"I don't want to talk about it" by Terrence Real

I read this book on a recommendation, and I found it very valuable, but not in the self-help paradigm which the title would suggest. The author is a Harvard-trained psychotherapist specializing in family therapy, and both his vast knowledge, clinical experience and a very bitter personal experience growing up as a boy and having to learn first-hand that 'boys don't cry' and 'a real man shows no pain' despite the circumstances. The main value of this book is in the fact that for the first time clearly and succinctly states that men are just as depressed and just as vulnerable and just as oppressed by the society growing up, as women are. Enough of the bullshit about 'the stronger sex', about men being somehow more able to control their feelings and less prone to being emotional, depressed or irrational. That is all baloney! Real cites studies that show during the first two years of development of babies, that is before they start understanding they are of one sex or another, male babies are actually more emotional, more sensitive and more vulnerable than female babies. It is only through the oppression of the societal stereotypes, often in the hands of well-meaning, but hopelessly ignorant, parents and relatives that the societal stereotypes for men and women are forced upon the children. The children are literally chiseled, with all the blood, gore and pain to accompany it, to fit into the societal stereotypes, and being forced to castrate entire segments of their personalities and sensitivities and their full self-expression, just because 'the society' has its own ideas of how exactly men should look like and act like.

This book is a great addition to the fledgling Men's movement, and goes a long way to show grizzled feminists that the man's side of the story is no fairy tale, and is just as full of pain, denial and oppression, albeit in a different manner, than the woman's side. Real goes on to show how socially 'adapted' men, who look great from a distance, and seem to have everything under control and going great for them, are actually internal wrecks, who medicate themselves with intoxicants, relationships, workaholism and abuse. The book shows how covert depression in men is much more dangerous than overt depression in men and women, as covertly depressed men numbed their senses to such an extent that they are not even aware that they are depressed, and would never admit to it in a million years.

The only critique of the book would be that, although it provides plenty of case studies and personal experiences of the author, it leaves little material to men/readers to work with. I guess it was never imagined to be a self-help book in the strictest sense of the word, but more of a 'realization' book, intended to make the male reader realize his problems, and then seek professional help. Recommended to all men, and the women who love them, out there.

"Foundation" by Isaac Asimov

So, I finally got around to reading this seminal work (actually a trilogy) in science fiction, and literature in general. The vision of Asimov is breath-taking! Thousands of years, hundreds of parsecs, millions of light years, galactic empire (all human), psychohystory... what else could one ask for? The book has very interesting plot twists and surprises, but the vision itself is what is astounding. It consists of five shorts stories, all of which excepts the first have been published before. With the first story 'Psychohistorians' Asimov establishes the universe and the underlying theme of the entire series, and then adapts his previously published stories (already in a similar universe) to fit the Foundation timeline.

The idea of Psychohistory, that the future of large masses of population could be predicted with mathematical precision, is definitely original and thought-provoking. Hari Seldon, the founder of psychohistory figures as a living person only in part of the first story, his other appearances being in the form of hologram with messages left for the Foundation people after they've gone through one of the many 'Seldon Crises' he predicted. Using his own psychohistorical mathematchial methods, Seldon predicted with 98% probability that the Galactic Empire, in existence for 12,000 years, will come to an end in the next 500 years. With the same methods, Seldon discovered that 30,000 years of barbarism will ensue before another empire arises. To shorten this period down to 'only' 1,000 years of barbarism, Seldon organizes 'The Foundation', an organization that will catalog all available knowledge and publish it in the form of Encyclopedia Galactica, thus shortening the period of barbarism.

Unbeknown to all, Seldon did not care much about the encyclopedia, but wanted the 'Encyclopedists', the scientists and learned men that are going to write the encyclopedia, and their planet 'Terminus', to become the nucleus of the new galactic empire and thus shorten the interregnum of barbarism. This was to be presented to all on the 50th anniversary of the Foundation, when the first edition was supposed to be published, and also the time of the first 'Seldon Crisis' where the scientists and their families and support staff populating Terminus are faced with their first major independent decision and all-threatening situation.

The other stories in the book describe several more 'Seldon Crisis' or turning points where the very existence of the Foundation and the future of human civilization with that is in danger and also parallels major developments in the past of the human civilization, especially the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, which was inspiration for Asimov in writing this book. The first crisis emphasizes the importance of managing your enemies instead of trying to defeat them directly. The second crisis shows that it is always much easier to control people and entities through religion and spiritual means, than through direct force and confrontation. The third crisis shows that at a certain level of civilization development religious control becomes undesirable as most civilizations start to see through it and its real purposes. At this time control through trade, supply and demand, and simply - money, is to be introduced.

Different characters realize the different Seldon Crisis and they are always universally opposed by the old regime and the old timers who want to keep the status quo, however the changes cannot be stopped and are always implemented according to Seldon's original plan and psychohistorical predictions, ultimately for the greater good of a species, even if to the detriments of certain (powerful) individuals. Amazing book, and very captivating, even without ANY trace of sex, love or amorous interest and with great emphasis on non-violent resolution of conflicts (Seldon's favorite quote is "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent").

"Conan the Invincible" by Robert Jordan

I wanted to read the original Conan books, the source of all the comics, graphic novels, games and movies I have thoroughly enjoyed as a teen and adult. Somehow I stumbled on the Conan books by Robert Jordan and decided to start my reading with them, wrongly assuming that he is the original Conan author. Only later I will learn that Robert E. Howard was the inventor of Conan, back in the 1930s, and he only wrote a set of short stories, never completing a real novel, before he killed himself. Then the Conan intellectual property was lent to many authors, who all tried to write Conan stories in Howard's style, never really succeeding completely. Jordan is probably the closest to Howard's style and vision of Conan the Cimmerian. Jordan wrote his Conan books in the early to mid '80s, before he started his magnum opus, The Wheel of Time series, which brought him worldwide fame.

Conan the Invincible is Jordan's first Conan book, also having as a side-main character the beautiful, violent, and scantily-clad (often naked) Karrella, the Red Hawk, brigand and leader of a gang of thieves, who appears in many other Jordan's stories. The book is very easy reading, entertaining, Conan-like, with the usual dose of evil wizards, demon-gods, snake-men, drinking, sex, debauchery, treasures and adventures. It is about the evil wizard Amanar, who learned a lot from the Wizard Circle, but chose to dabble in dark magic that even the other wizards (all wizards/sorcerers are evil in Conan Universe) were afraid to touch. Somehow his soul trapped in a jewel (for protection) was given to a king and he sends his snake-men, the Sitha, to retrieve it. Unbeknown to him, the Wizard Circle is angry that Amanar ran away with most of their knowledge, and have sent one of their own wizards to find Amanar's soul and destroy it, and to this effect this wizard hires Conan, the best known thief, far and wide, to do the actual work.

Things don't go as planned, and Conan goes on a trek around the desert, meeting Karella on the way and her gang, and ends up in Amanar's magical fortress in the middle of the desert where Amanar is toying with them for a while, but makes a big mistake underestimating Conan, which leads to his doom. Conan is not yet 19 in this book, so it takes place at a much younger age than Howard's stories, or the novels of other Conan authors where Conan is usually in his 30s, 40s, even 50s. An entertaining, though not overly engrossing reading (don't expect Harry Potter or DaVinci's Code experience), but great to see a good perspective on Conan lore from yet another talented author.