bookinthroughbooks: #20 "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Phil...

bookinthroughbooks: #17 "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Phil...: How many people remember watching "Back to the Future Part 2"? Marty McFly travels to the future of 2015 with his frien...

#20 "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

How many people remember watching "Back to the Future Part 2"? Marty McFly travels to the future of 2015 with his friend Doc Brown. While there he is served a Pepsi by a computerized Michael Jackson resembling Max Headroom-like qualities (cheap labor), rode a hover board and flew in car. Maybe "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" or "to boldly go where no man has gone before" is more your style. Both movies show a future of intergalactic space travel, other planets with an assortment of extraterrestrial life mingling together, and of course flying space ships that have their fair share of dog fights.

Mo Technological Advancements, Mo Problems! I want to own an Ewok. Maybe I will just dress Layla up in a Ewok costume and give her big hugs. She has been working on that battle cry.

The movie that was inspired by "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", "Blade Runner", takes place in the distant future of the 1990s. Earth is slowly being taken over by a toxic dust which came about during the last war, many animals have become extinct, androids (humanoid robots) are working on Mars, and flying around in hover cars. Too bad they didn't spend all their time making gas masks. We were obsessed with the flying vehicles dominating our future, weren't we? I would prefer to see the invention of teleportation. We could work in Tokyo and live in Wyoming. Talk about global economy. To see our families all we would have to do is step in a booth and Presto! at their front door. No screaming kids in a car, plane, train, taxi, or bus. I would probably be out of a job. Oh well. I would just get a job making booths to travel in. You want Italian for dinner. No more settling for Fazoli's. You get the idea.

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is another quick, a lot easier to understand, science fiction novel. Rick Deckard (70s Harrison Ford), a bounty hunter, is hired to kill retire androids who break the law by escaping to Earth. These androids resemble humans in almost every way besides their inability to feel empathy which supposedly makes them a danger to humans. The book never specifies why they are not allowed on Earth but I am guessing it has something to do with that. To differentiate one from the other Deckard subjects them to an empathy test. Since our planet is going to be uninhabitable eventually, androids work on the planet Mars(New America) to make it more habitable for the uninfected, superior minded humans who've escaped the fate of those living on Earth.

An important aspect of life on Earth is the desire to own a living animal so much so that people who can't afford the real deal purchase the electric counterpart. Deckard, wait for it, owns an electric sheep. Poor guy. Neighbor over there with his real animal and I'm over here fake feeding a programmed sheep that responds to the appearance of oats. As he continues to retire more escaped androids he accidently encounters another bounty hunter who changed his life. Watching this other man's hostility towards the androids especially this particular female opera singer, Deckard started to feel empathy for them. Unfortunate since his job is to retire them.

Again not going to tell you the whole story. Next, to read is "Watchmen", the only graphic novel on "The List" and "Choke" by Chuck Palanuik which is graphic in another way. Yikes!!

BTW. Government, if you're reading this: Teleportation. The next wave of the future. Matt, you're smart, make this happen. I will give a few thousand for the cause. Ha!

#19 "The Invention of Curried Sausage" by Uwe Timm

Can I state the obvious? It's cold outside and I'm ready for spring showers to melt this snow. We like making obvious comments, don't we? You know eating those Oreo's won't help you lose weight? Smoking cigarettes can lead to lung cancer. Driving home being reminded, "this is our turn coming up". Thanks, while your at it make sure to point out which one is our house. So you know I am using sarcasm.

At the temperature of -12 there is nothing better than snuggling up in a warm blanket with a piping hot cup of coffee and reading a good book. Well, a little hibbity dibbity with the wife can really warm things up. There's nothing comparable to the weather just not being cold with a glass of ice tea, crown and coke and an hour of video games. Besides that...Friday nights are pretty great too. Relaxing and cuddling with my wife watching "Grimm", kids asleep, stomach almost full of "Jersey Mike's" subs, and a bag of gummi bears. I retract my first comment. A good book is ok but all that other stuff sounds way better.



Haaaave you met Lena Brucker? She is the creator of the curried sausage. "The Invention of Curried Sausage" by Uwe Timm is not just a story of how Lena Brucker met the sausage (so you know that was kind of a perverted joke). It's a historical fiction novel about a woman, living in Hamburg, Germany towards the end of WWII, who's life changed dramatically during this time in which she was harboring an AWOL German soldier. The beginning of the interview with an inquisitive man asking how she came about making the popular curried sausage, she had to begin here because without him curried sausage would never have existed, she wouldn't have owned a food stand that made her a successful business woman , and still stuck in a dead end marriage with a lying, cheating, thief of a husband. You may be guessing she married this soldier by the name of Werner Bremer, fooled around in the kitchen and discovered this concoction and started the business together. You would be wrong. The ending isn't so obvious, but you will have to read the short 217 page book to find that out.

I enjoyed the novel. I like historical fictions,. It wasn't funny at all but creative and brings to light events and ideologies foreign to me that occurred in Germany at the tail end of the war. Money wasn't as important to the people during and after the war as much as a desire for specific items such as food, wood for heat. Tangible things with actual use. We take for granted today that we can just pop over to Walmart to get everything need and only in exchange for bills or a swipe of a credit card. Buying a building only requires getting a loan from a bank. Depleted Germany had to survive with its skilled citizens working together. That's all I'll say. Stay warm ya'll and like I said earlier, the best way to accomplish that is doing the you know what.

So you know, this is the end of this blog post. Go!! Have some sex!

#18 continued "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee Part 2

I would like to reiterate for a second what my blog is about. I have enjoyed reading since I've been sober on weekends. I was searching for a good story that wasn't in the best seller lists or by the authors I was already familiar with. I also didn't want to waste my time on an uninteresting novel. I've heard of the 1001 before you die series via Sami who was checking off her "1001 Places to See Before You Die" while hanging out with my wife's family in Oregon. I saw "1001 Books to Read Before You Die", picked a book to read, enjoyed it, read another one, enjoyed that and it snowballed from there. I decided from there that this might be fun challenging myself to read as many as I can throughout my lifetime and some stories just gets me itching to talk about it. GM guys can care less talking about books and my wife will go nuts listening to me talk about 1001 novels. There you go. Enjoy. Feel free to share your thoughts too.


When I think about the experiences in my past the memories that immediately jump out are the one that have had a major impact on how I am today. I will never try to climb from one tree limb to another by hanging onto a thin white clothes line. Especially when there are roots sticking out of the ground like sharks waiting to almost break my back. Then there was the scare of '99, as I like to call it now, when I thought I was going to be a daddy with a woman I'd rather have not gotten pregnant. False alarm. Oddly enough that event scared the Jesus into me. The time my dad called me out asking me what my intentions are with my girlfriend, now my wife. I respond I don't know. We are just hanging out. He threatens to call her and tell her to move back to Oregon and not waste her time with me. I believe it was only a few months later I proposed. Best decision I was swayed into making. Thanks Dad.


The story of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a collection of memories from a tom-boyish, intelligent, inquisitive and at times oppositional girl name Jean Louis (better known as Scout) over a three year span in a small town in Macomb, Alabama during the Depression. I couldn't help picturing my mom as a child while reading this book. Looking up what 6 year old children are experiencing psychologically in Psychology Today the first few paragraphs explain how they are beginning to find their place in the world and learning that their choices have consequences. Not only that, but they still look to authority figures, especially their parents, to guide them when they need help in making the best decisions. This rings true in this story. Scout is gathering information from many different sources, from her neighbors to the poor folks down yonder, but the most important is her widowed father, Atticus Finch. He is always there to shed light for Scout and her brother Jem about the behavior of others and how to conduct themselves. He also gives a snippet of sage-like advice about how to get along in the world in which we live. Not only does he talk the talk, he walks the walk.

Central to the story is the trial between Tom Robinson (a black man) vs. Bob Ewell (a white man). Tom Robinson has been accused of attacking and raping Mayella Ewell (daughter of Bob Ewell). Atticus Finch, a lawyer, was chosen by the courts to defend Tom. Atticus knew his client was innocent based on the given facts, but living in a small racially ignorant town getting an innocent verdict would be hard to come by no matter the truth. However, he felt it was his moral duty to follow through with defending his client with the utmost effort in spite of the harassment he and his family had to endure from the town and his extended family.

Throughout the narrative Atticus treated everyone with steadfast respect while his children, showing less self control, retaliated. When his two kids complain about what others are saying he responds, "You just hold your head high and keep those fists down.  No matter what anyone says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat", "The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience", and  "Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing about?”.

Can I be honest here? My wife and I have discussed the topic of the woman's "Ugly, Messy, Monthly thing I refer to as "The DEAL". Like what's your deal!?? I will never understand what you ladies go through. It's biological. It's painful. When my wife is a little bit more chippy than usual with me knowing that "The DEAL" is occurring I can retaliate because I have the right to defend myself, but understanding that what she is going through isn't fun I choose to be respectful because I know I shouldn't respond harshly but lovingly. I then ask her, even though she has every right to be upset and angry with me or the kids to try to react likewise. Does this sound insensitive? In the case of Atticus Finch he tells his kids just this. You have all the right to respond with hate but what will that accomplish? To treat others in kind with love and respect do you think that will produce more positive results than with fists? Isn't this GRACE in action? I know I digressed a little here but I hope you follow my thought process.

Throughout the novel Scout's respect for her father slowly increases. She initially viewed her father as a loving, intelligent, sit on his chair and read the paper, oblivious to her and Jem's antics, passive, adult. As time passed her opinion changed. When it came to Boo Radley he knew their mischievous plans to get their mysterious neighbor man to come out of hiding in his house countless times. Her views on his passivity was eventually seen as a greater inner strength and more awareness of others situations. The critical witch of a woman Mrs. Dubose who's continuous ridicule towards Scout and Jem in regards to Atticus for his role in the defense of Tom Robinson was later revealed as a symptom of her fight against her addiction to pain killers. Atticus explains to them, "Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." In the case of Mrs. Dubose she won in the end. She had real courage until the day she died. When Tom Robinson was jailed before the trial Scout and Jem witnessed Atticus' strong opposition to allow a threatening group of townspeople in. Both events would definitely impact my opinion of my father in a positive way.

The most profound feeling I got from reading this novel is how our everyday decisions no matter big or small can change the course of history. The trial may have ended on a bad note, the strong character of Atticus did rub off on a few people especially his kids. He knew it would be a miracle to get Tom Robison off on this crime but he had to do the right thing. Do you believe in the butterfly effect? That a flutter of it's wings can have a ripple effect that can impact the other side of the world. Something so minute. Sometimes I want my life to have some grand significance. Maybe I could talk to a friend about their alcoholic habits and my words, guidance or life would change his life. A woman talking about getting an abortion that I can tell her that this child is alive, give it up for adoption, or call her a murderer would be enough to help her see the light. Man I would be a saint if I could save a life. I would often think about those times in my life where I made a difference. But what about the time I just sat down to talk to a friend or co worker who seemed down on his luck. I just listened to him talk. Would that make it in my greatest hits? Maybe when I just opened the door for a woman entering a store. Who cares about that right? Sometimes the small things make the biggest difference. Why? Because we are being selfless. We are not looking for praise. To get a check mark for doing something good. God has to love me now. I saved a person.

I will just ask to whomever cares to think about our behavior at each moment if our butterfly effect will cause a ripple in time in a positive way or negative. Be nice to a customer even if they don't deserve it. The guy that cut you off while driving. Don't give them the finger. Maybe nobody sees you do it. Does that matter? Even our hidden sins don't go unnoticed. Not necessarily by God but we change even with the sins we never show others.