Bookends that want beginning

 

This book is what makes nonfiction better than fiction.  I loved how the author pulled in two stories over a hundred years apart and educated the reader in the amazing recovery of a ship that went down at sea.  It was truly a scientific accomplishment and unlike most treasure hunting it seemed the treasure was in the ability to retrieve artifacts on the ocean floor and reconstruct the story of those who once sailed the ill-fated ship. 

 

Out of my own curiosity, I looked up the hero of the story and found there is another book in the writing.  The treasure he brought to the surface in the 80s has made him dissolve below the surface twenty years later.  I wonder if he would do it again?

 

Economic opportunities are sought out by a huge migrant workforce in China.  This nameless group takes on personal identity in Chang's book.  She writes astutely about the people she befriends.  It is an insider look at a larger workforce from which we unknowingly benefit.  If you haven't looked at the items you buy recently, it is not hard to find "Made in China" on the coin purse we pay for the pillows we sleep on, the dinner plates we eat off of, the exercise balls we inflate and never use and the cell phone which have sprouted on our ears.  

 

 Even with a growing discontent in village life, there is a stoic acceptance of how life is hard and uncertain in the cities. What I took away was that the younger generation is searching for meaning in life and experimenting with what brings "happiness."  Oh, may their eyes be drawn to the Source.

 

 

Warning: This book will cause tears to flow and is at times disturbing in the evils touched in prison.  This is not for a young reader.  However, like most times of great darkness, God's light shines brighter and God's presence is sought with more fervor.  It is a beautiful account of a bank robber, but an even more stunning account of a robbing God.  God steals from the storehouses of the devil and calls a man to himself and through this man God robs the enemy of evil plans, depression and despair.   God gives value to the man who is known as a number and closes down a hell-hole of a prison.  This is a non-stop action packed story that I couldn't put down.  It is a true story that is unbelievable but for Christ.