Tuesday, October 30, 2007

BOOKS THAT CAN CHANGE LIVES


What a glorious fall day today! This is the kind of day everyone wants to be a mailman. Sunny and warm with a light breeze carrying the earthy scent of fallen leaves. A time of the season that comes and goes all too quickly. Living in the country has its definite advantages. At least for those who just let the leaves fall, like me, and don't worry too much about getting them raked up. What's the hurry? They'll be gone all too soon anyway. Might as well just let the dog enjoy rolling in them while he still can, and maybe take a roll or two myself.

I've been listening to one of the best audio books I've heard in a long time: Books that Made History: Books That Can Change Lives. Put out by the Teaching Company, I request that my local library buy these books, and they usually do.

The professor who delivers the lectures, in all of the Teaching Company offerings, is the best teacher they can find in that particular subject. They cover every subject imaginable, but this particular book review, from the Bible to Winston Churchill to 1984 by George Orwell, is one of the best I've heard to date. For instance, the professor compares in one series of lectures, Abe Lincoln to Pericles of 5th century BC Athens... illuminating!

We exercise so that our mind and body can better enjoy and cope with the beauties and challenges of life. After all, I am virtually certain that both Pericles and Socrates practiced isometrics as part of their training as "citizen soldiers"!

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