Homecoming - by: Cynthia Voight (1981)

Fiction. The story of four children who are abandoned in a mall parking lot by their mother and learn to fend for themselves as they search out on their own for someplace to call home.

As I read, I kept thinking, no siblings would ever love each other like these four do, not in the real world. But that's just my old "experience" talking. I never saw anything resembling this kind of sibling love in my own childhood, but when I saw it for the first time in adult life, it changed me for ever. It was this kind of love that Shasta had for her brother Dylan (and all of her brothers for that matter) and that caused me to stay my hand when it came time to kill her (note: Dylan loved Shasta as well, but I was not yet ready to accept this truth before I murdered him).

I teared up at the end of this book (even though I tried really hard not to).

2012: The War For Souls - by: Whitley Strieber (2007)

Science Fiction: Garbage. The only real surprise about this book is that I actually read the whole thing without intellectually puking (opps, I just did).

The Other Brain: The Scientific and Medical Breakthroughs That Will Heal Our Brains and Revolutionize Our Health - by: R. Douglas Fields, PH.D. (2009)

This was a very interesting book for me. It's about the current research into how the brain works. It expounds on new research that makes the old neuron model of the brain, that we all learned in high school, outdated.

It seems that neurons aren't the prime movers behind intelligence after all. Only 15% of the cells in our brains are neurons, the rest (85%)were previously ignored by neuroscientists as purely structural and support for the neurons. But the latest research shows that these glial ("glue") cells not only listen in on everything the neurons are doing, but they play a major role in determining what the neurons do (i.e. how they connect to each other, when and how often they fire, etc...).

This fascinates me because it fits perfectly with my own view of intelligence being a social phenomenon more than a logical one. The glia cells in our brains are like "little blue men" who make up a society that communicates over long distances using the neurons. It's like the glia are "people", and the neurons are their "Internet". Dr. Fields didn't go so far as to put it that way, but I think it makes perfect sense to do so based on everything else he says in this book.

Very fascinating indeed!

5 Very Good Reasons To Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth - by: Matthew Inman (2011)

I found this book on the prison bookcart and grabbed it thinking it'd be good for a chuckle; it wasn't. It's just a book of tacky cartoons that would hardly impress a three-year-old, though judging by the language used it was meant for adults. The popularity of a book like this, and the Website it was taken from, is frightening.

Kundalin: The Evolutionary Energy in Man - by: Gopi Krishna (1967), With Psychological Commentary - by: James Hillman (1970)

An interesting account of the author's own unexpected incounter with "Kundalini" energy (i.e. pure conscious energy). I especially appreciated the psychological commentary which were decidedly Jungian. These comments helped to bring the author's experiences into a more "Western" light of understanding.

Memories, Dreams, Reflections - by: C. G. Jung (1961, 1989) Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston

When I found out (just recently) that Jung had written a memoir just before he died, I asked for a copy to be sent in to me so I could read it. Now, having done so, Jung is more of a hero in my eyes than ever. Of all the philosophers I have ever read (many), though Jung himself would probably choke if someone called him a philosopher to his face, I have found the fewest departures in Jungs thoughts from my own (though there are one or two). I would almost say I love this man, as a historical figure, which I have never said about anyone else. I can certainly identify with him.

Openness Mind: Self-Knowledge and Inner Peace Through Meditation - by: Tarthang Tulku (1978, 1990)

I got this book to help with my meditation in relation to lucid dreaming. I was surprised to find it to be one of the best books on meditation I have ever read (though I haven't read many).