read full post >

14-year-old Sophie Amundsen is a normal school-girl who discusses normal school-girl things with her friend Joanna-- until she gets an unusual note in her mailbox, which begins her on a course of studying the history of philosophy with her equally unusual teacher, Alberto Knox. The first few lessons begin with thought-provoking questions like who are you? and where does the world come from?, or why is the Lego the most ingenious toy in the world?. These simple questions get Sophie to wondering, and then are usually followed up by a lesson-- initially in written form, later on via in-person discussions with Alberto Knox. In addition, to the philosophy course, Sophie starts finding postcards and other things that belong to a girl she's never heard of, Hilde Moller Knag-- and something about the postcards doesn't quite add up (they are sent from Lebanon but apparently took no time to get to Norway, Hilde's birthday is the same as Sophie's, Sophie is being relied upon to deliver the postcards, etc.). About half-way through the book, when Sophie and Alberto are discussing the philosophy of Berkeley (who believed that the only thing we could be certain of were our perceptions and not physical reality, and thus we exist in the mind of God), they discover that they (Sophie and Alberto) are characters in a book that Major Knag is writing for his daughter Hilde-- so they exist only in his and Hilde's imaginations.

Read more...

read full post >

Took a few months to read this book but did finish it eventually. I think it too me so long because Buechner's work is so dense. My prefered style of reading his books is to read a few pages and then put the book down, chewing on the ideas or stories from that section. But -- his chapters are often thirty or forty pages long, which doesn't lend itself to small portions. I enjoy his thinking but just need some time so that it can actually affect me instead of just being something I can say I've read.

The sections are titled 'Once below a time,' 'Once upon a time,' and 'Beyond time.' There were certain points in Buechner's life where he realized that time was flowing differently than he had previously known. A turning point in his life was his father's suicide. Before this is his 'once below a time' and after is 'once upon a time.' His experience and interaction with time changed dramatically. Realizing there is an end to each person's time affected the way he lived. And allowed him to deal a bit more honestly with serious issues such as death and pain and suffering.

One person who is mentioned multiple times is one of his grandmothers. Grandmother Buechner. She is imperturbable. She sits in her rocking chair and though all of life's storms come against her, she is still able to rock and continue on with life. Events take place that interrupt the lives of all those around her, but Buechner sees her (at least as a child) as a grandmother who is solid and unchanging. She may be affected, but not in such a way that her life must change dramatically. Interesting about that. I am unsure whether or not it is a good thing to be unaffected. I tend to think that if one does not feel the sorrows of life, one will not feel the joys of life. But without feeling there is less pain.

Title:	The Sacred Journey
Author:	Frederick Buechner
Date published:	1982
Genre:	autobiography, philosophy
Number of pages:	112

Read more...

read full post >

Flatland has only two dimensions, and they have no idea there are more dimensions which exist. Because of this, there are many elaborate rules and societal parameters (like any society), which help to make the setting believable. Very interesting connections to be made with our lives and dimensions that we are unaware of.

I have been trying to read this book for a few years, and finally realized that it is a story and then it became interesting enough to get through the first half of the book, which is largely explanation. Flatlanders see only lines, but have ways of feeling angles and seeing angles as well (due to fog helping so lines look like they are receding). The narrator receives a visit from a 3 dimensional sphere, but can only perceive him as a circle which can diminish and increase in size. The visitor can see hidden things and enter closed areas, and knows things he shouldn't know because of his multi-dimensionality. Finally, since the 2d narrator will not believe him, the visitor takes him into 3d spaceland.

The narrator grasps a large amount of truth, and takes it beyond what his teacher did – saying there must be many more dimensions if there are 1d and 0d places. (1d people have good hearing but cannot imagine life as more than sounds, while there is a being in 0d who loves himself and can imagine nothing outside himself, and worships himself because he knows nothing else.) There are some very interesting connections to be made with Christ entering our world and teaching us things we can't imagine possible. This is a wonderful book – worth ingesting slowly and processing well.

Title:		Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Author:		Abbot, Edwin A.
Date published:		1992 (originally published 1884)
Genre:		Science Fiction
Number of pages:		96
Notes:

Read more...