Chronicles: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Warrior - ECoach - P90X

World Made by Hand

I finished reading World Made by Hand by James Kunstler a couple days ago.

It's a fictional account of life for a guy after the oil runs out and several US cities have been nuked in retaliation for interfering in the operation of other countries. 

Robert, our hero lives in what used to be a city but now is more of a village where life has reverted in many ways to what it was like before electricity.  Most people grow or catch their own food and barter their services with others.  People mine what used to be landfills retrieving stuff that was once garbage but is now valuable.

Everything is quiet and peaceful and running as best it can for a people who remember what life was like a few years earlier when they had electricity, cars, Wal-Mart, and grocery stores.  Life changes when one of the villagers is murdered by the owner of the landfill and several others are kidnapped and held for ransom by a thug in a town to the south.

It's an easy read and is meant to act as a warning for people about the ramifications of peak oil and resource wars.

If anyone wants my copy, let me know and I'll send it to you. 

What I'm Reading

Tia bought A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and I've been trying to get some reading in on it.  He says that we are at a point in time where humans need to evolve or die.  The ego of humans is causing such dysfunction that we are going to destroy each other as well as our planet.  Can't argue with that. 

I'm interested to read more about what this evolution will entail and how he proposed we do our part in making the change.

I read The Power of Now by the same author several years ago and really enjoyed it.  I didn't put as much effort into following the advice as maybe I should have but I still enjoyed it and I should revisit it.  The Power of Now is geared to helping people live "now" and to let go of regrets from the past and worries from the future.

The other book that I'm reading is World Made by Hand by James Kunstler.  It's a first person fictional account of a guy living after the earth's oil supply is gone.  There is very little electricity and life is much like it was before the discovery of oil.  Most people grow their own food, walk where they need to go, and don't have much contact with people outside their village.  A farm hand has been murdered and no one is going to do anything about it.  A New Faith group has moved into the village and is trying to recruit new members.  There is a guy that seems to be doing very well for himself trying to create a new kind of life for him and the people that work for him, who sound like serfs to me.

I suppose the books go hand in hand.  It could be one or the other.

Robert Jordan, author of my favorite series

Robert Jordan died on Sunday.  Robert Jordan, whose real name is James Oliver Rigney Jr, wrote my all-time favorite series of books.

The Wheel of Time is a huge series that sadly he'll never finish.  He was working on the last book of the series when he died.  Supposedly he passed on how it all ends so I suppose someone will finish it but it just won't be the same.

He had plans for a new series as well which I know I would have picked up immediately and read.

Such a loss.