Magical possibilities and endless questions...
584638
My children and I love reading this story about the catering dilemma when a tiger shows up for tea and you need to feed him.  He eats/ drinks everything including ALL Daddy's beer!  If only they'd had some tiger food in the house...

I find this book really captures childrens' imaginations as they try to work out what they would do in this situation.  There are also quite a few valid and intelligent questions, such as how can you drink all the water out of the taps? Why would a tiger prefer Sophie's sandwiches to Sophie herself? Would a tiger get drunk from drinking beer?  (Some of these questions are from older kids than the intended audience...)

This whimsical old-fashioned story has a European feel with the landscape and clothing - there is also something decidedly old-fashioned about the family structure with Daddy at work all day (and the "Ta-da!" pose when he arrives home from work), but this does not detract from the story for me.  If it bothers you, you can talk about how family dynamics are different now, although careful not to spoil the magic possibility that a tiger could possibly come to tea.
2124235
What a fascinating book!  This would be travels out of the ordinary, travels that seem to be as necessary to the author of this small book as oxygen is to the rest of us. After finishing this, I can't even imagine her not venturing forth to  many, many more fascinating place, meeting even more engaging people, and learning  so many more intriguing facts. My only hope is that she will share them with us in another slim volume as interesting as this one. It would be difficult to choose the chapter in the book to claim as my favorite, but I would have to say the last one captured my imagination and stayed with me the longest. Since each chapter is a slice of life from some place other than your own, this is a grand book to pick up and carry around with you for those times when you absolutely need something to read, something that will perhaps carry you away from the queue in which you are stuck  or those minutes spent waiting, time you'd rather escape, but cannot....except for diving into this book and leaving your reality behind for a few minutes.  I am so very grateful I found this book...it IS a trip. My adivse?  Get it. Let it take you away to the magic that Judith Fein has found.
2635970
I bought this book for my mom and her husband for Christmas.  When they opened the present and passed the book around to the rest of us at our annual Christmas Eve gathering, people were genuinely interested.  For a few moments, the opening-of-the packages ritual stopped as people looked at the images between the covers.

People were asking questions aloud and spontaneously.  Questions like:  Is this guy really flying or is it Photoshop?  Is he shooting the pictures himself or is someone else?  If he IS shooting the pictures himself, how is he doing it?  Is the camera on a tripod?  Does he have a remote shutter release that he's holding in his hand?  If so, how can he time the snapping of the photo just right to get such nice compositions?  The room was all abuzz.

And there were no definitive answers.

More than all these technical issues, what kept people passing the book around was the photos themselves.  Quite simply, they are beautiful.  Lovely landscapes, with a beautiful youthful male human form soaring in a range of places, seasons and compositions.

Lurking within these images, there is a mystery that keeps you looking, keeps you wondering, all your questions never quite explicitly formed, your answers never fully arrived at.  So you come back again to look, absorb, and dive into the page with curiosity, pleasure, and the realization that maybe you will never quite "get it."  And that maybe knowing that is "getting it."  And that maybe getting it doesn't even matter; maybe just looking and enjoying the wonder is enough.
2313392
I just finished the Wishing Year and my profoundest wish when I got to the end was that it wouldn't be over so soon.  I wanted it to go on and on.  Spending time with this author is like spending an evening with one of those mesmerizing friends who leans towards you over the table at your favorite bistro and says, "You won't believe what happened to me?" and then launches into a tale of meeting someone fascinating who transformed her life, or unexpectedly being offered a trip to an exotic place that she'd always wanted to visit, or another wondrous occurrence.  You're left thinking, "why don't these things happen to me?  Reading the Wishing Year is wish fulfillment in itself.  You get to live Noelle's life for that year and it was a hell of a lot more fun than my life that year for sure.

The best thing about her approach to wishing was that it made sense of New Agey gobbledygook like the "Secret."  I, like her, am an intellectual, skeptical sort who secretly visits psychics and semi-believes in some of this woo-woo stuff but feels guilty about it.  Oxenhandler removes the guilt by explaining the ancient roots of wishing and other attempts at magical intervention, and comes up with some scientific theories about why it might work.  Hey, even Plato believed it.  (sort of).

 I'm coming up with my wish list as we speak and will report back whether any of them came true.
476316
This is a brilliant, tightly woven exploration of the possibilities in the nearly infinite combinations of connections of the synapses of the human brain.  Apparently, living our lives never uses the vast, vast potential of this inter-connectedness.  The truly clever suggestions of this novel are amazing.

Having said that, one caveat: this may not be a book for every thinking reader.  Speaking for myself, I see a suspicious circularity in the logic.  I'm just not into looking through a microscope at a mirror of my own imaginings.
1646105
George Fellner takes us on a journey filled with wonder and imagination. Each of the realms photographed by George invites us to explore its features and lose ourselves in its phantasmal qualities. The photographer's eye uncovers far away landscapes in the very earthbound stones and crystals, causing us to ask whether their language speaks of otherworldly locations, which may have been communicated across the lightyears.

In addition to the great technical execution of each image, the wondrous content of every photograph draws the mind's eye in. This monograph is enjoyable to read and study intently time and again, as each viewing of every plate reveals intriguing details.

Highly recommended!!
2605775
What an interesting topic - I am so glad I have this book! I have always wondered about some of those things.  While I could tell this book was broken down into simpler explanations,  me not being overly 'scientific' minded, to be honest, I still had trouble getting my head around some of the information provided.  I guess there is only so far you can go to simplify concepts but if it doesn't come naturally to you, it will probably still be hard to understand! On the whole though, James did a great idea of simplifying in a way the average person can understand.

I like how he starts each section introducing the 'everyday thing' he is going to explain. For example he starts the book focussing on digital timers and clocks. He goes on to explain about the pendulum and its oscillations creating kinetic energy.  If anything it gives me a sense of wonder at the types of information people know out there to create and maintain these things. The power stations with their rotating coils of wire and magnets etc.  I think it might have helped me to have more diagrams or pictures to illustrate some of these concepts perhaps?

The chapters are titled as follows:

1. You Begin your day (clocks, mp3 players, electric toothbrush, toaster, fridge)

2. You Drive into the City (electric/gasoline hybrid vehicle, GPS, EZ Pass,  traffic jams, self parking , keyless remote control)

3. You go to the Doctor (high speed elevator, wifi, electronic thermometer, X-ray scan, ultrasound, MRI,

4. You go to the airport (credit card, metal detector, full body scanner,  X-ray scanner, explosive trace detector)

5. You take a flight (lithium battery, airplanes, digital photo, cloud data storage, noise cancelling headphones, High speed train)

6. You give a business presentation (USB flash drive, photocopier, LCD projector, Laser pointer, microphone, radiation/microwaves)

7. You go to a Hotel (fitness monitor wristband, motion sensor, proximity card,  remote control, flat panel tv,

I found the part about traffic jams really interesting! Something I have wondered about and his explanations there were really clear and made a lot of sense. I thought his explanation of wifi really informative also and easy to follow.

This is a very current book talking about current technology such as cloud data storage etc.  If you've ever wondered about any of these things - I definitely recommend this book!  It's a great resource.

Please note that I was sent a copy of this book for purposes of review, however the opinions expressed are entirely my own.
4619816
Wonderful characters, magical plot. I believe in the magic of creation! Throw in ancient Scottish warriors....each of Chapman's stories is different, yet part of a larger life puzzle. Loved it
316942
Although most of the possibilities are not necessarily impossible, but the writers of several different stories found the most unlikely and possibly humorous way to make sure that the story is not totally impossible. I was impressed with the many extremely unexpected twists and turns in this series of stories about the humans and aliens and the different ways that we and they might possibly do with the different situations that they could possibly be faced with in this series.
4233526
Magic squares have fascinated us for many centuries.  Even in ancient Babylonian times, people considered these squares to have magical powers. Albrecht Drer, the painter and printmaker, used them in his artworks.

Most of the ideas in this book can be explored with just a pencil and paper!  You can even discover new patterns in old magic squares that no one has ever found before.  Even the famous eighteenth-century American Benjamin Franklin loved magic squares although he once considered them a waste of time.

Pickover presents interesting people and their magic squares.  From Benjamin Franklin's magic squares to four-dimensional magic tesseracts, the patterns fascinate us with their elegance.  The book is a treasure and has gotten some rave reviews in the press.  I enjoyed the magic spheres best of all, but I think each reader will find something new and interesting as they browse.  A lot of magic squares deal with the chess board.  Some focus on DNA sequences!  A few were made by prisioners in jail. The author has certainly searched far and wide to assemble this massive collection.
1303440
An audacious undertaking, this book tackles the biggest question of all, "why is there something instead of nothing?" His answer, which he pursues in depth and detail, is that in thinking about the possibility of nothing vs. something, we cannot escape the logical conflict between the idea of "the possibility of a possibility" and "not even that", and that all that exists springs from this inescapable logic conflict. I'm sure he will wince at my poor representation of this idea, but of course he takes a whole book to demonstrate its plausibility (and he does), which I am reducing to just one or two lines. His justification is very clever, and of course he develops several other fascinating ideas in order to explain it. One that I found particularly illuminating is an unexpectedly understandable description of how complimentarity and duality, as in the wave/particle duality, can exist. There is a good deal more to this clever and witty book, and I would say that it is a must read for anyone curious about how it just might be possible for something, e.g. our universe, to spring from nothing.
3882440
Like others, I am caught in JK Rowling's web and am helpless. I really enjoyed this book and have read it twice to date. What and where are the rest of the horcrux's? Is Harry a horcrux himself, his ability to speak snake language and his scar, the evidence? Does Neville Longbottom have a heroic destiny? Will the time-turner feature in book 7, or perhaps the poly-juice potion? Is the greatest wizard of all time REALLY dead? Lots of intriguing possibilities. The problem is that I am forced to endure an incredible cliff hanger for as long as it takes the last book to come to market. I know that when book 7 comes out, these questions will be answered, but until then...Argh!!!
4249488
23 years ago, aged 11, I walked into a library in the tiny town of Pietersburg, South Africa and booked out an unknown title by Hugh Lofting called The Twilight of Magic. Little did I know then that this story would  leave such an indelible mark on my childhood giving me a sense of unabating  awe and wonderment. Set in Medieval history, the story chronicles the  childhood search of brother and sister, Giles and Anne for proof of magic .  It is a time in history when the boundaries between infant science and the  supernatural are blurred and it is here that Giles and Anne meet Agnes the  Applewoman and her Whispering Shell.
Agnes is a witch - or is she? The  Whispering Shell is magic - or is it? These are the questions which follow  brother and sister through a series of adventures with philosophers, ghosts  , black cats and Kings. Beyond, into adulthood they go with Agnes and The  Whispering Shell weaving in and out of their lives,constantly leaving them  to ponder if magic or science hold the answers. Ultimately however we are  left with more questions than answers and it is this very approach which  sets The Twilight of Magic apart from many other children's books of its  day. There are no easy answers in life and we may always be questing to  differentiate the boundaries between fantasy and reality, fact and fiction;  science and magic. The message that Hugh Lofting imparts with this unique  story however is: there is no difference. Magic is to be found all around  us, as with Giles and Anne: Giles in love; watching a setting sun over the  sea; the mysteries of a Whispering Shell.
This is The Twilight of Magic  and the Dawn of Science where the enigma of science and the mystery of  magic have become one and the same.
863123
I loved this book. But a warning if you take this journey, if you follow Ophelia's Ghost with mind and heart:  It will not end neatly or simply--nor will you want it to. The journey ever goes on ...

Through the reader's entrance into a linear story, a "simple" search for a missing anthropologist opens up into labyrinths of soul-and-spirit probing venues ... uncovering a memory-evoked trail of human origins, a harking back to points of catastrophic change in directions of human destiny ... a search for the key to how the earth conjoins and mirrors the heavens--and how it all relates to our ability to love and creatively engage in our life here together.

From the book:

"What most people don't understand is that magic is actually about becoming very intimate with nature. Not the supernatural, but the within nature, understanding it. Magic is simply focusing hard enough on something, using our minds, wills, and emotions, to see a pattern. Without the seeing, we'd be wandering fools" (p. 209).

"Other worlds are all around us, close enough that we can touch them, and they can touch us but only when we are open to them ... " (p. 238).

This intelligent and intriguing novel surprises and delights through planting hints/clues from the likes of Shakespeare, Plato, Giordano Bruno, James Joyce, Albert Einstein--and is facilitated by the hermeticist authors' own ability both to celebrate life and to make cosmic connections along the way.

Isabel Anders has co-authored with Diane Marquart Moore the Father Malachi mystery Chant of Death.  Isabel is also the author of Becoming Flame; Soul Moments; Awaiting the Child; and 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L'Engle, among other titles.
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Becoming-Flame-Uncommon-Mother-Daughter-Wisdom/dp/1608992667/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Becoming Flame: Uncommon Mother-Daughter Wisdom</a><a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Chant-of-Death/dp/0982156170/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Chant of Death</a>
She blogs on philosophy for BlogHer.com:
[...]
1887074
All stories are about people, one way or another, but the "what if" element in science fiction makes for an endless set of possibilities.
Will we ever find life anywhere else? Where? Will we recognize it as such, or will it be so different that we initially ignore it?
Will we ever find a way around the speed of light, and on and on.
Reading has been one of the joys of my life, and I hope it will always be.
4555553
Wow! I actually really loved this.
It was a bit confusing at the start, as each chapter has its own date and the time doesn't flow from one chapter to another but rather jolts you all over the place bringing you the understanding you need as you need to know it.
I love the parts that read as if you yourself are in the circus. I found this really brought me into the story.
The midnight dinners are a wonderous idea, and I would dearly have loved to attend one.
First course served on the stroke of midnight.
The circus itself sounded brilliant, a real specticle of wonder.
The idea that magic could be all around us still and yet kept subtle due to our disbelief of magic appeals to me.
2996782
This is a book that will fill the spirit within!  What an amazing assortment of photographs of such incredible books.  I sat with it for hours and hours just exploring each 'book' (photo) as if having a ringside seat on the skill and creativity of each artist.  What a treasure for reflection and for stimulating creative ideas for further bookarts exploration.  This was well worth waiting for!  It would be a great gift!