Father Fiction... Things that made me think

95% of prison inmates are men
85% of these are from fatherless homes
      I hadn't heard this stat before, I think the first stat is more shocking than the second.  What makes men more corrupt than women?  Is there some other reason for this stat?
What are your thoughts?


There will always be a reason to feel sorry for ourselves. And sometimes it really is appropriate to grieve something terrible that has happened in our lives. But we also have to move on; we have to set ourselves free from the trap of self-pity.
      

Father Fiction - Donald Miller

I found this title at my online library.  It was an experiment because I had not used this before.  I went through about 100 of their books and placed on hold the ones that looked interesting.  This book, however, was ready to borrow straight away along with a couple of others.

I got the book just because of the author.  I've heard a lot of people talking about 'Blue Like Jazz' as a good/ controversial read so I thought this might be similar.  The only thing I thought after considering the title was that this could possibly be about wrong thinking about God - Father Fiction.  I was slightly off on this.

As I listened, I realized that this book was not aimed toward me.  Father fiction, as I could have easily seen if I had had the front cover of the book, is for a 'fatherless generation.'  This, it seems, is Miller's autobiography.  One that took a long time to pluck up the courage to face and write.  It also contains chapters that you would find in these guidance books such as one on sex and on work ethic.  I think these are what he sees as some of the main issues that affect fatherless children.

He grew up for most of his life without a father and although his mother brought him up very well he always felt as though he was missing something.  He has some figures in his life whom he projects his fatherlessness onto (as he himself describes) including John, his photographer friend who brings him under his wing.

I was surprised that he is not married with kids - I guess this is my presupposition of renowned and accepted authors.

I felt a strange kind of immaturity from Miller (says me who laughs at fart jokes), I'm not sure if this was just because of listening to the story of his younger self or because he is in a different place to me.  It seemed that, although he had a lot of good thoughts and a grip on psychology, he didn't necessarily have it all together.  Perhaps this was because some of these thoughts on parenthood, for example, were not self experienced but learned from others.

True to form (so I hear) Miller is very honest and has great stories to take the reader on a journey.  I think it is a good read for the fathered or fatherless and should make you feel thankful for having The Father who cares for you.

Here are a couple of quotes that made me think.

Inside the Jihad... Things that made me think

He talks a lot about his strategies of how to take down people he is following and how the French and British secret services don't do a very good job.  Also his stories seem to go all his way, he escapes situation and passes through places that other wouldn't.
    Are all his stories true?  Yes this is an autobiography but there is no one to verify any of it.

    Where is this guy now?

Inside the Jihad - Omar Nasiri

I picked this one up thinking it would be a thriller kind of like the movie Traitor with Don Cheadle (good movie, by the way).  It wasn't really what I expected but it still kept my attention through out.

The main character, Omar (not his real name), is a Morrocan Muslim who seems to be more materialistic than devout.  Although he does seem to manage to slip in and out of these two modes when he wants to.  When he is in France he is all about girls and money and when he gets to the camps its like that side of him doesn't exist and he is an uber pious Muslim.  Rather than being an awesome spy, I think that both of these sides are part of him, plus the extremist terrorist side.  This puts an interesting slant to reading this book because rather than fully supporting the main character, (which tends to happen even if they are not someone you would like in real life, see most tv shows) I tended to be wary of him.

I think his stance would probably be as follows:

       Jihad is not simply war of the mind as more liberal Muslims would claim it to be
       Jihad is war against those who who oppose Islam
       Jihad does not include killing innocent people
       There are people who are non-Muslim and innocent (key)

His main concern was going to war with the Chechen jihadists against the Russians,as Russians had invaded their land and threatened Islam.

The insight into the training camps was interesting.  Basically like an army training camp but very hands on.  They seem to be able to experiment with any kind of weapon and it scary what they have access to.  All funded by people like Bin Laden

The redeeming side is his work with the DGSE and MI5 and MI6.  He identifies and turns in a few extremists and possibly averts some terror attacks.

The book doesn't really end with any resolved cliff hangers or dramatic twists or even a real conclusion.  I guess this guy is still out there possibly hiding from all the extremists he talks about.

I'm not sure about recommending this book, it was fairly long and had bad language in parts but it was interesting to see a different mindset than mine.