Hawaii Books

"You cannot escape liking the climate....And I warn you, if you have some spot dear to you on earth, not to linger here too long, else you will find this dearer."
From The Sheriff of Kona

This is a terrific collection of short stories set in the Hawaiian Islands in the early years of the 20th century. London's stories are set pieces that capture a very specific time in the Hawaiian Islands, after the end of the monarchy and during the early years of American annexation. He writes with a vigor and directness that makes his stories engaging, enjoyable reading and his mastery of the short story structure is first rate.

I have one warning for modern readers with political or racial sensitivities, though. As a man of his time, London writes with a gentle but obvious racism that reflects his world view (and the common views of the era). People's characters are determined by their race, and race is often used as a shorthand stereotype to describe individuals. If seeing simple, sensual, superstitious Hawaiians, wily Asians, and rational, greedy (often heavy drinking) whites, you should avoid this book. It's never mean-spirited, but it is pervasive.

For those of us who appreciate good stories that capture a unique time and place and who are not offended by anachronistic views on race, these stories are real gems. I think they are better than most of London's more famous stories, myself.

Stories They Told Me is artfully crafted in terms of how masterfully Theresa Dintino weaves the tale and of her rich knowldege of the Minoan culture. This book offers ancient insight into the nature of male/female separation and man and woman's return to individual and shared wholdness in ways significant to these times. Readers new to the ways of the Goddess or of shamanism and those knowledgeable of both are sure to experience heightened awareness and appreciation of these paths.

Carla Golembe's The Story Of Hula is a picturebook with a narrative audio CD all about the meaning and expression of the Hawaiian hula dance. Teaching young people about the origins and symbolic values behind traditional hula costume, and the power of the story behind the dance that is handed down through generations, The Story Of Hula is a delightful introduction to other cultures and celebrations. Simple color illustrations, a glossary of Hawaiian terms and a final page of historic notes round out this enjoyable and educational volume.

My fifth grade teacher read Stowaways in Paradise to our class in Brighton, Colorado back in the mid 1960s. She also read it to my brother and sister who went through her class before me. The author, Don Blanding (who also is responsible for the artwork in the book and on the cover), wrote many books about Hawaii and this is my favorite. I searched for 30 years for a copy of this book and was finally given one for a birthday present some ten years ago. I have since bought another copy through the magic of the Internet. This book and its story about pre-pubescent boys in Hawaii takes me back to my childhood in Colorado like no other story and I will treasure it and share it with my grandchildren.

I never actually read this book, but the title speaks for itself. Besides since my dad wrote this, it must be great. Heck pay the 10 bucks for this book-its truly an experience. Take a look, read a book, its reading rainbow, reading rainbow.

Student Atlas Of Hawaii is an outstanding student atlas of Hawaii which will hold particular interest for any interested in Hawaiian history and geography: its very simple maps cover all the islands, ecosystems, and peoples of the islands and use very simple drawings and explanations for education and embellishment.

Ua ike wau i keia puke ma ka hale kuai i kela mahina aku nei; kupono no kau mau keiki oiai he mau haumana kaiapuni lakou. Ia maua o kau kane e huli ana i loaa na puke waiwai no ka ohana, aole nui na puke hoonauao no na opio ma o ka olelo.

He kokua keia puke me ka ao honua. Maamaama na kii a moakaka ka wehewehe me ka haiki pu. Hoihoi na ike.

Oluolu, e hoopuka hou i keia ano.

mahalo nui, na kekahi makua

The Submerged Cultural Resources Study of Pearl Harbor with particular emphasis on the remains of the USS Arizona and attached memorial is a vital document to understanding the current state of the Arizona, its place in history, its preservation, and its future. The book starts with a history of the Arizona including modifications made to the ship current up to the attack. Also provided is an overview of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the significance of that attack on the American psyche. These sections are concise, factually accurate, and interesting to read, but will likely not expose any new or vital information to serious historians of the Pacific War.

The real originality of material here concerns the archeological record of the Arizona, and the seldom visited Utah, the only other vessel sunk during the Japanese attack (out of 30 vessels sent to the bottom of Pearl harbor that day) that is still resting in Pearl Harbor. The dives undertaken by a joint force of divers from the US National Park Service and the US Navy to document the conditions of the two ships are amazing in scope and detail. Several detailed maps of the wrecks are produced on fold-out pages in this book. These illustrations and maps are invaluable to historians, as anyone who has been to the memorial knows that only a very limited amount of detail of the Arizona is visible from the surface. (Even less of the Utah is observable from the surface.) As part of these studies experiments designed to measure the estimated rates of corrosion (and, hence, remaining life) on the ships were undertaken. These efforts are detailed in the extensive section titled "Biofouling and Corrosion Study." This chapter is of critical importance to preservationists and historians in plotting conservation strategies for these shipwrecks, bearing in mind the complicating fact that the Arizona still entombs approximately 1,000 sailors, and the Utah still holds around 50.

As a result of these studies it was determined that over 99 percent of the Arizona is encrusted with a diatom/detritus mat of plant and animal life, particularly sponges, large Feather-Duster Worms (Schizoporella errata), vermetid mollusks, Sagebrush Tube Worms (Salmaoina dysteria), and Colonial Feather-Duster Worms (Branchiomma cingulata). There are a total of ten taxa of fauna and five taxa of flora that comprise the bulk of species present on the wreck, although many more have been identified in minor quantities including barnacles, snapping shrimp, numerous types of sponges (especially erect and encrusting species), Orange Soft Coral (Telesto riisei), Wood-Burrowing Bivalves (Martesia striata), sea squirts of several species, and various mantis shrimp and oyster species. Additionally, there are numerous fish living and nesting on the Arizona, including the Cardinal fish, the Parrot fish, the Burrow goby, the Mongoose fish, the Goat fish, the Sordid Damsel fish, the Balloon fish (whose eggs have proven particularly destructive to some portions of the Arizona), the Gold Butterfly fish, and the Raccoon Butterfly fish, just to name the most significant. For those interested in further hard scientific explorations, there are many other topics discussed including sedimentation and water oxygenation studies, oil escape and entrapment studies, and a fascinating set of bathycorrometer measurements, which are conveniently summarized in table form.

There is an additional section on management of the site, which reveals great insights from two former administrators of the landmark. This section is vital reading for anyone interested in underwater landmark administration.

This book is profusely illustrated, and was obviously meticulously and painstakingly produced. It is immense value to underwater archeologists and preservationists, historical site managers, biologists, and serious historians of World War Two. This is truly a landmark volume.

This book deserves more than the grudging review granted to date. It may not be everyones cup of tea, especially if seduced by simplistic accounts of 'pop Zen.' Make no mistake about it, the topic which forms the central focus of this book - viz. the tension between the claims made in the name of 'sudden enlightenment' - and the 'gradualist' elements which, ironically, seem to be required in other respects - to make practical sense of it, will engage anyone who takes Zen practice seriously. This problem engaged the attention of Tsung-mi, an eminent Chinese Ch'an Buddhist who lived in the formative years of the Ch'an/Zen tradition, when the ideas at stake were current and needed to be resolved. In a sense, those of us engaged with Zen in the West are in an analogous position, such issues therefore being much more than 'dead history.'

Peter Gregory edited the material provided by a number of contributors - and gave us the chapter dealing with Tsung-mi.
In my view, this was the strongest chapter of the whole book and would have made it worth buying, anyway. As it is, the other chapters have much to offer - and, all in all, this book repays careful reading. I list the chapter headings for reference. It gives you a better idea of what's in store. I don't propose to review all the material, but note the chapters that struck me as significant.

The Sudden and Gradual Debates

The Mirror of the Mind. Paul Demieville.

Sudden Illumination or Simultaneous Comprehension: Remarks on Chinese and Tibetan Terminology.@ R.A.Stein.

Purifying Gold.@The Metaphor of Effort and Intuition in Buddhist Thought and Practice.@ Luis O. Gomez.


Sudden and Gradual Enlightenment in Chinese Buddhism.
Tao-sheng's Theory of Sudden Enlightenment Re-examined.
- Whalen Lai.

Sudden and Gradual Intimately Conjoined.@Chih-i's T'ien-tai and Gradual Intimately Conjoined.@Chih-i's T'ien-tai view.
- Neal Donner.

Shen-hui and the Teaching of Sudden Enlightenment in Early Ch'an Buddhism.@- John R. MacRae.

Sudden Enlightenment Followed by Gradual Cultivation.@Tsung-mi's Analysis of Mind. - Peter N. Gregory.

The 'Short-cut' Approach of Kan-hu‚@Meditation.@The Evolution of a Practical Subitism in Chinese Ch'an Buddhism.
- Robert E. Buswell Jnr.

Analogies in the Cultural Sphere

The Sudden and Gradual in Chinese Poetry Criticism:
An Examination of the Ch'an Poetry Analogy.
- Richard John Lynn.

Tung Ch'i-chang's "Southern and Northern Schools" in the History and Theory of Painting. - James Cahill.

The chapter John MacRae gave us dealing with Shen-hui, makes rather much of the allegedly 'polemical' use She-hui made of sudden enlightenment. While Shen-hui certainly proselytised, I'm not so sure that he was motivated by 'polemical' ideas.
I would question the degree of competitiveness involved between
the 'Southern' and 'Northern' Ch'an schools - and, in a certain sense, John's other writings, focusing on the Northern school, seem to weaken the sense of division.

Peter Gregory's chapter remains my favourite piece.@Less prone to dwell on the polemical side of things, he endeavours to explore the practical issues at stake.@Tsung-mi was an admirable figure and Peter Gregory has made a sterling job of reproducing the intricacies of Tsung-mi's 'Ch'an Chart.'

Neal Donner's article is well worth reading.@It might be noted that - in the early days, the Ch'an and T'ien-tai schools were closely connected.@T'ien-tai monks are listed in the Chuang Teng Lu (a Ch'an history) - as a collatoral lineage.

Robert Buswell's article concentrates on Ta-hui's 'kan-hua' (or hua-tou) technique. Surprisingly, perhaps, given the cliched references to Ta-hui as an opponent of 'silent illumination' (the more lifeless equivalents of which he certainly criticised), Buswell hints that the final effects or fruit of 'kan-hua' meditation may actually boil down to a kind of silent illumination' - all the same. Implicitly, ideas to this effect are found in the teachings of Hsu-yun, the most eminent Ch'an master of the 20th c.

All the material in this text is worth reading, including the chapters relating to the influence of Ch'an upon the arts. The Chinese sources are noted thoroughly, complete with the Chinese script.

This is a great book. It was brought to my attention by the grandmother of one of my fourth grade students. She told me "Take it home over the weekend and relax". How right she was. Reading this book will give you a realistic idea of the life style of Hawaii's sugar plantation camps, particularly on the Hamakua Coast of the island of Hawaii. The author, Yasushi "Scotch" Kurisuwas born, grew up and worked in Hakalau, one of the plantation communities on the Hamakua Coast. He possesses great insight and shares this with many anecdotal accounts of life at this time and place. It is well written and easy reading. I had a difficult time putting it down. I needed to return the book to the owner, so now I am purchasing my own copy. It is one of those books that you can read over many times, and still enjoy and learn from it. If you have an interest in the times of the sugar plantation camps in Hawaii, you should add this to your reading collection.