One Second After

This book is patterned after "Alas, Babylon", which I liked better. "One Second After" has tons of language which I felt was very unnecessary and is quite graphic. I know that in that situation it would be horrific and graphic, I just don't need the gory details.

However, I feel this topic is a real possibility. The US could be hit by an EMP and have all the electronics fail at once, leaving the human race to scrounge for food and survival. We are a soft generation that is far from prepared to live without electronics/electricity. In other words, this is not a fantasy/sci-fi book, it could really happen. I do think that the scenario is realistic and correctly depicts how people would react (not a comforting thought).

One positive to reading this book is that it made me truly think about what we would need to survive such a drastic circumstance. It is not a very comforting thought and I am loosing sleep just thinking about the book and what we would need to do to be prepared, not just having food on hand and what not, but to survive raiders.

A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time is a fascinating book. I am truly surprised at how detailed a "brief history" can be. I was very overwhelmed by the subject in the first few chapters, then I realized, this was going to take more study and more time than what I had originally prepared myself for. Thus, it took me several more weeks than anticipated to finish.

Do I understand everything in this book? Absolutely not! I have a basic overview, or outline as Hawkings would put it, of the string theory of the universe. I have a limited understanding of relativity and the workings of gravity, but I am happy that at least I know more than what I did before. It can be so easy to get discouraged by an overwhelming subject of study, but I have learned that everything takes time to digest, especially subjects that are not my easiest subjects, like science and math.

I took several pages of notes to help me remember what I studied on this book. Towards the end I was genuinely intrigued by the idea that the universe can have one mathematical theory to explain how everything works. Hawkings does a good job of touching on the existence of God while still maintaining his scientific findings, something rarely seen in a published scientific work.

Another thought I had while reading this book was that I feel outraged and cheated that so much of what is in our current textbooks is so outdated. Hawkings does his fair share of discussing how you need to be an expert to understand it all. It was another glaring example of the dumbing down of society....the general public is too dumb to understand. Will I ever fully understand string theory? Probably not, but exposure will lead to higher understanding over time.

Mockingjay

When I first began The Hunger Games I was pretty shocked with the violence and that this book was geared towards teens. A couple of my children had read the book so I decided to finish the book and make sure I knew what the whole thing was about. In the end, I allowed my children to read the subsequent books Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
I have two reasons for allowing my children to read these books and for finding them fascinating myself.

1. The society depicted in this series has completely lost their freedoms. It is a very Communist type of society with no ability to change their circumstances. I felt this was similar to 1984 without some of the adult themes. After reading all three, I still agree with this reason and feel it is important to read this with my children and discuss how they could have gotten that way, and as the story progresses, why the characters make the choices that they do.
2. This story rightly depicts a revolution with all of its gore, tragedy, heart-ache, and deception. In times of crisis, many people are stirred up to a revolution rather than seeing what will happen and pulling together as a people to reinvent themselves without all the bloodshed. I wanted my children to see the patterns and how each character's choices played into the revolution. The author seems to make it all rush along as inevitable rather than a set of choices.

In the end, I do recommend these books for older teens. There is some talk of kissing and teen relationships, but nothing terribly graphic.

Behind Every Good Man

I really like John Bytheway's books. This one is a bit short, but touches on some basic things wives can do to uplift their husbands and help them fulfill their duties as fathers and priesthood holders. I like this book a lot better than "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" because it is uplifting and does not tear the women down. Although, he remarks on some similar things as Dr. Laura's books and even quotes her in this book. He also touches on the "Five Love Languages" books which in my opinion are the MOST IMPORTANT books I've read about relationships.

I wish this book was longer and had more scriptural references. I've been thinking about putting together my own little book of marriage quotes and scriptures to help uplift my mind and think positiviely about my husband and marriage.

Favorite Quotes

• Rarely is anyone criticized into change.
• Men talk for information, women talk for interaction.
• Men look for exits. (how long will it take?)
• ...for every negative comment you make, you will have to make five positive comments to erase its effects and break even.
• Men are simple creatures. (not simple minded, just not complicated)

My Thoughts About Mike
I have to say that I have a really fantastic husband. He loves me and the children, always comes home when he says he will, and is thoughtful enough to call me at least once a day. He values my input and listens to me even when I'm ranting or complaining. I have been truly blessed to have him as my eternal companion.

Those who know my history know that I was married before and had a very painful and sad life then. I know that because I have something else to compare my life to that I am possibly MORE grateful than others I see. I know what bad marriages look and feel like...I never want to be there again. That said, I can still see that I need to show my husband how much I love him each day, which I do not always do. Life gets busy and when I'm overwhelmed one of the first things that falls off my plate is a loving attitude. This a major fault of mine and is in need of improvement.

Foundation

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

I find this book to be interesting, yet it is written differently than most books. It is basically a short story series that was originally published in a magazine and then later published into book form. The story is unique in that it skips from the original characters to characters in the future. There are no "main" characters to follow throughout the book. It is like watching episodes of a series that take place 50 years apart. It takes a bit to try to figure out what has changed since the previous short story.

One thing that bothered me about this series is that there is an obvious disdain for religion, making it appear falsified in the book. Religion in this book is created by government officials in order to dominate governments and groups of people. It made me uncomfortable. I do know that Isaac Asimov is a Humanist and firmly believed in Darwin's theories. I'm sure many of his books mock religion because of this. I think it is important for parents to discuss the worldview of the author when your children read this book.

The Weight Loss Cure

I am not impressed with this book. The author gives no real data, no studies, no factual evidence...just simply his opinion as he sees it. I'm not sure that his information is wrong, just that he does not state his evidence of why he is right. He is not a doctor, but a journalist! Most books like this at least state references to studies and other books where they got their information. This book has some references listed in the back, but it is not annotated to know which study belongs to which statements, making it hard to research his information.

The logic behind this author's arguments is flawed. In Phase 1 of the diet he stresses over and over about illuminating hormones and such by eating only organic food. Then Phase 2 is using the HCG hormone shots. What? How can you say ALL hormones in foods and such is bad, then turn around and promote giving yourself shots of another type of hormone? It does not add up and quite frankly seems fishy to me.

Boys Adrift

Boys Adrift: Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men is an excellent book discussing why we are seeing such a trend of men and boys who are happy to be underachievers. I remember watching the movie "Failure to Launch" and thinking how funny it was...until I realized how true it was. My own two youngest brothers fit that category...even though they have both been married and each have kids!

I have also seen many examples of men who have no desire to support their families or even to marry at all. It is also scary to see so many women willing to raise children in single homes.

I highly recommend this book. The part that probably scared me the most was the chapter on plastics. I think that is that only thing from this book that is a change I need to make in our home. (See more about Endocrine Disruptors here and BPA Fact Sheet). The main concerns for boys are lowered sperm counts and too much estrogen which effeminates the males.

Of course, the author does not advocate home education as a possible fix for boys who hate school. He advocates same-sex schools instead. Other than that I was pretty impressed with this book.

Check out the Boys Adrift website.

As A Man Thinketh

This is a great little book, As A Man Thinketh, about positive thinking and attitude. I have needed to ponder this book a bit and see how to apply it better. (Free Online version in text and audio)

I agree with a great deal of this book. Our society likes to place blame on everyone but oneself. If one is poor, it is because of the economy. If one is rich, it is luck. Where is the dependence on self-reliance? Too much emphasis is placed on success in monetary forms rather than of personal morality and virtue. I like the features of this book that discuss personal responsibility and positive attitude towards one's circumstances.

One part of this book that I do not agree with is the worldview expressed through Buddhist practices of wealth simply through positive thinking and illness being solely due to impure thoughts.

There is also a rather obvious lack of God and the role of thankfulness to God for all that we have. The author mentions being "blessed", but there is no clear understanding of what is meant by that. I found this blatant omission a bit telling. The author stresses too much self-reliance and not enough reliance on God. There needs to be a balance between the two.

Book Review: "Pastwatch"

With Orson Scott Card it can go either way with me, some of his books I love and some of them I hate. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus ranks with the "hate it" category. It was very interesting in the beginning, then started to turn weird, and ended down right disturbing. Basically, the premise is that Christopher Columbus, and Europeans in general, were the cause of all the heartache in the world, most importantly slavery.

It is also written from a non-Christian point of view, yet ends with the characters helping to convert everyone to Christianity. The logic is just not there to follow the plot in this way. It seems to poke fun at the belief in many biblical figures like Noah and has the characters discrediting everything they did with some scientific findings rather than any belief in God speaking to His prophets.

I had read once that Orson Scott Card is Mormon, but after reading this I don't know how he can be.

Towards the end of this book are also several disturbing occurrences of rape and one horrible scene of self-mutilation. I do not recommend this book, especially not for children or young adults.

Book Review: "Flatland"

I tried reading Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions once before and only got past the first two chapters. Math is not something that I enjoy, nor am I "good" at math. Reading a book in mathematical terms was not high on my priority list.

The second time I sat down to read this book I decided to really give it a try as a story and not so much as "math". This approach worked much better for me. I also checked out an annotated version of the story, but only used it as a reference on a couple of occasions, The Annotated Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.

I have no idea why it is a "romance of many dimensions". To me, it seemed to be more about aristocratic society and possibly religion than anything else. I say religion because things in the "3rd dimension" is more like believing in God than a mathematical concept. The way that the 3rd dimension is talked about in the aristocratic world of Flatland reminds me of Russia outlawing all Christianity.

In all I found it interesting as a science fiction work. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "The First Four Years"

We finished the original Laura Ingalls Wilder series. This last book is a bit sad. I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the other books. However, I loved how Laura talks about having a positive attitude through all her adversity. She does not sit around in self-pity or cry out about how unfair her life is. I think we can learn a lot from her books about family, hard work, and looking for the good in her life.

We read this as our read-aloud book for homeschool and it has been a pleasure. We also just discovered that we can go see Laura and Almonzo's home in Mansfield, MO about an hour away.

Book Review: "Phaedo" by Plato

This dialog is longer and is the story of Socrates facing death, and finally taking the poison in prison, surrounded by his friends. The conversation has many interesting subjects, including the existence of the soul and whether it lives on without the body. Many conclusions are correct and many are incorrect. It is truly sad that they did not have scriptures by which to learn the truths that they sought. Rather they leaned unto their own understanding, which had fallacies amongst the truths.

I do believe that Socrates was a great thinker and Plato's records of his teacher and mentor are fascinating. My only warning, like with all of Plato's writings, is to keep your canon close. There are times while I was reading it when I needed to stop and reaffirm the correct stance on spiritual things like the pre-mortal existence of the soul and to cast out teachings of reincarnation. Plato is very convincing and so one must guard against loosing their testimony of certain things, at least that is how it is for me.

I can clearly see where New Age and Humanist worldviews come from and why they are grounded in a few truths amongst their untruths. I'm glad that I read "Understanding the Times" before reading Plato.

Modesty and Virtue

I have been thinking a lot about this topic and was considering writing a post when I saw this post at Being a Mother Who Knows. I don't think I can say it any better.

I would like to add that I found this little book that has 10 "Truth or Bare?" fashion tests. We implemented these little tests a few years ago with Sam and Nayna. It has worked really well for quick judgements on clothes. However, after reading the post I mentioned above, I would add that we do need to prayerfully consider not just our clothing, but our behavior.

Curriculum Review: Mega Math

I found this little treasure at the SAC Lending Library, which is a homeschool curriculum library that allows you to check-out curriculum for a year for $1...yeah...$1! Nice if you want what they have there. I found a couple of things that I thought we could use. One is the Mega Math system. I just have to say....HOLY COW! This is well worth having.

Now, I am math challenged. When I told Mike I wanted to homeschool one of the first things he asked me was how in the world was I going to teach math because I have no skills in that area. My answer was, choose good curriculum! We have been using Math-U-See, with success I might add, but I felt that we could use something more.

In 4th grade Marly's teacher taught her the box multiplication method. I could never figure it out even when Marly showed me how it works. When I ran across Mega Math, I realized the box multiplication is taught in this video and workbook set. I realized that I can only do math from memory. I have no ability to actually calculate and since my memory is getting worse with age...I'm in trouble! So, I decided that I really need to practice the mental math exercises he teaches so I can do mental math.

Videos on YouTube
Well, I decided that since almost everything is on YouTube that maybe Mega Math was too. I found Scott Flansburg, the Human Calculator, explaining some of the things he does in Mega Math to a school. Fascinating!

Human Calculator Part 1
Human Calculator Part 2
Human Calculator Part 3

What is interesting about it is that I figured out one of his tricks myself and didn't know anybody else thought of the shapes of numbers that way too.

Book Review: Understanding the Times

This book is such an interesting subject, one of which I have never really thought about before. There is so much content that I learned, way too much to give a proper synopsis of it here. I will say this, it is a must read! The only reason I give it 4 out of 5 stars is because of the clearly biased voice of the author. (Also see my other post about this book.)

What I Liked
This book explains WHY society in the US is changing from a Judeo-Christian worldview to a Humanist-Marxist worldview. I now understand so much more about the "why" and "how" the world is changing. I can now see what the progressive movement is doing and how they are/will be successful if we, as Christians, do not do something to stop it.

The author suggests that the main way to stop it is...drum roll...education! But, education in what? He suggests that our homes and churches need to teach what the other worldviews are doing to undermine the family and individual rights. I do agree that we need to teach our children what these other worldviews are about in the home, but I do not think it is the role of the churches because then it seems anti-Christian.

My only criticism for this book is that it seems a little vague in a few areas and that it is clearly biased. However, after reading this book I don't know how anyone could write a truly unbiased book for we ALL have a worldview which dictates how we view everything.

Book Review: "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands"

My husband has been asking me to read this book for a couple of years now. He likes listening to Dr. Laura on the radio. He drives a lot and listens to lots of radio talk shows. I personally do not love Dr. Laura because her style is very abrasive.

I have read many self-help, relationship-building type books and was quite reluctant to read another one when he first began mentioning it to me. I have made great strides in "fixing" myself and was not willing to add yet another book at that time. These things need to be spread out a bit sometimes so that real changes can be made, allowing the reader to really apply what they have read to see how it works for them over time.

What I Agree With

1. I will say that I agree with much of what this book has to say, just not how she says it. I understand what Dr. Laura is communicating in this book and that it is helpful in many situations when a wife is not appreciating her husband, IF that is the ONLY issue. 
2. I agree with her 100% that the feminist movement is destroying the family institution and that women and men have different roles to fulfill.
3. I did see some things that I could do differently. I think for me it is more of "stuck in a rut" than a "bad marriage practice" that I got out of the book. Still a good thing to come away with to get myself out of the rut.
4. I agree that women need to stay away from man-bashing/husband-bashing with their friends and family. It is a horrible habit that so many women participate in which kills the love a woman has for her husband.
5. I like how she advocates stay-at-home mothers and the husbands who diligently support them.
6. Some women are really "witchy"...we see them all the time and they give the rest of us a bad name. This book is for those "witchy" types! (Please excuse my French!)

What I Do Not Agree With

1. What I adamantly do not agree with is that she really lets men off the hook in this book. She makes it seem that men have almost no responsibility in how marriages work. 
2. I abhor that she acts like men can't change and we are the only ones doing any of the changing. I understand the therapeutic part of that, "you can only change yourself," but she takes it too far.
3. She is still advocating a type of manipulation, even if it is a "nice" type of manipulation.
4. Her theory in this book is very behavioral...do A and B will happen. For example, keep husband happy in bed and he will behave like you want.
5. She often blames women for the man cheating. Where is the choice in this? It is almost like she is saying, "I don't blame the guy for cheating because you are a witch."
6. Another negative aspect that is not addressed in this book is: What about women who do not have good husbands?

I know she has other books that may address both spouses, but I do not know if I will read them at this point as I have so many other Great Books on my reading list. I read this one because my husband asked me to.

What I Recommend Above This Book
I highly suggest some other books for marriage (and family) that address both partners in the marriage or women in particular without the berating, woman bashing style:

• The Five Love Languages and The 5 Love Languages Men's Edition: The Secret to Love That Lasts - there is one for women, men, children, and teens. I give all of these 5 stars!
• The Love Dare - a Bible-based Christian book for helping couples commit to serving each other in a marriage without the manipulation part.
• The Dance of Anger - For women who feel angry and don't know why, or maybe they do and want to have inner peace in their life again.
• The Dance of Intimacy - For women who have intimacy issues, includes every type of intimacy from communicating properly to having low desire all the way up to overcoming abuse.