Isaac Garcia's Blog

Ender's Game as Porn

I read Ender's Game when I was in the 5th or 6th grade.  To date, it has always stood out as one of my favorite books of all time - still. 

Now, I learn that it has been classified as pornography.

Kurt Vonnegut: Founder of Bokonism Dies

I was first exposed to Vonnegut in high school when Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle were both required reading for 11th Grade English. 

Even at a young age - I stood in awe of Vonnegut's biting and scathing social commentary; but what I appreciated most about being exposed to Vonnegut was the realization that great literature can be cynical, bitter, mean-spirited, witty and absurd - and still be great.  I was also excited to be reading an author who was still alive!  Until then, my expectation of great literature was restricted to dead people. 

Thanks to Kurt I became so interested in literature that I went on to study it in college and grad school.  I also learned to appreciate Bokonism, a religion practiced by characters in Cat's Cradle.

If you are not familiar with Bokonism, its core tenants can be summed into the following statement:

"All the true things I am about to tell you are all shameless lies. . . "

The Wikipedia has a nice summation as well:

"The foundation of Bokonism is that the religion, including its texts, is formed entirely of lies; however, if you believe and adhere to these lies, you will live a happy life."

And for any of you with a foot fetish - Bokonism teaches that the primary way to "connect with another person's soul" is by sitting across from each other and pressing the sole's of each other's feet together.

Kurt Vonnegut is gone.

Confirmation That the Gospel of Judas is Not News

Associated Press released an article today that confirms why the Gospel of Judas is not news.

Below are the key excerpts [my emphasis in bold]:

"The Amazing journey of "The Gospel of Judas'' from an Egyptian cave - replete with smuggling and thievery - to bookshelves around the world makes a great yarn.

[James] Robinson, who has been called America's foremost expert on ancient Coptic texts, said he sees it another way. He said that the gospel, recorded on papyrus leaves in the Coptic language, is an authentic second-century document but contains no new information about what happened to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the thirty pieces of silver given as blood money or the betraying kiss.

Robinson, who taught at the Claremont Graduate University, said the splashy release sensationalized the document far beyond its real importance. The release, he said, is part of a massive marketing campaign designed to maximize profits on a discovery that will have little effect on the way society sees Judas.

Swiss owners -- who had difficulty selling the document itself to antiquities dealers because international law frowns on selling smuggled discoveries -- needed another plan, Robinson said.

They lit upon the idea of selling the (publication rights). The National Geographic Society bit hook, line and sinker to have exclusive rights to publish (on) the Easter season,'' he said." They sold the public a bill of goods.''

I'd summarize by saying that National Geographic Society has proven itself to be fodder for the uneducated (and educated) lemmings who are willing to believe anything they read without extending any effort to research facts or history.

The Gospel of Judas and Why It's Not News

On Thursday, April 6th, the New York Times released a story that rippled through the newswires with quick velocity.  In addition to seeing it on the New York Times pages, it was one of the most popularly tagged articles/webpages on Delicious, made it to the Drudge Report as well as a plethora of other news outlets. 

Belief and Religion aside, what I found most interesting was the tone in which virtually every article was written in.  It seemed that most of the reports were written with an extreme sense of dire for the Christian faith.  As if western religion has never considered or taken into account Gnostic philosophy or "heresy."  As if, "aha!  What are you Bible thumpers going to believe now?!"  It's so tiring.

(and for the record, I get just as "tired" when I hear a Creationist unloose a ridiculous argument to an Evolutionist in an attempt to destroy their faith, er, argument.  Just let it go.)

But what confounds me even more..and why I'm writing about this...is Why is this being discussed and made such a Big Deal NOW?  And why wait to 'release' this old story only when its in conjunction with a book, a museum tour, the front page of National Geographic and a full on media blitz?

The manuscripts weren't discovered yesterday, last week, last month or even last year.  The Gospel of Judas as a manuscript was discovered in the early 1970s! (maybe even as early as the 1950s)   

Its even stated so in the New York Times:

Discovered in the 1970's in a cavern near El Minya, Egypt, the document circulated for years among antiquities dealers in Egypt, then Europe and finally in the United States.  It moldered in a safe-deposit box at a bank in Hicksville, NY, for 16 years before being bought in 2000 by a Zurich dealer, Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos.  The manuscript was given the name Codex Tchacos. 

This document has been passed around more than a Christmas Fruit Cake, and, "no one has heard of it?"

Oddly enough, Ted Waitt, the founder of Gateway Computers, donated $1 million to the Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery to restore and preserve the manuscript and make it available to the public.  Ted Waitt?

Whether you are a gnostic, agnostic, Jew or Christian....this is an interesting and fascinating historical find, no doubt.

My point is that this isn't "news," this is "olds."  There is nothing new about this story or the find.

David Horowitz - "The End of Time"

I'm reading "The End of Time" - David Horowitz lyrical account of dealing with personal tragedy and the meaning of death. I really liked this line. 

"As an agnostic, I do not actually know whether the pictures stop any more than the faithful know that they don't.  This uncertainty about our end is the one fact that links us more than any other.  Pitiful ignorance about what matters most is the humility that unites us, doubters and believers alike.  This is our humanity:  Not to know who we are or what we will become."

Sounds an awful like Hamlet:

"But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,"

Regardless of your politics or beliefs, death becomes us all.

Book Review: "The Long Goodbye"

Very Highly Recommended

The Long Goodbye is my first exposure to Raymond Chandler.  Even though I'd never read any of his works before, it felt like I'd been reading his novels for years.  The mood and tone of American detective fiction is deeply ingrained in the American psyche of pop culture (whether we realize it or not).  I've been a big fan of Lawrence Block's New York detective fiction and of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series for years and have grown to love the archetype of the tough detective.   What I didn't realize, though, is how influenced they both were by Raymond Chandler.  While each author carry their own weight in their own right, the Chandler influence is undeniable. 

If you've never heard of Chandler or his novels, you're probably aware of the films made from his novels that were made popular in the 40s by Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum and Lauren Bacall ("The Big Sleep" or "Farewell My Lovely.")

The novel is written in the tradition of the hardboiled detective fiction that we are all already familiar with.  You know, the existential misogynistic private detective, the astonishingly beautiful woman, the very brutal murder, the dirty cops, the annoying alcoholic, the slimey district attorney and the mega-rich guy who pulls the strings.  All set to a Hollywood backdrop.  (Its kind of neat when someone writes about a detective snooping around in your neighborhood.  The private detective visits Pasadena and Altadena, where I live, several times throughout the novel.)

Philip Marlowe, the detective, is a terrific character.  He also embodies what many women hate (and many men and women love) about men in the 1940s and 1950s.  He is the strong, silent type of guy.  The cops beat him up, but he never gives up his friends or the story.  He drinks hard, when necessary.  He doesn't drink, when necessary.  He has soft spots for certain people (sometimes inexplicably) and grudges for others.  He'll just grab a women and kiss her in the middle of sentence and he'll respectfully take the slap for it.  He is extremely loyal, to himself, always obeys his conscience, answers to no one but himself and doesn't ever look to the past.  He lives in the moment.  Women want him. Men want to be him. 

Philip Marlow embodies the French Existential characters of Camus and the philosophies of Sartre.  Like Camus' anti-hero in "The Stranger," Marlowe doesn't always tell us WHY he is doing something except for the reason that he wants to do it.  Often times, there is no moral or civil code telling him what to do, he just does it.  That might portray him as cold and insensitive at times.....and warm and fuzzy at other times.  The truth of it is......he is all of those things.  He lives in the present, and isn't concerned with conforming him actions to a societal stereotype or description. 

He is Philip Marlowe, private detective.  He works alone.  Is loyal only to himself.  Does what he wants. What else do you need to know?

The novel is beautifully written, classic detective fiction.  I can't recommend this book enough.

Unfortunately for us, though, Chandler only wrote 8 novels during his career. 

Book Review: Touching the Void

Highly Recommended

Touching the Void is the most harrowing book I've ever read.  The story is horrific. 

The book recounts the nightmare that Joe Simpson and Simon Yates experienced when they climbed the not-yet-conquered West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes.

After reaching the summit on the 3rd day, Joe breaks his leg on a nasty fall as they start their descent down the mountain. For all sakes and purposes, a broken leg at 6,000 meters is a death sentence.  In a forced fit of compassion, his climbing partner Simon decides to lower Joe down the vertical face of the mountain.  During the vertical descent, due to extenuating circumstances (to put it lightly) Simon is forced to cut the rope holding Joe, letting him drop more than 100 feet into a white cloud of mist and snow.  Somehow, Joe survives the fall and begins a three day crawl to the base camp, miles away.

Amazingly, both men survive and the book recounts the details from both Joe's and Simon's perspectives to yield a swirl of emotions, friendship, betrayal, physical endurance and inner strength that goes beyond comprehension.

The book was written with more technical jargon about mountain climbing than I expected, but the author provides a glossary at the back of the book that was helpful.  For the most part, though, the technicalities of what a "belay" or a "fluting" is doesn't matter and the book still reads well.  The author writes candidly and with stark honesty about his emotions citing child-like symptoms of panic several times through-out the excursion.  I suppose if I were dangling by a rope in the midst of a white-out with no idea 'how far I might fall through the clouds (the void) below,' I believe that I, too, would be bawling like a child.

While it may sound as if I just spoiled the book by giving away the plot in my synopsis......I haven't. I knew the outcome of the book from the beginning and I was still enthralled and on the edge of my seat throughout.  Surprisingly, the book's strength isn't the plot, rather its the experience that the reader shares when each of the climbers are forced with life and death decisions (which happens several times during the climb).  The decisions that each of them make are a combination of being quick and instinctive and being slow and gradual.  Some decisions occur immediately, with almost no consideration...(cut the rope) while others occur gradually over a period of hours or days (keep moving or I'm gonna die).

One thing that really stood out for me was Joe repeatedly describing an inner voice that kept him going.  The inner voice acted like a drill sargeant that kept him awake and urged him to keep crawling to his destination.  In our own experiences, I believe that the inner voice speaks loudest to us during times of stress; although, I believe the inner voice is always there.  The inner voice is our instincts, our gut, our intuition.  The inner voice is 'the little man' that knows what to do when we are forced with a decision, whether its between life and death or 'paper or plastic.' 

I find it fascinating that our inner voice is more oft right, than wrong.  I think we would all make better decisions if we cultivated our inner voice a bit more.  Particularly in my business life, I've learned to listen to my gut more and more.  I've come to believe in my intuition and learned to trust my instincts.  Sure, my instincts have gotten me in trouble before.  And my intuition has been wrong on several occasions, but for the most part.....when I'm unsure about something....or 'on the fence about what to do' my gut is usually right. Plus, even if you are wrong, the fact that you 'went with your gut' usually balances the negative outcome of your decision.  In the end, you'll feel better because the decision felt right.  Rarely is a gut instinct a compromised decision; its usually a true reflection of who you really are.

No, I haven't been in a life and death situation quite like Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, but I hope that if such an event does arise, that I will continue to trust my gut and listen to the inner voice. After all, there must be a reason why Jack Welch titled his book "Straight from the Gut" and why Cosmo Kramer declares that "the little man knows all!"

What I particularly liked about the book was its ability to force the reader into asking questions like,

What would I do alone on a mountain in a cave?

Would I lower someone else down a vertical face?

Would I have cut the rope?

The book was recently made into a movie/documentary that I plan on watching very soon (review to follow).