Nevertheless who wrote it, I enjoyed the book. The two spaces, Middles class neighborhood with typical characters and fairyland with its fairies and overlord balanced each other well enough for my taste. The Magical and the Realism was pleasantly combined with Shakespeare references and a coming of age story. Mack Street, the unlikely hero–a boy who was born an hour after conceived with a husband’s help and then taken away by a mysterious bag man–liberates the queen of the fairies with the help of his friends. As he stores all the positive energies from the dreams of almost everybody of the neighborhood he enjoys the support of all of them. I won’t give away more from the story, because the essence of this modern fairy tale is in its unfolding.

I do want to jot down the single sentence that remained with me beyond the book: “Wishes are the true elements underlying the universe.” This makes perfect sense within the context of the book, where it has a particular meaning, because wishes are stored (and often distorted) in a special way. But what can it mean to somebody who didn’t read the book?

I regret the above, because the book sounded exciting. I would have loved to follow a three or more generations of a Jewish Danish family around the world thoughout a long 20th century. But for me they were lost in the cavalcade.

I am grateful for having received an ARC. But I have to mention two physical characteristics of the book that hopefully will be corrected by the time of the final version. First of all the font was hard to read. The bulging letters tired my eyes fast and made it hard to follow the lines. Second, there were blank pages in the book with the text missing (61/62, 333/334). I know I was reading an “uncorrected proof” so these are not criticism for the final product.

Besides using sacred scriptures the argumentation is built around geography and playing with numbers. However the key concept is found on page 47, where the author introduces the three kind of measurements: the cubit, the handbreadth and the greater cubit. Mitchell identifies this last one, based on Ezekiel 40 as being the equivalent of six regular cubits. Then he goes in complex calculations of how big the Temple is and where it would be compared to the known streets and structures of Jerusalem if we use this measurement. Ezekiel 40 indeed describes a rod s being used to measure the outside of the Temple. However the rod is six cubit and six handwidth long, thus the basis of Michell’s calculations is incorrect. Furthermore that chapter, and specifically the measurement sections are far from being clear; includes words with unknown meanings and words which are often mistranslated. This is one reason I think Michell’s thesis stands on shaky ground.

The other is his circular logic. At the end of the book he concludes that the Temple is not just the whole of Jerusalem, but the lost tribes (who are prophecised to return to the Temple) will be the whole of humanity. Furthermore the Temple is not just the Temple of the three Abrahamic faiths, but because Golgotha had a pagan altar on it, it belongs to all faiths. For Mitchell paganism is “the classical or philosopher’s religion. Truth, wisdom, and knowledge (in descending order) are its ideals; it demands no artificial beliefs.” (page 63) This assertion is not supported by any evidence; i. e. it is the author’s belief. I believe this is one of the points he wanted to support with this book. Thus he had a conclusion first, around which he built an argumentation.

Michell also spends some time on explaining the duodecimal base system and its advantages compared to the decimal system. Again, he talks up the formal quite a bit, often without explaining the value statements. I recognize that my thinking is tainted by being brought up in the decimal system, but at least I am not saying it is better. It is easier to use, but I agree that where the 12 based systemis used (measuring angles and time) it makes sense too.

While I disagree with all of its conclusions, I really enjoyed reading this book. It made my mind work, taught me about numbers, the streets, buildings and history and Jerusalem and it had plenty of old drawings and maps, which I am a sucker of.

As this is one of the most studied novels in the history of modern fiction I don’t think I can add much to the established discourse. As an introduction let me just copy from the wikipedia entry:

The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859–1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of ’sensation novels’. The story can be considered an early example of detective fiction with the hero, ….A poor art master, Walter Hartright, is employed to teach two young women in Cumberland, and falls in love with one of them, Laura. His feelings are returned, but she is already engaged to another. They are parted and she marries, but she and Marian, her resourceful half-sister, are then caught up in her new husband’s plot to steal her fortune and identity. Laura is stripped of her name and money, and almost of her sanity, but is rescued by Marian and protected by the faithful Hartright. He and Marian battle to expose the fraud and reclaim Laura’s identity, fortune and position in society. Throughout the story they encounter a mysterious woman in white, whose own sad story seems entangled with those of Laura and her husband, and who plays a crucial role in the novel’s main events.

What I enjoyed the most was the contrast of the different perspectives The librivox version really brought their different sensibilities and personalities out. Hearing the voices made it easier to put yourself in any of the characters’ place. Sometimes it was comfortable, other times you had to recoil. But it was always interesting. I also enjoyed the slow flow of the narrative. The detailed descriptions of places, people and actions made me feel being there. I hope lots of people will rediscover this gem.

I enjoyed and was engaged with many of Card’s books in the past in a good way. But with this book I was engaged in a bad way. I had to force myself to read it through. His admiration of all things military and his right wing politics made it really hard not to throw the book at the wall. Sure, I know very little of the former, while, based on his afterward, the author did extensive studies and met with many military personnel before and during writing this book. But his adulation went overboard in my opinion. Everything that is civilian was negative in this book, while everything military was adored here, even if it was on the “wrong” side of the fictional war.

Regarding the politics, Scott makes a few fable attempts to create the illusion of balanced view. He wrote that it could have been the right and not the left who provoked the civil war, but in his book it just happens to be the left. In the afterworld he explains his analysis of the balanced state of affairs of today that includes fanatics on both sides. I agree with that statement,but not with his assessment that fanatics took hold of both sides to the same extent. From where I sit the right keeps moving to the right. While the left keeps moving to the center and not to the far-left. It is also hard to argue with somebody who categorically states “the Left has control of all the institutions of cultural power and prestige” (page 344). He is using this false argument to balance the fact that at the time of writing “the right controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency.”

As I am not much of a video game player I will most likely not play the “Shadow Complex” for which this book was a prequel. Furthermore I doubt I will want to work through the forthcoming sequel to the book itself. The reasons, beside the politics of the book and its focus on military culture, include the usual problems of weak female characters in Card’s works. In addition this feels like a rushed work, with several logical problems, that he avoided in the past.

The beauty of this book is the simplicity of the complexity, just like Kabbalah’s itself. Every element of the book is simple and complex at the same time. You can read it, just on the top level and get a straightforward romantic story of two intellectuals. Or you can dig deeper and excavate layers of meanings. This goes well with the tradition of the four layers of textual analysis in Jewish tradition: PaRDeS.

Asfar as I know this was the first original fiction written by Rabbi Kushner. He wrote plenty of books on Kabbalah and spirituality. (See his list of publications.) Being an expert and master of the topic he had no difficulties to infuse his first novel with lessons from this discipline. If his intenion was to teach Kabbalah to w ide range of people he found the best way to do so. From my perspective he is one of the mist authentic teachers of our times, who is driven by motives that I have more sympathy for than the Bergs’ or Laitman’s.

My first lesson was the diffusion of the idea that racism existed only one one side and one shape, along with the idea that people’s attitude can be changed via experience. The second lesson came, when I was about third way through the book. That’s when I started to read the “historical note” at the end of the book. I was curious to what extent the author made up the story and the characters and which part of it is actual historical truth. There I learned about the four major sources Turtledove used and how he worked their contradicting storylines into one coherent narrative. He even explained on what principles he based his decisions on which version to believe when. The principle was simple (consider the bias of the sources) the execution of integration was not.

Having described what I gained from the book maybe I should mention what it was about. It describes the siege, capture and demolition of Fort Pillow by Confederate soldiers in 1864. The characters include real, documented historical figures, mostly the higher ranks soldiers, and fictional privates. The story starts before the siege, introducing the era, the geography and the main players; goes through the various stages of the fight (most of the book is “war talk”) and concludes with the massacre of black and white Union soldiers. The people depicted are complex enough characters with conflicting values and thoughts to make it an interesting read beyond the history lessons.

The ten sessions on the CD (totaling 80 minutes) range from 15 to three minutes. Yes, in this decreasing order as the first session is the longest, the second one is the shortest and the rest is in between. (There are prompts in the book, telling you when to close the book and turn on the CD to meditate along with.) They are all spoken words by Cooper, there is no music. “Spoken word” is not best expression to describe them, as he sings, hums, resonates, vibrates, sooths and guides you along the sessions. It is as if you’d have your personal meditation guru in your living room. Along with the echo. This was not a compliment: I found his voice harmonic but the recording sounds like it was done in a too large empty chamber, making it harder to feel intimate with the voice.

The book is short but beautifully designed. Following the five page introduction comes the 8 main chapters on 83 pages. The volumes is rounded up with an eight page appendix (on sounds, breathing techniques and practices) and a single page about the author. I found the historical perspective on the development of ecstatic Kabbalah in the introduction providing a useful framework for the rest of the book. In the first chapter Cooper defined, compared and contrasted of enlightenment and ecstasy. Next he takes on Kabbalah itself: “ a collection of methods and teachings that are used in an attempt to understand the nature of the universe.” It was refreshing to discover that this understanding very much coincides with mine. Chapter four is devoted to one of my favorite kabbalists, the de facto founder of ecstatic Kabbalah: Abraham Abulafia. (We consider him the “de facto” founder as the works of others of his and previous eras who might have developed similar techniques were lost.) Chapter four we learn (and start using) Abulafia’s practices. In chapter five comes a favorite topic of many kabbalists and non-kabbalists: the names of God (and how they can be utilized through chanting). Presence” the topic of the next chapter may be familiar for those who are familiar with the Buddhist mindfulness concept. But here we go through a six phased approach to gain a deeper sense of our own presence. Next we depersonalize ourselves by trying to see through God’s eyes. In the final chapter the thirteen attributes of God play the central focal point for the spiritual exercises.

I am still more interested in academic/scholarly Kabbalah than practical or meditational. But for those who are looking for a practice that can help them this seems a wonderful resource. Cannot speak from first hand (or is it first breath) experience though. But even for academic perspective this is a useful book of resources on the topic.

It is indeed an alphabetical dictionary of 99 terms. Most of them are physical illnesses, diseases body parts or conditions. Everything from asthma, through, coughing, epilepsy, malaria… down to wounds. They range from the practical that has nothing to do with Kabbalah. (E.g. “to be rid of fleas, put kerosene or ox gall mixed with strong vinegar in the places where they hide.”page 107) to the more dubious (e.g. “for the sting of a bee or fly there ie one remedy – catching the stinger and smearing it over its sting”page 77). Many of the headings have subheadings; e.g. animals, dream-signs elements, food, trees have their own listings.

These are certainly interesting readings, but their connection to Kabbala is not explained in any detail and often seem to be extrapolation of medieval superstition. I am resigned to treat them as such and having a hard time to believe that anybody actually takes them to heart in today’s medically advanced world. I am not saying that medical science has the answers for every cures, far from it, but doubt that “cooked pears or fresh myrtle fruits are a remedy for hernia.” (page 166) Folk medicine can be great and am sure often based on observations, but doubt that everything in this book is listed would work.

The first four sections of the book cover the tree of life and its sefirot, numerology, the planets of our solar system and the 12 zodiac signs. Sefirot section follows the more known attributes for each, although the association with biblical figures and psychological tendencies are not as often cited as this book suggests. The numerology section also deviates form the well-known schema in the sense that decided only the numbers between 0 and 10 count and number 13. While most numerological works I am familiar with associate every letter of the full Hebrew alphabet with a numerical value and derive their meanings based on these values. The description of the solar system directly correlates each planet with one of the sefirot and draws conclusions accordingly. I won’t comment on the zodiac signs as I am not familiar enough with the concept of astrology.

Minor pet peeeve: I wish authors would be consistent with the spelling of words in their works. I recognize that Kabbala is the transliteration of a Hebrew word, but would have been nice to settle on one or two b-s in it (or “h” at the end or not) and stick to the decision. Yedidya didn’t apply this simple editing concept.

The quality of the illustrations vary. The dictionary, where illustrations would be the most useful has none. The usual three-prong, symbolic tree-of-life with its 10+1 sefira is repeated on three pages (10, 29, 160) throughout the book. Plus we see it on page seven drawn over a human body. On page 25, 39 and 61 there are three more illustrations that seem to be bad reproductions from Halevi’s Kabbalah picture book.

The back cover says, “in this book we have documented change in behaviors and perception…” They did no such things. But the quotes goes on: “collected spells and amulets, dream interpretations, atsrology and starsigns that relate to the worries and problems of every day life.” This they sure did without reasonable explanation of whether they intended is a practical guide or study of folk lore. The back cover seems to suggest the former. All I can say it will not guide my life.