The Age of Insecurity by Astra Taylor - Non-fiction

The Age of Insecurity by Astra Taylor

Source: CBC Books · Posted: Aug 20, 2023 | Last Updated: October 19, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-age-of-insecurity-by-astra-taylor-1.6897488

A genre-bending book that explores insecurity

These days, everyone feels insecure. We are financially stressed and emotionally overwhelmed. The status quo isn't working for anyone, even those who appear to have it all. What is going on?

In this urgent cultural diagnosis, author and activist Astra Taylor exposes how seemingly disparate crises—rising inequality and declining mental health, the ecological emergency, and the threat of authoritarianism—originate from a social order built on insecurity. From home ownership and education to the wellness industry and policing, many of the institutions and systems that promise to make us more secure actually undermine us.

Mixing social critique, memoir, history, political analysis, and philosophy, this genre-bending book rethinks both insecurity and security from the ground up. By facing our existential insecurity and embracing our vulnerability, Taylor argues, we can begin to develop more caring, inclusive, and sustainable forms of security to help us better weather the challenges ahead. The Age of Insecurity will transform how you understand yourself and society—while illuminating a path toward meaningful change. 

Personal Commentary: The Age of Insecurity enables the reader to comprehend the philosophical and natural understanding of a sense of insecurity in today’s world.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: Fiction

This summary is from the following link on the Goodreads web site:  

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58784475-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow

In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends intimate since childhood, borrow money, beg favours, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.

Personal Commentary: This novel outlines the relationship between two friends as they create and develop a video game. It describes the emotional connection between them. Apart from being in love with each other this couple is determined to succeed in this venture.

The Wayfinders by Wade Davis - The CBC Massey Lecture Series

Every culture is a unique answer to a fundamental question: What does it mean to be human and alive? In The Wayfinders, renowned anthropologist, winner of the prestigious Samuel Johnson Prize, and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis leads us on a thrilling journey to celebrate the wisdom of the world's indigenous cultures.

In Polynesia, we set sail with navigators whose ancestors settled the Pacific ten centuries before Christ. In the Amazon we meet the descendants of a true lost civilization, the Peoples of the Anaconda. In the Andes, we discover that the earth is alive, while in Australia we experience Dreamtime, the all-embracing philosophy of the first humans to walk out of Africa. We then travel to Nepal, where we encounter a wisdom hero, a Bodhisattva, who emerges from forty-five years of Buddhist retreat and solitude. And finally, we settle in Borneo, where the last rainforest nomads struggle to survive.

Understanding the lessons of this journey will be our mission for the next century. For at risk is the human legacy -- a vast archive of knowledge and expertise, a catalogue of the imagination. Rediscovering a new appreciation for the diversity of the human spirit, as expressed by culture, is among the central challenges of our time.

Source: https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-wayfinders?srsltid=AfmBOoqcGG4dDdb6LSokZUdJ4XoYjBDMG8L3ARxa32xCJJUq2wqtTDVq

Personal Commentary: It was a fascinating and very interesting lecture presented by Wade Davis on the CBC Ideas program, Radio One.  It left a long-lasting impact with much to learn and adapt to being mindful of the kind of legacy we leave for future generations. 

Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery of the Human Heart: Play at Shaw Festival

GREAT THEATRE IN THE HEART OF NIAGARA WINE COUNTRY!

Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. 

Date: Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Play Title: Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery of the Human Heart

Director's Note:

Dark business, unhappy coincidences, suspicious circumstances - these are the things that seem to intrigue Sherlock Holmes and occupy his great mind. In truth, however, there is only one mystery that consistently compels Sherlock into action, and that is the mystery of the human condition. Perhaps this is because not even the master of deduction can step outside of his existence and analyze it, as his direct involvement is an essential precondition.

Holmes has a set of techniques he uses to reduce mysteries into a series of solvable problems. When attempting to utilize these methods to demystify, quantify and categorize a mystery as complex as human nature, however, he is inevitably left with much that is inexplicable.

 

Perhaps one day an author or playwright will write a Sherlock adventure that sees Holmes recognize and accept that mystery is a vital part of human existence. Until then we will continue to enjoy seeing our hero vanquishing the bad guys, even as he battles. 

Personal Commentary:  It was a play that brought many insightful thoughts about human behaviour and the varied interactions with each other. It was a very good learning experience that was beautifully portrayed by the cast of the play.

Most Famous Socrates' Quotes

Even if you’re not a philosophy enthusiast, you are sure to have encountered some of Socrates’ most famous quotes throughout your life. His nuggets of wisdom have stood the test of time and still offer inspiration to people today.

As a follower of Socrates' philosophy, I try to live by his wise quotes and sayings.  Below are ten of my favourite Socrates' quotes:

1.  “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

2. “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

3. “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” 

4. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”

 
5. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

6. “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” 

7.  “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”

8.  “To find yourself, think for yourself.”

9.   “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

10.  "He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like              to have."

Source:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/275648.Socrates

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins - Fiction

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - A Hunger Games story by Suzanne Collins. She created this story in a great society of injustice.  Hence there are many injustices entwined in the story. 

As the tenth annual Hunger Games begins, Coriolanus Snow prepares to do his best to win. But he has been given charge of the female, Lucy Gray Baird from District 12. Snow feels helpless as this is a challenging task and all the odds are against him.

The story unravels through the interactions between Baird and Snow.  Their preparations are uncovered to illustrate the difficulty of this challenge for Snow.  However, he cannot and will not surrender.  They develop a romantic relationship.  

It is a fascinating depiction of what can happen within a group when faced with fierce competition from fellow companions.  

The Secret Garden - A Play at Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada

On July 28, 2024, I went to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Shaw Festival.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret Garden at the Royal George Theatre. 

Play Description: Mary Lennox is a selfish, spoiled ten-year-old whose life takes a turn for the worse after she is left orphaned in India. Forced to move in with her reclusive uncle in Yorkshire, she is lonely and miserable, until she discovers a secret garden that's been locked away for years. 

As she tends to the dormant roses and overgrown vines, she soon finds that the flowers are not the only things that are beginning to bloom  

The Secret Garden is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved children's novel. This enchanting story explores the theme of finding your true nature where you least expect it. 

Personal Commentary: The Secret Garden was a very pleasant experience with valuable lessons learnt from a young girl who had to find the joy in living and loving every minute of it through her time tending to the various flora and fauna in the garden.