Entertaining the Alien

28. The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi and QiGong, Bill Douglas

I admit, I skimmed large portions of this book, because it gives instructions on doing one of the long forms of t'ai chi, which I'm certain I can't learn reading a book. It was very interesting from the philosophical and physiological standpoints of chi work, if a little over-enthusiastic at times. Apparently between them, t'ai chi and QiGong are good for everything. The biggest thing I learned? That the videotapes I've been using aren't, strictly speaking, t'ai chi. They're closer to the moving form of QiGong, but they use similar principles. Much simpler, more focused on the meditation aspect than the martial aspect. This isn't a bad thing. I'm curious to read more at this point.

29. The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan

I can definitely understand why this was a revolutionary book for its time. Reading it from a historical perspective on feminism, it's fascinating. The image of the 1950s housewife was not the norm prior to World War II. I didn't know this. According to Friedan, there were tremendous strides made in the feminist movement in the 1920s and 30s, only to be lost after World War II in a backlash against feminism--which is how feminism came to be the perjorative it is today, by the way. While she has some very profound things to say about how and why that backlash happened, large portions of the book are interesting only as a historical document. A lot of what she has to say, on homosexuality and mental illness for example, is dated, but as I said, still interesting. If nothing else, she gave me a novel idea, so now I have to go start digging out some other classic feminist works. Darn.