When Hendra was 14, he had an affair with a married woman. When her husband, a devout Catholic, discovered them in each other''s arms, he took Hendra on a trip to Quarr Abbey, a monastery on the Isle of Wight off the coast of England. Hendra, expecting to be disciplined, was surprised when a "cartoonish" monk, Father Joseph Warrilow, instead treated him kindly. Hendra fell in love with Quarr and decided to become a monk. When Hendra reached the age of eighteen and could legally begin his time at Quarr, Father Joe found out that Hendra had received a scholarship to Cambridge University, and he urged Hendra to first attend college and obtain a degree before he could be admitted to the monastery. While at Cambridge, Hendra attended a theatrical revue called Beyond the Fringe. The brilliant performance by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller had such an impact on him that his life set off on a totally different course. In his words, "I went into that theater a monk. I came out a satirist. Save the world through prayer? I don''t think so. I''m going to save it through laughter." In spite of his decision not to become a monk, he continued to visit Father Joe for more than 40 years, until Father Joe''s death on April 27, 1998.

Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul

The book consists of five chapters: Birth, Taking Root, Growth, Maturity, and Death. The book opens with an Acknowledgments and an Introduction section, and closes with Selected References and Index. In the introduction, Suzuki describes the tree at his home and the series of ideas and events that led to the writing of the book. Along with the narrative of the tree''s life, the book includes digressions into related topics, such as the history of botany and animal life in the forest. The tree written about in the book is not any specific Douglas-fir, but rather a generic one. The first chapter, Birth, begins with lightning starting a forest fire. The heat dries the Douglas-fir cones enough for their scales to spread and release winged seeds. Rain water transports one seed to a sunlit area with well-drained soil. Rodents and insectivores, whose food stashes were destroyed in the fire, eat truffles, which survived underground, and leave feces containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil. Following one dormant winter stage, the seed begins to germinate. In the second chapter, Taking Root, the embryonic root emerges through a small opening in the seed coat and through cell division, aided by plant hormones, it grows downward. Water and nutrients enter the root by osmosis and are transported to the seedling. A symbiotic relationship develops between the roots and the truffles. The roots give its extra sugars to the truffles, which it uses for energy, and the truffles assist the roots'' uptake of water and nutrients. From excess starches and nutrients gathered by the root, a stem similar to the root but surrounded with thin, grayish bark, grows upwards. As the starch reserves are exhausted, its first needles sprout and photosynthesis begins. The tree anchors itself with a deep taproot and a web of roots begin to grow laterally. Some roots develop symbiotic relationships with near-by red alders which excel at nitrogen-fixation but lack the storage capacity that the Douglas-fir can offer. In early April of every year, a new layer grows between the bark and wood. As this new layer takes over transportation of fluids throughout the tree, last year''s layer of cells die and form a ring in the wood. After about 20&nbsp;years, the tree begins to develop fertile cones. Buds form where auxins accumulate; these become either new needles or cones. The buds remain undifferentiated until July and continue to develop throughout the fall and winter. The next year, some buds will open in mid-May exposing a new set of needles. The cone buds on the lower end of the tree while other buds burst open in April releasing a mist of pollen. The cones at the top of the tree open their scales for wind-borne pollen to enter. Within the cone, the pollen fertilizes a seed which is released in September. The quantity and quality of seed production varies year-to-year but a particularly effective crop is produced about every 10&nbsp;years. Less than 0.1% of seeds survive Douglas Squirrels, Dark-eyed Juncos, and other seed-eating animals. Over the centuries, the tree grows thicker and taller as successive rings develop around its trunk and new buds grow on the branches. The tree becomes part of an old growth forest with a shaded and damp understory of broadleaf trees, shrubs, and ferns. In the canopy, a mat of dead needles and lichen accumulate on the wide upper branches. Exposed to light, air, and rain, the needles decompose and the mat becomes colonized by insects, fungus, and new plants. In the opening of the final chapter, Death, the tree is 550&nbsp;years old and stands 80&nbsp;meters (260&nbsp;feet) tall. Under the weight of too much snow accumulating on the canopy mat, a branch breaks off. Stresses from a long winter with a dry summer weaken the tree''s immune system. The exposed area where the branch broke becomes infected with insects and fungus. Insect larvae eat the buds and the fungus spreads into the middle of the tree and down to the roots. With its vascular tissue system compromised, the tree diverts nutrients elsewhere, resulting in needles turning orange on the abandoned branches. Death takes years to occur as successive parts are slowly starved of nutrients. As a snag, it becomes home to a succession of animals, like woodpeckers, owls, squirrels, and bats. Eventually the roots rot enough that a rainstorm blows it down. Mosses and fungi grow on the deadfall, followed by colonies of termites, ants, and mites, which all help decompose the remaining wood.

Tree: A Life Story

During the 1960s, in Virginia, while the blacks fight for their civil rights, a young white girl is kidnapped in Baltimore. Little Alice Raleigh, eleven years and blonde like corn, and heiress of an immense fortune, is held for a ransom of a million dollars. Her kidnappers, trying to make her invisible to the police officers and the federal agents searching for her, manage to brown her skin and her hair. They sequester her under an assumed name in a house held by an old black woman, near Norfolk, which turns out to be a house of prostitution. Slowly, Alice adapts herself to this surprising life amidst the black culture of the time period, completely new for her; at no point in the book is the young Alice made to participate in prostitution, and in fact Alice only has a vague idea of what goes on in behind closed doors in the house. She eventually discovers that her father is the real instigator of her kidnapping, in essence intending to embezzle money from himself that he can then spend without being traced by government offices. In the end, Alice is freed and returns to her former life, after denying knowledge of her father while still disguised as a black child and seeing him punished for his misdeed.

Black Alice

The story draws on religious themes, interweaving gypsy traditions, belief in the intervening power of The Virgin Mary, and the hope of God''s forgiveness and redemption, into the Spanish tradition of bullfighting. The action occurs during Holy Week in Spain, and Michener competently captures the religious processions. He provides meticulous detail of bull fights (although some reviewers have taken umbrage at supposedly erroneous details in his narrative). The tale involves a Gypsy matador (Lazaro Lopez), his sister (Magdalena López) who reads fortunes, a cross-eyed Virgin Mary (La Bizca), the American writer (Shenstone), the Spanish bull breeder (Don Cayetano Mota) who is struggling to revive his once-famed herd, and of course the many bulls in Mota''s herd. Despite his initial skepticism, the American is drawn into Mota''s efforts, which involve fervent prayers to The Virgin and Herculean acts undertaken during Holy Week to prove his devotion and piety. He knows that his prayers will eventually be rewarded, and this knowledge allows him to live with the often-humiliating performance of his bulls in the arena vis-a-vis the arrogant Gómez. We learn that Lazaro Lopez is also being aided by a powerful female, his sister, who may have the ability to curse the bulls that her brother must face. She is determined that her brother must prevail.

Miracle in Seville

The animals'' owners, the Hunters, leave go to England for several months because Jim, the father, is scheduled to give a series of university lectures there. They leave their pets in the care of John Longridge, a family friend and godfather of their daughter, Elizabeth. One day, after John Longridge leaves for a two week duck hunting trip, the animals, feeling the lack of their human companions, set out to try to find their owners, the Hunters. Mrs. Oakes, who is taking care of Longridge''s home, doesn''t find the animals and thinks that John must have taken them with him. The animals follow their instincts and move forward toward home, nearly 300 miles ways. * Luath: Luath is a young Labrador. His fur is red-gold, his eyes are brown, and he is of strong build. Luath is a loyal and brave companion and the natural leader of the group. Of the three pets, he is the most recent addition. He is also the most determined to push forward and reach home and the Hunters. Luath usually walks on Bodger''s left side to guide him since the older dog is almost blind in his left eye. He is arguably the one who suffers the most from lack of food because after a porcupine hits him in the face with its quills, the wounds become infected, making it difficult for him to open his mouth. * Bodger: Bodger (whose full name is Ch. Boroughcastle Brigadier of Doune) is an old English bull terrier. His fur is white with a slight pinkish tint. Bodger''s left eye is nearly blind. The dog was born to fight and endure (as he does in the book). Because he is eleven years old, Bodger tires easily; but he is a brave, loyal, persevering and tenacious companion. He is very fond of humans, particularly children, and whenever the group comes across humans in their travels, he tries to charm them for affection and snacks, with varying results. He has an intense hostility towards all cats save Tao, who earned his respect by standing up to him when he first joined the Hunter family as a small kitten. Though they care deeply for Luath, Bodger and Tao have a special bond. Bodger is the first of the animals to have joined the Hunter family. Despite his advanced age and diminished senses, Bodger is still every bit the fighter he was in his prime, at one point saving Luath from a Border Collie sicced on them by an irate farmer. * Tao: Tao is a slender, seal-pont, old style Siamese cat with sapphire eyes. An element of humor in the book is that Tao, like Bodger, despises other cats, and the two once shared many adventures terrorizing the other felines in their neighborhood; when they encounter other domesticated cats in their travels, Tao often fights them, successfully. Tao is able to open most doors, a help to the dogs in several situations. Tao is a tireless, bold, and loyal animal. Tao is probably the best equipped of the three to survive in the wilderness, and has no difficulty surviving on his own when separated from the two dogs; despite this, he spends all his time seeking to rejoin them, a testament to the bond between the animals. The cat is an independent and natural hunter, catching small birds for the group. When Tao is separated from them, the dogs fare more poorly without Tao than Tao does without them. Therefore, Tao is crucial to the dogs'' survival. * John Longridge: John Longridge is Elizabeth Hunter''s godfather. He lives in a stone house in a small village about 300 miles from the college town where the Hunters live. Mr. Longridge wrote several historical books, is a writer by profession, and a bachelor. * The Hunter Family: The Hunter Family consists of the father Jim, the mother and their two children, 11 year old Peter and 9 year old Elizabeth. Jim owns Luath, Elizabeth owns Tao, and Peter owns Bodger. * Mrs. Oakes: Mrs. Oakes is the caretaker of the three animals while John is gone on his trip. Her husband is Bert. * The Nurmi Family: The Nurmi family are a family of Finnish immigrants. 10 year old Helvi takes a liking to Tao after she discovers him unconscious in the water while walking home from school. * The Mackenzies: James and his wife, Nell, are an older couple who live alone, now that their eight children have grown up. They find Bodger and Luath, and provide them with a place to stay.

The Incredible Journey

The book is written in the first person for all parts and follows a woman whose sister and old school friend have been murdered. The narrator of Grotesque is unnamed and forever lives under the shadow of her younger-by-a-year sister Yuriko, who is unimaginably beautiful and the center of all attention. The narrator hates her sister for reasons which remain more-or-less unclear throughout the novel and the writer leaves it to the reader to decide if the narrator''s hatred is a product of jealousy or because Yuriko has turned to prostitution and disgraced the family name. While the narrator is smart, responsible and plain looking, Yuriko is strikingly beautiful but flighty and irresponsible. Despite this, everyone is automatically drawn to Yuriko, who, as soon as she is old enough to realize her power on men, starts toying with one man after another, subsequently turning into a full time prostitute. As the novel progresses, the reader is introduced to many other characters with whom the narrator comes in contact at her highly prestigious Q High School. With time, the narrator grows to hate everyone including all her classmates, her parents and all her co-workers. She is particularly spiteful when it comes to Yuriko and one of her classmates Kazue Sato. When both Yuriko and Kazue turn into prostitutes, are murdered less than a year apart and in the same gruesome fashion, and the narrator comes in possession of their personal journals, her life is entwined with theirs and she uncovers truths which she never thought existed. The journals take her on a journey of self discovery where she finally realizes what she wants. She also adopts Yuriko''s handsome but blind son, Yurio. In the end, the narrator is seen treading the streets of Japan, looking for a customer as she delves into the mysterious and dark world of prostitution.

Grotesque

After Simon Templar intercepts a mysterious message intended for a jewel-smuggling ring during a trip to Spain, he and his sidekick Hoppy Uniatz follow the message''s trail to Tenerife, Canary Islands where they rescue an elderly Dutch diamond cutter and his daughter from being beaten to death. Templar learns that the old man is a reluctant member of the smuggling ring and, assisted by the daughter, sets out to bring down the gang. Things become more complicated when Templar learns that the man had been in possession of a lottery ticket worth the equivalent of $2 million, and that this ticket is now missing. So not only does The Saint have to rescue the diamond cutter and his daughter from the smuggling ring, he also has to track down the missing lottery ticket, which has sparked instability within the gang. Soon after, Hoppy and the diamond cutter go missing. Templar, using his frequent "Sebastian Tombs" cover name, infiltrates the gang, posing as a freelance diamond cutter who is hired to replace the old man. (This despite the fact that Templar hasn''t the slightest idea as to how to cut diamonds.) From within the gang, Templar plans to start the members double-crossing each other, but finds his work is already half done thanks to that missing lottery ticket. Some later editions of this book include an afterword entitled "The Last Word" in which Charteris invites readers to join The Saint Club, a fan club that he founded in the 1930s. The annual dues for the club, Charteris writes, went to support the Arbour Youth Club located in east London, which at the time Charteris composed "The Last Word" was still recovering from the Blitz of World War II.

Thieves'' Picnic

Scientist Gilgram Zinder has finally decoded the ancient Markovian physics that controls our universe. Corrupt politician and drug dealer Antor Trelig is aware of Zinder''s work through the efforts of Zinder''s assistant, Ben Yulin. Trelig takes Zinder''s daughter hostage and forces Zinder and Yulin to build a computer that can control the Markovian forces, like the dead Markovian computers that have been found on some planets. Zinder and Yulin construct "Obie", a sentient supercomputer, building it in Markovian fashion directly into Trelig''s resort planetoid, New Pompeii. Mavra Chang, freighter pilot and agent, is hired to rescue Zinder and halt Trelig''s plans of universal conquest. In the process Obie is activated and accidentally makes contact with the Well World. The Well World automatically transports everyone in contact with Obie down to the planet''s surface. Mavra and Zinder are aboard a spacecraft when this occurs, and find themselves above the Well World. Flying over a "non-tech" hex, the Well World disables all of the technology on the ship and it crashes in the Southern Hemisphere. A war erupts on the Well World as the races of the nearby hexes race to collect all of the scattered pieces of the ship in order to escape the planet.

Exiles at the Well of Souls

The novel centers on Lieutenant Tat''yana Levchenko, who decides to decides to join the Soviet Army as a sniper after her husband, Nikolai Grigorovich (who is known as Koyla by "those few friends he had") goes missing in action and her daughter, Masha, is killed by Germans in their hometown of Kiev, Ukraine. After Masha''s death, Tat''yana desires to become a soldier and boards a train filled with recruits. As she and the recruits change into military gear and uniforms on the train, while some make lewd comments at her, Tat''yana is one of the first to acknowledge that she can fire a gun when asked by a political officer. After killing a cow in a farmer''s field, the officer smiles and tells her to "Do the same with the Germans." (page 248) During the Siege of Sevastopol, Tat''yana becomes a Soviet hero when she kills a confirmed 300 Germans, including one called the "King of Death." After being wounded in action (which requires a hysterectomy), Tat''yana is evacuated from the front and while recovering from her injuries is presented with the Gold Star medal, is honored a Hero of the Soviet Union, and receives many letters thank her for her service and bravery. Tat''yana''s fame grows to the point that Elanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, hears of her actions and invites her to America. While in America, Tat''yana becomes friends with Mrs. Roosevelt, along with her interpreter Captain Jack Taylor (real name Charles Pierce), and becomes an unwilling pawn in the efforts of her handler Vasilyev, who wants Tat''yana to get close to the first lady in the hopes of uncovering President Franklin Roosevelt''s war intentions. Forced to question the motives of her handler and even her translator and must make the decision of whether to remain in the United States or return to the Soviet Union, then she mysteriously disappears. In the book''s epilogue, many decades after her disappearance, an elderly Tat''yana is tracked down by a journalist who revealed her story of her wanting to marry Captain Taylor (who died in a plane crash before the end of the war), learning from him about a Soviet spy network in the United States, a letter from Mrs. Roosevelt after President Roosevelt''s death, a photo of Tat''yana and her family, and the log she recorded her kills in. The novel ends with the journalist, whose name is Elizabeth, revealing that she and her husband adopted a Russian girl named Raisa, who Tat''yana remembered rescuing from the Germans in the sewers of Sevastopol during her time as a sniper, but had no knowledge of what happened to her after the war.

Beautiful Assassin

Jane Arrowood, an aspiring high school artist, goes swimming at her local beach on June 21st. While in the water, she is attacked by a shark. Injuries due to this attack lead to doctors having to amputate her right arm. When she wakes from her coma, Jane sees her dreams of becoming a professional artist crushed. She spends nearly a month in the hospital, undergoing therapy, where she meets a young boy, Justin, who has had his leg amputated. The two become friends and Justin urges Jane to draw him a picture, though she declines. While she was attacked by the shark, a man took a video of her in the water. This video he then sold to the news, which gained her wide-spread attention. Flowers, cards, and "Pity Bears" arrive every day while she remains in the hospital. Her older brother, Michael, was credited with saving her life. He tied off her arm after he rescued her from the water. Finally, she gets out of the hospital. She returns home, struggling with the fact that she is to never use her right arm again. Jane also loved to cook, something she thinks she no longer can do. She also keeps on trying to draw, but never manages to have her left arm get the circles correct. The story goes on tell of her difficulties about fitting in, but by the end of the book, she accepts who she is. Also, around the end of the book, she finally manages to draw a face that "looks back" at her. These combined allow her to finally overcome her grief.

Shark Girl

Humanity has lived for 40 million years on a planet called Harmony, after leaving an Earth that has been destroyed by human conflict. In order not to repeat the mistakes that led to the destruction of civilization on Earth, a computer, known as the Oversoul, was left as guardian of this planet. Its main mission was to prevent humans from developing technologies that could make wars a global affair. For that, humans were genetically modified so they could communicate with the Oversoul. The Oversoul uses this connection to make humans quite easily distracted when thinking about forbidden technologies, leading them to forget that train of thought. However, after this long time the Oversoul is beginning to fail, and it chooses a group of humans to return to Earth in search of the Keeper of Earth, in the hopes it will be able to find a way to maintain power over the people on Harmony. To this end the Oversoul recruits Volemak, father of the protagonist of the story, Nafai. Nafai and Issib, his brother, begin to try and defy the Oversoul''s capability to override thought. Through this they learn of the danger that it is in. Nafai begins hearing the Oversoul''s voice in his mind. The first book focuses on the family''s eventual betrayal, the taking of the Index, and the downfall of the man Gaballufix, who had been planning to ally the city of Basilica, the home of the main characters and the setting of the first half of the book, with a malignant nation. Nafai, Elemak and Mebbekew, his older half brothers, Issib and his father Volemak are eventually forced to leave the city. They come back to retrieve the Index of the Oversoul, which allows them to communicate with it directly. Because of Nafai''s careless blunders and miraculous successes, Elemak, Nafai''s oldest brother, begins to hate him, a theme that will play out throughout the rest of the saga.

The Memory of Earth

The fictional planet Lagash (Kalgash in the novel adaptation) is located in a stellar system containing six suns (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta are the only ones named in the short story; Onos, Dovim, Trey, Patru, Tano, and Sitha in the novel), which keep the whole planet continuously illuminated; total darkness is unknown, and as a result so are stars outside the stellar system. A group of scientists from Saro University begins to make a series of related discoveries: Sheerin&nbsp;501, a psychologist, researches the effects of prolonged exposure to darkness, Siferra&nbsp;89, an archaeologist, finds evidence of multiple cyclical collapses of civilization regularly occurring approximately every two thousand years, and Beenay&nbsp;25 is an astronomer who discovered irregularities in the orbit of Lagash around its primary sun Onos. Beenay takes his findings to his superior at the university, Aton, who formulated the Theory of Universal Gravitation (the in-story discussion of same making light of an article once written about Einstein''s Theory of Relativity, referencing the false notion that "only twelve men" could understand it). This forces the astronomers at Saro University to attempt to find an answer to what is causing this anomaly. Eventually it is discovered that the only thing that could be causing the deviation is an astronomical body that orbits Lagash. Beenay, through his friend Theremon&nbsp;762 (a reporter), has learned some of the beliefs of the group known as the Cult ("Apostles of Flame" in the novel). They believe the world would be destroyed in a darkness with the appearance of stars that unleash a torrent of fire. Beenay combines what he has learned about the repetitive collapses at the digsite, and the new theory with the potential of eclipses and concludes that once every 2049 years the one sun visible is eclipsed, resulting in a brief ''night''. Since the current population of Lagash has never experienced universal darkness, the scientists conclude that the darkness itself would traumatize the people and that the inhabitants of the planet would need to prepare accordingly. When nightfall occurs, however, the scientists (who have prepared themselves for darkness) and the rest of the planet are most surprised by the sight of hitherto-invisible stars outside the six-star system filling the sky. The short story does not dramatize events after darkness arrives, but in the novel and X&nbsp;Minus One program, civil disorder breaks out; cities are destroyed in massive fires and civilization collapses, with the ashes of the fallen civilization and the competing groups trying to seize control.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul

By Tony Hendra

Tree: A Life Story

By Wayne Grady

Black Alice

By John Sladek

Miracle in Seville

By James A. Michener

The Incredible Journey

By Sheila Burnford

Grotesque

By Natsuo Kirino

Thieves' Picnic

By Leslie Charteris

Exiles at the Well of Souls

By Jack L. Chalker

Beautiful Assassin

No Author Listed

Shark Girl

No Author Listed

The Memory of Earth

By Orson Scott Card

Nightfall

By Robert Silverberg