Eat,Pray,Love


Thanks to a late arriving birthday present, this book came into my hands just when I needed it. Although I could not relate to the issues Elizabeth Gilbert had with her life, I thoroughly enjoyed the telling of it. Italy certainly was a more enriching experience for her than I found it to be. Italian food is very good, but I have never felt it necessary to go there to find a good plate of pasta or pizza.

My friend who gave me this book had been in India this year. They had very different experiences as well. This was the third of the book I enjoyed the most. Her search for a relationship with God was so pathetically honest and funny at the same time. I got a lot of good tips on meditation which I have incorporated into my own life.

Gilbert's descriptions of the Indonesian people who live in Bali was a hoot. I am tempted to go there just to soak up the atmosphere. It sounds like a place full of beauty, grace and contradiction.

Gilbert strikes me as a needy, self centred woman, and her year travelling has not endeared her to me, but the woman knows how to write, so even though her life does not resonate in me, I really loved sharing the journey with her.

Did you know...

...the world is getting flatter? According to Thomas Freidman, the award winning journalist who wrote this bestseller, 11/9 started it (the Berlin Wall falling) and the aftermath of 9/11 has the potential to slow it down, but he believes the world must continue to flatten, and America had better be ready to embrace it or be steamrolled over by emerging economies, especially China.

I once lost a job due to outsourcing to India, and therefore felt that globalization was a bad deal for everyone other than big business. This book has convinced me that it is inevitable, virtually unstoppable, and big business does not have as much to gain from a flat world as individuals do.

Friedman talked to insiders at many of the corporations that have been on the leading edge of this new world phenomenon, and dispenses heaps of hope and fear at the same time. As painful as change is for some of us, we had better get used to it, because you ain't seen nothing yet.

Although it is a pretty dry read, I made notes on what I felt were the most interesting passages. I will post them here soon and look forward to everyone's comments.