CATCH-22 - JOSEPH HELLER

CATCH-22
by
JOSEPH HELLER

There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.

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The Mysteries of Astrology, and the Wonders of Magic By Dr. C. W. Roback

The Mysteries of Astrology, and the Wonders of Magic

By 

Dr. C. W. Roback

An fascinating book about astrology, chiromancy, necromancy, geomancy, witchcraft etc., written by author Roback, Dr. C.W., who was also a practitioner in the field. Includes sections on astrology, chiromancy, nativities, geomancy, physiognomy and metoposcopy. 

The final chapter is titled "Narratives and anecdotes in relation to witchcraft, magic, apparitions, visions, presentiments, and other supernatural phenomena." The book opens with an autobiographical sketch where the author describes his childhood in Sweden, his adventures in the Near East and in Europe, his studies in astrology and magic, and finally his emigration in 1844 to the United States.

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The Forest People BY Colin M. Turnbull

The Forest People

BY

Colin M. Turnbull

The Forest People -- Colin M. Turnbull's best-selling, classic work -- describes the author's experiences while living with the BaMbuti Pygmies, not as a clinical observer, but as their friend learning their customs and sharing their daily life.

Turnbull conveys the lives and feelings of the BaMbuti whose existence centers on their intense love for their forest world, which, in return for their affection and trust, provides their every need. We witness their hunting parties and nomadic camps; their love affairs and ancient ceremonies -- the molimo, in which they praise the forest as provider, protector, and deity; the elima, in which the young girls come of age; and the nkumbi circumcision rites, in which the villagers of the surrounding non-Pygmy tribes attempt to impose their culture on the Pygmies, whose forest home they dare not enter. 

The Forest People eloquently shows us a people who have found in the forest something that makes their life more than just living a life that, with all its hardships and problems and tragedies, is a wonderful thing of happiness and joy. 

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