Sunday, May 29, 2016

Galileo's Telescope by Massimo Bucciantini


A very well-documented book about Galileo and the astronomical revolution caused by his telescope and his observations. While he did not invent the telescope, his improvements and observations were new. He also was famous and published quickly. Though there was resistance and skepticism, the discoveries actually moved across the world with amazing rapidity. The book is heavy on personalities and somewhat light on the technical but a good book overall.

The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance by Sinclair Ferguson

(read aloud)

An interesting, somewhat complicated discussion of a very important topic: the Law in the life of the Christian. Using the old Scottish "Marrow" controversy, Ferguson shows that justification and sanctification are not something one can "have" apart from Christ. Christ is the Gospel. We have these things "in" Christ.

Silent and Unseen by Alfred Scott McClaren


About nuclear attack subs during the cold war. Amazing complex boats with power and range and sophisticated equipment. Much pioneering exploration under the Arctic. The last sub had a TV camera on the front. Author quite outspoken about his captains, good and bad.

Death of an Expert Witness by P. D. James

(read aloud)

Not as good as expected; plot too complicated, characters not appealing. Ending sudden. Flashes of good prose but uneven pacing.

41 by 43


Hagiography, but deserved I feel, by a kind and decent man.

Memory Man by David Baldacci


Head injury causes man to remember everything as a detective solving his own crime; fun read fairly well done. Read on plane, passed the time.

Breathing Under Water by Richard Rohr


Alcoholics Anonymous 12 steps as a pathway to gospel understanding. With deep understanding, personal and pastoral experience, the author expounds the path to wholeness from powerlessness. This book is a treasure of spiritual and physical and social insight.

Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenaker

(read aloud)

A modern Saint-Exupéry, MV writes in a similar lyrical dreaming style. This engaging and often surprising description of the world and the world of flight from the cockpit of a 747 is a real delight. Not only does he have a rare perch but it seems he has the eye of the artist deeply noticing what might escape others. He deals with technical matters: lift, drag, weather, navigation and many other things, but seemingly always in a fresh way and from another angle. He has seen much of the world from the air and many major cities from the ground using his rest time to see the sights. This is a special book and though he doesn't reach the heights of Saint-Exupéry, MV is a worthy colleague.

Love and Math by Edward Frenkel


This book is a book of passion for math. It is about a mathematics that is very abstract and theoretical. It is about math at the level of just a few brilliant mathematicians. Nevertheless, Frenkel tries to "explain" his work. He basically tells his life story beginning with his math education which is almost thwarted by anti-semitism in Russia. Along with the story he explains enough math so you can at least glimpse the difficulty and importance of what he is doing and the joy of conquest. He starts with groups and symmetry and moves to manifolds, dimensions, and branes to introduce the Langlands Program, a kind of unification of mathematics that amazingly is turning out to be "symmetrical" with cutting edge quantum physics. He believes math discovers self-existent truths that are not human inventions.

Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong


This is a book everyone should read in college and again in their mid-career. Every page is a revelation. These are ideas your mind has danced around or glimpsed sight of but not really grasped. There was an oral world before writing and we can see vestiges of it and have been shaped by it, but cannot really understand it completely because the very way we think and encounter the world has been changed by writing. Then print came and changed us and now electronic communication is changing everything again.

Ong is a master of explanation and uses a rich exciting vocabulary. He touches so many subjects like literary criticism and linguistics it is dizzying. If you want to read a serious non-fiction classic you will think about from now on, read this book. In the closing paragraph he briefly mentions the Christian Logos, Christ, an oral messenger of a Christianity based on a written text.

X by Sue Grafton

(read aloud)

I continue to enjoy these books; this episode included the same now beloved characters and really interesting new ones. I think by "Z" her continued failure to "call in backup" will be her end.