The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu Tell Us How To Be Happy

  I have read a book with the Dalai Lama's name on the cover before.  It was A Call For Revolution which was co-written with Sophia Stril-Rever.  I reviewed it on this blog here.    

                                     

The Dalai Lama has what seems to be a precursor book called The Art of Happiness written with the psychiatrist Dr. Howard C. Cutler.  I have not read The Art of Happiness, however.  So I can't be sure how comparable it is to The Book of Joy. Both books do have similar themes. 

The context of the coming together of the authors of The Book of Joy was that Archbishop Tutu joined the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala because the South African government wouldn't give the Dalai Lama a visa. The Archbishop also met exiled Tibetans in Dharamsala.  He wanted to assure them that they could take back Tibet just as Black South Africans had managed to reclaim South Africa from those who had imposed apartheid on them.  

In addition to the Tibetan Buddhist and Christian aspects, The Book of Joy addresses the scientific study of meditation.  The Dalai Lama said that he found the scientific approach to meditation inspiring.  

We learn from The Book of Joy that the Archbishop Tutu's daughter, Mpho, is a lesbian who sought to become an Anglican minister. Unfortunately, she was forced to choose between her marriage to a woman and her church.  The Anglican Church officially does not allow its clergy to have same sex marriages. Yet the Episcopalian Church of the United States, which was originally derived from the Anglican Church, does allow its clergy to marry members of the same sex.  This is why Archbishop Tutu's daughter, Mpho Tutu Van Furth chose to become an Episcopalian priest.  The Archbishop supported his daughter's choices.

I had previously read about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was mentioned in this book. I had first encountered it in the novel How The Water Falls by K.P. Kollenborn which I reviewed here, and in the novel He Does Not Die A Death of Shame by Jack Hoffmann which I reviewed here.  This commission dealt with testimony from witnesses and with applications for amnesty from those who violated the rights of individuals during the struggle against apartheid. 

The commission was chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.   I believe that Archbishop Tutu would have played his role in chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with integrity. When I started this book, I knew nothing about Desmond Tutu other than his name.  Now I respect him. I know now that he received the Nobel Peace Prize.  I am also aware that he is deceased.  This is public information.  I don't believe that the concept of spoilers applies to non-fiction books especially when the facts involved are well known.

You should read this book for the synergy between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu.   I am convinced that together they sparked insights that might not exist otherwise. 

I was amused by the Dalai Lama's agile riposte to the Chinese Communist Party's insistence that they want to find the 15th Dalai Lama.  He said let them recognize the reincarnations of their own deceased Communist leaders before they become involved with finding the next Dalai Lama.  He mentions recently dead Chinese leaders.  I'd love to know about the reincarnation of Chairman Mao myself.  

This book is intended for general readers, not academic scholars. There are no footnotes or endnotes.  I also searched in vain for an index or a bibliography.  If the readers of this blog do want academic scholarship on the Dalai Lama or Desmond Tutu, they might search the websites of local college libraries for such content.  If they have no borrowing privileges there, they may still actually go to the library.  They will probably be able to be view it there.  I have gone to the libraries of universities that I don't attend and examined books on the premises.  Academic librarians have no problems with courteous users who respect the rules of the library.

                                  

Resurrection Walk: A Complex Legal Thriller

I wanted to have a mystery or thriller to start off April.  I had recently purchased Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly from the public library's bookstore, and it seemed to fill the bill. I've never read Connelly before.  Goodreads informs me that this is #7 in the Lincoln Lawyer series and the 38th book in which Harry Bosch appears. Those who are RIO types (Read in Order) would probably tell me to start with the first Harry Bosch book, The Black Echo, but I'm an UOOOR (Unrepentant Out Of Order Reader).  These are abbreviations used on the Mystery/Thriller Group on Goodreads.  Those who have been reading this blog for some time may have noticed that reading in order is unimportant to me, and that I don't choose my books on that basis. 

I looked up The Black Echo on Goodreads and discovered that there is backstory on Harry Bosch that may be significant.  So I thought I really should read The Black Echo and placed a hold on it at my public library.

                                   

Since I have an interest in deaf issues, I took note that Harry Bosch is partially deaf.  It apparently isn't central to the character.  His hearing loss is only brought up one time.  I was surprised to read that it was due to his cancer treatment.  Bosch has leukemia .  I ran a search on hearing impairment and cancer treatment. I discovered an article on the subject from Harvard Medical School  here.   I welcome being educated by my review process.  Hearing impairment came up because Harry Bosch can't hear pings from his phone.  So he relies on vibration for incoming calls. 

Harry Bosch investigates for lawyer Mickey Haller who has the billboard slogan "Reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee."  A character wonders how Haller gets away with that slogan.  I realized that it implies possible unethical behavior--manufacturing reasonable doubt in a case that's really cut and dried.  Haller and Bosch are half-brothers.

Harry Bosch's daughter asked him to stop working for Mickey Haller, and focus on his recovery from cancer. Bosch is participating in a clinical trial that Haller discovered.  Other side effects of his experimental cancer treatment included mild nausea and vertigo. Bosch told his daughter that working for Haller made him feel better emotionally.  When he isn't doing any work for Haller, Bosch feels useless and depressed.

The murder victim in this case, Roberto Sanz, had a shootout with gang members before his death.  Yet Roberto's ex-wife, Lucinda, had been charged.  Lucinda had pleaded nolo contendere which means no contest.  The case wouldn't be brought to trial with that plea, and Lucinda went to prison.  Bosch didn't think Lucinda Sanz was guilty. It seemed to me that Lucinda wouldn't even have been aware of the option of pleading nolo contendere unless she'd been instructed to do it. 

 The case was brought to trial after Lucinda had served more than five years of her sentence. At that point, there was considerable doubt that Lucinda had killed her ex-husband, Roberto.

The verdict in this case would be a huge spoiler.  So I definitely won't include it in this review.  I was never certain of the result of the trial until the verdict was announced.  There were a number of plot twists  that made Resurrection Walk a superior legal thriller.