Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life - Karen Armstrong

I bought this when I went to hear her speak on the subject of 'God as imperative' (i.e. religion having meaning as a call to action rather than a set of beliefs) recently. The book is presented as a sort of accompanying workbook for her Charter for Compassion, for people who want to strengthen their ability to implement the "Golden Rule" (always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself), and deliberately uses the familiar AA 12-step format because "we are addicted to our egotism".

The 12 steps she suggests are:

1. Learn about compassion
2. Look at your own world
3. Compassion for yourself
4. Empathy
5. Mindfulness
6. Action
7. How little we know
8. How should we speak to one another?
9. Concern for everybody
10. Knowledge
11. Recognition
12. Love your enemies

I have to admit that I found the book itself a little lightweight - there is some interesting material on the concept of compassion through history & in different faiths, but also a lot of repetition, and the passages based on neuroscience - emphasizing the capacity of the "new-brain" to overcome the "old-brain" impulses of the Four Fs (feeding, fighting, fleeing and f***ing) - seemed somewhat superficial. However, this assessment is probably missing the point - the book is presented as a challenge or signpost, & its value lies more in what the reader does with it - to judge it fairly it would (will?) be necessary to follow her instruction: "do not leave a step until the recommended practices have become part of your daily routine".

The Poem and the Journey - Ruth Padel

This book is in two parts - a very interesting introductory section on the composition and reading of poetry in general, and a selection of 60 poems along with notes on their construction and how they might be read. I bought it after hearing the author speak at the Oxford Literary Festival - although I must confess to having briefly dozed off at one point, since I was sitting near the back and could not see her at all, so found it difficult to keep my eyes open... What I did hear of the talk was interesting enough to persuade me to buy the book (despite the fact that the audience size vastly exceeded the number of handouts prepared, and it was difficult to follow the examples without seeing the texts of the featured poems).

This feels like a book I will return to repeatedly - it impressed me but I don't think that I got as much out of it on a first reading as I could do if I gave it more time and attention. I enjoyed reading many of the poems, but I skimmed over some of the notes on structure and the effects of repeated sounds in the poems - I am sure these must play a large part in generating the reader's response to a poem, but I don't tend to be consciously aware of them. I intend to read this again at some point, taking the time to follow the explanations more closely and explore the mechanics of the poems rather than just their surface meanings.