Mike Perham - Sailing the Dream - The amazing true story of the schoolboy who sailed single-handed around the world.  This is a good, inspiring book, which I am reading.  At the age of seventeen, Mike Perham joined the select band of sailors to achieve that feat.

Despite the boat's being knocked over and battered by the oceans and having to put in for damage repairs that turned the trip into a nine-month odyssey, Mike battled on, surfing down fifty-foot waves at speeds of up to 28 knots to realize his goal.

Yet through all the difficulties, Mike's positive attitude shines through.  Sailing the Dream is an inspirational and thrilling tale of adventure on the high seas, and of how you can be as big as the dreams you dare to live.

I read the above book from the local library.  What a good read.

Professor AC Grayling (University of London) was asked this question: What would you say to someone who argues that we need religion, whether or not any religious doctrine is true, because religion gives us spirituality, rituals, etc?

"I say that such pleasures and relaxations as a country walk, dinner with friends, an afternoon in an art gallery, attending a concert or the theatre, intimacy with a loved one, lying on a beach in the sun, reading and learning, making things, are all "spiritual exercises" in their refreshment, strengthening, and promotion of connections with others and the world - these are the only "rituals" and observances required for an intelligent appreciation of what is good and possible in human life."

I like that very much.