#72 - Seeking Heaven - Eben Alexander with Karen Newell

Title:   Seeking Heaven

Author:  Eben Alexander

Genre:  Non-fiction   158.12

Read by:  author and Karen Newell

Publisher/Date:  Simon and Schuster/2013

Dates listened to:   11/25 – 11/27/17

CD/Hours: 3/3

ISBN:  978-1-4423-6755-5

Categorized as Religion & Spirituality, this short presentation is subtitled Sound Journeys into the Beyond.   “Dr. Alexander presents four 30-minute audio meditations to achieve the altered state of mind that enables him to return to the idyllic realm he describes in Proof of Heaven, to access the brain state of blissful higher consciousness that he attained during his near-death experience.”

In this audio he worked closely with meditation audio specialist Sacred Acoustics to develop four guided meditations that listeners can use to alter their consciousness and achieve comparable results. 

I listened to most of the white noise.  And to the commentary about each segment.  Each segment takes you deeper into your consciousness and lasts longer than the previous section.  For example, the first part, as in all four parts, invites you to stay aware of what’s going on, to journal afterwards what you felt from experiences of other sounds, physical sensations or the like.  It’s not meant to put you sleep, although this may happen and if you have trouble sleeping, is a good thing.

The answer to the question of why you would want to even do this is that the doctor wanted “to help awaken our world to the deepest mystery of our existence, to make these tools for exploration of consciousness widely available to those who seek a greater knowing of ourselves, our purposes and the meaning of existence.  While you don’t have to spend hours a day to get positive results, it’s not some quick and easy process.”  

In my previous review of Proof of Heaven I wrote:  How can you be in a coma and experience what it may be like after you die?  Dr. Alexander analyzes his near-death experience (NDE) during his coma. NDEs are controversial yet thousands of people have had them.  Many in the scientific community have argued that they are impossible.  Yet, Dr. Alexander survived his ordeal and has now written the account of what he experienced during his week-long coma.  What do you think?  

Not sure you have to believe in NDE to experience good results from listening to these meditations.

#71 - Valis - Philip K. Dick

Title:   Valis

Author:  Philip K. Dick

Genre:  Fiction

Read by:  Phil Gigante

Originally Published:  1981

Publisher/Date:  Brilliance Audio/2011

Dates listened to:   11/12/17 – 11/25/17

CD/Hours: 8/9
ISBN: 978-1-4558-1469-5

Valis starts a trilogy – one Dick didn’t complete so I don't have to either.  Valis stands for Vast Active Living Intelligence System.  My opinion on this story is:  take One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, add Dick’s thoughts on Christianity and stir in a modicum of sense and you can take this tale back to the library or from wherever else it may have been birthed.  Dick does cite sources from reputable authors like Will Durant's Our Oriental Heritage.  Still, not sure why I keep staying with these second-book-by-an-author or even why I start an author to begin with!  Oh yes, I remember.  Big winner, Tom Nissley, from Jeopardy who wrote A Reader’s Books of Days suggested Ubik by Dick.  Anyway, I feel Dick is a huge waste of my time.  Did I say I don’t like these types of science fiction?  And it’s not Tom’s fault.  Thank you Tom for other suggestions that I have liked.

#70 -Your Teenager is Not Crazy - Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark

Title:   Your Teenager is Not Crazy

Author:  Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark

Genre:   Non-Fiction

Read by:  the authors

Publisher/Date:  Baker Publishing Group/2016

Dates listened to:   10/25/17 – 11/12/17

Downloadable Audio Book/Time:  10:30 hours

I like what the library review has to offer about this book – “As God allows us to understand the mystery and marvel of brain science, we have the exciting opportunity to reexamine our assumptions about human behavior.  Perhaps nowhere does this impact our lives more profoundly than when we think about raising children, especially teenagers.  Where parents often see a sweet boy or girl who has morphed into an incomprehensible bundle of hormones and angst, what we really ought to be seeing is an amazing young adult whose brain is under heavy construction.  And changing the way we see our teens will revolutionize our relationships with them.  Organized by what we hear teens say things like I'm bored , You just don't understand , Why are you freaking out?, I hate my life! , or Hold on . . . I just have to send this.  This book helps parents develop compassion for their teens and discernment in parenting them as their brains are progressively remodeled. Rather than seeing the teen years as a time to simply hold on for dear life, Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark show that they can be an amazing season of cultivating creativity, self-awareness, and passion for the things that really matter.”

These two authors take you through many aspects of a teen’s life – from puberty to dating to health issues like sleep, drugs, self-harm.  Each chapter is divided into three subjects – Biology 101, Faith 101 and Psychology 101.  The information the authors provide is based upon their own experiences, studies and other works they cite relative to the chapter.  Faith may include Biblical citations, since these authors are Christian.

While the book is geared to parents of teenagers, I found myself thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to begin checking this book out before your kid(s) turn 13.  I’m thinking of recommending it to our daughter and son-in-law who are quite competently parenting our 9 and a half year old granddaughter who is going on 16!