Theology, fantasy and science fiction, science, history, classics, general bibliophile
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I've probably read 10 books now over the last 5 of so years about the Christian Right and this was by far the most engaging (her first book was also excellent). I will warn readers that the second part, devoted to education, family dynamics, and childrearing are intense, with the chapter devoted to the last topic quite disturbing.
Vera Wong is back and as meddling as ever in this follow-up to the hit Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for …
Good, but the title and subtitle are misleading because although a substantial part of the book is devoted to the nominal subject of the deciphering of Old Persian and Akkadian, a majority is on the archaeological work that made it possible. (Also, the subtitle refers to "the world's oldest writing," but in the body of the book it's made clear that it's only the script itself which is oldest but the language for which it was first used was Sumerian, which receives only paying discussion.)
Lively journalistic account of Elon Musk and his businesses. Although it's not at all a biography, it does give great insight into the nature of his personality.
In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can …
Fun YA romantasy which I'd almost completely forgotten 12 years after my first reading; this was another time also reading it aloud to my wife.
The history of humanity is one of devastating, once-in-a-thousand-year events: rising seas that make land …
Interesting, but there was a lot of speculation about what people in the past civilizations thought and felt about what was going on. Apart from that I thought it was quite good and very educational.
Burning with resentment and intrigue, this fantastical family drama invites readers to dig up the secrets of the Belman family, …
Burning with resentment and intrigue, this fantastical family drama invites readers to dig up the …
CW: #YesTheDogDies, suicide. But a beautiful if largely rather grim book with a happy(-ish) ending.
A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery …
Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in this sci-fi ode to the cozy mystery, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of …
A smart, incisive look at the technologies sold as artificial intelligence, the drawbacks and pitfalls …
A thoughtful and engaging treatment, not entirely negative as you might expect from the title. The explanation of the relationship between language and meaning was brief but insightful.
An expansion of the 2020 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award winning story. Arboreality is a finalist for the Philip K. Dick …
The first part of the book is composed of pointed and (to me) cogent criticism of the Jesus Seminar and their way of approaching early Christianity. The second part presents Johnson's positive alternative and includes an excellent explanation for why the resurrection is not "historical": it's not at all that it's didn't happen, but that by his definition history is purely naturalistic and the supernatural nature of the resurrection therefore puts it outside the bounds of history. I was very glad to have been pointed toward this book by Fleming Rutledge's Crucifixion, which I also recommend.
