!"

Devi was married at the age of 11 for a dowry of a cow and bicycle to a man in his 30's she had met once. Her father asked his future son-in-law to wait to take the girl until she was older. Instead the husband takes her and beats and rapes her. Ever her new father-in-law, who pretends to help her, betrays her. Later she is able to escape and goes back to her village where she is ostracized because she did not stay with her husband even though she is only 11. Her parents could only protect her for a few years and finally the husband came back and claimed his wife and brandished his fury on her for escaping earlier. If that was not enough, she was also brutally gang-raped by bandits. Later one of the bandits, Vikram, saved her from sure death and fell in love with her. She became the Bandit Queen and Vikram was the Bandit King. They lived like Robin Hood taking from the rich and giving to the poor, sometimes even returning to the poor the same jewelry that had been stolen.

When Vikram was murdered by one of their gang members, Phoolan was able to escape and formed her own gang. She went back to her village and murdered 22 upper-caste men, some of whom were involved in torturing and raping her. There was a great hunt for her, but she was able to evade capture. Later she was able to negotiate a deal with Indira Gandhi who agreed that she would not receive the death penalty. She then turned herself in and spent 11 years in jail. She was released and her case never went to trial. She was well-known and was elected to the Indian Parliament. Her life has come full circle. However, in 2001, on the way to her home from Parliament, she was assassinated, supposedly for retaliation for the murders of the 22 men.

In the Epilogue of "The Bandit Queen of India," Phoolan explains why she wants her story told: "So many times I reached out my hands and nobody helped me. They called me a pest and a criminal. I never consider myself to be someone good, but I wasn't a criminal, either. All I did was make men suffer what they made me suffer. "Now for the first time, a woman from my community has been able to tell the truth about her life and testify in public to the injustice we all had to suffer. It was my hope that my testimonial would give help to others; other women, my sisters who have been humiliated, and my brothers who are being exploited."

"The Bandit Queen of India" focuses on her early life and as she is subjected to more and more indignities, humiliations and degradations, it is not hard to see why she would want to get revenge when she had a chance. The reader does not have to condone the violence and murder in order to understand it. It is a harsh life and it is not hard to see why the legend of the Bandit Queen has endured. It is a true "rags to riches" story except that the riches are the power to effect political change. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the plight of women in India, the cruelties of the caste system and the story of a woman who had nothing and never gave up but was able to fight back. She is truly a modern Robin Hood and as such her legend lives on.

There are many reasons why I loved this book, a masterpiece memoir. There were sentances that astonished me, wordcraft simple precise and searing. Paragraphs of description that somehow tied in a view, a history, and a personality with succinct power. Moritz did have a somewhat dour outlook on life and plenty of reason for it. His gift was to write of it with his personal life journey and to embelish his world view with the great connections of history,literature, music and a empathy for the poor, disadvantaged, and struggling people of South America.

He also is able to write of situations that leave me laughing hysterically as in the "despidida", the family ritual of mourning the departing travelor where the "male members of this tragic group, the uncles, the brothers, the godfathers, stand at the fringes. They stare at the floor, take deep drags on their cigarettes, and clench and unclench the muscles in their jaws. They are just a few seconds away from a total breakdown that would destroy forever the macho image they have spent a lifetime cultivating". I read another scene to my son about Moritz's avoidance of foods from the roadside stall that had me laughing so hard that I struggled to continue reading.

Moritz's first two books, "Living Poor" and "Farm on the River of Emeralds" also great books, were rooted in place in Esmeraldas Province of Ecuador. In "The Saddest Pleasure" he has left that place, left poverty in the village of his Peace Corps service and the farm he started with his Ecuadorian partner. In this book he faces the end of his life, returning to a "bourgeois" fate and begins this journey not knowing that it will redefine his life.

It may be helpful but not necessary to read Moritz's first two books before this. In the "Saddest Pleasure" Moritz expounds not only on poverty and place but more on what life is for, what life has become. I found the first two books to be much easier to assimilate than this but this again is richer and I will be sure to read it again.

I highly recommend this book to all avid readers I know.

I liked the descriptions of river life; the leaves of plants, intricate flowers, the patch of sky, the dark soils, the quiet hillside, the jungle bacteria and fungi that grow on your body, the sound of a mango falling to the ground at night, and hungry, poor, dangerous people creeping around the farm. I liked the aimless walks through Brazilian cities such as Rio, Bahia, and Belem. I appreciated Thomsen's isolation from pretty much everyone, his inability to speak Portuguese or communicate well, and his sense of failure at life. I appreciated his openness to experience, perception, and courage to be the animal that suffers and works. Faced with Ramon's "you don't belong here" he realizes we are all being pushed out, there is no safe place. The man who works the land owns the land. Be a farmer. Enjoyable reading. Thanks!

I had this book for over ten years before I finally sat down to read it recently, at home from work with a cold. I quickly became engrossed in it to the point where I had a hard time putting it down. Thomsen's writing is superb. He weaves his personal story of early psychic hurt at the hands of his father and eccentric family into an exploration of global woes and human suffering, all the while with truly beautiful language. Alternately funny, gross, awful and awe-inspiring, you will come away dazzled, moved and yes, shaken by the vividness of his images and the depth of his understanding of the human condition. It is one of those rare books that transcends its own story line to show you a window onto our world of great clarity and understanding on issues like the economics of class, the gulfs between cultures, exploitation and poverty, the meaning of beauty, and the individual's struggle to find meaning in a chaotic world. In the end, you're not sure where you have gone, whether to Ecuador, Brazil, or on your own inner journey of discovery that you've unsuspectingly embarked on without ever leaving your room.

I found out about Thomsen from a Paul Theroux reference and like many of Theroux's references to other writers and books, this turned out to be a winner. It's the story of an expatriate, perhaps running from his father, or looking for life's answer, joins the Peace Corps at the age of 48. After leaving the Corps, he remains in Ecuador and scrapes out a living on a farm. After being forced off the farm by a younger co-worker, Thomsen embarks on a journey that takes him to Brazil and the Amazon basin. The journey is described from the poor travler's point of view with many sad recollections of his life.

I had heard neither of book nor author when I unexpectedly received this book from a friend. She mentioned its being a book which presented a strong sense of place. It is indeed that, but rather more as well. Moritz Thomsen lived in Ecuador for a number of years, but then, for various reasons, launched on an extended voyage around Brazil, from Rio up the coast, around to Bélem, and then along the Amazon to Manaus. The real voyage, however, was along the twisted, frazzled byways of his soul, a journey so painful that no physical hardship could rival it. Thomsen is no doubt a good writer, because the ultimate picture we get is exactly the one he saw---peering out at Brazil through the miasmic forests of his excruciating memories. We meet a few strange or pathetic characters---but very few, mostly other foreigners---we view Brazil through his jaded, pessimistic lens, and most of all we delve into his past. He takes us along two rivers---the Amazon in a boat, and a jungle river in western Ecuador in his mind---but there is no retrieving him from the tangled mess of an awful life. The book is excellently constructed, it is honest in the style of Tobias Wolff, it has riveting descriptions of nature and of a life among poor Ecuadorians that few outsiders, save Peace Corps Volunteers, might ever have known. Thomsen understands and describes very accurately the deep exploitation of millions of people in Latin America, an oppresion that is nearly impossible to break, given the policies of rich countries. But ultimately, how you like this book is going to depend on your own personality, your own taste in tragedy. Thomsen starts with a quotation from Paul Theroux about travel being the saddest of pleasures. I felt that Thomsen did not prove the point. He is a man who spent most of his life rejecting everything that he could have been, everything that his arrogant, abusive father wanted him to be. He accomplished very little, made a total mess out of his life, had no (visible)lasting relationships, and at last came to a vague realization in his sixties that he was a 'writer'. I doubt if he can ever escape from the clutches of his long-dead father---will he ever be able to write anything beyond that endless battle ? Describing his life was no doubt the saddest of his pleasures and reading it, for some people, may be labelled a close second. In a way, I wish I had not read THE SADDEST PLEASURE. I prefer my pleasures separate from my tragedies and while such separation is not always possible, I do not savor the juxtaposition.

In this rather short book of 225 pages, the author has outlined 30 great mysteries of American History. Most are very familiar to anyone who has read much history.However; he still gives the reader enough information to summarize what the mystery was all about,the efforts made to resolve them, and the generally accepted resolution as well as the the opposing contentions and unresolved and/or contested positions.
At the end of each mystery,the author gives good references which can be pursued if one wants to delve into them further.
The period covered is as extensive as you can get;from "When Did the First People Arrive in America?",through "Where Did Columbus Land?","Why Did Benedict Arnold Turn Traitor?","Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot?","Why Did Truman Drop the Bomb?","Who Killed JFK?",to "What Did Reagan Know About Iran-Contra?".
Most of these subjects were great news events at the time.many have been covered extensively in newspapers,books,movies ,documentries. All sorts of investigations have been commissioned to resolve them .Despite the efforts made to resolve them.the mystery or controversy remains.
Probably the greatest mystery in modern times has to be the killing of JFK.It was documented and shown an endless number of times. Commissions have issued findings.There are endless conjectures and few have been convinced that they really know what and why things happened as has been explained.If the killing of JFK is a mystery,the killing of Oswald is just as much a mystery."There have been more than 2000 books and tens of thousands of articles on the subject,investigators have argued that JFK was killed by,to mention just the main culprits; the CIA,the KGB,the FBI,The Mafia,Fidel Castro, anti-Castro Cubans,and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Not to mention Lee Harvey Oswald." Or was it a conspiracy of several or none of the above?
A great summary of mysteries and a good source reference for further reading.

Impartial presentation of unsolved mysteries of American history, the author gives all comparative points of view as well as utmost current revisionist views of unsolved history. I especially enjoyed the fact that at the end of each subject the author gives you a list of additional research for each subject, as this book contains 30 subjects and lightly give the reader a brief scenario of each topic, not nearly as in-depth as some may like but enough to provoke further research. The author has done a very fine job of compiling the facts of each event and presenting them with in the timeline of history.

Great, short book. Very fun reading. Aron provides both the traditionalist and revisionist viewpoints on mysteries discussed. It's refreshing because he's neither an in-your-face revisionist conspiracy theorist, nor a staunch traditionalist. At least, if he resides in one camp or the other, he provides unbiased essays on many unanswered questions throughout our history. The book really makes one want to dig into the evidence and explore the mysteries further. He discusses the Rosenberg trial, Kennedy's assasination, Lincoln's assasination, The conquest of the Aztecs, Norse Vinland, and many other interesting topics. Several references are provided at the end of each chapter, which help catapult further reading on particular topics of interest. Overall, this is a great, concise book.

Aron's book is both exciting and informative. Certain mysteries he deals with I had encountered before in popular literature claiming to know the answer one way or another (Example: Was Amelia a Spy?) but I had not ever bothered to take the time to correctly research. Other mysteries, such as the Roanoke disappearance and the Viking discovery of America I had only heard mention of in passing and I was delighted to find them dealt with here in such an informative manner. The reading is easy, and the references are listed out at the end of each chapter.

I'm not a huge history fan, but on a whim I decided to check out Paul Aron's Unsolved Mysteries of American History. I was most interested in the theories surrounding the Disappearance of the Roanoke Colony. However, before long I found myself immersed in everything from: Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot to Was Amelia Earhart a Spy to Who was to Blame for Pearl Harbor. All in all 30 different US mysteries are covered over a timeframe of centuries.

The nice thing about this book is that Mr. Aron doesn't just give you "an answer". He has clearly researched all of these topics and looked at each question from numerous points of view. All of his research is cited and allows the reader to continue on their interest in any topic. The other nice approach to this book is that each question is covered in 5-8 pages. It's an easy book to pick up and read when you have a few spare minutes to fill.

I felt like I learned some new information and I was entertained. What more could you ask for in a book?