Finished "The History" by Herodotus

I didn't finish the whole book, only the three pieces that were listed this time from my Great Books reading list; namely, Polymnia, Urania, and Calliope.

I love reading Herodotus. Remember the movie 300? It's like reading the book, one battle after another and what this king said, or what that city tried to do. It's exciting.

Mardonius, one of Xerxes generals, says, "It were a monstrous thing if, after conquering and enslaving the Sacae, the Indians, the Ethiopians, the Asserians, and many other mighty nations, not for any wrong that they had done us, but only to increase our empire, we should then allow the Greeks, who have done us such wanton injury, to escape our vengeance. What is it that we fear in them? - not surly their numbers? - not the greatness of their wealth? We know the manner of their battle - we know how weak their power is; already have we subdued their children who dwell in our country, the Ionians, Aeolians, and Dorians."

The Persians were a warring people. According to the Greeks they were barbarians. They were pretty stinkin' fierce from what Herodotus writes. I'd like to read more about them from their own perspective and see how these same battles were portrayed differently. I've read before that if the Persians had taken over Greece (more than they did), things would be a lot different today. Most of our western heritage stems from Greece but if the Persians had won, maybe that history would be different. I know that they got pretty far in "conquering the world" and that they did some pretty heavy damage to Greece and Athens, but what was the turning point? What happened that made the Persians leave the area?

Finished "1 Chronicles"

"So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse." 10:13-14

This was my only note from this book. It's come up a couple times in my life, recently because I watch "The Long Island Medium" on tv and I love her character. She's professes to believe in the God of the Bible and she seems to be a kind and loving person. The things she tells people seem legitimate and helpful. But the Bible is clear on the point of mediums.

The truth I see is that she is real. She does speak to the dead (in a way), but God clearly doesn't want us to do that. God wants us to come to Him for guidance. Speaking with a medium or a spiritualist is asking for trouble. It's a way for Satan to creep in with his demons to drive us away from God's light.

Here's my take. When we die, we "sleep" until the end of times when God reconciles all. He lives outside of what we think of as time, Einstein's time. Once we die, we are also outside of that time so there is no way for a medium to talk to us and tell our loved ones what we are thinking about. But Satan takes that love we have for our dead and gone and twists it. He has the ability to use our thoughts and confuse us. His goal is to keep us from God.

Sometimes when we consult a medium, we get positive feedback, something we think we can use to make us happy but it won't work for long. God wants us to go to Him and take comfort there.

Finished "The Right-Brain Business Plan"

I've been thinking a lot about starting my own business the past year but I wasn't sure where to start, or that I could even really do it. My friend recommended this book and it looked interesting. I thought I'd get it and read it and then pass it along. After reading it, I'm still not sure if I want to start a business but not because I don't think I could plan it. This book has some great ideas and ways to implement business plans without stifling your creative side. I think my problem is that my creative side needs help! I just can't imagine anything I could make a business with.

Thoughts on Learning & History

I had an epiphany this morning and quickly conveyed my vision to my youngest son. That's the best way for me to remember an idea, relaying it to another person.

I was listening to a podcast of the Tom Woods Show and he was talking about history, economics, and education. The usual topics. They were were lamenting the way schools teach history with just the memorization of dates, names, and places. That is the way you'd have to teach history if you are going to test and quantify it. But it isn't the best way to understand or use history in your life. In fact, learning it that way is so dull that no one enjoys it or believes it to be relevant to the present at the end of a course.

My vision was a box of puzzle pieces with a picture on it or not. You open the box and pull out a piece. It's green. You put it on your table and pull out another piece. This one is red, completely unrelated to the green one. The next piece is different. It has a straight edge and the next one is straight edged and green, like the first piece. Eventually some pieces look similar and you pile them together. Some pieces start to fit together and you can see part of the picture. And finally, after hours of work, you can see the whole thing and you stand back and admire it. Maybe you seal it up and hang it in a frame on your wall to beautify your office.

That's how learning works. You read one book, a website, an article, or a magazine. You watch a tv program, talk to a relative, see a movie, or listen to concert. You visit an amusement park, a museum, or a park. You play a game. All of these things seem completely unrelated but your brain sorts information like pieces of a puzzle. You start to see how parts of one thing can be related to another and you begin to put them together and see parts of the picture, the real story. And after years of experiences you begin to realize that more and more pieces connect in some way. They form bigger pictures that spread out and take shape. They transform into a body of knowledge and a world view that you can keep and beautify you life with.

Everyone does this, babies, children, teens, and adults, if you let them.

Finished 2 Kings

Another long listing of the kings they had and how they fell farther and farther from God.

The only note I wrote down was about how interesting it is that they commonly note important people's Mother as well as their Father. I know they had multiple wives, maybe that's why.

Finished "Snow-Bound - A Winter Idyll"

In another book the character said his Mother read this to them when they were little. Of course, I can't remember what book that was, but I had added it to my reading list long ago and I'm glad I did. I add things like this on my Kindle because then I always have a reading list to pull from when I'm unexpectedly stuck somewhere. This time it was at the theater. The boys have things to do and people to chat with, I'm just sitting there. What better way to spend a half hour, that reading poetry, right?

I'll just give you the review I gave it on Amazon.

"What A Vision - I love the scenes these words paint! From my warm climate, 150 years later, I shivered, smiled, and sighed transported."

Finished "The Revelation to John"

This book is a little too figurative for me to really like. The images are awesome to think about but I can't get my brain to hold onto anything concrete.

Here's something that my sons and I were just talking about yesterday. "He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death." end of 2:11

The second death. The word die can mean a lot. I think it means something different to God. Everyone's body dies, but our soul, what we are in the realm of God, is different.

Will those who did not get a chance to know Jesus (either because they lived before His appearance on earth or in an area that did not hear the Gospel yet) have a chance to accept Him as their savior? I think they will. Our bodies die and we are reborn, so to speak. That realm has no time. It just is, always, like God. When we perceive that place we are already at the Judgement. It's hard to write about on the fly like this. It's something we talk about and think about a lot.