Sarah's Key: A Book to Read & Remember

Have you ever read a book that left you shaken?
Utterly and completely moved? It is only a very good book, and a very skillful author that can write such a book.

Well this book, Sarah's Key, did that to me. Reading through it was amazing, but painful (because of what the story was about.) But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, I should explain how I came to own this book in the first place! The simple answer is I got it from a libarian. The kind-hearted little lady that was running the 'Friends of the Library' shop last week was reading it as I came in the shop. (I always check the Friends shop for 'new' old book; I've grown my collection of over 35 antique books just from their selections for sale!) So, I always check the shop and stop in to chat with whoever's there for that day.
  That day, there was a grandmotherly looking figure sitting behind the desk, with a very sweet face. :) She smiles and we exchanged 'hellos' as I came in. Looking around for a second, I found a 1945 leather-bonded atlas for sale for $2. Grabbing that, I said to myself.
I could not find anything else worth spending my few, college-student bucks on so I plopped my atlas down to 'check out'. :) A little boy (maybe 6 years old) and his dad had come in meantime; the dad was checking out the old VHS collections for sale while the boy found a dinosaur book. So sweet. :) The little guy, wearing a matching baseball cap like his dad, was chattering about why he loves dinos to the librarian lady. (Did I ever mention I love seeing kids, being able to live just as they should be--kids? Curious, trusting, smiling. It's a gift, a real gift.) He was clutching the dollar and 75 cents necessary to buy the book in his little hands.

Anyway, the Dad wasn't ready to check out yet so even though the dinosaur lil' guy was ready, he let me graciously go first. So I was getting ready to buy my only book when the cover of the book the lady was reading stuck out to me. 'What's that book like?' I asked. She looked surprised to be asked about it first, then she smiled and said, 'Oh, it's a great book. A really good one! I've been sitting here all afternoon reading it and it's amazing...' Oh? hmmmmm, sound like a good one, thought I. I asked her what it was about.
She told me it was about the wars in Europe, the French occupation, and what happened during and after the Nazis rounded up several thousand French Jews. She said, be warned, it was a tear-jerker.

What's the first thing that goes through our  minds whenever we hear words like "Nazis", "World War I or II", 'the Jews'? What goes through your mind whenever anyone speaks of those things that happened long, long ago? I know what goes through mine.

Images and feelings of deep pain, horror, sadness.
Huge losses of lives, of families, faith,  and innocence.

It's hard to put into words what kind of things so many went through so long ago, especially when you yourself have no idea of just how painful all that must have been.

This book is about a fictional girl named, Sarah Starzynski. Her actual account is fictional only in the sense that she never existed. However her story, and the story of the French Jews men, women and children of Vel' de Hiv' like her was very, very real.

This book is much like another book I read, The Shape of Mercy: A Novel. It's not for the faint of heart.
But it also tells a story that should not be forgotten.
So, if you are up to it, read on and remember.

Thinking...

by HEH

:: Thoughts fly and words go on foot. ::

I read a book last month called Thinking in Pictures: My Life With Autism, by Temple Grandin. She talks about her life as an autistic person, bits of her childhood and growth as an adult. But, as intersting as I usually find biographies, what really caught me about this book was when she tried to explain how she thinks. Like the title implies, she thinks in pictures, but also--in video representations. In her head! It was amazing reading and trying (oh trying!) to understand how this could be possible, let alone normal cognitive functions for someone! Amazing. When presented with a concept needed for a project, she 'sees' in her mind 'videos' and 'pictures' of the thing (whatever it is) flooding her head. They seem to be automatically sorted, regulated, and---AND-- serviced and updated by her own mind.

For example, Temple is an animal scientist. She works as a designer/planner/engineer for making cattle equipment. (In fact, she has designed over one-third of ALL the cattle equipment facilities in the U.S.) If she ever needs to design a new, say, cattle washer system, she has live images and videos stored in her mind that she can bring upon need of recall for all the other facilities that she has built like it. Amazing, huh? But there's more! She claims she can even 'turn' the objects over in her mind, just like a high-tech computer animations program. I think that's astonishing and very cool, of course. (Does she close her eyes whe she visualizes these things or keep them open, I wonder?)

However, besides just marveling in Temple's pure genius abilities, I was wondering about how I think. How do I think, as a 'normal person'? How do you think? In 'pictures' like Temple does? Or in...
Well, what are the other ways we think?

Now, I have not done any further research (i.e. reading books, blogs, or articles one the subject) but I have been mulling it over. Research notes will have to be for a later date. Right now, I think I'll just bang out what I've been thinking, plus some dictionary definitions (because they always help.) Be sure to go look at each of the linked pages; each have some very interesting information & definitions to be read.

Definitions of:

   thought   thinking   pictures   visualize

I believe that I think in words. It seems like the easiest way for me to remember concepts or ideas are seeing them in word form, especially on paper. Also, when I hear something, like the word 'combination', for example, the first thing that happens in my head is I can see the letters, spelling themselves out: "c-o-m-b-i-" etc... This is almost always the case (i.e. 99.999% of the time.)

If someone mentions a name of someone I know {Annie} ...
Or is explaining something {"This is how you would do it..."} ...
Or if I hear a Scripture or quote...

I immediately think of how it spells out, in letters, in my mind.
So funny, but it makes perfect sense to me. And my Daddy apparently; he thinks this way as well. :) Now, this is not the way everyone thinks (obviously). Two of my other siblings claim that they think in visual 'pictures' and or videos. When they hear 'obviously', they may think of the face someone makes when they are saying that "Well, OBviously" to someone, or they may see the word on paper or screen as they last (or first) saw it. That doesn't happen to me, but it is fascinating nonetheless.

Others, like Temple Grandin, visualize concepts, ideas and words as live videos in their minds. Which seems like the 'coolest' way to think, doesn't it? :) However, it is for this very reason --thinking in only visuals-- that can make spelling, writing and communicating with words very difficult for those who think that way. So, take your pick. There are several ways of thinking. :) Whatever way you think has it's strengths and yet it still requires that you compensate for the lack you have in not thinking another way.

(For example, I have a hard time remembering or visualizing what people are saying to me verbally--unless I take the time as they are talking to try and convert the conversations into words in my head. Sometimes this occurs naturally and effortlessly for me; other times, well...those other times are the time when I just couldn't/didn't remember what you said! lol Send me an email, it'll last longer.)

Here are a few articles I read on the subject that are informative & quite interesting in and of themselves.
- Cognitive Structures
-Definition of Cognition
"Conceptual knowledge is needed to classify objects and events in the world. Some aspects of conceptual knowledge are innate or emerge very early in development, while others are acquired through learning and inference."

Now, enough ratting on the subject, and down to business:
How do you think?

P.S.~ Blogger is being ridiculous and unfortunately, I have not been able to comment on any of my blog posts or others'. So, if you commented: I read it! Thank you for commmenting. :)