Happy New Year. Happy Birthday. Come on, let's get happy. Happy days are here again. And they lived happily ever after. It is part of the language. But what is happiness? Were we born with it? Is it taught to us? How do we know when we've got it? How do we keep it?
The Secret Daily Teachings by Rhonda Byrne 365pp, 2013 Simon & Schuster hardcover Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 595 baht
There are those who claim to have it and are eager to impart it. Yet their ways tend to be dissimilar, even contradictory. Then again, there may be more than one road to happiness. And we know what being unhappy is like. Is happiness merely not being unhappy? Priests and philosophers may list steps to achieve happiness.
According to Rhonda Byrne in The Secret Of Daily Teachings, there are natural laws of the universe with which we must live in harmony. In case we don't know what they are_ she allows that some mortals may know several _ we are given one-a-day over 365 pages. A secret may be paragraphs long or just one line.
A number are quotes from historical personages. Those unquoted are her own, many sounding familiar. The points she makes and reiterates aren't original, and are all too often ignored. That happiness comes from within, our positive attitude to life. Experiences aren't good or bad, it is your reaction to them that makes them so.
Be grateful for what you have. Get more if you have a mind to. Don't envy others for having more material possessions. Give rather than take. What matters is being happy. Happiness attracts happiness, as misery attracts company. Change is inevitable, accept it. Don't hang on to the past, accommodate what replaces it.
We are each unique, not part of a herd. We are an equal part of the universe. We are responsible for our life. Set a goal and try to achieve it. Don't bemoan that somebody else has a better chance. We are as good as we want to be.
The author doesn't proselytise for a particular religion. The teachings apply to them all, though _ Byrne arguably draws on precepts from each. This reviewer wonders how much her natural order of the universe differs from Einstein's, as she omits to mention e=mc2. However, neither did the great physicist refer to happiness in his equation.
The blurb has it that The Secret Of Daily Teachings has over 20 million readers. How many of them are happy after reading this book I can't begin to guess. I don't feel it has changed my attitude toward existence. Perhaps because I'm a happy-go-lucky fellow.
An Officer And A Spy by Robert Harris 483pp, 2013 Hutchinson paperback Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 595 baht
A miscarriage of justice
Ranking crimes in order of atrociousness, the vast majority of people agree that murder is the worst. They overlook that high treason is more heinous. When found guilty in wartime, the traitor is sentenced to death. In peacetime, to life imprisonment.
But what if he or she claims they've been framed, that the evidence was planted, proclaim their innocence, refuse to confess? Juries and judges demand a further investigation. Character and prosecution witnesses are questioned more closely. Experts are called in on every aspect of the case.
Prejudices and motives of all concerned are examined. Friends and enemies speak up impassionately for both sides. The media slants the case one way or the other. And when the verdict is announced, more than a few disagree with it. Certainly, there have been miscarriages of justice.
Socrates was condemned to death, as was Jesus and Joan of Arc. Two of Henry VIII's wives, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the Red Army commanders and the Moscow show trials. Perhaps the most egregious example took place around a century ago and was labelled in its time the Dreyfus Affair.
Alfred Dreyfus was a French army captain, a family man, a Jew. This last led to his undoing. Anti-semitism had been prevalent for two millennia when the Pharisees denied that Christ was the Son of God. The captain attended officers' school, where he came to the attention of one of its instructors. Major Georges Picquart regarded him as outstanding, meant for promotions. Hardly two decades earlier, France had lost its war with Prussia and the peace terms were onerous. Revenge was sworn. French armament-makers came up with a new cannon. When its plans came into enemy hands, Dreyfus was called the spy.
In An Officer And A Spy Robert Harris draws on a good deal of research to present how Dreyfus bore up under the French military's accusations, lies and forced evidence. The first court martial sent him to Devil's Island. The efforts of Picquart, Emile Zola and Georges Clemenceau brought him back for a second.
This time he was exonerated, reinstated in the army with a promotion to major. Dreyfus passed away shortly before World War II.
Arguably An Officer And A Spy is too detailed and tends to be dry, but if you are interested in this historically famous case, this book has it all.
