Letter to a Christian Nation

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris


Clear and to the point, Harris argues the danger of belief without evidence.  Using real-world examples, he shows how belief can motivate people to actively work toward the destruction of society.  Harris pulls no punches while unapologetically drawing parallels between those who would call our a Christian nation and nations where other faiths hold sway, and the dangers such unfounded beliefs put us all in.

This is unlikely to be a popular book, and some will feel that Harris overstates his case, I'm sure.  However, at a time in our history where a single individual can destroy the lives and property of thousands on hopes of eternal paradise, his is a point well worth considering.


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The Poet's Handbook by Judson Jerome
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is actually a re-reading of this book for me.  It's a great book for both the beginning poet as well as anyone wanting to understand the structure of poetry better.  Judson Jerome was the poetry editor for Writer's magazine for several years before he passed away.  Much of his years of experience with poetry is collected here in an easy-to-understand style.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the art of poetry.


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Sunshine

This has to be one of the strangest film experiences I've had.  For all practical purposes, I should hate this film.  I've hated many films in the past for the very reasons this film gives me, yet I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film.  The movie is set in a future where the sun has (for some unexplained reason) begun to burn less brightly.  Our heros are members of a special mission sent from earth to "reignite the sun".  Yeah, that's really the plot.  I remember when this movie came out in theaters and that alone was reason enough to ignore it completely (or so I thought).

However, this movie is very well cast, superbly acted, at times visually stunning, and has very good production values.  Someone clearly put a lot of thought into the design of the spaceship, however implausible the purpose it was built for, and the design team and direction bring a strong sense of reality and immediacy to the voyage and experience of life in space.

The ridiculousness of the plot's premise is unfortunately not its only weakness.  The characters make what seem like pretty stupid choices at times for no discernible reason other than to take the plot where the writers want it to go.  Again, this would be fatal to my enjoyment in almost any other movie, but for some reason I can almost forgive it here.  Perhaps it's the sheer audacity with which it embraces the idea that the sun would mysteriously start to burn out without first having gone red-giant and frying us all to a crisp, or that we'd be able to kickstart it once it did.  If you can accept the premise (or at least willingly suspend your disbelief) the story does take itself seriously and if it doesn't quite make you believe, at least it doesn't punish you for giving it the chance.  One has to wonder, though, if all the good things about this movie couldn't have been hung on a better premise with just a little more thought.

The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown


I'm all for a good cliff hanger, but someone needs to tell Dan Brown that putting one at the end of every freakin' chapter is a tad much.  Seriously, could we have a chapter that *doesn't* end with a character finding out some earth-shattering tidbit of information that, of course, Dan Brown is going to withhold from the reader until the next chapter involving that character?  Guess what, Dan?  We've already bought the book, or borrowed it or whatever.  The bottom line is we're reading the damned thing.  Why torture us with "tune in next chapter. . ."?

I can't recall if this was a problem with the previous Dan Brown novels I read.  At any rate, it wasn't quite as glaring.  Or maybe it was because I was more interested in the plots of those.  ***SPOILER ALERT***  This book sets us up with the idea that our forefathers were possessed of a great secret.  Unfortunately it sounds a lot like this secret is going to be The Secret (tm).  You know, that ground-breaking revelation that the universe bends to the well attuned mind and to have whatever you want you only have to will it into being.  (Gag.)  How exciting! The great mystery of the centuries didn't need to be hidden somewhere in the US Capitol by the Masons.  You can find it in any of a half dozen Franklin Covey publications, which will probably be about as compelling as this novel.


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The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like the plotting in Steig Larsson's novels, and I'm really growing fond of the character of Lisbeth Salander (i.e. the girl with the dragon tattoo).  But do we really need to know every item she purchases when she goes shopping, even though nothing she buys is essential to the plot?  Some times it seems like Larsson goes a bit overboard on the mundane details.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed this second installment of the Lisbeth Salander story.  She's an interesting character, and I've come to like her in spite of her asocial personality.  In this book, Salander is on the run, accused of a triple murder.  All the evidence points to her guilt and Mikael Blomqvist determines to prove her innocence.  First, he must prove it to himself.


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The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson


Nearly everyone who recommended this book to me warned me that it is a slow starter.  It is.  I was over 50 pages into it before it really sparked my interest.

The first (and slower) part of the story is also the last part to be resolved so it sort of bookends the main story involving an older mystery.  Mikael Blomqvist is hired to investigate the disappearance of a young girl 40 years in the past and in the process uncovers a dysfunctional family's generations of dark secrets.

I found the story to be good, but not really up to the hype that seems to be surrounding the book.  I don't know if something was lost in translation (the book was originally written in Swedish) but the writing just didn't seem to be particularly compelling.  However, the story eventually became interesting enough, especially peppered with bits of Swedish culture, to keep my interest and also make me want to read the sequels.


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The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins

Exceptionally well written, this book details the evidence in favor of evolution, as well as explains the methods by which evolution has produced the wide variety of life on our planet. While it is written with the goal of answering specific arguments against evolution put forth mainly by creationists, this book is invaluable for anyone who wants to understand evolution in detail.

Far from arguing one side of "the controversy", Dawkins shows that there is no controversy. Using evidence from the fossil record, various "natural clocks" that mark the timeline of species development, molecular evidence, and evidence from other branches of scientific inquiry, Dawkins builds a scientifically insurmountable case demonstrating the fact of evolution from the first appearance of life to the rich menagerie we see today.

Dawkins also demonstrates a strong talent for explaining complex scientific ideas in terms easily accessible to the average reader. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the mechanisms of natural selection and evolution and especially to those who may believe there is still reason to doubt these scientific facts.



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