Mind and Life: Discussions with the Dalai Lama on the Nature of Reality

As I've mentioned before, I'm subscribed to the Mind & Life Institute mailing list, and through this list I just received an email about a new book:

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new book that captures the rich exchange between scientists and Buddhist contemplatives during a Mind and Life Institute Dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When a group of noted scientists including Nobel physicist Steven Chu and biologist Eric Lander discussed the nature of matter, life and everything from particle physics to the evolution and nature of consciousness with the Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamsala, their dialogue was recorded for posterity.

The book that grew out of this meeting of minds is Mind and Life: Discussions with the Dalai Lama on the Nature of Reality by Pier Luigi Luisi and Zara Houshmand. Recently released by Columbia University Press, the book has already received an appreciative review by the journal Nature, which notes that Luisi, "does a fine job of capturing the ebb and flow of debate and the delicate dynamics of cross-cultural interaction ... The book is stimulating whatever your field of expertise, because it is likely to offer a way of looking at the world that you had not tried."

You can read the book review in Nature at: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7219/full/456170a.html

In case you don't already know, for over a decade, a small group of scientists and philosophers (and practitioners of many faiths, all members of the Mind and Life Institute) have met about once a year to explore the intersection between science and the spirit. This book came out of one of those conferences.

Don't think I will purchase this book, at least not yet, but I would like to learn more about it.

I understand that in addition to interviews with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, included in this book are also interviews with Matthieu Ricard and Richard Gere. I'm not too interested in the interviews with Gere but The Monk & the Philosopher: Father & Son Discuss the Meaning of Life by Jean-Francois Revel & Matthieu Ricard (which I read in 2004) is one of my favorite books. Of the Dalai Lama's books, I've read The Heart of the Buddha’s Path and just a few others and I would love to read more from him.

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

My favorite websites for free classic books is Bartleby.com. Named after the title character from Herman Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street -- one of my all-time short stories -- it was founded by by Steven H. van Leeuwen as a personal classic literature on the website of Columbia University. It's funded by revenue from web advertising which allows Bartleby.com to provide access to the collection free to users. On Bartleby.com, you can find books, poetry, quotations, presidential speeches, and more.

Last night I decided to take advantage of this fabulous website and read part of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, available on bartleby.com here. Written in 167 A.C.E., it is truly an amazing work. It's easy to see why it is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty.

I think I may finally purchase a copy for my exceedingly large collection of books.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

I finished Kim Edwards's New York Times Bestseller The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

For those of you who have not heard of this book, here's a summary.

This novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry, an orthopedic doctor and surgeon, to deliver his own twins. His son (Paul) is born first and appears to be perfectly healthy. Suddenly, he realizes that his wife is having twins and when the second baby, a daughter (Phoebe), is born, Dr. Henry immediately realizes that she has Down syndrome.

He makes a split-second decision to ask his nurse, Caroline Gill, to take the second baby away to an institution (as was common practice in that time) in an effort to spare his wife the pain of raising and losing Phoebe. Dr. Henry tells his wife Norah that Phoebe was stillborn and Caroline disappears overnight into another city to raise the child as her own.

The book then tells the parallel stories of Dr. & Mrs. Henry raising Paul and Caroline raising Phoebe and how each deals with their secrets and loss.

I have mixed feelings about book. I felt like the plot was predictable and oftentimes felt contrived.

Still, I'm a sap and I will admit to crying towards the end of the book.

The ethical dilemma raised in this book is certainly worth discussing. Put in a similar situation at that time in history -- when it was common practice to put children with Down syndrome into institutions since medical knowledge of the disease was so limited -- I can't say for sure that I would have chosen to keep the baby.

What do you think?