Review: Numbered Account
Not the worst book I’ve read.
Well, I finally finished Numbered Account this weekend. It was okay. Not great and not terrible, but obviously a first novel and probably a “one hit wonder”. The author notes say that he was in Swiss banking for a long time and he obviously wrote what he knew. I suppose this was meant to be a kind of murder mystery/terrorist intrigue set against the fast-paced backdrop of Swiss banking. And, yeah, it’s about as exciting as it sounds. Oh, I suppose that a banker or an accountant might have found the technical details fascinating, but, frankly, at just over 750 pages, I found it mainly tedious. There was just enough to keep my resolve to finish every book I start and play it all the way through, but just barely. Honestly, most of the reversals were so obvious that I couldn’t figure out why the author took so long to reveal them. Who was sleeping with who and who was betraying who simply were NOT a mystery to me at all and that level of obviousness detracted quite a bit from the story. Anything that disturbs my willing suspension of disbelief ruins the purpose of reading fiction, for me, and the blatant exposure of clunky technique did that in this case. Frankly, I cannot reccomend anyone read this book. But, if you still feel the pull of daring-do in the fascinating world of banking, let me know and I’ll GIVE you the book.
I also read The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment this morning. Before you get all impressed, remember, this book is less than 80 pages long and is meant for a LAZY person, as the title suggests. Still, I like to reread this particular book on a regular basis to remind myself that being at peace with the world is as easy as making a decision to not let things bother me. Phrases like “Love as much as you can from wherever you are.” and ” Love is the only dimension that needs to be changed” and “Go beyond reason to love: it is safe. It is the only safety.” and “Enlightenment doesn’t care how you get there.” all remind me about what’s important and what I should be concerned with in this life. The whole attitude in this book makes life easier to live. It’s a great book and I highly reccomend it.
Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Live truth instead of professing it."
--Elbert Hubbard
Sounds interesting.
Comment by Mark — 12/4/2005 @ 4:27 pm
This reminds me of an old Monty Python sketch where the accountant comes into an employment office looking to change fields. He wants to be a lion tamer and gets talked into something more along his line (but still very exciting)…banking!
Didn’t psilocybin mushrooms figure heavy into the lazy man’s methods?
Comment by Paul — 12/5/2005 @ 7:33 am
Well, he does make reference to psychadelic drugs, but it was the 70’s, man. Seriously, drug references aside, it’s still a good book that has valid advice for increasing spiritual awareness.
Comment by the Network Geek — 12/5/2005 @ 8:38 am
Well, I read it in the 80’s and all I got out of it was to go find some ‘shrooms. Do you know how many cow patties you have to look at to find one stinkin’ psilocybin cubensis??!!
The rest of the story…after giving up seeking enlightenment through changing my neuro-chemistry, last year I had a different kind of strange experience. While doing an environmental site assessement (in a cow pasture), I came across enough psychedelic mushrooms to “tune in” for a decade. It was odd to feel the juxtaposition of 2 different phases of life. Like the dream where I’m about to make out with an old girlfriend and I remember that I’ve been married for 9 years.
Comment by Paul — 12/5/2005 @ 9:33 am