Archive for the ‘Nonfiction’ Category
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7
Nov
2009
Possible Futures by Jude Treder-Wolff
The subtitle to to this book is “Creative Thinking for the Speed of Life”. So, I was O.K., when the first few chapters talked about how desensitized we are by media, that we are bombarded with ads all day long. That was just set up, right?
10
Oct
2009
Going Home: Jesus and the Buddha as Brothers by Thich Nhat Hanh
I love Thich Nhat Hanh. I really do. But there’s something about reading a book, and thinking, haven’t I pretty much already read this in his other books? that gets annoying.
28
Sep
2009
Strange But True America by John Hafnor
Here are some of the things I learned reading this book: Read the rest of this entry »
16
Aug
2009
The Search for the Perfect Language by Umberto Eco
This book is many-faceted, and I doubt I’ll be able to cover it all in this post. But first let me say, that it’s by Umberto Eco, with whom you really can’t go wrong.
14
Aug
2009
Words to the Wise by Michael J. Sheehan
The subtitle on this book is “A Lighthearted Look at the English Language”. Certainly that’s apt. While most books on language (usage, etymology, etc.) take a serious approach, this is more of a jaunty romp through the wackiness of our words.
12
Aug
2009
The First Word by Christine Kenneally
Over on ye olde Twitter this week we’ve been discussing language–it’s origins, it’s usages, it’s variations, etc–on #litchat. It’s a grand time for the likes of me, and has given me the spirit to post about previously unreviewed language books. Unfortunately, for some at least, the reason why I haven’t reviewed them is because they would only be of interest to the most ardent of armchair linguists.
25
Jun
2009
The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore by Deepak Chopra
Isn’t this a pretty cover? I have green eyes, so these shades of green are colors I wear a lot, and I love matte golds, so the colors were what attracted me initially. The tree is obviously the tree of wisdom from Genesis, though that is never mentioned in the book. I was at Costco, looking for my “judge a book by its cover” book for the Take a Chance Challenge, and my husband was rushing me. He never ever goes to Costco with me, but it was kind of good that he was there, because it meant that I really did just pick up a book I liked because of its cover.
4
Jun
2009
Buddha by Karen Armstrong
When it comes to religion, Karen Armstrong is an expert. She’s up there with Mircea Eliade, Joseph Campbell, Elaine Pagels, and no less prolific. But while she is an expert, she continues to be criticized for her lack of doctorate. Nonetheless, I read her many times in my Comparative Religion classes in school, and have since seen her speak. She may not have a Ph.D., but religion is her life. She’s an ex-nun, who came back to a religious vocation of sorts, as a writer on religion. She’s a daughter of Comparative Religion itself, a branch of study that emphasizes theory and cross-cultural analysis. Armstrong has particularly written about the “Golden Rule”, which she believes is found in all religions. Thus it is with great pleasure that I review Buddha.
2
Jun
2009
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
This book was originally published in the U.K as “The Surgeon of Crowthorn: A Tale of Murder, Madness, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary”. The U.S. publishers kept the subtitle, but changed the main title to “The Professor and the Madman”, which, I have to say, I kind of like better. Anyways, a rose by any other name, right?
20
May
2009
Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William R. Maples, Ph.D. and Michael Browning
Admit it: Not only do you like watching Law & Order/CSI/NCIS/Cold Case/Bones, but you also watch the the “real” shows like Forensic Files. You’re a little bit morbid, aren’t you?
