A note on books

For some reason I’m having trouble editing my “I’m currently reading…” element. I finished “The Rules of St. Benedict” (translated with introduction and notes by Anthony C. Meisel and M.L. del Mastro) a long time ago, and have since read a couple of novels, most notably by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. For the moment I’m indulging in something I would have frowned upon a few years ago – I’m still working on the actual reasons for this – something I usually don’t read.

A lot of famous people have written books; not just memoirs, but also self-help type books, where they’ll tell you how to succeed, get rich or find the man of your dreams. These people are able to publish and sell books, not really because they are magnificent writers or respected, licensed experts, but because, well, I guess because they’re already famous. As a general rule, unwritten, Courtney & I never buy books like this. If we feel we need somebody else’s opinion on, say, how to take care of our babies, we’ll buy books by experts that we know not only are extremely competent, but that we also know base their ideas on similar foundations– in this particular case - baby care - we’ve mainly been buying books by Dr. and Martha Sears.

The book I’m currently reading is a self-help type book written by a very famous man; Dr. Phil McGraw. It’s called Family First, and it’s supposed to be a “step-by-step plan for creating a phenomenal family.” Now, Courtney & I have, in our view, our own fairly educated opinions about how to best raise our family and don’t really feel we need some stranger to give us “steps” to improve our life. There’s something about Dr. Phil however, that has charmed me. He’s not just famous, but also intelligent and educated, with studies, research, surveys and years of experience to back up his simple and basic, very reasonable and sharp ideas about human relations. I don’t know how much of his advice I’ll actually employ, or rather; frankly, there’s not much there that we don’t agree with and already actively practice, but his insights are so clearly and well formulated, and honestly, who doesn’t enjoy reading something considered “the right thing to do” and think “well, that’s what we’re doing!” Now, I’m not saying Courtney & I are perfect parents and that we always do everything right, but sometimes parenthood and married life is challenging, and it’s nice to know that others have concluded the same thing; that family is important, and that the values we hold are justified.