jbschirtzinger

BooksAndArticles

Book Review: Seabiscuit

Yeah, I lived in KY for a long time. Never went to The Derby though. Expensive hobby for people that like to look important was mostly my read on it. Interesting about your article with all the horses being in Secretariat's lineage, and I'd tend to agree with you about both horse racing and dog breeding being basically evil at this juncture in time. 

![](https://m.stacker.news/93218)

Review note: One of the staff members in the earlier days of Facebook had Hillenbrand as a friend.  Seabiscuit was out then.* **--Booklight staff**

In case you ever want to know how long it takes books to get that weathered yellowing that books of antiquity often characteristically possess, the answer is about 25 years it seems, since the review copy of this work looked like it might have been around as a witness to the races of Seabiscuit during his prime.

Hillenbrand has a nose for stories. Her previous work, [*Unbroken*](https://booklight.top/posts/2024-12-29-unbroken), was reviewed by this site. *Seabiscuit* as a narrative theme, echoes some of what *Unbroken* encapsulated. The idea of the unlikely or unknown coming into a position of world notice only to encounter some insurmountable-seeming obstacle is something that both works share as the subjects of both books had to face uncommon amounts of hardship.

What makes *Seabiscuit* captivating though, is not necessarily the writing, though it is good, but the story itself. Hillenbrand is able to weave the narrative structure together such that the reader is transported back to the early 30's when Seabiscuit was starting his ascent into national domination of horse racing.

Some of "The Biscuit's" retinue is well known since the tale is frequently crossing paths with the likes of Bing Crosby who is surrounded by the kind of people one would expect for his time and place.

If you have ever wondered what the profession of a horse jockey is like, *Seabiscuit* is an eye-opening encounter of the hardships and dangers incumbent on those who pursued the sport and profession. In short, the conditions were barely above awful, and it is a wonder that any jockey stuck around through those years and even now since the same dangers are present.

What one learns, however, is that the jockeys are riding for freedom--or a kind of transcendence that only horse racing provides and arguably only Seabiscut could uniquely channel such than the entire US paid attention to his races above concerns even of a burgeoning World War II. We learn in the book that FDR kept diplomats waiting just to hear whether or not Seabiscuit would win a certain race against another horse that is still well-known who went by the name of War Admiral.

There is a kind of chaos that sets up around the races and the characters in them--and it is not a unique occurrence since it seems to happen in almost each race. Sometimes it happens *during* the race, and this usually portends a jockey either being seriously hurt or dead. 

Seabiscuit seems, at one point or another, to trick everyone or to play tricks on everyone. The beginning narrative deals with Tom Smith, an enigmatic cowboy type, coming into the ranch and discovering what Seabiscuit's psychology is after having discovered him. At the same time "Red" Pollard, Seabiscuit's first real jockey, starts to comprehend what it means to motivate Seabiscuit to win. The fact that Seabiscuit requires motivation is an interesting spin, since most horses naturally seem to run, but Seabiscuit is not a "natural horse" as the story shows.

Pollard acts, at first, as Seabiscuit's savior, and then later Seabiscuit acts more as his. The two of them are intertangled, and although Seabiscuit is ridden by another jockey for a time by the name of Wolf, eventually everything comes back to Pollard at a crucial moment for both jockey and horse.

We also learn about Charles S. Howard, the owner of Seabiscuit, who also kicks car ownership into existence with the early sales of Buicks in California assisted, in a major way, by the California earthquake of 1906.The Quake, we learn, made horses sparse, and cars were, on the contrary, plentiful. (so long as you bought them from Charles S. Howard's lot) Howard, paradoxically, gets into horse racing, which is the animal he is replacing with the newest technology.

The pacing of *Seabiscuit* is fast, but it never becomes tedious. The story is worth at least one reading, and probably several additional ones as a kind of reminder about adversity and what can be done when the world arrays itself against you--maybe especially the media, gossip, and slander. (and your competition) Seabiscuit overcame it all, and became a legend. So too did the people who managed him. Somewhere in there though, a large portion of faith was involved, because in many given instances, things looked bad at best and hopeless at worst. Know anyone who can use some inspiration?



*The original article can be read over at [booklight.top](https://booklight.top/posts/2025-05-23-seabiscuit)*




![](https://m.stacker.news/85971)

ISBN 0-394-54618-0

The expectations for *Yiddish Folktales* by Wolf and Weinreich require some adjusting. If you believe you will be reading about Elijah against various mythical backdrops, you will be right. On the other hand, if you are not expecting elves, ghosts, witches, and sorcerers, you will not be prepared for what you will find in the pages.

These tales are culled from people who were Yiddish from around the 1910’s and 1920’s. Many of them are Russian in origin. There are also smatterings of stories that have distinctly Germanic origins. Between all of them exists a type of story-telling that is as rich as any other culture when it comes to creatures that are relegated to the fantasy genre in the modern era of reading.

Some historical figures are present too whose influence and exertion of will is still felt during the storytelling time in which this book was composed and based. Tsar Nicholas the First shows up sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. Napoleon also obtains some billing although it seems that many of his tales are cautionary.

There are several accounts that are classed as “Purim Tales” in that they court nonsense or have no ending that makes logical sense. Many of these stories are acknowledged as being these kinds of yarns by a certain kind of Yiddish rhyme that indicates somebody was drinking alcohol, but not the storyteller. (The teller of stories is, after all, the arbiter of truth)

In addition to many of these oral traditions, there are explanations as to how the storytelling was done, and what the climate was like around people who told tales. The primary source of entertainment during the early 20th and late 19th centuries were people who could tell stories and they had an elevated position among their social strata because people wanted to hear what they had to relate. Often, the storyteller appears near a stove, probably because many of these events happened more often when it was cold than when the weather was warm and people would be more active outside.

Satan shows up more frequently than perhaps he ought to, but usually he only makes an appearance to remind the listener that Satan is constantly pulling some manner of tricky trick. There are also prods that one ought to develop their character instead of their bank account, and that sometimes people who are foolish seeming are not inferior to those who are considered smart or wise. (indeed, they often get the better of the deal since being foolish they have no reason to use their intellect in malignant ways)

If there is a latent desire to understand what Yiddish culture developed, this book is an excellent work to give the reader insight into the oral story traditions it commanded. Be prepared, however, to understand the world not through the stereotypical Hebrew lens, but more like *Lord of the Rings* and the *Hebrew Bible* had some strange offspring. By the time you are done, you will probably wonder why these traditions have so few cinematic representations, whereas other cultures and their folktales have so many as to be nearly synonymous with some of these accounts. It isn’t appropriation, after all, when you have spent hundreds of years in a place and developed your own unique experiences with entities that show up in other traditions. By that point, it is the lens your culture uses to parse experiences in those places with its own unique fingerprints. Weinreich and Wolf are as good of a place as any to begin that exploration.

Original review over at [thebooklight.](https://booklight.top/posts/2025-04-06-yiddish)

Book Review: Yiddish Folktales

![](https://m.stacker.news/81059)

ISBN: 1718873980

*Special thanks to https://wisepathbooks.com/ for supplying a review copy of this book. –Booklight staff*

There are not too many books that straddle the line between Christianity and mysticism that are able to negotiate the twists and turns the subject matter entails well. George MacDonald took an early swipe at the future genre in 1881 with this work.

It proves hard to categorize what the author did. There are plenty of allusions and symbolic meanings present in the volume. The quick storyline is that a young man inherits an estate that is on the verge of ruin in Scotland. This is far too simple of a reduction, however, of the rich layers present in this work.

Probably, it would be better to say that a young man learns what it means to mature into an adult spiritually while keeping the Christian teachings close at hand, as well as making sure the soul does not slip from him while balancing the demands placed upon him by the world.

The estate he is to inherit is curious and is not without its ghosts. The walls of the house speak of the ancient history of his family, but indeed also of his mother who the reader learns, has died earlier in his life. His father is a constant reminder of what it means to be noble and to stay meek. The other characters in the house help to tell Cosmo, the boy, about his past, and have key pieces of information about his future.

It is via a chance bad weather meeting that Cosmo meets Joan who is entangled with his life in several key ways and he in hers. While their initial meeting seems to have something romantic about it, there are other possibilities closer at home, and a large portion of the novel concerns itself with how the two reconcile their incipient feelings for one another.

There are, of course, massive doses of supernatural happenings throughout the work. The bulk of these could be summarized by saying God turns what seems to be meant toward misfortune toward good where the Warlock estate is concerned.

It is also curious that the book was named Castle Warlock with the obvious connotations that entails considering that the narrative of the book is very much how to be a good Christian. It is said by some sources that C.S. Lewis used this work to construct some of his other more famous novels. Indeed, there is the courting with the magical smacked up against the Christian as one often finds in his novels. While the two themes move fluidly enough between one another in a Scottish castle, it would require a place like Narnia for Lewis to make the confluence happen.

One difficulty in accessing this work is that the accents are authentic to Scotland. Indeed, there even exist alternative language versions written in Highland kinds of tongues or Scots-English. After awhile, it becomes easier to understand what is being said as the reader begins to develop the vocabulary meanings through context and repetition. Still, there are some key moments where the reader might not have everything said easily understood and these moments require a later clarification when they contain key pieces of plot.

This kind of work is not a modern undertaking in any sense of the word since the entirety of the story exists as a kind of parable as well as a tale. Still, there is a richness accessible to the determined reader that most modern literature cannot replicate. One could do worse than spend several evenings by the reading light decoding some Scottish turns-of-phrase.


*The entire original article can be read over at [thebooklight.](https://booklight.top/posts/2025-03-07-castlewarlock)*

Book Review: Castle Warlock





![](https://m.stacker.news/76853)


978-1959666455

*Special thanks to https://wisepathbooks.com/ for supplying a review copy of this book.*  **–Booklight staff**

“Old Grog”, the author of *On Ruling*, has undertaken a difficult task against the current political climate. He has attempted to weave a helpful narrative toward Christian men that acts as a beacon concerning masculinity and what it ought to look like under a relationship with the acceptance of Messiah as the cornerstone. In many ways, he has succeeded in this.

The book hopes to supplant any future books about Christian male leadership and notes, wryly, that most men that have many books on Christian leadership seem to be the worst at exhibiting it. There is a tongue-in-cheek method of relational tale-bearing that works concerning the tone of the thesis. Since the intended audience is mostly young men, this device is well-suited toward that goal.

The focal point of the exposition is the induction of men into a status that is referred to as a “viceroy”. A viceroy is defined, loosely for the purposes of this review, as an appointed ruler under a king to carry out certain duties necessary to the functioning of the kingdom. The King is then wisely referred to as the Messiah. This neatly sidesteps the problems inherent when believers think of themselves as Kings in the manner of Israel or lost tribes, but not as examples like David. Even with this language, though, there is a reminder that a ruler ought to be humble first and foremost in case anyone who begins to carry out the viceroy mentality begins to inflate their self-worth in a manner that might incur the wrath of the King of Kings.

Nonetheless, the comparison to what Kings do oftentimes makes the distinction fuzzy. While the work makes the concept of Kings in general a natural thing, sometimes Kings from the past are used as a reference point. (or at the very least, that is the inference) This has the unintended effect, possibly, of making the viceroy step into the shoes of a King, whether or not the author is intending for the viceroy to do so. This becomes highly important later when the reader is told about the behaviors Kings might exhibit–such as showing up unannounced and gathering resources and making alliances. These suggestions are made in terms of enlarging the dominion of God on the Earth, but for young men, as anyone can tell you, sometimes the nuance is lost.

Predictably, the book leans heavily toward what the behavior ought to be for the home, the wife, and having children. There are some hard-won pieces of advice present here. Certainly, the characteristic of having worked long in the business culture is evident. Generally speaking, it is probably good advice, although some of the examples used about vaccinations and being a pharmaceutical sales person are puzzling. What happens, for instance, when the King of Kings says that certain businesses, like the types mentioned in the book, are not working for Him?

Furthermore, the guidance the Messiah gave was to sell all possessions and follow Him in most circumstances and to share all possessions in common among the disciples. The model in this book does not incorporate that specific teaching which is a crucial one to understand properly.

There is an acknowledgement, obliquely, which underlies why this point bears emphasizing. The reader is told that fifty years ago a book like *On Ruling* would not need to exist since there was a common agreement on what a masculine role ought to be. The trouble, though, is that role is under assault because some of the lessons in this book were put into practice and not always under the Will of God. In the language of the book, “A whole lot of hay was cut”, but the collective values were wrong. Many viceroys were mistaken.

A guiding lesson is given concerning how these values were corrupt enough to warrant this book’s existence. A young man who comes from a home where he has “two mothers” impregnates a girl in college. He is, of course, fearful, but his problem is what this book is trying to address–namely that he has no idea what a Father is because he never had one. An immediate lesson is offered to this young man in the form of responsibility for his new family, consequences, and new priorities.

A most interesting part concerns the criticism that the advice given might turn the home and family into an idol since that is the clear priority throughout the reading. The author takes a kind of “the ends justify the means” outlook here in that the children produced from this implemented strategy will more than make up for any suspicion that the home is an idol. Whether or not this succeeds as an argument depends on whether a person agrees that the children ought to be emphasized in the way this book purports.

The biggest visible stumbling block in the arguments expounded concerns the choice of the word “Kings” and the monarch allusions. In the end of days, there comes a personage, it is told, who comes in the guise of a King. Many young men, it seems to the reader, do not have a problem with being royals. What they have trouble with, though, is submission of their “royal impulses” to the Higher Will–and certainly the consequences that come when that fails to happen appropriately. The biggest ill concerns the quality of restraint more so than the characteristic of regal identity. Of course, “Old Grog” might be seeing an angle the reviewer is missing. Sometimes one has to “build up” before one can “tear down”.

On the other hand, it is also told that Israel is eventually to become a nation of Priest-Kings. “Old Grog” does not take this stance, but rather emphasizes the more Pauline position that he is speaking as a kind of “grafted-in” pagan which many Christians likely relate to. Perhaps this work is framed from that vantage point, although if it is, it did not seem to state that point plainly enough as to make an impression on the memory after reading it.

As a composite, the work is an interesting read with a lot of life advice from the aspect of a young man who is going to start a family and will be out in the working world. On the other hand, depending on how close the Kingdom is to arrival, this might be unnecessary advice. The world is changing faster than most people can keep a fix on. The nature of work and how faith is arranged in society has changed drastically in the last five years. Still, the qualities “Old Grog” puts forth will be important, regardless of the backdrop in which they exist. The work undertaken here is pertinent for men of faith to read, and men in general can derive value from considering the ideas put forth.

If you are a young man, this book will make you think about what you want to do. If you are of middle age, it will make you think about what you are doing. If you are an older man the book makes you consider the kind of advice you would give to men younger than you in light of your life and spiritual growth. Wherever it is you are or were, it will make you think about the definition of what it means to be male and what expressions that ought to take with submission to Messiah as an intrinsic emphasis.

The full original review can be read over at [the booklight.](https://booklight.top/posts/2025-02-09-onruling)

Book Review: On Ruling

Books Published On Stacker News

siggy47

I dare say no one has time. It isn't a possession. 



![](https://m.stacker.news/76229)
978-0465030095




Mark Bradley decided to take on a difficult task. The story of Duncan Lee is not one that most authors would want to tackle, since the subject of the work could be easily characterized as an unrepentant traitor for communist Russia under Stalin.

Lee would dispute this, and so would Lee’s family. Probably, the rationale Lee would offer, as per the framework of the book, was that the goal was to defeat Hitler at any cost. Lee saw Stalin and Russia as key to this. This, however, of course overlooks the fact that Lee was a communist because he liked the ideology of communism.

The way Bradley tells the narrative makes chronological sense. The basic divisions are the early life of Lee, pre-war, the college life of Lee, where he begins his communist journey, the war life of Lee, where he becomes an OSS officer but also a supplier of information to Russia, and the fallout later life of Lee, where the consequences under McCarthy begin to corner Lee.

The most interesting part of the story concerns how Lee deceived himself. He starts off clearly as a Russian spy, but then later after the charges begin to be made concerning his activities, he reverses his role and goes to China to support an airline industry with strong opponents of communism. His job, with this specific airline, is to resist the advancing Mao in China.

So, the question becomes who, exactly, is Duncan Lee? His family had been in America for some time, and was related to Robert E. Lee. His immediate family, in the form of his father, was an evangelical who went to China to witness for the gospel there. Bradley juxtaposes this action against Lee who inherits this spiritual zeal, but uses it for the “religious” purposes of communism and advancing its goals.

Being part of the intellectual class, Lee heads off to Oxford and finds a future wife there who is more radical for communism than Lee. This serves to galvanize his early devotion.

Later, during the war, the emergent OSS under Donovan taps on Lee to hold an important position inside the organization. Since Lee has been rubbing shoulders with members of CPUSA–the Communist Party of the USA–it does not take long for Russian intelligence to find a suitable handler for him in the form of Mary Price who believes spying for Russia is a form of fighting fascism. The way she recruits Lee is possibly one of the oldest in the book–through sexual seduction in part. Lee refuses to give Price any written information, however, and makes her memorize what he has to say so that there is no paper trail. This proves to be a later boon to Lee.

Lee is not a very good spy for Russia since he refuses to do what they want him to do and he continues to do things his own way. He also does not have the required emotional stamina, and soon begins to have a kind of fearful paranoia run his life. Since his treachery level was so high, one concludes this is probably Lee’s guilty conscience more than any external threat, although the two do blend together on several occasions.

Once Russia aligns as an ally of the US, Stalin uses the new scenario to his advantage since he knows the US does not want to try any specific Soviet spies it might find in its ranks due to upsetting Russia and having a situation unfold whereby Russia might withhold some of its manpower from the war effort. It is, ironically, at this point, that Lee begins to become more paranoid since two sides which were not originally speaking to one another begin to have more communication and understanding of who is supporting whom in the spy world.

When the war finally ends, Lee, through the machinations of the person who replaces Mary Price, an Elizabeth Bentley, faces whistle-blowing charges. Bentley begins to not like the direction communism is taking for a variety of reasons, and for her own protection from Russia decides to venture to the FBI and unmask her network of Russian spies. The FBI of course, does not initially trust or believe her fully, but it puts enough pressure on Lee to make him wary. It is not long after this that he is off to China to assist the airline that the CIA saves which is called CAT in its pro Chiang Kai-shek activities which includes supplying his army and ultimately his ex-filtration to Taiwan. This provides Lee an entirely different narrative, which he uses in the coming trials which are in part a result from Bentley’s admissions–performed by the House Un-American Committee.

Eventually, Lee is off to Bermuda for his new job with an insurance company, where he faces more trouble in the form of gaining necessary passports and being summoned back to the US to face further questioning because of Bentley.

Here, the narrative plays out to its ultimate conclusion of Lee as an older man, and what he, in his own opinion, thinks about his life. Of course, true to the form of everything else Lee has done in his life, his conclusions are myopic and flawed. The reader is in the best position to make the judgment.

Bradley tries to play this story down the center and uses phraseology that condemns communism at times, and patriotism at other times. He does mention, by the end of the book, that he is a former CIA employee and that the CIA had to read all the material and approve it. Perhaps this plays into the case of Duncan Lee, and perhaps not. Perhaps Bradley, like Lee, felt a need to atone for something, and so wrote this book and worked with the Lee family to produce it. None of this sounds like an easy or delightful task. The story, for whatever reason, had to be told.

The question, like the life of Duncan Lee, is why?


The full review can be read in its original entirety over at [thebooklight.](https://booklight.top/posts/2025-02-05-principled)


Book Review: A Very Principled Boy--The Life of Duncan Lee

![](https://m.stacker.news/73157)


*Review note: Special thanks to [Yale University Press](https://yalebooks.yale.edu/) for providing an electronic review copy of this work* **--Booklight staff**

Katherine Carter has spent, according to this work, ten years at Chartwell which is a long time to research and explore. To an American ear, this might not set off immediate connection since Chartwell is a subject that has flown below the radar concerning World War II. The needed reference point concerns the knowledge that Chartwell was Winston Churchill's country abode. What makes Chartwell interesting, however, is that it also served as a place where Churchill amassed military intelligence from many sources from well before Hitler came fully into power. Chartwell, then, was where secret meetings with people such as Einstein and China's political elite took place. It is also where people such as the famed 'T.E. Lawrence'--better known as Lawrence of Arabia--met Churchill before Lawrence's untimely, unfortunately fatal, motorcycle wreck.

What the narrative endeavors to undertake is how and in what way Chartwell influenced the development of Churchill's political career. A strong metaphor can be made to Chartwell being Churchill's Garden of Eden. This metaphor is helped, perhaps in not a small way, by key political players in Churchill's retinue being named Eden.

Here, at Chartwell, Churchill banged out various writing pieces and crafted speeches designed to warn the world of the approaching Nazi menace to which it turned, until the situation became dire, a deaf ear. Principally, Churchill wished to ready the Air Force so that Britain could counter any attack that Germany might be inclined to send. An early partner in this endeavor, who is an interesting study all on his own, is a person by the name of Ralph Wigram who acts as a key informant to Churchill on Germany's rearmament. It may be the Wigram was a pivotal piece that was necessary so that Churchill could forge his own convictions about the coming world conflagration. If nothing else, he was an important informant that helped shape Churchill's opinion in 1934.

Here at Chartwell also was where Churchill banqueted with especially formal meals and recipes for as long as his budget could afford to do so. Eventually, however, pecuniary necessity begins to settle on the estate, and Churchill must wrestle with what to do with the place that he so dearly loves. The decision he makes proves to be fodder for a later scandal. 

Carter includes details that are not easily discovered concerning the early parts of World War II, or to borrow a famous Watergate phrase, "What Churchill knew and when he knew it." It paints a picture of Joseph Kennedy and an America that is not especially fond of Britain, nor desirous of entering into any further conflicts. Likewise, it shows a Britain that wishes to close its eyes to the menace soon to be at its borders and wishes instead to avoid any direct action that might lead to more conflict. Chamberlain, famously, wanted 'peace at any price' and this appeasement, of course, was desired from having witnessed the horrors of the First World War. Carter also tells the narratives of deposed French Prime Ministers, ousted Nazi political opponents of former high station, and German military informants who cannot believe that Hitler is doing in Germany what he appears to be doing. 

Oh yes, and there there is the all-encompassing story of Churchill's ambition to politically 'get back on top'. His reasoning for desiring these political positions are ultimately good in context, but it is clear he wants to be back where he was--somewhere in Admiralty. His course would take him to the office of Prime Minister. Carter's exploration of how Chartwell contributes to this trajectory is novel.

A piece of criticism of Carter's work, however, might be that the ending is unexpectedly abrupt. One feels, somehow, like there is more to be said about Chartwell at the end of the war. This is especially so since we learn all about Churchill's family and what they do there and we do not get to hear what happens once the dark cloud of war passes from Chartwell's perspective. What we do get, which is quite nice, is a long timeline of events after what feels like an abrupt ending--and a detailed number of notes and sources. Perhaps Carter plans a sequel to this work some day. If so, the ending makes sense. Churchill himself, assuredly, would approve. 

Original post available over at the booklight [here.](https://booklight.top/posts/2025-01-15-chartwell)


Book Review: Churchill's Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm

![unbroken](https://m.stacker.news/70187)

*Review note: One of the staff members in the earlier days of Facebook had Hillenbrand as a friend. This book was not out at this point. Seabiscuit, however, was.* **--Booklight staff**

*Unbroken* is a work that makes a person question the reasons why and how the universe works as it does. Perhaps the reason why this question is put so forcefully forward concerns the sheer amount of suffering present pressed between the front and back book covers on these pages. 

Louie Zamperini begins life as a thief, although not an especially malicious one--more the kind that will steal a pie off a window sill and run--and by the way that running is going to prove to be *rapid.* Eventually, his theiving ways are turned into a possible useful focus in becoming a race runner as inspired by his brother. Zamperini runs all the way into the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he competes in the 5,000 meter distance race during a sweltering heatwave. To add a certain *Ben Hur* flavoring, some of the other runners attempt to remove him from the race by kicking him with their cleats. This bloodies him up, but he finishes eighth and manages to run the last lap in 56 seconds despite all the injuries he has received. This accomplishment, which was unheard of, attracts the attention of one certain Adolf Hitler who wishes to shake his hand for the feat.

Zamperini goes off to college, and there sets another racing 15 year record for the time it took him to run a mile. War breaks out, and this is actually where the story of *Unbroken* really begins and where Hillenbrand starts to hone her pen on the tale to follow.

Zamperini is placed in the position of being a B-24 bombardier. His job is to make sure the bombs hit their target. He does this job well and succeeds in undertaking many combat missions where his luck is put to the maximum test. He still makes it home. It is only when he and his crew are asked to go on a rescue mission that his plane goes down killing everyone but three of his crew that his luck runs out--at least in terms of the mechanical integrity of the plane. Thing is, the plane was not even shot at. It just stopped working.

From this point forward, everything that can go wrong and should kill a person happens. Forty-seven days are spent in a raft with sharks circling. Water runs out. The heat beats down oppressively. People hallucinate. Strafing by enemy zeros occurs. Then, the raft makes landfall, only to be welcomed by Japanese forces which are occupying the region. The raft, and its concomitant hardships, it turns out, are a vacation compared to what follows.

While the interview of Hillenbrand that occurs in the back of the work focuses on the theme of "forgiving the unforgivable", it seems the bigger question is how Zamperini "endures the unendurable." The psychological torture and physical stresses stagger the imagination. The Japanese have no intention of following any Geneva Convention war protocol, and are out to kill all prisoners one way or the other. Some are more sadistic than others. One specific guard who is called "The Bird" by the prisoners, is especially cruel and delights in inventing new tortures for the prisoners but especially, it seems, Zamperini. At each moment in this book when relief looks imminent, something much, much worse happens instead. This momentum continues for what seems like a small eternity and by the time the reader is done they feel as if they have gone through some kind of abuse simply by knowing such a chain of events occurred. 

Nonetheless, Zamperini must find both the will to survive and the answer to whatever it is that faith means to him if he wishes to continue to move forward. How this story concludes and how the answers are found is incredible. If Anne Frank is the Jewish voice of World War II and its hardships, then Zamperini ought to at least be the voice of American POW's who were taken captive by the Japanese--if not POW's as a whole. You owe it to yourself to read this one if you want to be informed on how how the other prisoner's of war fared and what that meant in the Asian theaters of World War II. 


*Note: This article can be read here as well:* [booklight.top](https://booklight.top/)

Book Review: Unbroken

Books Published In The Books And Articles Territory

Indeed! I'm working on the second book now, but I don't intend it for be for general release across the mass distribution channels as I indicated elsewhere.

alter_native

10 reasons I am not stacking sats 👇

DesertDave

Money, properly understood and used, moves like water. 

If you have ever felt like a victim of @darthcoin...

I'm from the old era of the net, and so I don't worry about the Darthcoins of the world. I've seen um come, and I've seen um go. 

spirituality

A Testimony Concerning God

The condition is the person asking has to be able to receive. 

Precisely. It is not the fault of the giver if the asker is a thief. 

Ah I read that differently. I thought you were saying that people could not be faulted for taking things at face value in the sense of not doing the spiritual aspect. 

I hear what you are saying, but I think the Bible is full of examples of taking things at face value only and how that can be dangerous.

Yes, the Buddhists call it "right action" with no expectation of "outcome". I think that's a fit description. 

You are welcome!

The other day, I gave some sats to a stacker who said they were homeless and starving: https://stacker.news/items/786504

As my first post indicated, I had some suspicions, but in praying about the matter, the Lord directed me to give the sats to the person as they asked. 

I did so, and it appears the person outed themselves as some kind of fraudster.

The question becomes, however, had I not done as I was told whether or not that would have happened? Notice some of the other responses on there about it "being some kind of lesson for me". I mentioned that the lesson was not for me. This is the lesson.

If a person claims to be serving God, then they cannot also serve their wallet because there are bad financial moves that one might be asked to do on behalf of spirit. These are matters of faith and not business. If a person on Thanksgiving says they are starving and homeless and the spirit moves you to assist that person, EVEN IF THEY ARE A FRAUD, it becomes your spiritual duty to do so. 

Why? Because as I mentioned in the post, the sats were not mine, they were Gods and I just happened to be holding on to them at that point in time. Within approximately two days, all my sats that had taken six months to glean before are nearly replenished to where they started before I donated to the person in question. Why? Because I wasn't paying for the content, God was. 

But let us assume that God had not refilled my wallet. Would it be any less of a testimony? No. Sometimes it takes quite awhile before a person sees any fruit from the actions they are taking. You notice one person on that thread goes so far as to state they are not going to give me any sats because next time around I won't be so trusting and naive. If it was the case that God was pushing on their heart to be a part of the solution and they refused to do so because they felt they understood my motives, then the person has not stolen anything from me, but they have stolen from God. 

God will simply find some other way to accomplish what He has in store for me. On the other hand, there is a good chance that the "thieves" will be defrauded in one way or another. 

Financial glory goes to God for a testimony, along with any other mortal kinds of glory. In a very real sense "I" never pay for anything. The Messiah paid for the ultimate price, and God sent Him as a kind of loan reconciliation to atone for sin. What else is there for me to pay for then? Everything is paid. I simply have to conduct myself such that the conditions of the atonement apply.

If people want or expect Bitcoin to change the world, and they think it is some kind of "Jesus money" they are first going to have to learn who pays the bills and who owns the bank. No other money revolution is going to make up for human deficiency and greed. The community here was done a service which I happened to participate within. The thanks goes to God as it was He who directed my course. Perhaps He wanted the corruption rooted out, or perhaps He wanted a testimony such as this and knew that the course of events would produce it. 

Either way, all the good produced from the action was His idea. I just happened to be holding the resources and asked. 