- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 862
Which is the first person narration of Cabeza de Vaca's 8 years in North America. One of only 4 survivors of the 1527 Narvaez expedition (from 400 initially) he became one of the first Europeans to cross North America, his odyssey saw him taken slave by various of the Native tribes as he worked his way from Florida to Mexico City - plain speaking, he embellishes nothing - yet, given his ordeal he is remarkably precise about locations, times and distances, as well as offering some cultural insights into the peoples he met.
I love this sort of stuff - History is much more interesting when told to you through the eyes of it's witnesses.
Chapter 21
Five Christians quartered on the coast came to the extremity of eating each other. Only the body of the last one, whom nobody was left to eat, was found unconsumed. Their names were Sierra, Diego Lopez, Corral, Palacios, and Gonzalo Ruiz.
Chapter 23
THE ISLANDERS wanted to make physicians of us without examination or a review of diplomas. Their method of cure is to blow on the sick, the breath and the laying-on of hands supposedly casting out the infirmity. They insisted we should do this too and be of some use to them. We scoffed at their cures and at the idea we knew how to heal. But they withheld food from us until we complied.
Chapter 35
They said that a little man wandered through the region whom they called Badthing [Mala Cosa]. He had a beard and they never saw his features distinctly. When he came to a house, the inhabitants trembled and their hair stood on end. A blazing brand would suddenly shine at the door as he rushed in and seized whom he chose, deeply gashing him in the side with a very sharp flint two palms long and a hand wide. He would thrust his hand through the gashes, draw out the entrails, cut a palm's length from one, and throw it on the embers. Then he would gash an arm three times, the second cut on the inside of the. elbow, and would sever the limb. A little later he would begin to rejoin it, and the touch of his hands would instantly heal the wounds.
Read the Wiki Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvar_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_Cabeza_de_Vaca
And, should you be stuck finding the book read it online here: https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Journey_of_Alvar_Nu%C3%B1ez_Cabeza_de_Va/RMQRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover or here: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/cdv/rel.htm
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 986
How have I not discovered him sooner?
This is great, reminiscent of Calvino or Borges, somehow perfectly suited to my current tastes and mood. I will have to discover more books by him.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1138
An amusing satire on the Soviet Occupation of Czechoslovakia. Except, of course, despite the farcical events and personages depicted it takes very little to realize that the events described probably occurred in very much that order, it is less the writer's job to confabulate than it is to shine a light on those absurdities we've come to take for granted.
I enjoyed, a palate cleanser as it were from the internet and other readings that have me somewhat less engrossed.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1131
And so I've begun reading Manly P. Hall's "Self Unfoldment", which is in the genre of New Age Self Help books, actually probably one of the first to pioneer the genre.
If you're unfamiliar with Manly P. Hall I'd suggest you read the Wiki here:
Link: Wikipedia on Manly P. Hall
And note his absolutely amazing photo.
Now - if you were too lazy to click on the link I'll briefly sum it up here: Manly P. Hall, one of the espousers of the Theosophist movement, formidably educated himself at a young age and distilled the essential "Truths" he discovered into a variety of books and manuals. Even if you've never heard of him, chances are you've been influenced by his thinking. I've wanted to read him for a long while and was lucky to finally find one of his books.
To read it - a pragmatic approach to spirituality tailored for western adepts, the disciplines it sets out for you - the changing of your thinking - refinement, evolution, etc. - is good. Nothing I didn't know, but he lays it out in plain speech, and it's interesting to see how at odds it is with the New Age movement, Vision Boards, Etc. - that evolved from it. His is, of course, the right path - the New Age movement that succeeded it is focused too much on the acquisition of useless things and external change, whereas his book focuses primarily on changing the reader from within.
I'm impressed, although I knew I would be, and he doesn't need my recommendation.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 739
Pop into the used bookstore to enquire about a couple of older editions they had in the window - Sir Richard Burton on the Discovery of the Source of the Nile - (not exact title) - which interested me as I'd read Speke's version of events and enjoyed it immensely, and Stanley's "In Darkest Africa" - also of great appeal. Both, sadly, not priced to my budget at this time. Take the opportunity to browse for other books.
In the background they have some classical piano concertos playing, which slightly stimulate my brain and get me to thinking...
When was the last time I had music? A long time. I mean a very long time. Years. I get by with the radio in the Jeep, other peoples tastes, maybe via the computer - but the quality, it shows, poor speakers, ads, pop-songs, none of the old-timey cerebral just listen to classical music...
The speakers here are great. I at first thought there was a pianist in the hall- but no.
I miss this. And so I'm slow in my browsing, the store is largely empty, the predictable side effect of an unpredictable schedule of hours decided by the proprietor on the morning of...
So, browse for books, a fine selection, better than Calgary - by far, I've noticed this before. Books on shelves, in boxes, organized every which way and not at all, the proprietor, he sits in the front window, mask on, engrossed in reading Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude" or some such, a little end table beside his chair piled to overflowing with books he has planned to read next, or has already finished, he's an endorsement of how I'd love to spend my working retirement, it's a shame to tip his chair when finally I've found my pick - "Hamlet Letters" by Henry Miller, this bookstore, it's great, never what you were looking for but always something just as good.