Reading
Windmills of Change and Hope in Malawi
Follow this link to an interesting story about William Kamkwamba. At age fourteen, barred from school for lack of money for tuition, and bent upon making a better life for his family, he learned how to make a windmill from looking at books in the library, and then made one, using discarded junk and jury-rigged tools. At first his neighbors laughed, but then they were amazed to hear the radio powered by his creation. This is an inspirational story, and includes text and video. I saw it first on Gizmodo.com . WNG
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
John Wood was a well placed executive with Microsoft on vacation in Nepal when a man made a request of him that changed his life. The headmaster of a small school he visited on his trek said to him, “Perhaps, sir, one day you will come back with books.” This started Wood on a quest that would lead to the founding of Room to Read and the discovery of his true vocation. For those interested in business, the book offers wonderful insights into the work style of Bill Gates and Steve Balmer. Wood also explains why entrepreneurs cannot afford to think small. As one advisor said to him, “You, John Wood, can’t scale. Only organizations can scale.” That means leaders must think great thoughts, and leave it to their organizations to scale them back only when absolutely necessary. There are enough governors on the bus of life, dynamic leaders can’t afford to be their own governor. Since launching Room to Read, John Wood has been instrumental is establishing 7,000 libaries in the developing world. The book is available in paperback from Harper Collins. Visit the Room to Read website by clicking on one of the links. By the book at Amazon
A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo
On March 8, 1965, as a 2nd Lieutenant of Marines, Philip Caputo landed at Danang with a battalion of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, the first U.S. combat unit sent to Vietnam. He was evacuated as a journalist from Hanoi in April of 1975 on one of the last helicopters to carry U.S. personnel to safety.
The Highest Treason
The action in the play “Murder in the Cathedral” by T.S. Elliot takes place just before the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1160 to 1170 AD. Four tempters offer scenarios that parallel the Temptations of Christ. The first three tempters are priests, the fourth may be the devil himself.
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The Gifts of the Jews by Thomas Cahill
Subtitle: “How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels.” This is my least favorite Thomas Cahill book. I thought it inferior to The Desire of the Everlasting Hills and to How the Irish Saved Civilization. For my taste, Cahill spent a little bit too much space just quoting passages and retelling stories from the Jewish Bible, our Christian Old Testament. Of course, he does manage to quote some key passages, and though he sometimes seems bent upon reducing the content of the faith tradition just for the sake of reduction, he also comes up with some observations that unbelief must wrestle with before it can callously reject the narratives of the Jews as just one more attempt alongside all others by an ancient people to understand their world.
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