Notes from a bibliophile

Sidney Sheldon is one of my mom's favorite authors, so we made a bet - I would read one of her books if she read one of mine. On the positive side, I think I'm getting her hooked on Harry Potter. On the negative side, I had to read Sidney Sheldon. The plot revolves around several unusual deaths around the world. The only connection between the deaths is that the dead people all worked for the same company, Kingsley International Group. KIG is a think tank originally begun by Andrew Kingsley, but after a workplace accident, run by his younger brother Tanner. Two of the murdered men's wives begin to seek answers, but soon their lives are in danger as well. There's also a sub-plot centering on climate change and the odd weather events that global warming appears to be causing around the world. It has a few not-too-startling twists. It also has some odd little quirks that must be addressed. Let's start with facts, though. This novel was written in 2004 when Sheldon ...

I love to travel, but I do it so little that if I'm honest I'd have to say I love the idea of travel. I can count the number of places I've visited on one hand and still have some fingers left over. There are so many places I want to go, but for now they are only a dream. The list is mostly the tourist-y places. Not a lot of places outside the norm, because frankly, I'm a little scared of a lot of places. You hear so many bad things. And I don't want to be an "ugly American". I think that is what led me to listen to this course - I want to be able to understand how other cultures work so that, on the wildly implausible chance I can ever afford to travel, I will understand what I am entering into and hopefully enjoy myself more. Professor David Livermore talks about 10 cultural dimensions that differ to some degree from culture to culture. They are: 1. individualism vs. collectivism - he talks about how babies are treated, how they are encouraged to s...