Half-Life: The Decay of Reality by Abbé Jean-Pierre Boubée, SSPX

Booklet: At long last, a balanced and easy to read booklet about the cyber world! 

Many a parent is at a loss before the tsunami of screen devices which confronts them and their loved ones. These tools are designed to facilitate life, to offer information ready at our fingertips, to communicate with anyone all the time and everywhere.

The technological advancements of this age are undeniable. But have you ever stopped to consider how technology may be affecting different aspects of your life?

Half-Life: The Decay of Reality (2018) takes and unabashed look at the all too real consequences of day-to-day exposure to the digital world. It asks what its effects are on children, families, dating, marriage and even intelligence and thought processes, but especially peace of soul. Understanding the consequences of this digital age is key to living a better life and ultimately having a stronger faith. 

Half-Life: The Decay of Reality is originally published as Communications, écrans, internet, jeux vidéo... si on faisait le point! (2015, 4th edition, revised). 

Half-Life: The Decay of Reality is translated from the French by Ann Marie Temple. 

GREATER AND GREATER ISOLATION:

"By a kind of paradox, this constant presence of other people makes for a fragile construction of one's own personality...The riches to be found in genuine friendships become rare in this constant solicitation from all sides." - Fr Patrick Troadec, SSPX

The Bible

A Rebel From The Start: Setting The Record Straight by Avi Yemini

Paperback: You’ve heard what they have to say about one of Australia’s most influential commentators. Now it’s time for him to tell you the whole story.

Avi Yemini has been labelled many things by mainstream media detractors and their political allies over the years, usually targeting his character by bad faith actors pretending to know him.

The Melbourne-based Rebel News reporter has been unable to (legally) respond to some of their worst smears.

Until today.

Usually, Avi tells others’ stories. Now he tells his. In this tell-all book - A Rebel From The Start: Setting The Record Straight (2023), Avi ends his uncharacteristic silence to set the record straight.

Trigger warning: his story is always compelling but not always pretty. Avi is the tenth of seventeen children raised in an ultra-orthodox Jewish home who found himself on the street, on drugs and on the wrong side of the law as a young teenager. He turned to the Israeli Army for salvation, then moved back to restart his life in Australia, only to find himself in a toxic relationship that has been weaponised by those who hate how he landed on his feet.

But every challenge Avi faced only helped form the popular personality, loving father and husband and he’s only getting started.

For more copies of this book, please visit www.RebelNews.com.

About the author: Avi Yemini is an Australian right-wing political activist, commentator and internet personality. He has worked for Rebel News since 2020, and currently works as its Australian Bureau Chief. Yemini served with the Golani Brigade in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) from 2005 until 2008. Most of his active duty was spent in the Gaza Strip. After returning to Australia, Yemini opened his first IDF gym in Caulfield, Victoria followed by a second in Melbourne's CBD in 2016. In 2018, the gyms were sold to a private buyer. Today, Avi Yemini is a valued citizen journalist for the online-Canadian publication, Rebel News.

The Sister by Sung-Yoon Lee

Hardback: 'In explaining the rise to power of Kim Yo Jong, Lee displays his deep knowledge and understanding of North Korea's extreme, ruthless and self-obsessed dynastic autocracy, the creators and rulers of a de-facto nuclear weapon state. Not a reassuring story.' - Sir John Scarlett, former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)

Written by Dr Sung-Yoon Lee, a scholar and specialist on North Korea who has advised the US government, The Sister (2023) is a jaw-dropping account of the spectacular rise of Kim Yo Jong, de-facto deputy to her brother, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, and the most powerful woman in North Korea. She is the sister of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and, as her murderous regime's chief propagandist, internal administrator and foreign policymaker, she is the most powerful woman in North Korea's history. Cruel but charming, she threatens and insults foreign leaders with sardonic wit. A princess by birth with great expectations for her macabre kingdom, she was brought up to believe it is her mission to reunite North Korea with the South, or die trying. She is pretty, she seems demure, she is cold, and she is incredibly dangerous.

In 2022, in a particularly fiery speech, Kim Yo Jong threatened to nuke South Korea, reminding the world of the dangers posed by her state. But how did the youngest daughter of Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, his ‘sweet princess’, become the ruthless chief propagandist, internal administrator and foreign policymaker for her brother’s totalitarian regime?

The Sister (2023) uncovers the truth about Kim Yo Jong, her close bond with Kim Jong Un and the lessons in manipulation they learned from their father. He also examines the iron grip the Kim dynasty has on their country, the grotesque deaths of family members deemed disloyal, and the signs that Kim Yo Jong has been positioned as her brother’s successor should he die while his own children are young.

Readable and insightful, this book is an invaluable portrait of a woman who might yet hold the survival of her despotic dynasty in her hands.

About the author: Sung-Yoon Lee is a scholar of Korean and East Asian studies and a specialist on North Korea. He is the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and Faculty Associate at the Program on US-Japan Relations, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. Dr Lee has advised senior-most officials in the US government and is an outspoken proponent of several policies aimed at changing the North Korean regime towards a path of denuclearization and improvement of human rights, while keeping the peace and stability in Northeast Asia. In 2013, the Guardian called Lee "[a]mong the most insightful and prescient chroniclers." The Sister is his first book.

Priest, Where Is Thy Mass? Mass, Where Is Thy Priest?: Sixteen Independent Priests Tell Why They Celebrate the Latin Mass - The Seminary Interviews

Paperback: These interviews were conducted as an apostolate to Roman Catholic priests by St Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, Minnesota, of the Society of Saint Pius X. The intention of this apostolate was to record common areas of concern between the priests interviewed and other priests who are struggling with living their Catholic priesthood in today's Church and world. it is difficult for many priests to do so, torn as they are between belief and action.

The interviews, granted between May 2002 and September 2003, reveal that the crises of conscience faced by these seventeen priests became extreme enough that they took extreme action to leave the celebration of the New Mass and to celebrate exclusively the Traditional Mass.

The priests whose interviews are published here are normal, sound and clear-thinking. None are member-priests of the Society of Saint Pius X. Strictly doctrinal theses are good and necessary, especially in this time of crisis, but these interviews put a human face to it.

Priest, Where Is Thy Mass? Mass, Where Is Thy Priest - Expanded Edition (2004) tells the stories of seventeen priests who sided with the "Faith that the Catholic conscience is bound to forever". The Nine Cardinal Commission of 1986 states that priests are not obliged to celebrate the New Mass and bishops cannot forbid or place restrictions on the celebration of the traditional rite of Mass whether in public or private. These seventeen priests refused to collaborate with the ecumenical Liturgical Revolution that has been a disaster for the Church. Because of traditional priests, Catholics worldwide are instructed in the traditional Faith, nourished by the traditional Sacraments, brought into an atmosphere of supreme reverence, and take part in a sacred action that is - without ambiguity or apology - a true representation of Our Lord's Passion and Death on Calvary. 

Highly Desirable: Tales Of London's Super-Prime Property From The Secret Agent

Hardback: 'Max' is London's most exclusive property agent and this is his diary.

Over the course of a year, Max charts the fabulous highs and bank-breaking lows of his business, where houses in the super-prime bracket can start at £30 million and clients are rarely easy to please.

From sipping green juices with an Oscar winner to finding a dream home for the world's trickiest billionaire, and House & Garden-featured locales to Palladian dwellings worth £4,000 a square foot, Max and his team negotiate the UK's biggest property deals during the day and their own romantic dramas at night.

Highly Desirable (2023) is the ultimate insider's account of the personalities and machinations that rule a world we almost never get a true glimpse of. Holding nothing back, Max labours mightily to balance his professional life with his love life, and to reconcile his company's payroll with the demands of an over-the-top clientele.

Highly Desirable is a showcase of the good, the bad and the bizarre of the real-estate market for the super-rich. The author has had to obfuscate some details to protect the identities of those portrayed in the book although he has tried to capture the essence of their characters and the spirit of the business. 

About the author: The Secret Agent has run his own business dealing in the super-prime London market for twenty years. For five years, he wrote the hugely popular weekly 'Secret Agent' column in the Financial Times, and now does so in Bloomberg. He has an MA and MFA in Creative Writing and lives in London.

The Sweet Remnants Of Summer (An Isabel Dalhousie Novel Series) by Alexander McCall Smith

Paperback: The latest Isabel Dalhousie novel finds our favourite moral philosopher caught up in a delicate dispute between members of a prominent family as her husband, Jamie, is dragged into his own internecine rivalry.

When Isabel is invited to serve on the advisory committee of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, her husband, Jamie, expresses concern about the demands on her time. Never one to duck an obligation, however, Isabel says she’d be happy to join. There she meets a woman named Laura, whose husband - a prominent wine merchant from an illustrious family - and son are at odds. Laura asks whether Isabel might arbitrate between them. Isabel is reluctant to intervene in a familial drama but, always one for practical and courteous solutions to theoretical problems, she feels obligated to help. Will the demands on her moral attention never cease?

Meanwhile, having criticized Isabel for getting involved in the affairs of others, Jamie does precisely that himself. He is helping to select a new cellist for his ensemble but suspects that the conductor’s attention may be focused on something other than his favoured candidate’s cello skills. Jamie feels it is important that the most qualified applicant gets the job - but how to determine whether the conductor has the right qualifications in mind?

With so many complicated and fraught issues demanding their attention, Isabel and Jamie will have to tap deep into their reserves of tact and goodwill as they navigate the tricky and turbulent waters of these emotional matters.

The Sweet Remnants of Summer (2022) is the fourteenth instalment in the excellent Isabel Dalhousie novel series set in Edinburgh, Scotland.

About the author: Alexander McCall Smith, often referred to as ‘Sandy’, is one of the world’s most prolific and best-loved authors. His various series of books have been translated into forty-six languages and become bestsellers throughout the world. These include the highly successful The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the popular 44 Scotland Street novels, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the von Igelfeld series and the new Detective Varg novels. He also writes stand-alone novels, children's fiction and libretti for short operas. 

Alexander has received numerous awards for his writing and holds thirteen honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and North America.  He is Professor Emeritus of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In 2007, he received a CBE for services to literature and in 2011 was honoured by the President of Botswana for services through literature to the country.  In 2015, he received the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and in 2017, The National Arts Club (of America) Medal of Honour for Achievement in Literature. In 2020, he received the honorary fellowship of the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival. And in 2022, he received the Lifetime Achievement in the Saltire Literary Awards. 

Rating: 4/5

The Warning by Father Philip Bebie CP

Paperback: A great struggle between good and evil is going on. Pope Paul VI did not hesitate to call it "apocalyptic."

An event which has been prophesied almost two hundred years ago by Blessed Anne Marie Taigi and more recently by the visionaries of Garabandal, the event now known as The Warning which is a worldwide illumination of conscience, will begin a new era for mankind.

This book was meant for distribution after the Great Event which has not occurred yet, but it was decided shortly before Father Bebie's death that the message is so important, it should be available at once. At the time of the publication of this book in 1986, Father Bebie who wrote this book in 1981-82, was suffering the final stages of a terminal cancer. He died in 1986. The Warning should be read as though the Warning had just come. The book can be purchased used from Amazon (UK and USA).

Transcendental

Desert Star (Bosch and Ballard Series) by Michael Connelly

Paperback: LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch work together to hunt the killer who is Bosch’s “white whale” - a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. Yet, after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.

For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him but that he hasn’t been able to crack—the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come work with her as a volunteer investigator in the new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his “white whale” with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

The two must put aside old resentments to work together again and close in on a dangerous killer.

Desert Star (2022) is the twenty-fourth instalment in the Harry Bosch series and the fifth one in the Renée Ballard series. Crime doesn't come better than Michael Connelly.

About the author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of thirty-eight novels and one work of non-fiction. His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than eighty million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of three television series: Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, and The Lincoln Lawyer. He is also the creator and host of the podcasts Murder Book and The Wonderland Murders and the Secret History of Hollywood. He spends his time in California and Florida. 

To find out more, visit Michael's website at www.michaelconnelly.com.au, or follow him on Facebook (MichaelConnellyBooks) or Twitter @ConnellyBooks. 

Rating: 5/5

The Catechism Of The Crisis In The Church by Fr Matthias Gaudron

Paperback: Is there a crisis in the Church today?

One would have to close one's eyes not to see that the Catholic Church is suffering a grave crisis. 

In the 1960s, at the time of the Second Vatican Council, there were hopes for a new springtime in the Church; exactly the opposite has come to pass. 

Thousands of priests have abandoned their office, and thousands of monks and religious have returned to secular life. There are very few vocations in Europe and not many in North America either; countless seminaries, convents, and religious houses have closed their doors. Many parishes lack priests, and religious congregations are obliged to abandon schools, hospitals, and homes for the aged. As Pope Paul VI lamented on 29 June 1972: "Through some crack, the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God."

The Catechism of the Crisis in the Church (2010, 2021, Fourth printing) is translated from the German - Katholischer Katechismus zur kirchlichen Kriese (1997) - from the second edition as translated, revised, and edited by the Dominican Fathers of Avrillé in collaboration with Fr Matthias Gaudron. 

About the author: Father Matthias Gaudron is a German traditionalist Roman Catholic priest. He was ordained a priest of the SSPX by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais FSSPX in 1990. 

Kérizinen Messages From Jesus And Mary In Brittany

Paperback: Kérizinen Messages From Jesus And Mary In Brittany is an account of the Apparitions of Jesus and Mary from 1938 to 1965. The messages from Jesus and Mary in this book are a transcription from the handwritten notebooks of the seer Jeanne-Louise Ramonet, a poor and uneducated woman. The notes and explanations of these messages are the result of extensive conversations with Jeanne-Louise, as well as a study of archives and other documents. The apparitions lasted 27 years from 15 September 1938 to 1 October 1965. There were 71 apparitions: 15 of Jesus and Mary together, 11 of Jesus Christ alone, 43 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin alone, 1 of the Holy Family and a vision of a picture. The majority of these apparitions were accompanied by messages - there were sixty-five messages, all printed in this book.

The prophetic part of the messages is relevant to the time of the Tribulation - in the 2020s. More importantly, the teachings of Jesus are particularly rich and deep in theology. The messages of Our Lady cover a number of topics, and particularly request devotion and consecration to the Two Hearts united in the Holy Spirit. They also underline the serious consequences of forgetting God, and encourage conversion because Jesus is "the Way, the Truth, the Life". These writings are also an invitation to the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, to prayer, in particular the Rosary, and to the demand for love of neighbour. The messages should be studied.

About the seer: The visionary or seer Jeanne-Louise Ramonet at the time of the apparitions was 28 years of age and living in the old family home which was small and poor. She was born on 7 October 1910, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Her parents were farmers. There were nine children in the household and she was the fourth child. Their life was very humble and hard. During her youth, she suffered from poor health. She took on the work on the farm when her parents died and work there until her retirement in 1970. She remained faithful to the faith of her baptism. She passed away peacefully, armed with the sacraments of the Church, on Sunday 19 February 1995, at the age of 84. She rests in the cemetery of Plounévez-Lochrist, a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.

Bygone

 

Sun Tzu