Don't read this book...

       Don't read this book if your perception of mysticism has no room for animism. Beginning reading this adventure/memoir I naively thought the action...fighting a grizzly bear and surviving...would be the main focus. It's the pivotal point but only the beginning. 

      Nastassja Martin is a French anthropologist who has lived with indigenous natives in remote Alaska and Siberia. The encounter with the grizzly occurred in an extremely remote area of Siberia where Martin was living with indigenous people in the forest. This short book, 110 pages, is her record of coming to terms with the attack in the framework of her mystic animism.  It's the animism of the people with whom she's living. Her deep introspection using the concepts of the indigenous is mind bending. Fearlessly, she explores her own psyche to decipher the meaning of the attack and her survival.

      During my days volunteering in classrooms at the Hmong school, Noble Academy, a particular pedagogical practice intrigued me. During class discussion a student would raise her/his hand, and when called on, would announce "I have a connection" and then tell her/his connection to the topic of discussion. Two connections to this story come to mind. After Martin's attack she is treated in Russian hospitals, not always kindly. When Joanne and I were on a Baltic Cruise, while in St. Petersburg Russia, Joanne fell and broke her wrist. In the local hospital it was reset by one person pulling on her hand and another on her elbow. Back in the States surgery was necessary to reset it. 

     The second connection relates to my medical treatment at a hospital in Thakek, Laos.  Slipping and gashing my shin on slippery rocks in a cave I was taken to the local hospital for sutures. The emergency room of this hospital  was reminiscent of the Russian hospital described in the book.

    Do I recommend the book? Yes, with the caveat mentioned above. Do expect it to be mind bending.

Takk for alt,

Al

Today's less random:  This is taken from Thakek, Laos, across the Mekong River toward Nakon Phneom, Thailand,  just before sunset.