Comments on the Book

Please add your comments on the story. Click the hot 'Comments' button at the bottom of this posting.

"This magnificent book is a modern "Homeric epic" written on several levels . . . designs within designs within designs. While it is a highly plausible vision of the post-"Unraveling", it also propels the reader into a deep search for better alternatives."

Paul

The story draws you in with subtlety and nuance. . . a great mixing of beauty and terror. The humanity and tenderness of the main characters is highlighted and tested by horrible events that unfold as they make their way overland across the world. The book is a quest to follow the open--often broken--heart in a world that has fallen apart. For me, the "unraveling" seems all too possible in our unstable world! It's important to think about what I would sacrifice for the greater good of others. Highly recommended!

JamesA

"I found this book to be heartfelt, well-written, and beautifully drawn. It reminded me of some post-apocalyptical works of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson and Margaret Atwood, and like those books, resonated with plausability, which make the story all the more poignant.I'm a tough and sometimes critical customer, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read."

Matt S.

"Simply reading the opening paragragh had me fully engaged! Thanks so much for such a special treat. Your language painted powerful images in my mind that I have carried around for days. I can usually anticipate the end of most books by about a third of the way through. This was a delightful surprise."

C Tower

I found this a compelling read, which held my interest on at least three levels. One - a great story: imaginative yet believable, very will written. Two - human values and attitudes: you can't go wrong living your beliefs or by accepting the 'happening' of life. Three - community governance: through interesting stories and situations, we see how some structures work well and some definitely don't.
Should be on the best seller's list! 

Hart Jansson

I struggled at first to understand the violence in the book, but I began to see Zhampa's struggles as trying to live non-violently in a violent world. As a complex character, he didn't have "the answer" and tried a variety of ways to accomplish this task. That resonated strongly with me, as I feel a similar need - and indeed, believe that is a primary task that all must face if we are not to annihilate ourselves. I really appreciated this facet of the book! 

Anonymous

This story describes all of us who share the desire to make sense of and make right this existence. It hit a vein personally for me as I'm sure it will with all readers. Thanks, Tom for putting it in words we can understand.

The First Page

Prologue

Tibet: March 1959

       At first light, Selpo Rinpoche woke to the roar of his monastery’s warning gong. Thinking fire, he threw open the shutters and scanned the temple, the library and the labyrinth of monks’ cells until movement outside the walls caught his eye. A monk was running barefoot down the mountain, maroon robes flying, blood staining his trail in the snow.

     Later, while doctors tended his wounds in the warmth of the great kitchen, the monk told Rinpoche the Red Army had invaded his monastery over the mountain, corralled monks and villagers in the courtyard and demanded his senior lamas bow down to Mao Tse Tung. When the lamas refused, soldiers shoved pistols into the hands of the novice monks and ordered them to kill their teachers. But in keeping with their vows, the boys turned the weapons on themselves. The soldiers emptied their guns into the crowd, then dragged the women and girls to the temple, laid them on their backs under the statue of the Buddha and raped them.

       All that day Rinpoche walked the halls, rallying monks and laypeople as they passed supplies and relics hand-to-hand out the Eastern Gate to the parade grounds, where porters loaded a caravan of yaks. Close to midnight, he waded through the crowd in the moonlit courtyard and mounted the horse his attendants had packed for his escape south, over the Himalayas.

       Reins in hand, he peered through the juniper smoke at the ancient square—the raised plaza where he had learned to debate the fine points of wisdom, the prayer wheels he’d turned as he circumambulated the statuary hall, the banners and gargoyles and, on the roof, the golden Wheel of Peace. He saw, too, tomorrow’s courtyard awash in blood. Centuries of labor and devotion were about to be swept away.

Hand to hand Books: How It Works

What follows are the notes from inside the frontispiece of The Trouble with Wisdom. Readers are asked to sign the Readers' List (below), which allows subsequent readers to see where the book has traveled. It becomes the story of the book across the six degrees of separation.

A New Publishing Paradigm

A book sitting on a shelf has lost its voice.

Hand to Hand is a grassroots publishing and purchasing innovation that saves resources and money. It asks each reader to pay just $5 to help defray the author’s publishing costs, and to pass the book to another reader who is also willing to support it and pass it on. This ensures its journey from hand to hand and builds community between readers and authors through use of the honor system.

Here's Why: 1) Books are smart technology—portable, durable, tactile and organic. And they carry culture. But when owned, they are relegated to shelves. Earth’s resources and the author’s voice are lost. Hand to Hand Books believes that most readers care for both things. 2) Authors are normally paid between $1 and $2 per copy. To better support the source of the art, all Hand to Hand Books income goes directly to the author, who pays all publishing costs. 3) Readers save money by spending only a fraction of the cost of a new book. They also foster community by discussing the book and its reader-distribution plan in person and online.

To Begin: 1) Sign in on the facing page to document the book on its journey and 2) donate $5 on the website using the Paypal button. Or send a check to Hand to Hand Books, P.O. Box 123, Dorset, VT 05251. If you have comments, please share them on the website.

To Continue: Consider the next reader, and then pass on both the book and the awareness of stewarding it in this paradigm. You can proliferate new seed copies by guiding friends to order them through this website (Buy Now) or through Hand to Hand Books. Email: h2hbooks@sover.net.

To End: The Readers’ List describes the journey of the book. To assess the paradigm, Hand to Hand Books requests the final reader (when the copy disintegrates) to detach it and to send it to the above address.

Two Moons: Donating as soon as this copy comes to you speeds the printing of new copies. And please pass it before two cycles of the moon. To own it conventionally, use "Buy Now" on the website.

(On the facing page of the frontispiece is the Readers List)

          Seed Copy # __________

 

The Trouble with Wisdom

 

Readers List

(The Hand to Hand Journey of This Copy)

 

       Name             City, State (& Country)              Date

                  

1)________________________________________________________

 

2)________________________________________________________

 

3)________________________________________________________

 

4)________________________________________________________

 

5)________________________________________________________

 

6)________________________________________________________

 

8)________________________________________________________

 

9)________________________________________________________

 

10)_______________________________________________________

 

11)_______________________________________________________

 

12)_______________________________________________________

 

13)_______________________________________________________

 

14)_______________________________________________________

 

A note to the final reader:

When this copy disintegrates and can no longer be passed on,

please carefully remove this page and send it to:

Hand to Hand Books,

P.O. Box 123, Dorset VT USA 05251

Through this, we can assess the viability of the paradigm.

O

To 

Comments on the Book

Please add your comments on the story. Click the hot 'Comments' button at the bottom of this posting.

"This magnificent book is a modern "Homeric epic" written on several levels . . . designs within designs within designs. While it is a highly plausible vision of the post-"Unraveling", it also propels the reader into a deep search for better alternatives."

Paul

The story draws you in with subtlety and nuance. . . a great mixing of beauty and terror. The humanity and tenderness of the main characters is highlighted and tested by horrible events that unfold as they make their way overland across the world. The book is a quest to follow the open--often broken--heart in a world that has fallen apart. For me, the "unraveling" seems all too possible in our unstable world! It's important to think about what I would sacrifice for the greater good of others. Highly recommended!

JamesA

"I found this book to be heartfelt, well-written, and beautifully drawn. It reminded me of some post-apocalyptical works of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson and Margaret Atwood, and like those books, resonated with plausability, which make the story all the more poignant.I'm a tough and sometimes critical customer, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read."

Matt S.

"Simply reading the opening paragragh had me fully engaged! Thanks so much for such a special treat. Your language painted powerful images in my mind that I have carried around for days. I can usually anticipate the end of most books by about a third of the way through. This was a delightful surprise."

C Tower

I found this a compelling read, which held my interest on at least three levels. One - a great story: imaginative yet believable, very will written. Two - human values and attitudes: you can't go wrong living your beliefs or by accepting the 'happening' of life. Three - community governance: through interesting stories and situations, we see how some structures work well and some definitely don't.
Should be on the best seller's list! 

Hart Jansson

I struggled at first to understand the violence in the book, but I began to see Zhampa's struggles as trying to live non-violently in a violent world. As a complex character, he didn't have "the answer" and tried a variety of ways to accomplish this task. That resonated strongly with me, as I feel a similar need - and indeed, believe that is a primary task that all must face if we are not to annihilate ourselves. I really appreciated this facet of the book! 

Anonymous

The story describes all of us who share the desire to make sense of and make right this existence. It hit a vein personally for me as I'm sure it will with all readers. Thanks, Tom, for putting it into words we all can understand.
Stan O