What's being read

I'm a real kindle fan, and not only because it permits traveling light. Still, when we headed out here there were some books that we wanted to bring along that weren't available on kindle. So some modest portion of our massive over-weight charge was for a little library of mostly professional books. But a massive portion of that modest library is "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", a 1200-page stunner of a doorstop that Clara brought due to some combination of interest on the one hand and gratitude to Dad on the other, since Dad had enthusiastically encouraged Clara to read the book. (And not only Dad. Dan Savage, America's favorite sex advice columnist/podcaster, says that it is his favorite book.) Yesterday was Saturday and we went to the beach; Clara got to the Beer Hall Putsch. Today is Sunday and when I got out of bed (our bed is super comfortable) Clara was sitting on our front porch, up to the abdication of legislative rights to the Chancellor. Apparently it's a really good book.

Meanwhile I've been flying through a really neat little memoir called "My Stroke of Insight". A rising-star neuroscientist experienced an early-life stroke that incapacitated her left hemisphere, depriving her of various functions located there such as language, linear thought, the capacity for proprioception (knowing where your body ends) and other rational thinking skills. Amazingly, she recovered fully. The book explains what it was like to lose those functions and why she never really wants to go back to the way that she was before. It turns out that the left hemisphere creates our ego-centered consciousness, and that when the right hemisphere is permitted to have its way we are able to access an innate capacity for holistic and compassionate consciousness. Her description of the way that she lives her life now -- in order to preserve the capacities she gained/revealed during her stroke -- echoes almost exactly many of the prescriptions provided by Tara Brach and Thich Naht Han (the only Buddhist writers I've read, I'm sure there are other better examples) for mindful living. However she comes at it from a purely scientific, physiological angle. It's really fascinating.

Otherwise, Clara and I have both settled into work. She finished her outline for a month-long workshop on documentary filmmaking. I'm reading up on all the secondary literature about land conflict and the judiciary in Burundi. Of which, it turns out, there is plenty! In the evenings we have done some cool stuff. We saw a really good concert on Friday of this singer Stephen Sogo. Great fusion of traditional tunes and afrobeat. Earlier in the evening we were pulled away from our work by a ton of drumming noise coming from across the street. We checked in out and down at the far end of the soccer fields a drum and dance troupe was practicing. It was completely awesome. They were doing some crazy moves that Matt (Clara's brother) should not be made aware of, lest he get inspired -- there's a real risk of broken furniture, limbs, pride.

B