Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough
Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Breaking Bread with the Dead (A Reader’s Guide to a Tranquil Mind.)
By: Alan Jacobs
Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
Alan Jacobs (Author, distinguished professor of the humanities at Baylor University, considered a Christian conservative by the media.)
Alan Jacobs offers an example of why book’ reader/listeners are “Breaking Bread with the Dead”. A personal reason for reading/listening to books is to acquire understanding of an author’s opinion. Of course, perceptions may be incorrect, but a book writer’s intended meaning, at the very least, makes a reader/listener think. Jacobs gives many examples of what past authors made him think. He explains how and why dead writers are a “…Guide to a Tranquil Mind”.
In a short book, Jacobs notes knowledge of the past gives context and perspective to the present.
Dead authors add the dimension of a past that is either very like the present or very different. When a dead author’s beliefs are more like the present, it makes one think there may be something universal about their belief. At the least, a dead author’s beliefs help one understand the difference between the past and the present. Both circumstances offer what Jacobs suggests are a “…Guide to a Tranquil Mind”. Belief either remains the same or modern life makes past beliefs unique to their time.
Renowned dead authors, or for that matter, insightful living authors make one realize how much they do not know.
Dead authors may give understanding of life that offers a “…Tranquil Mind” but change in belief by renowned living authors explain why some feel they live in an age of anxiety. In either case, it pays to seek understanding from both dead and living writers.
REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE 
One thought on “TRANQUILITY/ANXIETY”