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The Testament of Gideon Mack
The Testament of Gideon Mack
James Robertson | 2007 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Complex, interesting characters (2 more)
Thought provoking
Extremely well written
A Preacher’s Son
Contains spoilers, click to show
Gideon Mack is a preachers son who doesn’t believe in God, but decides to become a minister anyway.
 His lack of belief can be easily explained by his narrow minded, strict, sad and unloving upbringing. The reason why he decides to become a minister anyway hints at his dark humour, which you see here and there throughout the book.

He marries a woman that he is not in love with, simply because he can’t have the woman he actually wants (that woman marries his best friend).

He comes across as a man who doesn’t actually know what he wants, will accept second best or will settle for what he thinks is ok...and then spend his life living in regret and unhappiness. Causing confusion and unhappiness to others in the process.

Where he didn’t believe in God at all...he does end up believing completely in the Devil. He falls into a treacherous river and is found 3 days later. He should be dead...but he isn’t. Depending on whether you believe in the supernatural or not, he was either fished out the first day by a smuggler or he was saved by the Devil and he bonded so well with the Devil he then spends a great deal of time and effort to be able to spend the rest of his life with him.

In order to leave with a clean slate he tells everyone what happened to him, including his sins...committing adultery with the very woman he is still in love with. He only confesses to this happening once, while helping him pack up his late wife’s clothes she takes pity on him and they sleep together. In actual fact, that summer they had a full blown affair as confirmed by the woman in question. Why lie? Perhaps he simply couldn’t see her as an adulterous woman as she is the epitome of perfection in his eyes, or it again displays his unique ability to lie to himself.

This book is a very detailed account of how a person can live a lie, how they can convince themselves completely into believing a lie, and then finally freeing themselves to believing what they genuinely believe is true...even though it could be complete codswallop. Who knows?
  
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Susan Cain | 2015 | Health & Fitness
9
7.6 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
2019.

One of the worst years of my professional working life.

In the early part of the year, I ended up getting dragged to the Doctor by my significant other, with the Doc then putting me off work with stress for just over a month. I returned, and then, roughly 6 months later, ended up putting myself off on unpaid leave for a year (which is ending soon, but that’s another matter).

Looking back on it, I believe a MASSIVE contributor to me feeling the way I did was the change in the office environment, and in my role: a move from being a key member of a small technical team (with its own side office) to being put in charge of a customer focused role I felt ill suited to, and slap-bang in the middle of a massive open plan office no less (which had the effect of leaving me completely and utterly drained each and every day, having to be always ‘on’).

Which is a long winded way of saying that I am, as I’ve always expected, a massive Introvert. (That could also probably be borne out by the fact that it’s now been more than 10 months since I last physically saw most of my friends due to Covid-19, and that I can count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times I’ve spoken to them in the same period (we more often text). Which I’m perfectly happy with.)

I’ve always felt exhausted by daily interactions, always felt happier in my own head than in the midst of a crowd. A music festival, or rock concert? My idea of hell. However, I’ve also always felt guilty for feeling the same, with society (seemingly) geared towards the go-getters, the ‘look at me!’ life and soul of the party (which I always leave early), to those who make the most noise. In short, to the Extroverts.

While it’s true that this book is American centric (I’m glad to say, in the UK at least, the large gatherings/conventions described in the chapter about ‘The Extrovert Ideal’ don’t seem to happen), I’m also glad I’m not alone, that – actually - there’s nothing wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with being quiet, reserved, needing time alone to recharge. Just ask Mother Theresa. Steve Wozniak. Eleanor Roosevelt. Rosa Parks.

This should be required reading in our schools.
  
Asylum by The Legendary Pink Dots
Asylum by The Legendary Pink Dots
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"The Cure were my gateway drug – a year or two later I discovered the Legendary Pink Dots, because I had a boyfriend who was really into them. That blew my mind. It was an entirely new way of being into a band, because they weren't well known. And the music touched me in a place that the Cure couldn't ever dream of reaching. Part of that had to do with the intimacy and depth of Edward Ka-Spel's songwriting, but also the fact that this was a band that no one in my high school had heard of. They were really, really special – they were my band. I became a devotee. If I could wish anything on any teenager, it's that they could get to have a relationship with a band like that, because the Legendary Pink Dots made me so incredibly happy. I really considered them a holy band. Going to see them live was like going to church. They're highly underappreciated band, and I wander around proselytising them all the time. But it's difficult to know where to start, because they have like 900 records. It's overwhelming. I counted the amount of Pink Dots records I have, and it's well over 50, with all the side projects and all the Edward Ka-Spel solo stuff. They're music putter-outers. In one life-changing experience when I was 18 or 19, I not only got to meet them, but they were staying at the house of a friend of mine and I was able to go over to the house after the show and hang with the band. It was my fantasy come true. This really is biopic stuff. I couldn't have scripted my life any better. My friend knew I was a musician and that I had a demo tape, and he said to the Legendary Pink Dots, 'You should hear her stuff.' And they said, 'Sure, put it on.' I nearly shit myself. It was the moment of judgement. This had been my favourite band for years, I couldn't believe I was even in the room with them, and this guy told me to go grab my demo tape so they could listen to it. It was unbelievable. So we sat there, in what was the longest ten minutes of my life, and we popped the tape in and played two songs, and they were like 'Yeah, sounds really good.' And then about half an hour later, I was on the porch sharing a cigarette with Edward Ka-Spel and he looked and me and said 'You know, I think your songs are genuinely really good, and I don't say that to everybody.' In that moment I legitimately decided that I could do this, because I felt like I'd been given transmission from the master. That one little moment of encouragement took me so far, and I always remember that when I'm talking to my own fans."

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