Bridge of Birds (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, #1) by Barry Hughart

Bridge of Birds is a charming, award-winning fantasy novel that follows the investigative efforts of Master Li as he strives to safe the mysteriously stricken children from the village where Number Ten Ox lives.

“Jade plate, Six, Eight. Fire that burns hot, Night that is not. Fire that burns cold, First Silver, then gold.” pg 22, ebook

A beautiful blend of myth and fantasy, the reader is ferried from one exotic locale to the next at the side of the two heroes, one ancient and one young with surprising strength.

We navigate dangerous mazes to hidden treasure hoards, satisfy the grieving souls of haunted ghosts, and marvel at the lightning intellect of Master Li, the scholarly genius with “a slight flaw in his character”.

“My surname is Li and my personal name is Kao, and there is a slight flaw in my character,” he said matter-of-factly. “You got a problem?” pg 32, ebook

There is very little downtime in Bridge of Birds. And just when you think things couldn’t possibly get worse for Master Li and Number Ten Ox, somehow they do.

Despite its breakneck pacing, I found many beautiful moments to marvel over in this story. It is a fairy tale with both substance and heart. Easy to see why it received the 1985 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and 1986 Mythopoeic Award for Best Fantasy.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

I think that’s even more impressive when you consider this was Barry Hughart’s debut novel.

“Reverend Sir, in your studies of myth and folklore, have you ever encountered a ghostly handmaiden who pleads that birds must fly?” pg 154, ebook

Highly recommended for readers who like fantasy and historical fiction novels with a dash of mystery and for their heroes to have slight flaws in their character – such a propensity to drink too much wine or the willingness to swindle others but for very good reasons.

Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation by Joseph Campbell

“Each entered the Forest Adventurous at that point which he himself had chosen, where it was darkest and there was no way or path.” You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path. Where there’s a way or path, it is someone else’s path; each human being is a unique phenomenon. The idea is to find your own pathway to bliss.” pg xxvi

Pathways to Bliss is a collection of Joseph Campbell’s writings and lectures, expanding upon the theory he put together in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Namely, that myths serve a psychological function to help individuals safely traverse the various stages of his or her life.

That statement is over simplifying Campbell’s complex and richly-developed discussions of mythology, but it’s the basic building blocks of the thing.

“If it is a living mythology, one that is actually organically relevant to the life of the people of the time, repeating the myths and enacting the rituals center you. Ritual is simply myth enacted; by participating in a rite, you are participating directly in the myth.” pg xix

Campbell talks about not only the importance of the myths throughout generations of humankind, but the idea that it is a living, breathing system. He believes there is trouble on the horizon if society’s myths don’t change and evolve to keep up with the challenges of the current day.

He also stresses the need for the individual to find their own meanings in the stories and symbols of the mythology. The pathway to that which you are here to live is something that only you can find for yourself.

Though, he does point out, you could experience your unique pathway through ritual and communion with a community of like-minded believers. Campbell applies his mythological lens to the world religions, to life stages, to everything in-between to see what universal truths he can pull out of the stories and the common experience of humanity.

“And my little sermon to the churches of the world is this: you have got the symbols right there on the altar, and you have the lessons as well. Unfortunately, when you have a dogma telling you what kind of effect the symbol is supposed to have upon you, you’re in trouble. It doesn’t affect me that way, so am I a sinner?” pg 43

I found this book easier to understand than The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which I read a few months ago. Despite this, I suggest you read Hero first, because it’ll give you a better contextual base to understand what the heck Campbell is going on about.

I had some issues with his concluding chapter of this book, Dialogues. In an open discussion with some female attendees of one of his seminars, Campbell and the women try to define how the woman’s heroic journey is different than a man’s.

I didn’t agree with some of their conclusions. Maybe you had to be there to truly grasp the essence of what he was saying.

“The suffering overtakes women – it is part of the nature of womanhood. Whereas the man has to undertake suffering – it’s a big difference.” pg 153

Women’s life is suffering? hmmmm…

Recommended for readers interested in more of the musings of Joseph Campbell or for people interested in mythology and its practical applications. Beware that some of the material may be somewhat dated.

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch

In The Lies of Locke Lamora, readers are introduced to Locke, an orphan in a fantastical city with magical glass relics the size of entire city blocks. The glass is all that was left behind by the people who founded the city. Its inhabitants now do not understand how it was constructed, but that doesn’t keep them from utilizing the spires of magic glass or appreciating its otherworldly beauty.

Within this strange city that is similar to our world’s Venice, yet so different, Locke Lamora is taken in by various characters in the realm’s criminal underworld. The boy shows promise for a life of theft and confidence games… if he can reign in his propensity for accidentally getting people killed.

“At the height of a long wet summer of the seventy-seventh year of Sendovani, the Thiefmaker of Camorr paid a sudden and unannounced visit to the Eyeless Priest at the Temple of Perelandro, desperately hoping to sell him the Lamora boy.”

There are layers to this tale. There’s intrigue and backstabbing among the criminal underworld or those who call themselves, “the right people”. There’s a gang of criminal masterminds, the Gentleman Bastards, who prey on the city’s upper class citizens, but who pass themselves off as simple sneak thieves to the rest of the gangs.

And while Locke’s gang, the Gentleman Bastards, are running one of the biggest cons of their life, the chapters of that storyline are interspersed with the personal histories of the gang’s members. Part of that history includes the Gentleman Bastards’ training as priests of the various orders in the city, of which there are many.

So, to recap: there’s complex religion, city hierarchy, criminal hierarchy, levels of con games, and then the real story begins when Locke’s plan, as usual, begins to go sideways.

“I ache in places I didn’t previously realize I owned,” said Locke, gingerly applying adhesive paste to his chin with his fingers. “But it can’t be helped.”

I first read The Lies of Locke Lamora eight years ago in March 2012. I recently re-read it in May 2020. To my surprise, I enjoyed it somewhat less the second time around.

I still like the characters, the story and the setting, all of which were beautifully written. My complaint was the pacing. Just as the author gets rolling on the main story line, he draws us back into the past. I didn’t seem to mind it the first time I read the book, but I definitely noticed it in the second reading.

But don’t let a small thing like pacing dissuade you from reading The Lies of Locke Lamora. It is an awfully entertaining fantasy read. And if I remember correctly, the next two books in the series are fun as well.

The Power of Discord: Why the Ups and Downs of Relationships Are the Secret to Building Intimacy, Resilience, and Trust by Ed Tronick, Claudia M. Gold

The Power of Discord is a study of human connection and disconnection. The authors, Ed Tronick and Claudia Gold, demonstrate through scientific and therapeutic studies that by working through conflict and the messiness of every day life, our relationships can be stronger than ever before.

Our earliest relationships have a profound affect on the way we interact with others as adults. It is almost scary how fast infants develop the responses that they carry with them into adulthood. In Tronick’s groundbreaking study called the “still-face” experiment, his findings helped researchers discover how infants communicate with their mothers.

In the experiment, a mother and child are interacting, playing as usual. Then, the mother turns away a moment and when she turns back, her face is still and empty of emotion.

The curious thing about the infants’ reaction to their caregiver presenting them with a face devoid of emotion is that researchers could already see how the relationship between the two was developing. Infants in a healthy relationship kept trying to get a reaction out of the other person until their caregiver “went back to normal.” Infants in a “dysfunctional” relationship, or who were for whatever reason were less connected with their parent, shut down and practiced coping or self soothing mechanisms rather than trying to draw the caregiver out.

Prior to this experiment, it was assumed that infants had little to no communication ability whatsoever.

“When confronted with a stressful situation, (infants) could apply a style of interaction drawn from the everyday exchanges with their caregivers. While they did not yet have the capacity for language or conscious thought, they were able to draw on their countless moment-to-moment interactions to cope with the stress of caregivers’ unfamiliar behavior.”

I worried, as I read the study, that the children would somehow be scarred by it. Some of the reactions the researchers described were very intense and painful for everyone involved. But the authors assured readers the level of stress in the experiment wasn’t something beyond what the children would encounter in their daily lives. Still, it seemed rather unfair to them. It wasn’t like researchers could explain what was going on.

Beyond the initial interactions that form the manner in which people craft their relationship styles, Tronick and Gold delve into further issues that may affect how you connect with others like: the pernicious effects of perfectionism and addiction to technology, feeling safe around others, taking responsibility for your connection style, and, the part I liked the most, the surprising way discord makes relationships stronger.

“… it is not simply what happened when we were young that screws us up now. Along the way to growing up and into our adult lives, we continue to create new ways of being screwed up. Only when we have accumulated a whole new set of interactions, when we work through the inevitable moments of disconnection to again find connection, will we grow and change.”

Though we learn how to form connections before we even have language, researchers have found that connection styles can be relearned, relationships can be repaired and are repaired, every day, little by little. In countless “mismatch and repair” moments, we teach ourselves that there is nothing broken that can’t be restored. It builds confidence in the relationship and trust in ourselves and each other – the building blocks of intimacy.

Highly recommended for readers looking to engage in some introspection about their own attachment style or for those who are curious about how relationships are formed and maintained.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advance reader copy of this book.

Shinrin-Yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing by Qing Li

“Shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses. This is not exercise, or hiking, or jogging. It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.” pg 12

Nature lovers or those aspiring to be nature lovers will find much to enjoy in Shinrin-Yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing.

Qing Li reminds readers that the human race is a part of this world even if we have walled ourselves up in cities and covered the ground in concrete. Through various scientific studies, he proves again and again that by taking a time out and forest bathing people can sleep more deeply, experience less stress and think more clearly.

“We may not travel very far on our forest walk but, in connecting us with nature, shinrin-yoku takes us all the way home to our true selves.” pg 15

Not convinced? He provides evidence that patients at hospitals heal faster if the view outside their window includes a tree rather than a wall. People who exercise outside report the exertion they need to complete the workout is less and they enjoy the time more than those who churn out the miles on a treadmill.

“The average sleep time of participants after a two-hour forest walk increased by 15 percent, or fifty-four minutes. Participants were significantly less anxious after a two-hour walk in the forest.”

Forest bathers have reported higher levels of creativity, writers find relief from the dreaded block, and the sense of connection caused by the practice has been known to increase feelings of gratitude.

“The researchers concluded that there ‘is a real, measurable cognitive advantage to be realized if we spend time truly immersed in a natural setting’, and found that spending time in nature can boost problem-solving ability and creativity by 50 per cent. Is it any wonder that Buddha found enlightenment sitting under a tree?” pg 106

Is there anything that forest bathing doesn’t help? How about your health or physical age?

“A group of Canadian, American and Australian researchers studying tree density and health in Toronto found that… having eleven more trees on a block lowered cardio-metabolic illnesses, like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, comparable to the effects on well-being conferred by being given a $20,000 a year pay rise or being 1.4 years younger.” pg 116

In addition to the information about forest bathing, this book contains beautiful photos of forests every couple of pages. Qing Li gives readers the instructions so, if they desired, they could hold their own traditional tea ceremony in the woods. He includes anecdotal information about aromatherapy, tips on how to bring the forest into your home, advice on how to incorporate beneficial natural sounds into your daily life and more.

I enjoyed this book very much. Highly recommended.

Echopraxia (Firefall, #2) by Peter Watts

Peter Watts returns readers to the dystopian world of Firefall with Echopraxia, the second novel in the series.

Meet Daniel Bruks, an outcast biologist with a secret. He’s struggling to continue with his scientific studies in a world that has ceased to make sense after the alien contact in Firefall.

“The Theseus mission would be well past Pluto by now. If it had found anything, Bruks hadn’t heard about it. For his part, he was sick of waiting. He was sick of life on hold, waiting for monsters or saviors to make an appearance. … He wished the world would just hurry up and end.” pg 15

His life quickly changes when he finds himself herded into an esoteric and technologically advanced cult’s desert compound while they’re under attack from weaponized zombies. (It makes more sense when you read it, I promise.) What follows is an exploration into the realms of religion, technology and faith.

“One day you’re minding your own business on your camping trip…” “Field research.” “… the next you’re in the crossfire of a Tran war, the day after that you wake up on a spaceship with a bull’s-eye painted on its hull.” “I do wonder what I’m doing here. Every thirty seconds or so.” pg 81

The same microscopic lens Watts used to take apart consciousness in the last book, he applies to a totally different topic, religion, in this one and it doesn’t quite work.

He doesn’t take any time to introduce readers to some of the more far-out concepts from the last book. If I had dived into Echopraxia without reading Firefall, I would have been totally lost. And as it was, I certainly was confused by the end.

Where the last book was a space and science adventure, this one is a journey, both metaphorical and physical. The threats along the way are somewhat as scary, but the characters aren’t as well-fleshed out.

Maybe I was spoiled in the last book because I really enjoyed Siri, the narrator’s, character. Daniel Bruks is more difficult to love.

But it’s not just the characters. The science of the last book was more connected to the story line. In this book, it almost felt like a tacked-on after thought.

And as hard as I tried to put the pieces together, the ending never quite made sense. I put some serious thought into it too. It’s one thing to leave an ending somewhat ambiguous so the readers can hash it out, it’s another to give almost no clues at all.

That’s not to say Watts isn’t brilliant, because he is. However, if you have the choice between reading Firefall or Echopraxia, I would suggest the former rather than the latter.

From Black Land To Fifth Sun: The Science Of Sacred Sites by Brian M. Fagan

From Black Land to Fifth Sun is the textbook for an online course I’m taking from Oxford University about ritual and religion in prehistory.

The opening chapter to the book seems promising, offering readers a glimpse into the hidden worlds of what could be called the “archaeology of the mind.”

“The emerging ‘archaeology of mind’ is a marriage of cultural systems theory, settlement archaeology, environmental reconstruction, contextual archaeology, and the decipherment of written records.” pg 11

Unfortunately, the text then becomes bogged down by the author’s lengthy descriptions of archaeological sites he visited during the course of his life and his interactions with some of the giants of the field, who, as he so helpfully notes, are dead now. One of my classmates described it as “perhaps the most boring travelogue ever.”

“I have not seen the Chauvet paintings: few outsiders have yet had the chance. Nor should they, for our primary concern must be to protect them from harm.” pg 50

Some of the most interesting parts of this were the author’s descriptions of rituals from modern peoples, such as the San. But there are perils galore to using any of this modern information to decipher rituals in prehistory. The culture and society is not the same. The hierarchies are not the same. The tools and materials available are not the same. The meanings assigned to the ritual movements may have changed if we even knew what those movements were, which in most cases we don’t. There may have been a charismatic figure at the center of the cult or religion, and who knows what they may have been like. I could go on and on.

“As they activated their potency, the medicine men trembled, then sweated, then bled from the nose, as the potency took hold of them – an eerie sight to behold. Many white hunters have seen dying eland, trembling with wide-open mouths, sweating profusely, with melted fat gushing like blood from their nostrils. Perhaps the San likened this phenomenon to ‘death’ in a medicine man’s trance.” pg 61

The fact that I find this book so dull truly is a shame. This topic could come alive with a little updating. Perhaps if the text had a digital component, where you could digitally “walk” through the sites the author is describing as he describes it, it might hold the attention.

Also, From Black Land to Fifth Sun was published in 1998, twenty-two years ago for those keeping score. It purports to be on the cutting edge of archaeological research but I find that extremely dubious when I consider how far technology has developed since then. One need only look at the state of our handheld devices to know it couldn’t possibly be true.

In addition to the meandering yet somehow dry descriptions and outdated technology, somehow the author has managed to suck the life out of a topic I find extremely compelling. What did ritual and religion look like during prehistory? I don’t know, but I can imagine so many different scenarios. So many!

I feel like this field could use people who use their intuition and imaginations in addition to scientific techniques to bring the past to life- almost like a shamanistic version of Indiana Jones.

Instead, we have either scientists putting locks and fences around sites to maintain each dust molecule in context and then droning on for hours about when the human brain may have become capable of religious thought or arguing about whether religion developed as a societal control for hunter-gatherers or agricultural people. On the other hand, there’s the spaced-out new agers who want to camp among the ruins of Stonehenge or wherever and commune with whatever spirits they claim are living in the rock, divorced from any kind of scientific evidence whatsoever.

Can’t we have some sort of happy medium?

Only recommended for the readers who are taking the same course I am. Otherwise, seekers are advised to steer clear.

Chasing the Sun: The New Science of Sunlight and How it Shapes Our Bodies and Minds by Linda Geddes

Chasing the Sun reminds readers of the importance of the sunlight in shaping some of the body’s processes, regulating mood, and the surprisingly deleterious effects that not enough sun, or not adhering to the body’s natural rhythms, can have.

I picked up this book because I’ve been having trouble sleeping and thought maybe this would have some helpful tips. It did, but I felt like most of this information I had heard before in some form or another. I suppose it is nice to have a reminder to get ample sunlight during my daily routine. I have experienced bouts of seasonal affective disorder in the past and know first hand how it can affect your mood.

It is rather depressing how far removed modern society has made itself from nature. Linda Geddes points out this gap and how the ancients, and some members of our era, made better use of this natural resource.

I enjoyed the history lessons about the Romans and their solariums. They used “heliotherapy” to treat a variety of illnesses. I also enjoyed the studies about the potential effectiveness of “chronotherapy” for patients suffering from certain mental disorders as well as learning about efforts to increase their sunlight by towns that receive little light during the day. For example, there’s a town in Norway that put mirrors on top of the nearby mountains in order to direct more sunlight their way.

As we know more about the importance of sunlight, I’m certain we’ll see more efforts to incorporate this information into our daily routines. And it affects things we may not even consider from school start times to a good night’s sleep.

Recommended for readers who want to learn more about how the sun affects our lives and some of the newer scientific research about the same.

Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America by Margot Adler

Margot Adler talks to adherents in different traditions all across the United States, and a few in Europe, in order to banish some of the mystery and misconceptions surrounding neo-pagan groups.

“Since Pagans are a very diverse group, it is wrong to say all Pagans believe this or that, but here are some beliefs that many people in this book share: The world is holy. Nature is holy. The body is holy. Sexuality is holy. The imagination is holy. Divinity is immanent in nature; it is within you as well as without. Most spiritual paths ultimately lead people to the understanding of their own connection to the divine.” pg 11, ebook.

Photo by Gianluca Grisenti on Pexels.com

I didn’t know much of anything about pagan religions before I read this book, mainly because I am from a particularly conservative part of the country and there are very few groups of this type around. It’s hard to get to know people if there aren’t any to talk to.

In some circles, just the word “pagan” inspires fear because it’s not clear what this means or people might be threatened by how someone’s beliefs might be different from their own.

“Neo-Pagans look at religion differently; they often point out that the root of the word means “to relink” and “to connect,” and therefore refers to any philosophy that makes deep connections between human beings and the universe.” pg 24

Adler examines an extraordinary number of pagan groups, an almost bewildering amount. I liked that this book introduced me to so many different paths and ideologies, but at the same time, it began to get somewhat repetitive as she broke down all of the different groups.

Photo by Gheorghita Claudiu on Pexels.com

But as the friend who had recommended this book reminded me, Drawing Down the Moon was created in the years before the existence of the internet. It was intended not just to explain what these groups were, but also operated as a catalog of sorts, for readers who were looking for the right path for themselves.

Recommended for spiritual seekers who are looking for a tradition that fits or for anyone who is curious about the stunning variety of spiritual beliefs there are out there. I learned so much.

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Author: Heidi

Bridge of Birds (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, #1) by Barry Hughart

Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation by Joseph Campbell

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch

Shinrin-Yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing by Qing Li

Echopraxia (Firefall, #2) by Peter Watts

From Black Land To Fifth Sun: The Science Of Sacred Sites by Brian M. Fagan

Chasing the Sun: The New Science of Sunlight and How it Shapes Our Bodies and Minds by Linda Geddes

Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America by Margot Adler

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