Season's Readings

I never seem to have time to read, but for some reason I've been ordering a growing stack of books lately. Cookbooks are my favorite, and I'm adding nutrition books to the list to help me with PositivelyVegan. I guess it's all a business expense, but it doesn't matter. I'd buy them anyway. I'm also ordering various books to give as gifts this holiday season, but to be honest, most of them are for me.

There are no novels in the mix, which is odd. Normally I enjoy checking out of my own head and into someone else's for a while in the evenings, usually at bedtime. But now I don't care much about fiction because the new and ever-changing realities of our world are so fascinating to me. I've been listening to things like the Aware Show and Hay House Radio while I make beads. Maybe that's where all this is coming from. There are so many interesting people out there, talking about cutting edge, changing-world stuff, and of course all of them have a book to sell. I don't buy most of them, and sometimes a show won't resonate with me at all, and I'll abandon it for my favorite African Essentials station on Pandora Radio. God, I love the internet. So many options, literally at my fingertips.

One of the books I'm looking forward to getting is Life Before Life: Children's Memories of Previous Lives, by Jim B. Tucker. I heard an interview with him the other day, and was so amazed by his research. It's not new-agey-woo-woo, but scientific and even somewhat skeptical on his part. It hooked me in because of something my daughter Lauren said to me when she was only two or three. She looked me in the eye, and very seriously asked, "Mama, do you remember when I was the mama and you were the baby?" I have no idea why I didn't ask her more about this memory of hers, and it's too late now I suppose, since she's nearly 26, just barely younger than I was at that time. But wow... I want to know more about what's happening out there!

The other book I'm eager to dive into is Deep Truth, by Gregg Braden. Here's the blurb from Amazon: "Best-selling author and visionary scientist Gregg Braden suggests that the hottest topics that divide us as families, cultures, and nations—seemingly disparate issues such as war, terrorism, abortion, genocide, poverty, economic collapse, climate change, and nuclear threats—are actually related. They all stem from a worldview based upon the false assumptions of an incomplete science." I find it astonishing and exciting to learn that so much of what we think we know, and what we continue to teach our kids, is old, outdated, inaccurate information. Remember when the world was flat? Again... wow!

My only problem is time... and the fact that I'm a very slow reader. But the world is changing, and I feel like I either need to keep up with it or turn to stone. Maybe it's time to order a good book on speed reading, and while I'm at it, a typing course. I can't believe I've still not learned to type properly. My mistakes per minute are much more numerous than my words per minute. As in everything, it's all baby steps. Set the intention, and take a step forward. One thing is for certain. I would do well to spend less time with Netflix (and all their silliness), and more time in the evenings, reading by the fire.

Picture borrowed from The Broke and the Bookish