10 Added Books: Their Relevance to Current Issues

10 Added Books: Their Relevance to Current Issues  

Living with Nature Center Library

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

Acknowledgement with gratitude: Mr Geronimo Singson, Dr Sel Cabigan, and PCP (Philippine College of Physicians), authors and publishers of the books mentioned herein

At 12, Joselito had just gone through all the schooling available in his tiny hometown, Dapitan ... Jose Rizal went to open a secondary-level school for boys in Dapitan and did all the teaching himself until his exile in that town came to an end. This is the story of a young person's discovery of the wondrous world of knowledge and the unjust world of men... This too, is the story of Rizal's last years in exile ... ultimately self-sacrificing to his nation, as ultimately witnessed and shared by the Dapitan's boy. The author, Patricia Laurel, is the great-granddaughter of Maria Rizal. Dr Jose Rizal's sister,

First of four volumes containing selected writings of Prof Jose Maria Sison, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, and 50 years as revolutionary thinker and activist. Prof Sison draws knowledge and inspiration from the people's revolutionary struggle.. . to fight for their rights and for national liberation, democracy and socialism. The author and Dr Rotor were both professors of Lyceum of the Philippines University in the seventies.

 

The Journey Inward is the most fundamental journey in life, according to the author, Earnst L Tan. While our lives are marked by movements, travels, adventures.... the most exciting exploration is the journey into the self.  The book is written in simple format with illustrations and chapters/topics suitable for workshops and retreat sessions. 

Hour Before Dawn takes the reader to what might have been the darkest hour of the Philippine Supreme Court, when its integrity was compromised by the actions of the chief justice...  who was subsequently impeached... It is a clash of the Executive and Judiciary branches - and how a staunchly independent minority stood up for what was right.  The author is an accomplished and respected investigative journalist. She wrote Shadow of Doubt, a precursor to this book.

The relevance of the subject of both books, other critiques notwithstanding, raises a vital issue today on the controversial decisions and pronouncements of the present Supreme Court.

   

Rx Narratives: Anthology of Creative Non-Fiction of Filipino Internists, Edited by Joey A Tabula, Noel P Pingoy, and Sandra A Tankeh-Torres.  The book contains 18 articles, written by doctors-members of PCP (Philippine College of Physicians), which are winning entries and finalists to the annual Dr Arturo B Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature for the year 2023.

The Men Who Play God  is a collection of ten stories by Dr Arturo B Rotor, the doyen of Filipino short story writers in English...  "all about doctors, directly or by implication... and only a doctor of medicine could have written them," says Francisco Arcellana in the book's foreword.  The author is a man of ideas, a musician, an authority of orchids, a student of humanity, and a discoverer of a rare, hereditary liver disorder, named after him - Rotor Syndrome.

Dr Arturo is a relative of Dr Abe, author of this Blog - Living with Nature.  Their ancestral roots are traced to San Vicente, near Vigan, Ilocos Sur.   

  

Handbook on Philippine Medicinal Plants Vol 3 by LS dePadua, GC Lugod and JV Pancho, University of the Philippines at Los Banos. The book presents fifty (50) medicinal plants, in simple language and format, illustrated in full color for easy identification.  The book supports the increasing importance of natural and affordable medicine on the grassroots. 

Heart and Soul, Reflections in Geneva by Corazon Alma G de Leon, expresses a deep sense of loneliness.  According to the author, the simple truth is that loneliness is small and solitude is large, which led her "to do something beyond praying and reflecting."  Thus, this book. (The book consists of 50 poems/verses, each illumined by a painting or drawing made by children who attended a summer art workshop with Dr Rotor as their tutor.)

 

In God's Time. by Dr Anselmo S Cabigan.... it is not for us to know what. when, where and how God will do something. ... it could happen soon, happen later or not happen at all. ... for whenever God knows the timing is right, that is when He will act. Move over Nostradamus et al. 

Kay Balagtas at Kay Omar, also by the same author, compares two famous poet laureates in their own time and place. Balagtas (Francisco Baltazar), a Filipino romanticist and  author of Florante at Laura, and Omar Khayyam, known for his Rubaiyat.  Dr Cabigan is a master interpreter and critique of both authors and their respective masterpieces.

The author and Dr Rotor were classmates in their undergraduate courses, and later in their PhD degrees at UST.  They also worked in government as directors of the National Food Authority, and professors at St Paul University, QC, until their retirement in the early twenties.