Book Review - Imagine

Imagine was by far one of the most interesting books I've ever read. If there's one thing that makes all of our lives more interesting, that thing is creativity. Jonah Lehrer compiles a number of stories about the worlds greatest breakthroughs and epiphanies, and tells us how they happened. Creativity. Lehrer brings a scientific perspective to our creative processes and has literally found a formula for you to become a more creative individual. He provides fascinating insights into some of the greatest innovators of our generation, including the late Steve Jobs. Also, the strategies they used to make their employees and their companies more creative, more collaborative, and more successful.
This book was exceptionally enticing to me because I think that creativity and individuality are some of the most important aspects of society today. And to have somebody break it down, and provide examples of such creative genius, to me, is very exciting. I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially those people with some interest in a scientific perspective. However, I didn't feel that this book isolated a particular type of reader. Everyone can take something away from Jonah Leher's Imagine.

Delay on Imagine by Jonah Lehrer

This book is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. Normally I will have each book read within a week of finishing the last. However, because this book resonates so well with me I will be taking an extra week to get through it. This is a book that I don't want to rush through, I really want to enjoy it. That being said, I am about halfway finished right now and I will try my very best to get my review to you all by the regular time next week. In the meantime, I highly recommend you pick this book up. I find it to be very insightful. Jonah Lehrer goes into great detail about certain aspects but the concept for this book as a whole is amazing. I can't wait to share this one with everyone!

Author Bio - Jonah Lehrer

Jonah Lehrer was born on June 25, 1981 in Los Angeles, California. He is a Columbia graduate and Rhodes Scholar, who found out the hard way that any clever young man who works as a technician in a neuroscience lab is likely to wind up dirt poor as well as frustrated. Now a Contributing Editor at Wired and the author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist. He is also a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and Radiolab and writes the “Head Case” column for The Wall Street Journal. "Lehrer fancies himself – and not without reason – as a sort of one-man third culture, healing the rift between sciences and humanities by communicating and contrasting their values in a way that renders them comprehensible to partisans of either camp." His newest book Imagine is a phenomenal read and I'm very excited to bring it to you next week!

Guest Book Review by Gina Macdonald - Prisoner of Tehran

This year on Canada Reads, Arlene Dickinson championed a book called Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat. After hearing the debates and listening to Arlene speak about the book, I knew I had to read it. It was absolutely riveting. I read it in a day and a half, and the only reason I put it down was to sleep, eat, and maybe say hello to my parents. Nemat’s all-too-true story about her imprisonment in Evin was completely engrossing and sometimes read more like a horrifying novel than a memoir.

            The memoir begins with Nemat’s description of Pearson airport in Toronto, how it seemed like such a normal, welcoming place, and how she was lucky to be in a place like Canada. We are then taken back to Iran, where she describes her family life, her first encounter with her future husband, and finally her arrest after speaking out against the government at her school, at age 16. For the rest of the memoir, we learn about her trials in prison, her forced first marriage to a man she does not quite learn to love, and her relationships with the other women she meets in Evin.

            It would be impossible for me to correctly sum up the amount of terrible things described in the book as well as Nemat wrote them. As I mentioned, at some points it felt like I was reading a novel, a fictional account, rather than a true relation of these events, because it was at times too terrible for me to believe it actually happened.

            As well, this book was the first time Marina Nemat told her story; even her husband had no idea the things she went through in Evin until he read the manuscript. Prisoner of Tehran is a brave book to have been published, both because Nemat survived her ordeal and then decided to share her experiences with the world. Nemat’s strength really comes through in her writing, and it’s definitely something I would recommend anyone and everyone to read.

Author Bio - Marina Nemat

Marina Nemat was born in 1965 in Tehran, Iran. Marina Nemat grew up Russian Orthodox in Iran and was in high school when the Shah was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini. She was outspoken in opposing the regime's policies and at the age of 16, was arrested and thrown into Evin, Iran's notorious political prison, where she was tortured and came very close to execution. "There were (and are) thousands of prisoners in Evin prison, and, in the eighties, the vast majority of us were teenagers". She suffered here for a very long time. "I had lost my family, my religion, my freedom, my dignity, and even my name. How much can you take away from a person before she crumbles into dust?" She came to Canada in 1991 and has called it home ever since. In Canada, Nemat worked at Swiss Chalet while secretly writing her harrowing life story as a therapeutic diary. She is currently teaching a creative writing course in Farsi at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies. Her memoir The Prisoner of Tehran is an international bestselling book and was a favorite on Canada Reads, though it was strategically voted out first. Keep your eyes open for Gina Macdonalds second guest review featuring The Prisoner of Tehran!

Book Review - Aleph

This was another one of those books I took a chance on. I'm not a very spiritual person by nature and I don't necessarily agree with all religious views but this book had a very interesting idea behind it. The idea behind a book is what's important and regardless of the story itself, that is enough to grab my attention.
Aleph is a remarkable story of self-discovery. In one of his most personal novels to date, Paulo Coelho shares his experiences from his journey all the way along the Trans-Siberian Railway.
After feeling the loss of meaning in his life, he is determined to find it again. Just before he begins his journey, he meets Hilal, a strong and determined young woman who shares the same goal that he is out to accomplish and believes that they can achieve it together. It is while the two of them are together that we first encounter an aleph. It is suggested that the past, the present, and the future, are all happening simultaneously. An aleph is a space where, if you are near someone you've met in a previous life, you will both see visions of the time you have experienced together in the past. Paulo is certain that his feeling of loss is being caused by a wrong he has committed in one of his past lives. The person he wronged is Hilal.
Paulo Coelho takes you along on his spiritual journey to find himself. It is an intensely personal, and fascinating experience. I found the idea of the aleph to be highly interesting. It is not a concept I've ever considered before. I think it's a beautiful idea that two people from a past life could meet again and share everything that has ever happened between them as though no time has passed. This book is definitely an interesting read and I was very impressed with it. For everyone out there with an open mind, I strongly recommend this book to you!

Author Bio - Paulo Coelho

Paolo Coelho was born on August 20, 1946, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Coelho attended Jesuit schools and was raised by devout Catholic parents. He determined early on that he wanted to be a writer but was discouraged by his parents, who saw no future in that profession in Brazil. In the 60-s in Brazil art was forbidden by military dictatorship. Worrying about the future of their son and trying to protect him from prosecutions of the authorities, his parents sent Paulo at age 17 to be under the care of a psychiatric hospital. He was committed to an asylum one three separate occasions. Coelho eventually got out of institutional care and enrolled in law school, but dropped out to indulge in the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" of hippie life in the 1970s. He was jailed three times for his political activism and subjected to torture in prison.Once he left prison he tried to work but was dismissed without explanation. It was at this point that he decided to spend his time traveling. The casual meeting in Amsterdam resulted in his meeting with the Catholic Order RAM which was created in 1492. There Paulo learned to understand a language of signs and omens. Being sent in pilgrim travel to Santiago de Compostella, Coelho overcame 80 kilometers on a legendary track of pilgrims.
Coelho is an outspoken activist for peace and social justice, and also supports the free distribution of his work. He and his wife Christina split their time between Rio de Janeiro, and France. His latest book Aleph is a bestselling novel and I'm excited to be able to share it with you next week!