50 Books Update

I finished reading 102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn over the weekend. It is a minute by minute account of what happened in the World Trade Center between the time the 1st plane hit and the 2nd tower collapsed on September 11th. I was astounded by the small acts of courage and kindness, appalled by the lack of planning and coordination, touched by the accounts of individuals present that day. I knew what time the towers collapsed and particularly near the end I found myself practically yelling, "Run, Run you've only got a few minutes to get out! Get up and run!" It is amazing, mind-blowing to think that small decisions (stop at this diner, go get a paper, stop for a smoke, continue a phone conversation) were the difference between life or death that day. Really a very emotional, inspiring, compelling story. We are amazing creatures. 263 pages


I also watched Voices of Iraq, a documentary made by distributing 150 digital video cameras to Iraqis and letting them pass them around. It was actually very interesting, also very graphic. They had spliced in personal video of Uday Hussein torturing prisoners, mass graves, bombings etc. The part I found most telling was the reaction of people who had been imprisoned under Saddam's regime talking about the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. One man said that he wished to be tortured by the Americans. If the world thought having a woman come undress you and play with your penis was considered torture, he would be the first to sign up. Overall, they also seemed impressed that a major, powerful government would apologize for the prisoners mistreatment.

12/50 3465/15000