On My Nightstand: Fall 2024

The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin

This book is an intriguing exploration of creativity that feels like a captivating ride through someone else’s mind, in this case, one of the most influential music producers of our time. As someone who would never describe myself as an artist, I still found the insights Rubin shares both thought-provoking and relatable.

From the outset, the book invites readers to reconsider their own understanding of creativity. Everyone is creating something, whether it’s through the traditional arts, writing, cooking, planning an event, problem-solving or simply living, and each choice a person makes in that process—for example, what to include and what to leave out—is an act of creativity. The author emphasizes that each person has a unique lens through which they interpret the world, underscoring that no one can replicate exactly what you can create.

Among the book’s many insights, one that spoke to me is to remain open to possibilities and not to be overly fixated on specific outcomes. This openness allows for unexpected discoveries and innovations. Ultimately, the book invites readers to engage with the material on their own terms. Each person’s interpretation and application of the ideas reflects our individual creative journeys and reminds us that creativity is a vital part of all of our lives.

Reviewed by Debra Drang

The Mindful Body, by Ellen Langer

Imagine a world in which aging is not assumed to reduce ability, a world in which a medical condition is presented as a snapshot in time and not as a deterministic diagnosis, a world in which uncertainty is a friend not a foe. In this semi-memoir, semi-revolutionary ideas treatise, the author, known as “the mother of mindfulness,” walks us down a fascinating path in which we explore the question, “What are the implications of mind and body as one?”

As Langer defines it, mindfulness is “the simple process of actively noticing things, no meditation required.” It is a process of opening oneself to change, to growth, to the power of the mind. In this book, Langer takes mindfulness a step further and suggests that it is equally a state of being in the body and that what happens in the mind simultaneously happens in the body and vice versa.

Through decades of research in her lab, the author demonstrates how our thoughts and perceptions can impact disease and healing. Among many examples are people who were falsely told that were exposed to a cold virus developing a cold in the absence of the actual virus, the use of a placebo to reduce pain, and elderly who were told to pretend to be 20 years younger showing improvements in their hearing.

Langer opens up a world in which our physical and psychological health are one and the same. In that world, we have a greater level of control and agency over our wellbeing and our health. Sounds good to me.

Reviewed by Oshra Cohen

The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch

Recently, I reread this book, one of my favorites. Feeling the need for a little inspiration and a reminder of some important life lessons, I turned to this book to help ground me in values fundamental to how I aspire to live my life.

This memoir is based on a university tradition where a professor is invited to deliver a lecture as if it were their last, focusing on imparting life lessons, wisdom and advice to students. Pausch’s lecture took on even greater significance as he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch’s lecture is about not only fulfilling his dreams but also enabling others to pursue theirs. He shares how playing football taught him teamwork. Although he never realized his childhood dream of becoming a football player, the lessons he learned from working as part of a team became essential in his role as a professor. He used these insights to help students navigate group work and strengthen their collaboration skills.

Pausch emphasizes the importance of viewing obstacles not as barriers but as opportunities to grow: “Brick walls are there for a reason—they let us prove how badly we want things.” He explains that barriers separate those who truly want something from those who do not.

Pausch’s book and lecture are a reminder to live with purpose, joy and gratitude, encouraging readers to take every moment as an opportunity to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others.

Reviewed by Elissa Maier

The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel, by Steven Fine

What did the Menorah in the Temple look like? (We don’t really know.) What significance have Jews and Christians attributed to it? (Countless.) What happened to the Menorah after the Romans plundered it, and where is it likely to be today? (Gone, and not in the Vatican.) The answers to these and many other questions can be found in this delightful history and analysis of the Menorah, written by a distinguished scholar of rabbinics and art history at Yeshiva University.

Fine begins the book perched precariously on a riser inside of the Arch of Titus, giving us a close-up view of the most famous depiction of our sacred candelabrum. This proves to be an apt place to start, as throughout the chapters Fine serves as a kind of tour guide to the countless places where the Menorah has appeared. In the ancient world, synagogue mosaics, catacombs, glass cups and roundels; in the Middle Ages, manuscripts by Jews, Christians and some Moslems; in modern times, posters, stamps, Israeli water towers and much more. He deftly and entertainingly marshals an enormous trove of information and scholarship in a range of languages, from Biblical study and exegesis, Rabbinics and medieval Christian writing, archeology and art history, alongside literary treatments.

Fine shows that the Menorah, our most consistent symbol since Biblical times, has proven to be extraordinarily adaptable to the viewpoint of the interpreter. The Romans saw in it the essence of conquest and defeat of the Jews; Jews viewed in the Arch’s Menorah both our defeat and our endurance, outlasting the Romans. For early Christians, the Menorah represented Christian replacement of Jews; for contemporary evangelicals, it represents their identification with Jews. Modern Israel regards the Menorah as an embodiment of the Jewish people’s return from exile to sovereignty. Chabad designed its Menorah as a counterpoint to the Zionist model. The settlers of Gush Katif reenacted the scene depicted on the Arch to show the return of degradation, this time at the hands of the Israeli government.

This book is a feast for the mind and eyes, with ample pictures, many taken by the author, of the menorahs described. It can provide rich material for classroom study and student projects as well, whether for Hanukkah or at other times.

Reviewed by Elliott Rabin

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