The Sword of Six Worlds by Matt Mikalatos

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Reposting the review of The Sword of Six Worlds because the the kindle edition is on sale for $2.99

The Sword of Six Worlds (The Adventures of Validus Smith)

Summary: A girl discovers she is the protector (Paladin) of Earth and other worlds need her to save them.

Hello, my name is Adam and I like to read children’s and young adult literature.  (Hi Adam).

Lots of adults read children’s books.  I saw one number that suggested nearly 80% of children’s and young adult books were purchased by adults. (Of course it is the adults that have most of the money, so this is not incredibly surprising.)

Most adults that I know that like reading kids books have told me that they read because they still love the classic kids books that they read as children.

The Chronicles of Narnia are probably the most frequently cited books that sparked a desire for kids to become readers. (Followed and maybe now surpassed by Harry Potter).

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Silence: A Christian History by Diarmaid MacCulloch

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Bookwi.se has also reviewed the novel Silence by Shusaku Endo which is occasionally incorrectly linked to the book Silence by Diarmaid MacCulloch.

Silence: A Christian History by Diarmaid MacCullochTakeaway: Silence as an organizing principle can be made to do almost anything the author wants.

Originally much of the content of this book was developed for Gifford Lectures.  I don’t know if the organizational problems of the book can be blamed on that, because there are many books that were originally based on lectures that are very good.

It isn’t that Silence: A Christian History is bad.  There are many fascinating parts of the books.  The problem is that much of it is only marginally connected to Silence.

This book includes everything from discussions of Gnostic heresies to the silence of Jesus before Pilate to silent monks to the silence of those hiding their faith to the silence of those that do not reveal sin like clergy child abuse or slavery or shameful acts.

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A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology

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A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology

Summary: A wonderful little books for young pastors, academics and lay leaders on the importance of theology and the humble advice on how to do theology right.

I am a sucker for books like this. I want to be an armchair theologian (I just am not smart enough to be an academic theologian and even if I were, I don’t have the academic background for it.)

But I highly recommend this book. Kapic thinks very broadly about what a theologian is.

Whenever we speak about God we are engaged in theology. The term “theology” means a word (logos) about God (theos), so when anyone speaks about God, whether that person dropped out of high school or completed a PhD in philosophy, he or she is engaged in theology.

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Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries #2)

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Summary: Lord Peter’s brother is accused of murdering his sister’s fiance and Peter has to find the truth.

Dorothy Sayers is best known as an early 20th century crime novelist.  But she was also a well known apologist, one of the intellectual founders of the modern classical education movement (which is popular among many Christian homeschooling groups) and was a friend of CS Lewis, Tolkien and many other better known authors.

Clouds of Witness is the second of the Lord Peter Wimsey books.  It can be read as a stand alone books (and it is in the public domain so it can be found for free or cheap in ebook formats.)

Lord Peter is the middle child in an aristocratic family.  His older brother is a Duke and a Peer of the Realm.  His younger sister is an eligible young woman and engaged to married.  Lord Peter has a hobby, solving crimes, especially murders.  Being a detective is not particularly encouraged by his brother, but once his brother is accused of murder, it is a needed skill.

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A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (Movie and Book Review)

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A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange is another case where I have seen the movie before reading the book.  My original impressions of the film were that watching the movie is like a strange but fascinating ride to travel. I didn’t really ponder much what the political implications are and I think the reason that I did not is because the story feels so far removed from reality.  Reading the novel did not change this attitude.

A Clockwork Orange is based in the not-so-distant future where supposedly the youth gangs have taken over and society is going downhill very fast.  The narrator is the so-called leader of one of these small gangs and the story follows his life.  In the story, Alex goes to jail after being betrayed by his fellow gang members and left unconscious at a crime scene where Alex “œinadvertently” kills a woman.  After being in jail for two years, Alex is chosen to be the guinea pig in a brainwashing treatment that causes him to be physically repulsed by all violence.  The remainder of the story follows Alex as he is released back into the “œreal world”.  In this real world, the newly brainwashed Alex cannot function successfully. In the end, due to circumstances that leave Alex badly harmed, the brainwashing is reversed and he is “œcured”.  The 21st chapter shows Alex in another gang but we find that he has a change of heart as he realizes that he has grown up and outgrown the desire for violence.

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Borrowing a Book from Amazon Prime Lending Library

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On twitter I was asked about the likelihood of Amazon getting an Oyster-like feature (all you can read ebooks for a monthly fee.)  I think the ‘all you can read’ system, like Oyster, has a pretty low chance of ever being offered on Amazon.  But Amazon does have the Amazon Prime Lending Library. (Sometime referred to as the Kindle Lending Library or KLL).

Many people tried out the Kindle Lending Library when it was introduced and have ignored it since.  When it started you could not search from a computer for Lending Library Books, and it only had about 5000 books to choose from.

Now there are more than 450,000 book, you can search from your computer (although still have to borrow from your kindle) and the quality of the books has gotten much better.

Here are a few hints and tips that has made the Lending Library easier for me to use.

1) Searching on the computer – it is still far easier to look for a book on your computer than looking on your kindle.  You can see all of the Prime Eligible books from this link.  From there click on the broad area you are interested in. For instance the 49,423 books in the Religion and Spirituality area.  Many of these books have been offered for free.  The biggest contributors to the library are independent authors.  But there are a lot more than just independent authors.

2) Use a wishlist – once you find a book you want (or if you randomly see a book doing another search) save it in a wishlist that you just use for Prime Lending.  I try to always keep at least 5 or 10 Lending Library books in a wishlist so that I do not have to scramble on the last day of the month.

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The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography by Alan Jacobs

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The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography by Alan JacobsTakeaway: English Christianity has been formed, whether you know it or not, by the Book of Common Prayer.

I grew up Baptist.  And I currently attend a non-denominational megachurch.  But as I have grown in my understanding of the broader Christian Church and its history, I have been intentionally trying to read more about theology and practice outside of my church community.

The Book of Common Prayer is one of those theological objects that I want to understand, but without a guide it is largely a mystery.  Alan Jacobs revealed a part of the puzzle in The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography.  This is not a book on how to use the BCP, but a history of how it was developed, changed and how how attitudes toward it changed over time.

Alan Jacobs is an excellent writer and his history of the book is both of solid history and readable.

To me, what is most interesting about story of the BCP, is how it was intended as a tool of unity but from the very beginning that was thwarted. Cranmer, who compiled the BCP thought that a single prayer book with a single service was important both theologically and politically to the unity of the Church in England.  This was not a simple expedient or politically motivated conscription of Christianity but a different world view on how church and state should relate.

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Year Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid

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Year Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid Summary: The universe is listening and may destroy the Earth as a result.

I am a fan of the geek novel.  Because I am a wanna-be geek.  Not an actual geek, but in another life I would like to think I might actually be able to be a real live geek.  (Probably not, but that is another story.)

Year Zero is a geek novel of the best sort.  It is science fiction, involves aliens, has a geeky set up (copyright law), lots of cultural references and is still readable and enjoyable for the general public.

The basic story of the book is that the rest of the universe is in love with Earth’s music.  Starting in 1977 with the interception of the theme song from Welcome Back Kotter, literally billions of aliens have died of joy listening to Earth’s music.

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Malala Yousafzai

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This is outside of my normal posts, but after having watched parts of this several times today I thought I would share. Below is a 3 part interview that Jon Stewart did with Malala Yousafzai, a 16 year old Pakistani girl.  She is an advocate of education and has a new book out.  She first gained … Read more