Not as good as many of the other books we’ve been reading. The book seemed geared towards encouraging children to follow this as a career – but the information was too basic, and didn’t give enough specifics for me to feel this really “sells” archaeology as something interesting to do with ones’ life, or to give a real understanding of what archaeologists do. I thought “Archaeologists Dig for Clues” was a much better book on the subject. This book did have some interesting photos, though. 6/10

I requested this book from the library just to read the title story, after my meditation teacher mentioned it. The candle gazing technique which is featured in the story is really a very powerful yogic technique (and one not just used by yogis; I’ve encountered something very similar in all sorts of other places, including my Rosicrucian studies). So, I wanted to read the story.

I really enjoyed it – it’s a lovely tale about how yoga changes a man’s life. Not as grotesque as some of the Dahl’s other work (prior to this, I’d only read his writing for children), but still somewhat whimsical, and I enjoyed the narrative voice.

I’ll also admit that I didn’t read all of the “Six Others;” I did read three of them, and enjoyed them well enough (but didn’t love any of them, and obviously I wasn’t inspired to keep reading the final three). The one about the boy and the turtle was charming in a way, but also disturbing. Come to think of it, that’s a pretty good description of much of Dahl’s writing, isn’t it? 7/10

Children’s book about the animals – mostly mammals – which lived during the Pleistocene Epoch. Good illustrations, and nicely written information. 8/10

Good advise about choosing a dog that’s right for your family. The authors spend some time asking questions of the reader, to determine why you want a dog in the first place, and really thinking about your lifestyle so you can get a good match. There are also sections describing breeds that would be appropriate for different lifestyles – good family dogs, dogs for city living, etc. After reading this book, the best choice for our family seems to be a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, but we’ve just barely started our research. 8/10

My son and I read this together this morning, and it is a simply gorgeous book. The story behind it is fascinating, too – it was written by a survivor of the “Titanic” disaster, a mother writing this story for her son from the viewpoint of the child’s stuffed toy (who also managed to survive the sinking). When put in that context, it is a really amazing and lovely story, and an interesting perspective in terms of survivor stories. The illustrations are also beautiful, and there are lots of old photos, too, which make this a great resource for a glimpse of what life was like at that time for this family of first class passengers. A lovely book, well worth reading. 9/10

I knew about the book first, and I do have a copy sitting on my shelf, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. So, when I found out it was a film, I thought I’d take a short-cut and rent it before reading the book. And wow. This is really an amazing, amazing film – the first time I’ve really seen science and spirituality wed in such an authentic and understandable way. I am well aware that not everyone will agree with the things that are put forth in this film, but for me, very little of the content was actually new. I’m reasonably familiar with quantum mechanics (enough to understand the basics, anyway), and very familiar with all the spiritual concepts presented here. So, for me, the most exciting thing was seeing them put together like this. It’s stuff that mystics have known or guessed for centuries, but that the general population doesn’t yet grasp. (It’s also entirely consistent with all the things I’m learning as a student of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, and that, too, was very exciting).

In a nutshell, what quantum physics offers us is a “new” understanding of the universe; that underlying all things – at the most basic level – we are all connected, that we are all part of the same “unified field.” Our true nature is unity, not separateness – even though almost all of us live our lives with no awareness BUT that of being separate from one another. Like I said, this is the way mystics have viewed the world for ages, and it’s very exciting to me that perhaps now science can provide us with language (and proof?) to make this accessible to more and more people. The changes that could happen in our world could be radical. Seriously. Because of this connectivity, our thoughts and desires have FAR more impact in creating “reality” than we allow ourselves to believe, and if we can change that belief . . . well, yeah, it could be radical.

For me, the most eye-opening part of the film was the section about brain chemistry, and the way peptides work in the body. That we are conditioned (addicted, even) to produce the same familiar emotions again and again – that our nervous systems become “wired” to expect this, and that, over time, we lose the ability to readily do anything but play out these same emotions (and the dramas in our lives which we need in order to create these emotions) again and again and again. In my own life, there are a few habitual emotions I’d much rather NOT keep playing over and over, and this gives me hope that this is something I can consciously work through – to “rewire” the way my nervous system is working. Heh. I’m probably doing a crap job of explaining all this – there was SO much information, and I’m not sure how much the later things make sense without the foundation of the earlier stuff upon which to build. So, probably best for me to not try and explain much more.

I’ll end with saying I thought this was an amazing film. BUT, it was also VERY long and I found it difficult to stay focused, so I ended up watching it in (IIRC) four separate sittings. After watching for a while, I got to the point where I was just on overload and my mind was wandering, and I had to take a break from it. This might have been due to watching this extended “Rabbit Hole” version – maybe the straight theatrical release was shorter. But what I watched was very long and very dense. My son and I did manage to watch the entire thing, though. (He especially loved the Dr. Quantum animated segments).

If anything I’ve written about this film sounds intriguing, I would highly recommend watching, even if it takes you a while to get through. I really do think they’ve hit the nail smack on the head, and as more and more people begin to accept this paradigm, I think there’s hope for real, positive change in the future of our world and the human species. :)

I chose to rent this film as something educational to watch with my son, but also because I am a birder and thought it would be fascinating. I did enjoy it – it’s a beautiful film in many ways – but I also couldn’t help but be somewhat disappointed, because I feel that with some very minor changes it could have been a LOT better.

First the good stuff. It is gorgeous. The cinematography is stunning, and they got some amazing footage of bird behaviours that probably aren’t all that easy to capture on film. The music was also evocative and appropriate, and I found watching this film to be overall very soothing. (Except when it wasn’t supposed to be soothing. The gunshots just about broke my heart). So, from that standpoint it was wonderful, and well worth watching just for the amazing camera work. Also, I think it did get a point across about human interference, without being obvious about the issue. (Although I think they could have pushed this a bit more without being obnoxious).

My main gripe is that the science was soft: First, there was not enough of it. I found it annoying that not all the bird species shown were identified. I was able to ID most of them myself, but not all (and I’ve got a lot more expertise in this area than most people). How difficult would it have been to include those extra subtitles? (Not very, IMO). I had also hoped there would be more educational stuff about migration itself – more details about the whys and hows. Not to mention that at least one of the few “informational” statements that was made was incorrect. Oh, it was a small thing – when the narrator said that the young birds follow their parents and memorize landmarks that they’ll pass two times a year for the rest of their lives. But, um, not necessarily true, as many birds follow different routes in the spring and autumn. Yeah, I realize this is nitpicky, but if you’re going to make a film this gorgeous, why not do it right and make it accurate and just a tiny bit more informative? Also, what happened to Australia? (Wah)!

Still, on the whole I really did enjoy it, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in birds and nature. Just don’t expect to learn a lot from it. Watch this film because it’s very, very pretty.

My son and I read this as part of our study on prehistoric mammals. It’s a nice picture book telling the story of what a year in the life of a herd of woolly mammoths might have been like. I’m assuming that she based their behaviour on modern-day elephants; at first, I thought it seemed a bit anthropomorphized (and perhaps it was, a bit), but I do seem to recall reading some things about elephant behaviour which fit what she wrote in this book about the mammoths. The illustrations are beautiful, and it was a nice way to spend half an hour with my son. 8/10

This is a great book for children about mammoths and mastodons. There’s lots of information here, presented in a way that’s accessible for children, but not dumbed-down. I learned a lot about the various species of mammoths, and the book also gives simple explanations for some general scientific concepts, like carbon dating. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in this cool prehistoric mammals. 9/10

A re-read, of course. This was one of my favourite books when I was a child, and I read it with my son a couple of years ago and he loved it, too. We read it again this week because it was our turn to host our homeschooling book club, and this was the book my son chose for the others to read.

It is a great book – a bit of a Cinderella story, really, and full of whimsy. The kids all seemed to enjoy it, too, and we had a GREAT discussion this afternoon about various aspects of the book. Definitely a classic, and well worth reading. 9/10