<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div><span>friends,</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>i'm glad a number of you know the book and share my excitement about it. And wow, Gail- to think that you knew Charles back in Taiwan!</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>i'm
working on his Ascent of Humanity right now, enjoying that, too.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>Harold, I am not sure if I could name all the other books in a top ten. What would go in your top ten, folks?</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>But I'd definitely put Jerry Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television in the top ten. The
title in a way is misleading- it would suggest a rant or polemic against TV, when it is actually a careful consideration and explanation of how TV alters our perception of reality. What he says about TV can be extrapolated to computers, electronic devices, and the Internet...I have been surprised by the number of folks who don't know of the book, even people who are avid readers...</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">my two kopecks,</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">raffi</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family:
garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">p.s. and best wishes to all of you who will be wosonosing (it is a verb, no??) in St. Petersburg, FL!</div><div></div><div> </div><div>p.p.s. interestingly Eisenstein's next book will be on Story!</div><div><br></div><div>******<br>"The situation in America, the most highly monetized society the world has ever known, is this: some of our needs are vastly over-fulfilled while others go tragically unmet. We in the richest societies have too many calories even as we starve for beautiful, fresh food; we have overlarge houses but lack spaces that truly embody our individuality and connectedness; media surround us everywhere while we starve for authentic communication. We are offered entertainment
every second of the day but lack the chance to play. In the ubiquitous realm of money, we hunger for all that is intimate, personal, and unique. We know more about the lives of Michael Jackson, Princess Diana, and Lindsay Lohan than we do about our own neighbors, with the result that we really don't know anyone, and are barely known by anyone either."<br>-- Charles Eisenstein, Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition</div></div></body></html>