The Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kid by Barry Clifford with Paul Perry tells two stories at once. It was annoyng for the majority of the book since the story of Captain Kidd was not very interesting. I think too much of it was told in the beginning. The stories were somewhat entertwined in the penultilmate section of each. The modern portion was interesting for me because of its proximity to my present situation in Madagascar and because of the magnitude of the mission.
Robinson Crusue, by Daniel Defoe, is an adventure story. An English boy ignores the requests of his parents for him to stay in English. He scrapes by with his life until he lands on an island whose only use is for periodic cannibalism. He has many provisions from his ship. He becomes serious about his religion while he is on the island. His life becomes comfortable. The book left me very impressed with his manual ingenuity due to the comforts he crafted. I also envy taking months to devote to tasks like making a plank.
The Life of Milarepa, Rechugpa, is a book about a a boy whose immediate family was mistreated by relatives after the death of the father. In retaliation, the young man learn black magic, he uses it against the wicked relatives. Later, he feels guilty and seeks to become a buddha. After finding a the right teacher. He asks repeatedly for instruction. The teacher tells him to perform various feats to earn the instruction. He builds towers. Each time, he misses part of the building instruction and he is asked to recommence. Through the help of the wife of the teacher, he succeeds and receives instruction. Then he meditates in solitude. He leaves the teacher to discover the fate of his mother. After, he continues to meditate in solitude.
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