Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)

Looking for some light reading? Then this book probably isn't for you. But, regardless, it is well worth adding to your collection.

Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) is a rare look into the sordid world of self-justification. It examines how decisions that are clearly wrong can be made by people and justified or even strengthened when events go belly up.

Take, for example, a cult that believed the world would end on December 21st and that they would be spared by being abducted by aliens at midnight on the 20th. Surely, you would think, when 12:01am rolled around, the faithful would be faithless. In a rational world that would be the outcome, but not in the surreal world of emotional illusions. By 4:40am, when it was absolutely clear to the most ardent of the faithful that the prophecy had failed, the prophet had another vision (what a surprise). And the vision was that the steadfast belief of the faithful (a group of about 30) had spared the Earth (the billions of us outside the fold). The "salvation" of the entire Earth lay with those 30 kind souls. Quite thoughtful, really. After this, instead of loosing momentum, the "faithful" then became more passionate and devoted than ever before.

Ah... I hear you saying, but I'm no freak. That could never happen to me. Yet this same mental mechanism, cognitive dissidence, works on numerous levels. Consider smoking. The consequences of smoking are inescapable and horrendous and yet still millions persist.

Moral of the story. Whether its alien saviours or a fag after a pint, Proverbs 21:2 still holds true, every man is right in his own eyes.

I've painted myself into a few corners over the years and got my feet dirty trying to get out of them... Mistakes were made by me...

Here's a few others worthy of note in this category...

The Lucifer Effect With a title like that, how can you resist?
Dont Believe Everything You Think is another...
A Mind of its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives brings some humour and wit to the arguments

...so if you're stuck in the middle of the UK floods and a little bored, go to Amazon.com and order some of these. The military may not be able to get help to you, but Amazon will :)

Bible Quiz

Now, I don't mean to brag... (maybe I just copied this html certificate from Bel's site.)

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

But then, I am on holiday - and only doing fun things. And in truth, I'm definitely no scholar, I just believe the book.

Top Books for 5 Year Olds

Old Blue - The Rarest Bird in the World - Mary Taylor

This non-fiction account of the Chatham Island Black Robin brought back from the brink of extinction is a compelling tale. The real-life drama of setbacks and victories tell a memorable story.


Guess What Happened at School Today - Jez Alborough

A collection of fun poems about the trials of school life. Unless you're the model student, you'll identify with the characters in these verses.


Awesome Dinosaurs Giant Plant-eaters

Full of facts and illustrations. It's not a 'story-book' but it gets the imagination rolling. Adults and kids love these awesome critters, perhaps because we never met them!


The Dog That Dug - Jonathan Long and Korky Paul

This is one of my all time favourite children's books. This is also great with kids younger than five, but years later, the zany characters and ridiculous turns in the story still work brilliantly.


How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen - Russell Hoban

A cracking story of laughable adults outwitted by a mischievous rascal. You know it will be a happy ending, but it's better than that.

Top Books for 4 Year Olds

Hello Ocean - Pam Munoz Ryan and Mark Astrella

This book is stunning. Beautiful illustrations and a quietly intelligent narrative make it something special.



How to Catch a Star - Oliver Jeffers

The twist in this book got me - I never saw it coming. A gem for its uniqueness and for offering no explanation to distinguish between the real and imagined.


George and Sophie's Museum Adventure - Thomas Taylor

A detective adventure. A bit scary in the shadows... Good triumphs over evil, kid-heros save the day.



What Do People Do All Day? - Richard Scarry

Good question! I remembered this book from my own childhood, and even details of the illustrations had stayed with me.



Bible Story Book - Egermeier's

This is a big book of almost 600 pages. It's not dumbed down. Bible records are retold for children, and the outstanding illustrations will help shape the Bible reader's thoughts for many years.

Top Books for 3 Year Olds

Tiny - Paul Rogers and Korky Paul

Being an astronomy fan, I just love the scaling up from Tiny the flea to the universe! The illustrations are so gritty and full. This is a Dad's favourite.



My Grandson is a Genius - Giles Andreae

Thick with irony. Perfect for a grandparent's gift. The humour works from the perspective of each generation - young and old can laugh at themselves in these pages.


The Great Big Little Red Train - Benedict Blathwayt

So much to find and examine in these illustrations. Loads of trains and lorries - the belittled becomes the hero. Great stuff.



My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh - Nick Sharratt

Oh, yes they do. Whether kids are interested in colours and patterns, or the eccentricities of the family are beginning to dawn on them, this book is a real chuckle.


Winnie the Pooh - A. A. Milne, Illustrated by E. H. Shepard

It'll take another 30 years for kids to get the characters and humour of this great book. Inseparable from Shepard's line drawings, this one's a masterpiece.

Top Books for 2 Year Olds

Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs - Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds

Good characters hold together a blend of reality and imagination. Especially worthy if you like dinosaurs.



The Jumblies - Edward Lear

A nonsense classic. Their heads are green, and their hands are blue, And they went to sea in a Sieve. If it doesn't work for you, that's probably a good thing.



Fix-It Duck - Jez Alborough

We had this on CD also, so now everyone knows the story off by heart. You'll love it if you know someone like Duck (or the Frog).



Horton Hears a Who! - Dr. Seuss

Great children's books have to work for adults. This speaks to anyone who's swum upstream, defended an unpopular cause.



Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper - Lynley Dodd

Not for bedtime! The kids love making the animal noises. And yes, the moral is not lost.

Top Books for 1 Year Olds

Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

A quiet book with a beautiful rhythm. Great for settling the little ones to bed. Unspoken extras, like - find the mouse on every page.



Monkey Puzzle - Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

The humour and unexpected turns work well. This book is exceptional for reading out loud.




Guess Who? - Pam Ayres

Pam has class. I can't tell you why this book works so well. You can hardly find a copy on the Internet. Simple, but with a puzzle on each page.




Diggers - Usborne Touchy Feely

This book makes the list because the big heavy pages and rough textures match the subject matter. It's rugged.



Counting Kiwis - Kevin and Andrew Ward

An imaginative implementation of the classic 1 to 10 counting book with a New Zealand theme throughout ... Seven kiwis sail in a Cook Strait gale...

Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is the the first volume in the Ender Saga, and it lives up to its great reviews. Classic science fiction, as in Dune or Rendezvous With Rama, tends to be expansive in ideas, taking in the vastness of space and thought. Whereas Ender's Game is focused and moral. The human ethics are intriguing while the space travel is matter-of-fact.

Ender is the extraneous third child in a population controlled world. His brilliance is too precious to be left alone. The Buggers are an alien race who has attacked before, and those with the ability to fight have an obligation to defend their own. Decisions need to be made, choosing between the individual and the needs of all, between us and them.

This book reads so well that it's over all too soon, but it keeps you thinking after you put it down. This is a thoughtful and thoroughly enjoyable book. I will order the next in the saga.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Having just finished the George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in the bath, I'm not going to list it with my favourite books. It's more important than whether I liked it or not.

This was my first time through the book as I never read a page of it in high school when my class mates studied the novel for their finals. That's probably a good thing because I was too thick at 16. And had I read it as a teenager, I may not have picked it up now.

One can't read Nineteen Eighty-Four in England without thinking of Britain under New Labour. English Socialism "Ingsoc" strives not only to define the facts, but to tell us the correct way to think about them. An important plank in all this is to remove from the language the vocabulary to voice contrary thoughts.

In my opinion, any discussion of government intrusion into our lives from identity cards to bugging devices in wheelie bins should be informed by this book. The readiness of the public to accept such invasion of privacy reminds me of Benjamin Franklin - "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."