Reading log

[NewDimension]

The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
Desiring God - John Piper
The Courage To Be - Paul Tillich
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners - John Bunyan

[Vlad!]

I picked up Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire a while back at a used bookstore not because I'm into that sort of thing but because I felt like I should form my own opinion on it. On one side there are the creepy, gothy teenagers who like dreck such as Twilight and Underworld, and on the other there's Bram Stoker's original masterwork which was a tour de force of gothic horror. I wanted to see which side of the fence Ms. Rice was on.

As it turns out, much closer to the latter than the former. She has apparently decided to reinvent the whole vampire mythos, including significant deviations from Bram Stoker's original foray into the subject. However, the original Dracula certainly does not have a monopoly on the subject matter, and I find IwaV to be equally compelling, especially because the titular vampire is a sympathetic character throughout the book.

I would consider IwaV to not actually be a horror novel at all, though there are unquestionably some parts which might horrify those of delicate sensibilities. It reminds me in style (though not necessarily in content and certainly not in subject matter) of William Golding's Lord of the Flies, which was part psychological thriller and part exploration of the depths of the human condition. It is also significantly more agnostically-oriented than Stoker's very religious Dracula.

Finally, I found Interview with the Vampire to be difficult to read through, not so much in terms of pace but in terms of content. I don't say this to fault the book in any way--I have no problem with being challenged by literature or forced to stop and question my beliefs and assumptions--but it's certainly something to keep in mind. I would not, for example, recommend reading it on an airplane, as mass transit is unpleasant enough without the added baggage of an existential crisis.

With the above qualifications in mind I have no problems recommending it, with the additional caveat that it is far from essential reading. While it is in some respects the forebear to the supernatural drivel about vampires we have to put up with today, I don't feel like this novel was particularly formative to that or indeed any culture in our modern society. As contemporary fantasy it is well-written and well-orchestrated, but that's it.

[RedcoatJones]

Interesting review, Vlad. I've never read IwaV, but I have read some of Rice's Jesus trilogy, which she began following a return to her faith. These books are interesting, but I found myself more intrigued by the picture of Roman-ruled Israel she painted than the characterization of Christ or his family.

[Vlad!]

Thanks. I remember a thread here a few years ago about Anne Rice and her refound faith. I was thinking about it, because IwaV is very much agnostic/areligious in tone. Maybe I'll check one of the books out to see how I like it.

[RedcoatJones]

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card - a sequel of sorts to Ender's Game, one of my favorite sci-fi books.

[Vlad!]

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card - a sequel of sorts to Ender's Game, one of my favorite sci-fi books.

I assume you know that Ender's Game actually had a real sequel--Speaker for the Dead--and in fact became a series (I stopped reading at Xenocide, because I only sorta liked Ender's Game and the last part of Speaker for the Dead didn't do anything for me at all).

[RedcoatJones]

Yeah, that's why it's a sequal of sorts. It takes place in the time between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. I loved Ender's Game, liked Speaker and thought Xenocide was ok. I've never gone back to read the other Ender books, either (that cover the same territory as Ender's Game but from the POV of different characters).

[Aaron]

I just finished Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better - David Shipley & Will Schwalbe

This is a guest review on Amazon.com written by author and psychologist Daniel Goleman:



Poor Michael Brown. During the darkest days of the Hurricane Katrina debacle, Brown, then director of FEMA, the agency that so badly bungled the rescue efforts, sent this email: "Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?"

Emails can come back to haunt us--any of us. Few among us have mastered this medium, and only slowly are we realizing its dangers.

From the earliest days of email people "flamed", sending off irritating or otherwise annoying messages. One explanation for the failure to inhibit our more unruly impulses online is a mismatch between the screen we stare at as we email, and the cues the social circuits of the brain use to navigate us through an interaction effectively: on email there is no tone of voice, no facial expression. When we talk to someone on the phone or face-to-face these circuits would ordinarily squelch impulses that will seem "off." Lacking these crucial cues, flaming occurs.

It's not just flaming--I've sent my fair share of emails that were, in retrospect, embarrassing, too familiar or formal, or otherwise wrong in tone. Email invites these lapses in social intelligence in part because the social brain flies blind. In the absence of the other person's real-time emotional signals we need to take a moment to shift from focusing on our own feelings and thoughts, and intentionally focus on the other person, even in absentia, and consider, How might this message come across?

The peril of being off-key is amplified by the temptation to hit SEND prematurely: before we've thought it over and had a chance to ease up on that too-stiff tone, drop that bit of sarcasm, and remember to ask about the kids.

In the old days of letter writing--a dying art--we had plenty of time to rewrite before sealing the envelope, and so flaming letters were far more rare than red-hot emails. And so the brave new world of email could benefit from a civilizing force, a voice that articulates the ground rules online.

Enter Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, a new book by David Shipley (an old friend of mine) and Will Schwalbe. Send not only articulates the way to win--or keep--friends online, but offers practical tips on both email etiquette and on the writing style most suitable.

In this witty and wise book Shipley and Schwalbe give essential guidance on vital matters like the politics of using Cc (nobody likes to be left out); when to just reply and when to "Reply All"; the danger of the URGENT subject (too many and you cry wolf); fine-tuning your greetings to fit the relationship (if you use the wrong one, you can lose them at hello); how best to apologize online (put the word 'sorry' in the subject or else the email may never be read).

But Send is far more than Miss Manners for the Web; it's brimming with fascinating insights. For example, now that email has become the way we talk, showing up in person has added impact as the ultimate compliment, signifying that the person, meeting or project has special importance for you.

Years ago a slim volume by Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, laid out the ground rules for good writing; the book became a bible for authors, widely known just as "Strunk and White." Send should make Shipley and Schwalbe the "Strunk and White" for the Web. --Daniel Goleman (www.danielgoleman.info)

[ajyouthguy]

Recently finished two great books that I'd definitely recommend.

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson
Jesus in the Margins by Rick McKinley

the first is about taking risks in our faith; the second is about getting ourselves out of 'the margins' we find ourselves too often stuck in, and into a real and intimate relationship with a God who desperately loves us.

[ajyouthguy]

Just read a tremendous book called Jesus Loves You This I Know by Jason Peterson and Craig Gross.  Phenomenal look at the call to TRULY love EVERYONE and how Jesus did it and would want us to.

[ajyouthguy]

Finished another great book this morning called Wild Goose Chase, by Mark Batterson. Talks about getting ourselves out of the cages that trap us spiritually and chasing the dreams the Holy Spirit gives us and guides us towards.

[spacebrat311]

Yeah, that's why it's a sequal of sorts. It takes place in the time between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. I loved Ender's Game, liked Speaker and thought Xenocide was ok. I've never gone back to read the other Ender books, either (that cover the same territory as Ender's Game but from the POV of different characters).

Ender's Shadow may well be better than Ender's Game. At the very least it changes things in significantly more interesting ways, and adds to the depth of the original.

[RedcoatJones]

Ender's Shadow may well be better than Ender's Game. At the very least it changes things in significantly more interesting ways, and adds to the depth of the original.

I'll give it a shot, then.

Couple of more books read lately (and I'm on a fiction kick right now):

Lush Life, by Richard Price - Pretty good crime procedural. Great use of dialogue and an examination of what happens when life doesn't turn out the way we want.

Cemetery Dance, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. My favorite "beach read" authors. Nothing deep, but a good, taut pseudo-supernatural thriller.

I have to keep the reading log going to show that not all phorumers are reading deep, important works. I read those too, but I like a lot of fiction, too.

[Vlad!]

I've been doing a lot of reading and not a lot of thread-updating. I'll do it in stages so that I don't dump too much text in here at once

Climbing Mount Improbable, Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is known for being one of the great scientific minds of our time. He is also known for being a huge fan of Richard Dawkins, but when your brain is approximately the size of Colorado a bit of ego is perhaps understandable. But his primary claim to fame is in his ability to take a complex topic and explain it in such a way that anyone can understand it.

Unfortunately, he chose to use this ability to fight against what he sees as outmoded anti-intellectual superstition, also known as theism and creationism. His books such as The Blind Watchmaker are known for this battle against theism, and Climbing Mount Improbable is yet another sally against the forces of ignorance in this dark, dark world, this time specifically devoted to debunking the oft-cited Creationist concept of 'irreducible complexity' (the complexity, in this case, being the eponymous Mount Improbable).

As usual, Dawkins' prose is very readable and also very understandable. His love for the natural world and his amazement at what natural selection has brought about is evident at every point.

His arguments, however, are another story. Some are very convincing, providing a combination of theoretical reasoning, computerized simulation, and real-life discovery and experimentation. However, others seem to be begging the question, as he could not possibly arrive at his conclusion if he didn't start with the premise of evolution to the point of diverse speciation. At one point near the end of the book he even makes the comment "this is so amazing that it would be difficult to believe it could arrive spontaneously through mutation if it were not here in front of our eyes". Unfortunately, he is so rooted in his own ideas that this does not at all seem like evidence running contrary to his assumed position.

I think this book is important because as thinking Christians we can't ignore the evidence and thinking that is arrayed against us (I say "against us", though end-to-end evolution is certainly not incompatible with Christianity and an "artificial selection" model guided by the hand of God is not out of the question). If we are to overcome the stereotype that religion necessitates superstition and anti-intellectualism, we must embrace science while simultaneously understanding that it is powerless to provide all the answers. Indeed, as I hope Dawkins himself would admit, science can no more definitively prove the origin of the species than it can disprove it.

[Vlad!]

Moving right along...

The Birthday of the World and Other Stories, Ursula K. LeGuin

This collection of short stories, unbeknownst to me (and not exactly made obvious by the title) is actually an exploration of sex and sexuality on the various worlds LeGuin has created. Her fans may remember her popular novel The Left Hand of Darkness and how a certain element of the story revolved around the hermaphroditic nature of the world's inhabitants. Think essentially that, but way more detail and each world is different.

On one hand, it was interesting reading about how different sexual mores affect society and how something that seems ghastly to us might be normal in another culture (or how something that seems normal to us would be unspeakable in another culture). I think this is primarily what she is going for, simply to illustrate that the mores we feel so strongly about are far more culturally-dependent than us absolutists like to think.

On the other, I don't really need to read about fictional characters having sex. Not that I need to read about real people having sex either, but the fact that she made up these people specifically to write about their love lives adds an extra level of weirdness.

Ultimately, I stopped reading it after the first few stories. I like LeGuin's writing, but I wasn't really feeling this particular collection.

[Vlad!]

Whoops, I almost forgot to keep posting these...

Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neal Gaiman

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this book. It actually feels very much like American Gods if it had been tempered quite a bit in its excesses and based on the Bible rather than on pagan mythologies. I will certainly say that it was not what I expected, but I'm not sure if that's necessarily a bad thing.

The world that Gaiman and Pratchett paints is actually fairly compelling, and were I not convinced that the truth lies elsewhere I would be in fact tempted to believe that these two authors, in an attempt to write comedic fantasy, had in fact stumbled on a fairly rational way of looking at things.

While it is certainly comedic, I was pleased to find that it was not particularly irreverent. In fact, may of the refuges of the inferior comedic writer were conspicuously absent, and I am sure that's because they were unneeded. You see, Good Omens achieves the dual goals of being interesting and being funny, but each is tightly woven into the other. Much of the hilarity comes not from cracking wise or from  slapstick but from realizing that I have for the past several pages been raptly enthralled reading an account of something incredibly ridiculous. It's like it would be if you read a story about a soldier driving through war-torn Iraq in a clown car brandishing a Super Soaker. You could easily get caught up in the description and the action and the suspense, but every now and again you would have to stop and shake your head about the comically small car or the complete inefficacy of the weapon.

The example in the previous paragraph was made up by me on the spot, so if you don't find it particularly amusing don't take it as a slur on the book.

As with American Gods, I am very much in awe of Gaiman's mastery of his chosen tool, the English language, and Pratchett certainly adds nothing but excellence. In fact, I strongly suspect that the latter served to hold back the former in his tendency to produce darker, racier material, and thus we can reap the benefits of his skill without the drawbacks of his character. Which is not to say that Pratchett didn't lend his own brand of artistry to the work; his phrasing and timing (which always for some reason reminds me of the late Douglas Adams) is unquestionably what fosters those moments of perplexed hilarity when one surfaces after being submerged in the text only to laugh in amusement and disbelief.

The book is eminently readable and unquestionably enjoyable, so I have no qualms about wholeheartedly recommending it.

[Vlad!]

This is the last of the delinquent reports...judging by the underwhelming responses, it's none too soon...

A Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs

I grew up in the church. Ever since I was old enough to wonder why it was that all these early books of the Bible had instructions that we didn't follow I've heard teaching about the New Covenant and how we no longer need to adhere to the rules of the Jewish law. However, I've often wondered: what if. God didn't give us these laws for no reason, and though they're primarily abolished I do have to wonder if following them would provide some benefit, physically or spiritually. I have read The Maker's Diet, which posits that the diet prescribed by God in the Torah is the diet that we were designed to eat, and testimonials abound from those who follow the diet and their ailments were cured or they now effortlessly maintain their ideal weight or their cat's cancer went away or whatever. I've also read parts of Cupid's Poisoned Arrow, which doesn't take a Biblical approach itself but does point out how the Jewish (and to some extent the Christian) sexual laws are actually ideal for how our brain chemistry works.

On the spiritual side of things, I note Psalm 119, which is basically a love letter to God's laws (and is also notable for being the longest chapter in the Bible by far). In fact, many Psalms are dedicated to not just a love of God but a love of his words and his laws, even the ones that don't really seem to make sense.

So when I read about this book, it seemed like an interesting premise. Take some dude who is ethnically Jewish but religiously agnostic and have him follow the Bible (Old and New Testaments) literally. Now, it must be made clear: the author, while not necessarily a humorist, unquestionably writes to entertain as much as to inform. Also, and Jacobs admits as much, part of his motivation was to demonstrate that taking the Bible literally is wrong, so his agenda is counter to my own beliefs. Even so, I figured that it would be at least entertaining and probably also informative.

What's interesting about this experiment is that from my perspective it's backwards. We don't love God because we obey his commands, we obey his commands because we love God. So to approach the Bible as a rule book is really going about it the wrong way. In fact, many times throughout this book Jacobs says that he has not yet "found God". This frustrates me to no end. The rules given in the Bible are not a recipe for finding God. God, in fact, finds us. What motivates Jacobs is not God but rather his own curiosity and, of course, the book that he planned on writing (which is, of course, the book I am now talking about).

Basically, what I'm saying is that everything was stacked against him and he was going about it the completely wrong way. Even so, what interests me is that he feels like he got a lot out of his experiment. I'm going to go ahead and give away the ending, though it's pretty obvious from the get-go: he doesn't get baptized, he doesn't repent, and in fact he doesn't even consider himself anything more than an agnostic even once the experiment is over. But the interesting thing is that he acknowledges how so many of these laws (laws which for the most part most Christians don't follow) are really worthwhile.

I found the book to be in places touching, hilarious, interesting, and inspiring. I think in all cases Jacobs really understands what it is he's saying and doing, and even though he is a self-acknowledged nonbeliever he treats the subject matter seriously. He explains millennia of complicated belief systems clearly and succinctly, and I feel like after reading it I understand my position on the Bible better, if only because of my internal monologue as I "debate" with the author while reading his book.

Overall I recommend this book, not because I agree with all of its conclusions but because I wish that all Christians would devote as much thought to their relationship with the Bible and God's Law--Abrahamic, Mosaic, or otherwise--as the secular, agnostic Jacobs does.

[NewDimension]

Recently I read,  Belief in God in an Age of Science by John Polkinghorne.

[Vlad!]

Recently I read,  Belief in God in an Age of Science by John Polkinghorne.

What did you think of it?

[spacebrat311]

Sexism and God Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology by Rosemary Radford Ruether. Brilliant.

[NewDimension]

What did you think of it?

The book did a good job of demonstrating the similarities between science and theology --  showing that each means of enquiry can lead to a synthesized end. Overall, I think Polkinghorne's naturalistic approach to certain aspects of theology was one of the most intriguing parts of the book.

[RedcoatJones]

This is the last of the delinquent reports...judging by the underwhelming responses, it's none too soon...

A Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs

This looks really interesting. May have to see if my local library has it in.

[NewDimension]

The Pursuit of God - A.W. Tozer

[spacebrat311]

God of the Oppressed James H. Cone

[ajyouthguy]

if anyone is into audio books (i'm not), there is a 98 cent download of an amazing book at this website, code word: JESUS09...

http://christianaudio.com/product_info.php?products_id=1657

[Vlad!]

I (re)read five books over Thanksgiving. Most of them were the average fare that I don't bother even commenting on here, but I did greatly enjoy revisiting Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche, which I think ranks as one of my favorite books of all time (Sabatini's other books are also most excellent, and he wrote a lot).

[ajyouthguy]

I Would Die for You by Brent and Deanna Higgins
The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren

[ajyouthguy]

Advent Conspiracy: Can Christmas Still change the World?--McKinley, Seay and Holder

[ajyouthguy]

Primal--Mark Batterson

[Vlad!]

Your Movie Sucks, by Roger Ebert.

This book is both insightful and hilarious. Insightful because for many of these movies I remember thinking they were bad, but I either couldn't remember or couldn't elaborate as to why. Hearing Ebert's thoughts on movies helped me to marshal my own. Hilarious because Ebert is a very funny and engaging writer. The copy on the back cover had me chuckling, and there were times when I had to put the book down because otherwise I'd drop it from laughing out loud. Very highly recommended.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
My favorite book that I read last year was Shantaram, written as autobiographical fiction and detailing--with presumably a certain degree of artistic license--the story of the author's life in India. Ivan Denisovich is autobiographical fiction detailing the story of the author's life in a Siberian prison camp. And this is quite possibly my favorite book I've read all year this year. I sense a pattern. In any case, this is a most excellent book and a surprisingly easy read, so I recommend it as well.

[AldaForPresident]

My favorite book that I read last year was Shantaram, written as autobiographical fiction and detailing--with presumably a certain degree of artistic license--the story of the author's life in India.

I LOVE that book! I was absolutely thrilled to read earlier this year that the movie version fell through or something. I shudder to think how a movie would desecrate it. It's the only book of its kind- autobiographical fiction- that I've read, I think, so maybe I should check out the other one you mentioned.

[NewDimension]

I've been reading lots of books lately. Among some of the titles:

The Art of War - Sun Tzu
The Screwtape Letters - C.S Lewis
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
Cosmos - Carl Sagan

[RedcoatJones]

Midway through Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. So far, a fascinating, challenging and thought-provoking novel on faith, life, loss and growing old.

[Vlad!]

Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan - Todd Gallagher

This book is my favorite combination: funny and informative. I do have to admit that the funny trumped the informative for me, but I definitely learned something and had a good time doing it.

In ARBMWaFP, Gallagher is essentially serving as mythbuster of the sports world, answering questions and challenging rumors that have plagued the arena for decades. However, I think that those who don't give a hoot about sports would still greatly enjoy this book just for its entertainment factor. I'm not going to say that it's universally accessible, but I don't really care about any sports except college football, and I still enjoyed the sections about baseball, basketball, pool, swimming, and everything else he wrote about. For the sports fan, this book is practically essential reading, and for the non-sports-enthusiast, it may still be worth checking out of the library for the chuckle or two it will give you.

[ajyouthguy]

A Comedian's Guide to Theology--Thor Ramsey

[ajyouthguy]

Counterfeit Gods--Tim Keller

[ajyouthguy]

No Perfect People Allowed
Soul Revolution

(both by John Burke)

[NewDimension]

Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession - Anne Rice

[ajyouthguy]

Lost and Found--Ed Stetzer

[NewDimension]

The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama

God's Universe - Owen Gingerich