Book: "Waking" by Matthew Sanford
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK.

He he. Here I go again. This reminds me of my "Avatar" experience.

"Waking" is an inspirational story about a guy dealing with paralysis due to a childhood car accident. It's really heart-wrenching stuff to hear the stories of what this guy went through. And then he perseveres ultimately by learning yoga. It's an amazing story. Anyone dealing with this kind of trauma and disability is amazing to me.

"Waking" on Amazon is a 5-star deal (source) with people about as gushy as I've seen for any book or anything on Amazon.

Sorry, I wasn't that moved. Why?
  • Much of the book (2/3?) deals with his accident and the fairly immediate trauma and treatment of his paralysis. It's just brutal reading... because it's happening to a 13 year-old kid.
  • Then, we get preachy. If you don't do yoga, then you don't "get it". You're not connected with this and that and the other thing. Jeez. The paraplegic who gets totally into weight-lifting and Special Olympics stuff... he doesn't get it. The doctors don't get it. The therapists don't get it. Whatever.
  • He also describes how, after winning a lawsuit over his accident, he becomes "enlightened" about not needing to work and that his philosophy and inner-self are more important. Yawn.
It's almost universal isn't it... everyone's religion is the religion. Even not having a religion is a religion, as the worst religion these days is people who won't tolerate the religion of others.

What works for me? Running. Working hard. The "life is a game or contest" metaphor works pretty effectively. But am I in your face if you're not running, not working hard, not competing. Heck no. There's a lot of benefits to an alternate approach (including yoga)... just don't tell me yours is better for everyone and I won't do likewise.

Look, this wasn't a terrible book; it was worth the read. Dude, I'm glad that yoga worked for you. But please please please don't tell me that your way is the way. It isn't.

Baseball tomorrow!
Ahhhhhhhhh.
play ball... yow, bill

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