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Takeaway: Aquinas is important, an understatement I know.

This is the second book in the Armchair Theologians series that I have read.  I like the idea of a series of short books on theologians or important periods.  It is a mix between Oxford’s Very Short Introduction series and a Dummies handbook.  It actually is pretty intellectually rigorous (or at least Aquinas is) but they are written with the lightness and humor of a dummies book.

christianaudio.com had a sale on the series last week, each book only $5.  So I picked up Aquinas.  I have also read John Calvin.  I liked the Aquinas more than the Calvin book.  Aquinas is a bigger philosophical figure, so it it feels more like a intro to philosophy book than a theology book, although it is clear that Aquinas was doing theology and was concerned with issues of understanding and seeking after God.

Renick clearly enjoyed his task of writing a Dummies style book for Aquinas.  He makes all kinds of jokes (mostly funny) but probably too many dated pop culture references.  This book was written almost 10 years ago, and even then the references were probably a bit dated.  (He has two different references to the dog in the show Fraiser.)  And glancing around at other reviews, it seems that people either liked or hated the humor.

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Takeaway: Protection from terrorism means protection of freedoms

Little Brother is classic Cory Doctorow.  Doctorow is a science fiction writer/free speech advocate/teacher/activist.  He has has worked for the Electronic Freedom Foundation, is one of the founders of Boing Boing.  I have read several of his science fiction books and short stories.  Doctorow is known for his advocacy of free.  He has all of his books available for free download if you want to read it electronically.  I see now that he allows donations for the free books.  I disagreed with his earlier stance of not accepting donation because he wanted people to buy paper copies.  I, and many others, don’t want paper copies, we want digital copies and he had no way to accept income from people that wanted to support his writing.  He also protested against Amazon’s DRM scheme and refused to allow his books on Amazon, but has relented now that Amazon allows for DRM free versions of books if the authors choose.

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Takeaway: A dark fairytale where a mouse can be as important as a knight.

As I get older and start reading children’s books, not just for my own pleasure, but also I am thinking about what I will be able to recommend and when to my nieces, I am increasingly wondering what is really appropriate for children.  The answer has to be at least in part, it depends on the child.  Different children are affected by different things, different children have different personal experiences, and different children emotionally process books differently.

So I read and basically enjoyed the Leminy Snickett books, they were very dark but they were funny and I can understand why they were popular.  I have read Harry Potter and understand why parents let children read the first three but make them wait until they are older to read the next four.

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