Permanent Record by Edward Snowden: Non-fiction

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.

In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. 

Six years later, Snowden reveals for the first time how he helped build this system and why he was motivated to expose it.

Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online. This man became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candour, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

Source: https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/permanent-record/9781250772909.html?searchType=products&searchTerm=Permanent%20

Personal Commentary: The audio version of the non-fictional story entitled Permanent Record is a written evidence of Snowden's life while working for the United States government.  It is a stunning exposé of how he implemented a system to track people and then eventually brought the system down.

FDR Drive: A Crime Novel by James Comey

James Comey held several posts as Assistant Attorney General to the Attorney General and FBI Director under different American Presidents. 

After a stint in the private sector, working at the largest hedge fund in the world, Nora Carleton has returned to her former role as a New York City federal prosecutor. And she's arrived just in time to face one of the most dangerous domestic terror attacks in the history of the city. 

A threat is building in the city, with far-right extremism powered by internet demagogues and funded by shadowy organizations. 

Together with legendary investigator Benny Dugan and aided by colleagues at the FBI, Nora builds a case against the key players in this burgeoning movement, arguing before a jury that some speech is actually a deadly crime. But the menace taking root is far bigger than any courtroom, and as the militants target an upcoming United Nations rally, Nora and her team must race to disrupt the plans and minimize casualties. 

At once a fast-paced legal thriller and a close look at the very real perils of political extremism, FDR Drive harnesses former FBI director James Comey's life experience to tell an authentic and compelling narrative that listeners won't soon forget.

Source: Publisher: Highbridge Audio

Personal Commentary: FDR Drive by James Comey is a fascinating and revealing novel of life in the Attorney General's office of America. This is a one-person's narrative of the meanderings of working in the Attorney General's Office in America. 

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she recognizes that plants and animals are our oldest teachers.

In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on "a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Source: https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/braiding-sweetgrass-indigenous-wisdom-scientific-knowledge-and-the-teachings-of-plants/9781571313560.html?searchType=products&searchTerm=Braiding%20for%20

Personal Commentary: Braiding Sweetgrass is a powerful story that provides insights into the lifestyle of the indigenous people; their connection to nature, how to give and take from nature. Yet through this connection learn to take care of nature just as nature does so by providing humankind with an abundance of resources. 

Theatre Production: Made in Italy--Created and Performed by Farren Timoteo

On Saturday, June 7, 2025, I attended a performance by Farren Timoteo. It was held at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The show is entitled MADE IN ITALY.  It is about an Italian teenager growing up in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, in the 1970s, caught between two worlds and determined to make his mark. This tour-de-force show is packed with disco, fantastic singing and a host of hilarious characters. Winner of the Sterling Award (Edmonton), Jessie Award (Vancouver) and Betty Mitchell Award (Calgary) for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Comedy, as well as the Calgary Theatre Critic's Award for Outstanding Performance in a One-Person Show, this is a delightful, heartfelt coming of age story about a kid with the heart of Rocky Balboa and the moves (and hair!) of John Travolta.  

Source: https://www.mirvish.com/shows/made-in-italy

Below is a description from the Playwright's Notes: 

There was a room in my grandparents' house that was strictly off-limits: the dining room. Of course, we had a smaller dinner table in the kitchen where we gathered for most of our ordinary meals, but the dining room was different. This was where we welcomed mass gatherings of family and community for extraordinary dinners and celebrations.

It was a sacred space. My Grandmother(whom I called, simply, "Ma") kept it perpetually spotless. Apart from those gatherings, I could only observe the dining room from the threshold of an entrance leading away from the kitchen. 

It was not to be disturbed, which, of course, gave enormous significance. As a child, I'd stand safely on the acceptable side of its border and take it in: A long shining wooden table perched steadfastly over a golden rug. At one end, an oaken cabinet with glass doors, behind which my Grandmother kept fine China and glittering Swarovski animals. At the other end,  a living room is designated for after-dinner lounging. Even the smallest step into this restricted space might tussle the rug just so, revealing my trespass. So, l'd wait impatiently for those nights when she'd welcome us into this forbidden room to serve us a feast she'd spent all day preparing. 

As a gift from the heart, I wrote this play to recreate the tradition of sharing and celebrate the bond we form when we enter a sacred space together, creating lasting memories around wine and food. 

                

Personal Commentary: The show, Made in Italy, was a fun-filled two hours of listening, laughing and engaging with the playwright and performer.  It was a memorable afternoon. 

Mind Games by William Deverell - Fiction

This novel,  Mind Games by William Deverell, is a psychological thriller. It is set in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The main character is Dr. Tim Dare, a forensic psychiatrist. 

This story unravels on the streets and in the courtrooms. Dr. Dare's  personal life is chaotic--his wife has left him to "find herself." And his mother is sued by a small-town mayor over a mystery novel--it is a libel case. 

Apart from these personal issues, he has been assigned to monitor a man released from a psychiatric hospital who, in his judgment, is a psychopathic murderer.  His work performance lacks the due diligence required to deal with his clients.  He has misplaced a file and has to report to the disciplinary committee. Another client is engaging in conversation that appears to illustrate romantic feelings toward him, while another is threatening to kill him.

  

These issues, physically and emotionally, affect him. He needs to see a psychiatrist himself. A colleague guides him, and he slowly learns to face these issues. 

Source: https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/mind-games/9781770416451.html

Personal Commentary:  Mind Games is an intriguing novel. It brings in family interactions interspersed with legal nuances that appear to cause some distress to the main character in this novel. 

Paul Simon In Concert - Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St., Toronto

                                                                                                                  

                                                                                           

On Thursday, May 29, 2025, I attended the Paul Simon Concert.  He performed at Massey Hall, part of the Massey Hall complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The first set was themed on reflection and spirituality. Seven new songs that were Simon's interpretation of these themes. This enabled me to enhance my thoughts on these themes. It was enlightening!

The second set consisted of his usual hit songs that the audience, including me, were very familiar with. There was significant interaction from the audience during this set.

He told stories and sang. It was a wondrous two hours of listening and watching Simon perform. 

No photographs were allowed, as requested by Paul Simon. 

Below is a brief description of his career sourced from:

 https://www.paulsimon.com/about/

Paul Simon is a Songwriter, Recording Artist, and Philanthropist.

During his distinguished career spanning seven decades, musician Paul Simon has produced an unparalleled body of work, including timeless masterpieces such as Bridge Over Troubled Water, Sounds of Silence, and Graceland. 

Venerated as one of the greatest songwriters of all time and “popular music’s premier poet of the human condition,” Simon has received 16 Grammy Awards. He has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice. He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honours, and was presented the Library of Congress’ inaugural Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture.

Value(s): Building a Better World for All by Mark Carney

A bold argument by the Prime Minister of Canada and former bank governor on the radical, foundational change that is required if we are to build an economy and society based not on market values but on human values.

Our world is full of fault lines—growing inequality in income and opportunity, systemic racism, health and economic crises from a global pandemic, mistrust of experts, the existential threat of climate change, deep threats to employment in a digital economy with robotics on the rise. Mark Carney argues that these fundamental problems and others like them stem from a common crisis in values. Drawing on the turmoil of the past decade, he shows how "market economies" have evolved into "market societies" where price determines the value of everything.

When we consider what we, as individuals, value most highly, we might list fairness, health, the protection of our rights, economic security from poverty, the preservation of natural diversity, and the conservation of resources and beauty. The tragedy is, these things that we hold dearest are too often the casualties of our twenty-first-century world, where they ought to be our bedrock.

In this profoundly important book, Mark Carney offers a vision of a more humane society and a practical manifesto for getting there. At the heart of every chapter is the reform of our infrastructure to make things better and fairer, with outlines of wholly new ideas that can restructure society and enshrine our human values at the core of all that we build for our children and grandchildren.

Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/669023/values-by-mark-carney/978077105157.

Personal Commentary: Value(s) Building a Better World for All by Mark Carney is a non-fiction book that was published in November 2022. Three years later, in 2025, he entered the political arena with the Liberal Party of Canada and assumed the role of Prime Minister of Canada. Soon after he assumed this role, the Hon. Prime Minister Carney called an election to get the support of Canadians. The Liberal Party of Canada won a minority government.