Since then, I’ve slowly evolved into using only tea leaves. You can see my tea cabinet. Only a portion of the teas I brew are visible, and some are actually just using old containers.

I brew the tea in a white ceramic pot or cast iron pot, kept warm over a tea candle apparatus.

I use a Finum strainer for the tea. These are very nice, since you can remove the tea leaves after the appropriate infusion time, and can reinfuse the leaves quite easily. The lid also serves as a convenient base to prevent tea from getting on the counter.

At the office, I use a larger ceramic pot, with a hot water pot to boil the water.

Learning how to properly brew tea takes practice, experience, but a good book also gives one an idea as to techniques for making the perfect pot of tea. The book below also discusses the various types of tea, their origin and their differences. Generally, there are Chinese vs. Indian teas. Africa does produce some teas like Rooibos, which I’ve found to be quite distasteful. The Chinese/Indian teas vary from black, Oolong, green, flavored (like Jasmine), mixed (like Earl Grey), or moldy (like Pu-Erh). Pu-Erh tea is actually quite interesting, in that the 2-5 infusions are all quite good. The tea smells like a barnyard, but the taste is very nice.

The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook, by M. Heiss and R. Heiss ???

This book is a good introductory summary for the tea lover. Happy brewing!!!

Adobe InDesign Styles, by Michael Murphy ????

I got to know Michael Murphy on the Podcast called “The InDesigner” and appreciated his insights and comments on InDesign. InDesign is the typographer’s dream, giving the typographer undreamed of control over the page and how type appears on the page. In this short book (as well as the two supplemental chapters downloaded from the internet), one learns the proper use of character, paragraph, and object styles, as well as styles used for tables. Murphy also gives a cursory review of GREP, and touches briefly on styles in the interface between word processors such as Microsoft Word and XHTML/CSS. The book was a slow read, but very helpful in learning more about some of the power of InDesign. The biggest weakness of the book was the failure to use enough examples, especially in the area of object styles, which was too cursory. This is a worthy read for the person who wishes to move beyond InDesign basics to increased power use of the program.

This short book addresses the issue of how the Christian should regard the nation of Israel, and what the Scriptures say about who the real Israel may be. The first chapter addresses the theology of “land”, discussing that the land of Israel what we now think of as Palestine as a type of land to come for the Christian.  Robertson then shows clearly that the Scriptures have always defined Israel in a broader sense than just being genetic descendants of Abraham. The next chapters contend with the shift of priesthoods from the Aaronic to the Melchizedechian lines, making sense to me for the first time by explaining the significance of this shift in priesthoods. Next is discussed a theme developed more fully in a previously reviewed book by Robertson on the thme of the wilderness church, that the church in the wilderness has always been largely apostate. Finally, Robertson addresses the kingdom and its King, showing how the nation of Israel had departed from the covenant, and that in replacement, the perfect King, Christ, is installed and now reigns. The status of the current nation of Israel is then returned to. Robertson discusses how the church is the new Israel of God, and that Jews must seek Christ and be permitted into the church in no different of matter than the Gentiles. This book is an easy and delightful read, highly recommended to all, especially those who are ruminanting over the current events of a return of the state of Israel.

I’ve been a bit remiss on writing on my blogsite. Every once in a while I feel like I need to offer a personal reflection on what’s going on, but that may be a while from now. There are some trips being planned soon, which I’ll detail when I get back.

It is a bit unusual perhaps seeing a book on InDesign from me. Oddly, typography has a particular attraction for me. I remember the days when I was a typographical apprentice, mostly using hot type. It was at that time, in the early 1970′s, when cold type first arrived. I remember the clunky and always problematic Alphatype machine, which seemed to be broken more often than not. But, it was the forerunner of our current typesetting technology. I suspected back in 1973 that computers would eventually take over the typesetting business, and I was correct. The only use I had for my Journeyman’s card was to work my way through medical school. My former union (International Typographical Union) doesn’t even exist anymore. It was in the early 1980′s that the first real typesetting program came out, called Aldus PageMaker. I purchased it and started playing with it. It was unreal how closely PageMaker simulated how a typographer would approach type. Aldus was since bought out by Adobe, who later morphed PageMaker into InDesign, constantly adding new functionality. This book takes one on a whirlwind tour of InDesign CS4. It is quite amazing all the power that one now has in the program, compared to the first version of PageMaker. McClelland adeptly demonstrates many of the subtle functions of InDesign CS4. His instructions are quite easy to follow, compared to many how-to-do computer books. Each chapter is accompanied by a short video that highlights a particular segment of the upcoming chapter. My only complain about the book is the preoccupation with certain distractions, such as how  to draw figures, that are nice to be able to do in InDesign, but best performed in Illustrator. I would be quite amazed if somebody owned InDesign and did NOT own both Illustrator and Photoshop. Many typesetting topics were glossed over. He could have spent more time on the use of styles, which is one of the strongest utilities in InDesign. His examples included portions of past books that he wrote, or a silly frog article called Professor Shenbop. I would have appreciated a fuller spectrum of types of publications. Deke did have a keen eye for typographical details, and I wished he would have mentioned his thinking more often regarding adjustments of type spacing, etc. In the 1970′s, everything had to be -10% between-letter spacing, so that letters ran on top of each other—thankfully, that is bygone. In summary, Deke does a most capable job of giving one a great summary of what InDesign CS4, and what it can do. For somebody familiar with InDesign, it was still helpful to read, and I felt like I picked up many new tips to make InDesign more useful to me.

I typically don’t read political books, and especially contemporary political books. This hit me as an exception, based on the discussion created over an excerpt from this book published in the Wall Street Journal. So, while I’m aggressively disinterested in learning anything about BHO, this book seemed to be a worthy exception to the rule. The most notable finding while reading the book is the exception writing style of D’Souza. He is very easy to read, very organized in his thinking, and his writing flows easily. He is convincing, as he is also writing as a person of the “3rd world”, having been born in India. D’Souza has a rather compelling argument for understanding how Obama thinks. The thesis of his book denies that he is primarily a socialist or Muslim or militant anti-racist. Rather, he is a determined anti-colonialist, a trait acquired from his father, of whom he had almost no contact. D’Souza builds an effective argument by walking through the life of Obama to show through his history and writings how Obama’s thinking developed into radical anti-colonialism. In support, D’Souza shows how the many decisions that Obama has made in his presidency confirm his anti-colonial sentiments. Obama considers the USA having replaced Britain as the great world colonizer, motivating him to seek ways to destroy American strength and effectiveness through the world as a means of atonement for America’s “sins” of pro-colonization. While not defending British colonialism, D’Souza shows how the most successful countries in the world today were most dominated by Western colonialism in the past, the prime example being India. Contrary, Africa, while complaining the most about colonialism, was the most briefly occupied by foreign powers, and remains the most backward in their ability to develop themselves out of poverty. This book is a contrast to a book that I recently reviewed, The Decline and Fall of the British Empire by Piers Brendon, where the sins of colonialism are brought out in their worst. Brendon seems to side with the Obama/Africa camp in his heavy emphasis on the problems of colonialism. D’Souza doesn’t deny the evils of colonialism, yet shows how it could be used as a force for good, as is currently occurring in India, China, Indonesia, as well as many other “3rd world” nations that are demonstrating rapid economic gains. D’Souza’s insightful analysis is a worthy read for both the Obama Choir (as D’Souza says, “those hypnotized followers who routinely suspend their rationality when it comes to this political rock star”) as well as those who find Obama as a destructive embarrassment for our nation, to best understand what makes our president tick.

On occasion, I find that Sudoku is a great way to relax and still use the mind. Naturally, over time, one becomes interested in harder puzzles, and looks for better algorithms for resolving the puzzle when answers don’t seem to be coming. So, I was quite eager to read this book, since it is supposedly written for really smart people. In actual fact, the book did give me a few insights in resolving some of the more challenging puzzles. Unfortunately, the added insights from the book help only in limited circumstances. He also provides a history of Sudoku, which I found to be quite interesting. I did not realize that Sudoku did NOT come from Japan, but was popularized there.

A combination of the techniques that I have developed as well as techniques of this book can resolve many but certainly not all Sudoku puzzles. Gordon admits that there are puzzles that simply are not solvable without guessing. I was grateful that somebody finally admitted that. He also noted that the Sudoku is written poorly if it eventually demands a guess to solve. My technique involves writing a tic-mark whenever a 9-block unit is reduced to just 2 squares of possibility for a given number. Gordon uses a more conventional tic-mark technique, where the tic-marks include all the possibilities for a given square. Gordon’s technique is best used when solving Sudoku on a computer, as I do not use a pencil, and certainly would object to having to write and erase multiple times. Gordon on paper has the result of taking the joy out of Sudoku. An optimal computer Sudoku game program would show all tic-marks, but show when tic-mark numbers are reduced to only 2 per 9-block unit by changing the color of the tic-marks to easily visualize them. Gordon’s advanced techniques are of value only when the puzzles are nearly completely solved, and not as useful early in a puzzle, when most of the unfilled blocks have multiple possibilities. Gordon provides lots of puzzles that demonstrate his techniques, and is easy to read, though certainly not requiring a “Mensa” mentality, which seems to me more an indication of the person’s arrogance rather than their intelligence.

This is a rather short book, 149 pages, and easy to read in several evenings. Robertson writes in an efficient style without wasted verbiage, yet is not challenging to read. He writes in an academic style, and manifests the art of exegesis of Scriptures at its best. In sum, he is a joy to read. This is my second book that I’ve read by him, and you should be seeing a number of further reviews of this author, as he merits our full attention. Robertson now teaches in Africa at Malawi Bible College, but lives as one of the veritable giants among living theologians today. Robertson is best know for his book “Christ of the Covenants”, showing that the Covenants throughout Scripture are indeed one, though progressively contributing to or fulfilling prior “versions” of the covenant.

The introduction to this text provides the theme. While Christ often referred to the church as the “Kingdom of God”, and Paul referred similarly to the church as the “body of Christ”, these metaphors for the church are never used within Hebrews. Rather, the author of Hebrews develops the likeness of the church as Israel during the time of the Exodus, living in the wilderness. The first chapter develops the thesis of the living church today as being the church in the wilderness. Subsequent chapters note the covenant that binds Israel (the church) in the wilderness, the unity of people within the wilderness sojourn, and the tensions encountered in the wilderness such as the temptation to rebel or the failure to heed the instructions of the law, the worship of the church in the wilderness, and the ultimate goal of an eternal rest of God’s people in the wilderness. Indeed, throughout the book of Hebrews, the theme of the church, like Israel, living in the wilderness is used, and the cautions, admonitions, and exhortations for the church remain the same as God gave the Israelites in the wilderness, until their goal of a rest for God’s people is found. That rest is symbolized by the arrival in the promised land, but represents our final rest in Christ after death. Until then, the tensions and struggles of the wilderness will remain.

Perhaps the best summary of the book might be given by a brief quote from the book. “If the church of today could grasp the eschatological nature of its present pilgrimage, it could be saved from many current disillusionments. Bodily health and material wealth, an abundance of creaturely comforts, should not be the promise held out to believers today. Escape from troubles and troublous times should not be the church’s expectation. To the contrary, the spoiling of material goods along with society’s rejection that leads to a life out the camp should be openly presented as the norm for the disciples of Jesus. At the same time, a simplified philosophy of pie in the sky bye and bye cannot properly represent the Christian’s perspective on the present life. Instead, currently living out life within the inner chamber of God’s Most Holy Place, constantly communing intimately with the three persons of the one true triune God, fellowshipping in daily life and worship with the loving brotherhood, while all the time anticipating the final rest, perfection and realization of consummate hope – these are only a few of the elements that describe the eschatological lifestyle of believers in Jesus as the Christ. As the church of today discovers its true identity as God’s People in the Wilderness, she may find the fullness of life that only the Christ of God can give”.

As an aside, there is a book titled “Truth Triumphant-the Church in the Wilderness” where the church in the wilderness metaphor is used in what a careful observation would show to be a strictly non-biblical usage. In this text by B. Wilkinson, the argument goes that the wilderness church remains a small remnant of the church that has separated from the mainline church to remain Saturday-Sabbath observers and maintain the purity of the “true church”. A reading of Robertson’s text, or a simple reading of Hebrews, would demonstrate the error of using the wilderness church metaphor in the fashion of Wilkinson.

This is the second book that I’m reading on creation from a literal 6-day perspective. The book actually started out quite well, and after several chapters, was thinking that this was going to be a 4 or 5 star text. Unfortunately, Donald allowed the text to lapse into various quibbles without defending his stance, as I’ll explain. There is one vital strength to the book which I must not delay to mention. Donald is seriously concerned about maintaining Scripture as our only solid reference point for our thinking. He is concerned about maintaining Scripture as infallible, and the only orientation for our worldview, to which I would agree. He is concerned that we  not read anything into Scripture but that we allow it to speak to us, since it represents God speaking to man. Again, no problem with me.

Donald Crowe is a professor of biblical languages at two very small schools of higher education, belonging to a very small  presbyterian denomination which broke off from main stream presbyterianism, over doctrinal distinctives which were felt to be more vital than Christian unity or other Christian virtues. Several of those distinctives include a sworn allegiance to presuppositional apologetics, post-millenial eschatology, theonomy, and strict adherence to the Westminster confession.

Donald provides a history of evolution/formation of the universe from the Greek and Roman thinkers through the enlightenment. He pauses to defend the chronology of time as offered by Bishop Ussher, placing the moment of creation at about 4000 B.C. He lapses into some minor discussions of the flood, defending a universal flood. He then explores the life and thinking of Charles Darwin, showing how it was necessary for him to reject the Christianity of his youth in order to develop his fantastic account of natural selection. Donald then lapses into a vitriolic attack on Hodge and Warfield at Princeton, while placing Dabney between them as the only true preserver of the truth of creation. At last, 2/3 of the way through the book, one comes to the moment of truth—the exegesis of Genesis 1. Unfortunately, it was limited to 29 pages, and then, mostly quotes are from other texts, such as Kelly’s book on creation, and the overused text from E.J. Young about Genesis 1 not being poetry. The next chapter, consisting of 41 pages, attempts to detail the consequences of a evolutionary worldview. Sadly, this is where I realized I was wasting my time reading the book. I become weary whenever an author discusses Hitler and the Nazis as the best example of the end result of any sort of non-Christian worldview; it is way, way, way overused. Evolution came from England, and Donald could have more easily discussed the evils of Churchill as a man who will burn in the same low rung of hell as Hitler, Stalin and a few other notables of the twentieth century.

Donald loves the term “eisegesis of desperation” which he uses on anybody who disagrees with his interpretation of Scripture. Donald might be accused of übergesis, a word which I coin to mean “to not look at the Scripture at all, but over it”. Donald’s übergesis of Genesis 1 quotes everybody else, but fails to give us arguments based on his own exegesis, all the while quoting his favorite phrase from the Westminster Confession (which he must have memorized before #1 “What is the chief end of man?”) about allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. Let me remark on a few examples (of which there are many) where Donald goes astray. On p. 220, he quotes Berthoud, who asks why we would consider it difficult for the creator of the universe to not be able to do it in 6 days?The question gets you nowhere, since we all believe that God could have done it any way that he wished. Donald must explain why God couldn’t have done it instantaneously! Just before this quote, Donald übergeses a quote from James Jordan, who “… does show how it is possible to discover several chiastic literary structures [in Gen 1] without rejecting the historical narrative of six calendar days”. So what? How does that diminish a framework hypothesis? I could go on, but, so many of his “exegetical” statements were taken from Kelley and others, that I have discussed elsewhere.

I read this book hoping it to be a clear Scriptural argument for a young-earth literal 6 consecutive 24-hr creation. It was more like reading Henry Morris, whose writings first persuaded me against an absolute insistence on a young-earth interpretation. I have appreciated Donald’s willingness to give creation an entirely Scriptural defense, yet he failed in that regard. Perhaps the Scriptural text is simply NOT clear enough? We might look at Moses interpreting himself in Ps. 90:1,2 “…before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth or the world, from everlasting to everlasting…” leaves a picture painted by Moses of the antiquity and prolonged process of creating the world. Ps. 104 leaves one the same impression. Even though these verses are poetry, they are also, just like Gen. 1, true truth, true history that must not be übergesed into insignificance as to what they say. Or, take God interpreting God in Job 38 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ..Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? … who determined its measurements-surely you know! Or who who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together?” Why didn’t Donald inform God that the morning stars had to wait until day 4? When God speaks, I dare not explain way his statements as simple poetry that can’t be taken literally!

We live with a creational tension that is best described by optical metaphors. When we look at God’s creation, we get a virtual (apparent) image of age, which is probably different from the real image (or age) of when the earth was actually made. The difference will be especially true if God created with apparent age, or if there were factors before the flood which have since caused things to appear older. There is simply no way that science will give us an exact answer as to the age of the earth, but  a complete reading of the whole counsel of God in the entirety of Scripture neither will give us a perfect answer as to the exact age of the universe. I don’t need a perfect answer. We should not do as Donald has done, and use a young earth creation scheme as a proof of orthodoxy.

I purchased and read this book at the recommendation of a friend in hopes that I would have a better biblical rationale for a 6 day creation, over that of an old-earth creation.  My comments later will discuss the efficacy at achieving that end. Kelly is a theologian who teaches at Reformed Theological seminary, and is definitely not a scientist, a fact that he does not hide. I review the book chapter by chapter to offer adequate comments.

Chapter one is a simple introduction, stating his goal of developing the scientific and Scriptural necessity for a 6 day creation.

Chapter 2 develops the literary genre of Gen 1-3, arguing against poetry and for pure history as the literary construct in these passages. His main source material for the argument comes from the work of E.J. Young, who adamantly states that there is no poetry in Gen 1-3. The argument posed by Young is not given. I tend to disagree on forming a dichotomy, and feel that Gen. 1 reads very clearly as poetry, yet, as true poetry, and thus also historical. It is both. Kelly argues briefly against the documentary hypothesis, which proposes two accounts of creation, that found in Gen. 1-2.3, and that found in Gen 2.4 and on. I agree with Kelly that the best reading is a single account with Genesis 2 expanding on details in the creation narrative.

Chapter 3 provides an argument for creation ex nihilo, and the argument of intelligent design, as well as an argument for the necessity for a creation from the laws of thermodynamics.

Chapter 4 discusses day 1 of creation. Much of his discussion centers around what might be considered pre-day 1, that is, the account of the Spirit of God moving over the unformed earth, before He creates light.

Chapter 5 is a partial diversion, arguing about the timing of the creation of angels, for which nothing is said in Scripture and thus isn’t worth speculating on. He discusses the gap between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2, mostly countering a theory that supposes the world to have been developed, and then destroyed, after which God begins again to create the earth as we know it. He doesn’t discuss why the literary structure would most easily be read as a gap, especially since he is concerned about the “plain reading” of the verses.

Chapter 6 specifically examines the meaning of the word “day”. He offers a very incomplete argument regarding the entire scriptural usage of the word “day”. In this chapter, he discusses the framework hypothesis, popularized by Meredith Kline, which states that the six days are only a framework for God’s creative activity, and not necessarily a chronological account. He contends that a more “literary” approach dangers on nominalism, which is a strange argument, since such reasoning could be used to argue against just about anything. As an example, an argument against predestination is that it logically leads to fatalism is simply not true. The technical notes at the end of this chapter argue again against the documentary hypothesis. He discusses Augustine’s ambiguous stance on creation and various New Testament quotes, none of which address the young earth vs. old earth controversy.

Chapters 7 and 8 are his plunge into science. In chapter 7, the first argument is for the timing of Adam, which he feels fits the Ussher chronology, and to which I have no serious problems. Unfortunately, this addresses only timing following the seven creation days and nothing more. He then spends much time discussing the theory that the speed of light over time has slowed down, in fact, since the creation 6000 years ago, it is going 5 x 10(11th power) slower, which would give the earth an apparent age of billions of years. This sounds overtly appealing but logically destroys all of Kelly’s argument. He suggests that we reference the 24 hr/day of creation by today’s reference. Under this scheme, the clock which ran ran apparently for 24hrs would now run for millions of years. This explanation creates as many problems as solutions by making time variable and thus meaningless for discussion. Finally, Kelly tortures me in his absence of scientific knowlege in this chapter. He constantly speaks of such things as the “velocity of an electron in its orbit around the proton”, a kickback to the old Bohr theory which nobody including Bohr accepts.

Chapter 8 deals with physical means of determining chronological age. He first argues that all things were created with apparent age, a statement that I couldn’t disagree with. If things were created with apparent age, then science (as he offers) simply could not help us resolve a timing issue. Regarding geological evidence provided by Morris and his comrades, my Christian geology friends attest it to be woefully wrong. Morris does not take account of plate tectonics and other geological explanations as to why things appear the way they are. Kelly argues strongly against uniformitarianism, i.e., that the laws of physics do not change, since the catastrophe of a great flood could explain matters without uniform physical laws. The discussion then turns to dating methods such as carbon-14, showing a moderate inaccuracy in the dating technique as well as reason to doubt the validity of c-14 dating. I have no disagreement with his arguments, even though C-14 dating has also been quite helpful at establishing biblical type dates to many archeological finds, and thus is not totally without value. Much of his criticism stems from the work of Morris and Brown, who tend toward doing poor science at best, and whose arguments in this chapter do not bear worth contending with since are are so poorly thought out. As a brief example, Morris and Brown, as others, contend against uniformity, yet use uniform physical properties to claim calculations of the age of the earth and universe, a questionable enterprise at best.

Chapter 9- This chapter speaks about days 2 &3 of creation, first the separation of waters from heaven and earth, and then the “gathering” of water to create dry land. Finally, vegetation is created. Much of the discussion relates to the creation of vegetation, and the argument against time and chance possibly creating plant life.

Chapter 10 discusses briefly day 4 &5 of creation, i.e., the creation of the sun, moon and stars, and later the creation of fish and fowl. He makes minimal elaboration but tries to explain how plants were made on day 3 and the sun on day 4 – surely plants could survive one day without sun!

Chapter 11 speaks very briefly of the creation of the animal world followed by the creation of man. He leaves many holes in the explanation of the creation narrative. He too briefly touches on theistic evolution, and to my dismay, offers minimal critical arguments against this thinking on a theological basis.

Chapter 12 finishes with a discussion of the Sabbath day and it’s relevance for today as a creation edict. I have no problem with this discussion, though he fails to offer an explanation why the seventh day doesn’t end with the typical closure verbiage of the previous 6 days.

So, did the book persuade me against old earthism as distinctly an error in the interpretation of Genesis 1? Unfortunately, his arguments relied heavily on such people as Henry Morris, who, more than any other writer, persuaded me against a solid 6 day creation scheme because of his sloppy thinking and writing. There were stylistic issues that I had with Kelly. I don’t like when somebody overuses superlatives, such as “Prof. X wisely reminds us…”, “distinguished Christian exegete XX”, “crisply states”, etc. Kelly repeats often, and could have edited the book down a bit. Kelly’s exposition of Hebrew grammar sometimes is too harsh and determinative. As an example, he discusses Gen 1:26 ” Let us make man…” arguing that the pleural for God is a first argument of a trinitarian God. Contrary, Waltke (whom I don’t always agree with) takes a much more cautious approach, but offers adequate explanation as to how he comes to a certain conclusion.

In summary, Kelly does a poor job of arguing for a young earth. He fails mostly in that he should have given a better theological development for a young earth. Thus, I remain undecided yet between old and young earth explanations for creation.  I don’t believe it humanly possible to scientifically prove one way or another, since things could have been created with age. There remains the question as to whether old-earthism does violence to Scripture, which I remain unconvinced by Kelly’s arguments.

Six Easy Pieces, by Richard Feynman ????

This, and the subsequent two books, are actually not a trilogy, though they seem to go together, in providing a layman’s read for modern physics. Feynman has written a number of other popular-read books. In this book, Feynman, the noted Nobel-prize winning American physicist, includes six lectures that he gave at Caltech to explain fundamental physics to non-scientific types. While these lectures are very rudimentary, they exhibit the sheer brilliance of Feynman, who has the ability to make those principles that one strained over in college physics seem quite simple. This book is a fun read for both the scientifically literate, and those who are otherwise.

Six Not So Easy pieces, by Richard Feynman ????

Obviously, this is a continuation of the book reviewed above. This time, Feynman attempts the nobler task of explaining Einsteinian physics to laymen. He mostly succeeds, and even able to offer a rationale behind such formula as E=mc2. There are some formulae that he fears not tackle how they were derived, such as the Lorenz transformation. This book is a natural continuation of his previous text, and a fun read.

QED, by Richard Feynman ????

QED is what made Feynman a Nobel prize winner, in that he was able to tackle one of the dilemmas of quantum mechanics, that of applying quantum mechanics to electricity, etc., thus quantum electrodynamics. Feynman makes one thing perfectly clear, and that is that ultimately, he has no clue as to really understanding the nature of quantum physics. Quantum physics doesn’t make sense, but it seems to give the correct numbers to most, but not all, calculations. It provides only a model, and as we learn more, even more confusing data seems to grab our interest, such as all the new atomic particles that continue to be discovered. Feynman diagrams provide a rough visual experience as to how photons and electrons interact, though it also demands such explanations like time going backwards. I won’t hold my breath too much on the next installment of physics explanations. This was a fun though somewhat bizarre book to read, and, together with the other two books above, helps a non-physicist see where we’re at in the grand world of physics.

How Evil Works, by David Kupelian ?????

This book is the sequel to The Marketing of Evil, also recently reviewed by me, by the same author and published by World Net Daily Books. Kupelian systematically attacks the many cultural fixtures of our society, showing how their abandonment of the Christian ethic and ethos has led to the current morass that we are in. Chapters include discussions as to why and how politicians lie to us, the rise of sexual anarchy, the grip of terrorism, the cult of celebrity and Hollywoodism, the rash of “mental illness”, the turn to vulgar religions, feminism and its destructiveness, and finally the acceptance of hate in society. Kupelian not only discusses how these traits are seated in our society, but also suggests a solution, which is returning to the Christian base from whence we came. His is a harsh but accurate reflection on our society, which is typically not found in modern print as well thought out as Kupelian has done in this book. Thus, a book highly to be recommended.

I thought at first that I would be disappointed with this book, but first impressions proved to be wrong. It is a further book on Photoshop technique, intermediate level. I does not come with a CD of practice material, but you are able to download the images off of the web, which helps keep the cost of the book down. Matt has a slightly different style from other Photoshop instructors, in that he tends toward a more casual approach, encouraging you to play and try out your own techniques. His tendency is toward simplicity rather than complexity. He doesn’t waste much time insisting that you label every layer, or create 50 layers for a single image. His teaching technique makes each step quite easy to remember. His projects are interesting enough that one could imagine using the Photoshop tricks for personal photos. All in all, an excellent text for the intermediate Photoshopper.

This is just another Photoshop book that I’ve read in the last 6-12 months. I have one or two more to go. This text taught me a number of things, including functionality and routines in Photoshop that I had absolutely no clue about in the past, like the “calculations” instruction for merging several channels to make a better mask. There are movies that accompany each lesson, but they only somewhat approximate the actual lesson. Deke is very careful to be exact in his instructions, but doesn’t always elaborate why you are doing a certain function in a manner that makes perfect clarity for when you need to do such functions independent of the instruction book. A number of things became quite clear on this reading. 1) Photoshop is far more complicated than I originally thought, and it will take years to master exactly what it could do for you. 2) Experience will eventually be the best teacher, and one needs to play with the program to glean all the possibilities of what you could do to alter or improve a photo. 3) There is always more than one way to accomplish a given task, and every book details a completely different style of accomplishing the same thing. Ultimately, one needs to develop their own style. 4) Many routines are discovered by chance and then shared. One should not imagine that any given photo alteration is intuitive. Rather, one needs to keep a number of “reference” books around when learning photoshop and use those books to walk through techniques. 5) Videos are nice, but the text ultimately teaches you how to do things. It would be nice to note a end product, attempt it first yourself, and then walk through how the teacher reaches the end-product. Unfortunately, most photoshop instruction books are not written that way. All in all, this is not the best photoshop book that I’ve read, but still is a book worth having on the shelves.

This book was recommended to me by Dr. Fred Leitz, since he knew that I enjoyed Bach. It was an excellent read. This is the first book of Siblin, who writes music critics for a major Canadian magazine. The book is the entwined stories of J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, as well as Siblin’s own investigation as to the origin of the cello suites. It is quite cleverly written to hold the reader’s attention, while bringing to mind the lives of two great musicians. My greatest criticism of the book is the unduly high regard given to Casals, who, while he single-handedly resurrected and popularized the Bach Cello Suites, also was a radical socialist revolutionary with a not-so-desireable lifestyle. In contrast, J.S. Bach lived an impeccable, though also somewhat revolutionary lifestyle, fighting more for advanced artistic expression than for any political-social agenda. I would highly recommend this book to any music lover.

This is an excellent though advanced text on Photoshopping. I remain with the continued quest to produce a perfect photograph. Unfortunately, not only must one have the right tools, they also need the skills. Regardless of one’s skill with Photoshop, obtaining a properly taken photo in the field remains the most important, and requires the most practice. Unfortunately, one often wishes to obtain a photograph at a given setting, when the light isn’t right, and it simply isn’t possible to remedy the photographic technique to make a classy photograph. Unfortunately, it is those situations where Photoshop isn’t able make up for field problems in order to help one get a prize-winning photo. Yet, the quest remains. Lynch takes Photoshop to another level. Having now read several intermediate to advanced technique books on Photoshop, I’m realizing the multiplicity of techniques to obtain a quality product. Lynch’s system uses multiple baby-steps, each step forming another layer in the photo-editing process. This can become quite cumbersome, but allows a person to safely retreat when the outcome seems to be going the wrong direction. Sometimes, the steps are quite numerous in order to achieve a given effect, yet he repeats the technique enough times that one figures out what he is doing, and is able to duplicate his process. This is not an easy book, and would be best read more than once to grasp the techniques he is pointing out. Sometimes, he carries editing a little too far, in that much of his portrait works ends up slightly artificial, yet, it is probably the technique of most magazines. I had wishes for more landscape and other forms of photography in the book. All in all, this is a valuable book to grasp. My last few Photoshop books will be a Channels and Masks book, and then yet one more Layers text. Hopefully, my photographic output will improve through all this effort.

This book was read in response to some recent encounters with charismatics/Pentecostals. It is a fairly technical text, and thus not an easy read. DA Carson shows a perfect example of putting aside personal prejudices and preconceptions in dealing with a hot topic of the nature of charismatic gifts. He does a step-by-step analysis of the I Corinthian text, and then concludes his personal reflections from the text as to how he conceives and deals with those of the charismatic persuasion. The technical analysis of the text is a total delight, Carson doing what I wish every biblical commentator would do, which is to offer the text an exploration a multiple possible interpretations that currently exist, and then, using both the text, as well as other texts found elsewhere, as well as Greek/Hebrew textual analysis, to derive the best interpretation or possible interpretations of the given text. Oftentimes, Carson doesn’t conclude in a given camp of thought. He refuses to be a cessationist regarding miracles. He also refuses to accept that tongues have necessarily ceased. Yet, at the same time, as a non-charismatic, he refuses to allow tongues, prophecy or other “gifts” to be a defining feature of heightened spirituality, or normative expression of Christian faith. He also refuses to allow these gifts to serve as a divisive influence in a church, allowing that the gifts of tongues, prophecy and healing may not entirely have ceased from the Christian faith. He chooses to explore both the excesses as well as virtues of the Charismatic movement, ending his analysis with an appeal to non-Charismatics to at least look at what the Charismatics have going right with them. To this, I believe that Dr. JI Packer would also agree.

This is a set of 101 short commentary pieces written by Burt Prelutsky. Burt worked in the television industry, writing mostly sit-com scripts for tv serials. He grew up in a Jewish liberal family, and eventually migrated to the conservative stance. His writings are quite comical, and would be enjoyed by folk of all political stripe. His favorite theses are the arrogance of liberals, the hypocrisy of liberals, and the multitude of Prelutsky’s petty peves. While I often agree, and often disagree with Prelutsky, he doesn’t have the sharp, raspy style of Ann Coulter or Michael Savage, and thus is easier and more enjoyable to read. He usually uses the same slapstick humor that he might have been accustomed to while writing television scripts. It’s a fun read, not intended to be read at single settings.

This is one of the better books I’ve read recently on software utilization. Dreamweaver is a quite powerful program, that allows one to make webpages, built in are multiple functions that would allow one to make a fairly professional appearing page. This book offers a cursory review of the functionality of DW CS4, while allowing one to practice with sample web pages provided on the accompanying CD. Each chapter covers different aspects of the program, such as the possibility of making forms, Spry widgets, set up of page design, etc. Osborn goes beyond simply telling you to click here, click there to get something done, but explains what the options are, and what clicking here or there would accomplish. I’ll probably not be an accomplished web designer now, but I’ll have enough information on DW utilization to make a webpage if I needed to. Maybe someday soon, I’ll need to. DW leaves open direct coding, such a formally writing HTML code, writing AJAX or JavaScript, so is quite accommodating to different levels of expertise. I’m not sure where I’m going from here, as I don’t think it would be an efficient use of my time to start learning programming in JavaScript or any other language. Been there, done that, don’t need to repeat. This book is highly recommended to those of most levels who wish a solid summary of Dreamweaver, and is quite useful for the raw beginner.

This book was motivated by PD Gaubatz posing as a CAIR undercover operative, revealing his discoveries within CAIR. It is not a fun read book, but more an encyclopedic exposé of CAIR operations. Thus, while informative, it is more a compendium of semi-organized findings within the daily operations of CAIR. Certainly, the book leaves one with the feel for the covert operations of various Muslim groups in the US, especially in regard to terrorist tactics. One is often left wondering about the direction that US Muslim relations should take. I accept that most Muslims are not bent on the destruction of America, or the forced proselytization and institution of Sharia law in the US. Yet, the refusal of the ordinary Arab/Muslim person to speak out against injustice and violence performed by their Islam brothers tends to speak volumes against the non-bias of most Muslims throughout the world. While Americans would eagerly marginalize Christian extremists that seek violent means to their end, the typical Muslim response is that of praise and glorification of their insane “martyrs”. In effect, the behavior of respectable Muslims leaves me uncertain of my ability to trust their stated deeper motives of peace. I remain friends with many Muslims, but remain troubled by  their inability of see clear distinctions between truth and falsehood, even in their own religion.  This book does point out the America’s desire for tolerance has so thoroughly crippled its ability to see clearly and manage the Islam equation in America, and, unable to do that, will assuredly loose the war on terrorism.

This is one of the better HTML webpage books that I’ve encountered, and a very excellent introduction for the cold novice. It takes the reader slowly through basic HTML, XHTML, and CSS, finally talking a bit about JavaScript and using other technologies such as php and DOM to write webpages. It is very basic, and once more complex topics such as JavaScript were breeched, only the most superficial routines were displayed. All in all, this was a good read for starting out in HTML, and left the reader knowledgeable about where to go at the finish of the book to further expand ones’ ability to create a webpage. The authors were wise enough to recommend one not risk writing complex script, but gave suggestions as to where already written script could be obtained in order to create webpage functionality. The book gave me a deeper love for Dreamweaver, since I can now jump between the actual page visualization and the html script, and have an understanding as to the meaning of the html script. I’ll be exploring css in more depth after this book, as well as Javascript.

Now that I’m doing my own webpages, with a lot of help from son-in-law Andrew, I’ve decided that I need to grasp some of the nuances of WordPress. Interestingly, many webpages are made by WordPress, as it possesses the best easy blog maker using SQL and php protocols. This book is a good introduction to WordPress. Its weakness is that it is both too easy and too hard. Most of the time in the book is spent taking you through all the things you can click on in WordPress which you could generally figure out for yourself. The rest of the book are technical aspects that are not well introduced, and thus not useable. An instance of the is the teaching of modification of css formats, which is nice to know, though one is not going to be messing with css until they’ve mastered the css language. All in all the book is a good but limited introduction to WordPress.

The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young ??

23DEC09  I was given this book by a dear friend, who encouraged me to read it and then discuss the book with him. It apparently has been significant in his life. The book is essentially mostly conversations between Mack, and a large black lady, a small Oriental lady, and a blue-collar working man, representing “god”. Mack has a traumatic childhood, followed by the awkward loss of his youngest child, and expresses anger at ‘god’ for his life. ‘God’ then encounters Mack at the shack where Mack’s child Missy was murdered, and Mack engages in a lengthy psychobabble exchange about ‘god’s’ love for everybody, and how  ‘god’ is fond of us.

The book fails in many ways. 1) It attempts at gender-neutrality of God in a way that God never ever described of himself, 2) it is oblivious to the true character of God, his wrath, his morality, his offense at sin, 3) it diminishes mans’ sinfulness, not even speaking of sin, 4) it diminishes God’s authority, making it an interchange between God and man, with a massive Arminian theological flavor 5) it completely misunderstands the nature of Gods’ judgment, assuming that it would represent an angry god or judgmental god. 6) it assumes that relations are the highest good in life, rather than holiness, 7) it expresses distaste for anything institutional or orderly as diminishing Gods’ true expression. In all, the book is a complete failure. The fact that it has achieved such great popularity is quite concerning to me, as many who read it will see God in a new light, a light which is not the God of Scripture at all. There is almost no talk about Scripture in this book, as relationship doesn’t require a book. It relishes in antinomianism, assuming that Paul’s  injunctions about the law suggest that we live by no law at all. Historical movements against “dead” theologizing have usually swung far too far toward completely trashing theology,, but this trend is unfortunately still quite popular if not growing among Christians. It is incomprehensible and saddening how thoroughly the possibility of a theology of God has been abandoned by the new “conservative” Christian. If there is any virtue in this book, it is that it essentially fights a straw-man. It creates a quasi-Christian in Mack who has many false thoughts about God, and anger with God. The weakness of the book is the inability to offer true insights into the nature and character of either man or God. One might ask if the ‘god’ of the Shack is a kinder-gentler ‘god’. In this book, he (she) is, but when looked at with a discerning eye, Young’s ‘god’ ends up as confused as we are. It is only the God of Scripture, described well by the Reformers, that gives us a God that is truly worth loving and giving one’s life to.

Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand ??

I needed to quickly learn Dreamweaver, since iWeb has become a severe disappointment to me. I decided to simply write my own webpage, and thus have control over everything. This book was no help. The book has its strengths. It is beautifully illustrated, and shows in very clear steps how to make certain functions happen. What it doesn’t tell you, is how to use those functions to write a webpage. I presume that the authors assume that you know how to compose a webpage, and are simply switching from another program to Dreamweaver. For a beginner, this book is essentially worthless.

Please note well… I am NOT writing about the book Going Rouge!!!!!

Going Rogue, by Sarah Palin ???

This book was read by me, since Betsy and I had lunch with the ghost-writer, Lynn Vincent. The ghost writing is excellent, with good flow and easy readability. This is one of the first times I have ever read a contemporary biography, especially of a political official, since politicians tend to make me nauseated, even when I agree with them (Ron Paul is a rare exception). I actually just finished reading Paul’s latest book on End the Fed, and the difference in the way Sarah Palin and Ron Paul think are quite apparent. Sarah remains a “soccer mom”, unsophisticated, the sort of person who would mouth off on public talk radio, full of great ideas. She did make a reasonably good governor, but national politics, with a larger heterogeneity of thought and opinion tended to overwhelm her. This book helped me to both agree with Sarah while at the same time seeing that she would make a terrible president. The book is best read in skimming mode, since too many details are included, attempting to paint Sarah as an ordinary US citizen, concerned enough to fight to become VP or president of the USA. It also shows a person that doesn’t have the ability to think deeply enough to best serve as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. This book is not recommended unless you are just deeply interested in Sarah Palin.

End the Fed, by Ron Paul ????

Rep. Paul offers a brief summary of the formation and activities of the federal reserve, the concepts of economics, and provides a strong argument for the moral, constitutional, economic, and libertarian rationale for the Austrian system of economics. This is a short but good summary, Ron Paul offering good suggestions as to how to slowly ease away from the control of the federal reserve in all of our banking/money matters, and toward a precious metal basis for monetary worth.

Power Religion, edited by Michael Horton ????

02DEC09 The strength of this book is the most capable writers that Horton was able to recruit, including Charles Colson, JI Packer, DA Carson, etc. The weakness of the book is its broad sweeping coverage of “power” issues, leaving individual topics only superficially covered. The sections deal with power in politics (not sure how that relates to the general thesis of the book, but otherwise well written chapters), power evangelism of the Peter Wagner mold, and other power topics of relevance to the early 1990’s, but still applicable to today. This book is best read as disjoint chapters, rather than a comprehensive coverage of a theme. The final emphasis is that our power comes from Christ himself, and not some supernatural power that flows in a magical fashion out from us. To that I say, Amen.

Strange Fire, by Eric Wright ????

This book, written by a Baptist missionary to the Muslim world for 16 years, now a preacher in the Toronto area, writes an in-depth critical review of the Vineyard movement and Toronto blessing. As you might be aware, the Vineyard movement, started by John Wimber in the early 1980’s, attempted to resurrect the “signs and wonders” of the early church into today’s church. The Toronto Airport church went a little further in manifesting extreme physical signs, such as being “slain in the Spirit”, making animal sounds like barking like a God, or laughing hysterically for hours at a time, all during the typical worship service. Wright does an excellent job of reviewing the splits in the Vineyard movement, the total absence of focus on Scripture, and the essential non-Scriptural basis for this movement. It is a must read, though a touch long and often repetitive, of this dangerous movement in the Christian church.

Nineveh: A Parody of the Present – Biblical Clues to the Rise and Fall of America, by Victor Schlatter ?

As mentioned in a previous review of a book by Vic Schlatter, I know him personally, and really appreciate him as a friend. He is a very bright person, and very committed to evangelism. At one point in time in his service as a missionary to a tribe in the hills of New Guinea, he made a transformation to a Charismatic leaning. Now, this text is coming out full-force with his bent toward Christian Zionism. Unfortunately, as with another brother of mine who has emigrated to a third world country, their brilliance is betrayed by their current obsessions. That is a pity. Vic speaks in this book very little about the rise and fall of America, except to indict Obama. He speaks NOTHING of the sin of our nation, or its departure from God. To Vic, everything evolves around how we view the nation of Israel. Unfortunately, there are some Biblical persuasions, such as my own, that view Israel as the children of God, who happen to be us Gentiles grafted into a tree that failed to bear fruit, ie., the Jews. Whether or not there is a future for Israel I have no idea, but I do know that the Jews rejection of the Lord of Glory sustains the Lord’s condemnation. Vic lambasts most Americans as being superficial, yet his writing is about the most superficial writing I’ve read in a long time, speaking as though it was a 10 yo kid talking to another ten yo kid. He addresses God as Abba, Constantine as Connie, never gets to the point, and continually uses parody and flight of idea. By the end of the book, I had no clue as to what Vic was speaking about, save that he remained a Christian Zionist. Vic writes in a very funny style, yet has minimal content. I could not recommend this book to anybody. A pity, as I dearly love Vic, and enjoy my conversations with him.

The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson ?

This must be one of the worst books that I’ve read in a long time, being so bad that the last half was simply skimmed. I read it in the guest house in N’Djemena while waiting for our plane out of Chad. Bruce provides the prayer of Jabez as a mantra, as a recital that will guarantee one success in life. It is almost Buddist in its orientation, and I suppose some day he will make a prayer wheel out of his book so that the wind will generate increased blessing. To the serious reader, it will do more damage than good, by promising a false way to approach God, and what we might expect of Him. I am sick of books that turns God into Dog, the cosmic puppy-dog that will do tricks for you, or fetch something at your bidding. Unfortunately, the rest of this review was lost in my iWeb “bug”, but wasn’t favorable for the book. I don’t have a copy of the book to refresh my mind as to what else I may have written.

Old Paths, by J.C. Ryle ?????

This book is simply a compendium of articles written by J.C. Ryle regarding the basics of the Christian faith, speaking about sin, conversion, being filled with the Spirit, and living a righteous Christian life. It is straight-forward, easy to read, not comprehensive, and because it was never written as a book, is often very repetitive. As long as the reader understand that, they will find this book a great delight to read and enjoy. This makes 12 books read while in Cameroon!

Die Geschichte der Deutschen, by Guido Knopp ?????

This book, written in German, utilized many illustrations and simpler language for the school-level, which made it quite understandable to me. Knopp is a historian, who also works for the ZDF (I believe). Giving a history of Germany from the eyes of a German native, it made the story most fascinating, especially as he approached the modern epoch of the fall of the wall and the reunification of Germany. The story begins with Karl der Grosse, and ends with reunifications, emphasizing both the triumphs and low points in the history of a nation. One gets the idea that, unlike France, there is a history of progression with the German people, that they have had to “re-invent” themselves many times out of necessity for survival, rather than cling to a past hypothetical ideal. If one could read German, this is a delightful read worth tackling.

The Beginnings, the Callings, The Last Things, by Paul Helm?????

This is actually three books being reviewed, and the cover of only the first book is shown. It is a series that was written by Paul Helm for Banner of Truth Publishers, each book written in sequence and published separately, though they should all be read together. Paul Helm is like many authors, who read better than they speak. Some authors, like Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaks better than he writes; Helm is just the opposite. This is a delightful series that is essentially a systematic theological look at conversion, the living of the Christian life, and the finality of all things. Helm remains solidly reformed, but discussing the nature of conversion, our callings and work in life, and the final judgment in late 20th century terms. Being primarily a philosopher, he tends to think through theological problems on a systematic level, discussing alternative views, philosophical offshoots and encounters with the doctrine in question, and then settles matters with a conservative summary of doctrinal positions. These are a valuable set of books to read, which should be considered by anybody thinking deeply about the faith.

The Marketing of Evil, by David Kupelian ?????

I’ve been rare on 5-star reviews, but this book is well-written, reads well, and well researched. The author is Armenian, and appears as a rather homely person on the back flap of the book. He is everything but that. Rather, he is an articulate tiger, writing a book that was nearly impossible to put down. He serially attacks the homosexual agenda, the governmental confusion of separation of church and state, the wholesale sale of pornography, toleration and the false effort at multiculturalism, the destruction of marriage, the sex revolution, the sabotage of the school system, the extreme bias of the news media, the problem of abortion, and the problem of accommodation within the Christian church itself. He ends with quotes from two of my heros, Francis Schaeffer and David Wells, both men acutely seeing Western culture far better than the rest of us. Altogether, the book is precise in identifying the problem of what went wrong with America. The solution presented are for Christians to speak out, but even more than that, for Christians to truly live lives consistent with their Biblical calling. I’d highly recommend this book to all Americans to read as the best description was “what’s going on”. Brother Dennis wrote a book entitled “What’s going On”, detailing the conspiracies and secret societies that control America. Yet, though Dennis is correct, Kupelian does a better job of identifying the precise problems that have led to America’s downfall, which is the loss of faith of its citizens. To that we weep.

Calvin-A Guide for the Perplexed, by Paul Helm ????

This book is written by one of the up-coming stars in the world of Christian philosophy, being both reformed in his thinking, and a philosopher by trade. He currently teaches at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. This book is rather short for the task that Paul Helm attempts, in that he tries to show who the “real” Calvin really is. No attempts at historical revisionism is made. Most the time, Helm discusses Calvin’s thought regarding God, the trinity, the person and nature of Christ, delving only shortly into those items most commonly associated with Calvin, i.e, predestination and particular redemption. All in all, Helm points out the Calvin tends to not be as harsh around the edges as many in Reformed thinking make him out to be. It is amazing how many sects of Reformed thought readily quote Calvin, without trying to understand the nature and character of Calvin. It is true that Calvin’s theology underwent further development following his death, as would be expected. The question of whether the typical characature of Calvin described by TULIP would hold. It is Helm’s thinking that such theology does follow from Calvin, though Calvin never fully developed the theology named after him. Interesting discussion about Covenant theology was also engaged, again without absolute certainty that Calvin’s approval would be forthcoming. A final conclusion of the most important characteristic of Calvin’s thought, that of the majesty and sovereignty of God, were emphasized. Although the book ready in a somewhat thick and stodgy fashion, it reflected excellent thought of the writer, and helped me see Calvin in a moderately “mellower” light.

10 Books that Screwed Up the World, by Benjamin Wiker ????

This was more an entertaining read, rather than deeply informative. Wiker writes well, and steps through the books and lives of 15 people (he actually reviews 15 books) that have brought humans to the worse rather than the better. Included are Machiavelli, Rousseau, Hobbes, Marx, Nietsche, Hitler, Sanger, Mead, and Kinsey, as well as six other authors. Wiker adeptly points out the destructive philosophy and character of each of these texts. He does not do any in-depth analysis, but provides brief summaries of the characters of the authors, their writings, and philosophical implications of their works. It is a nice work in the “gutter” authorship of the last half of the last millennium. It is not uncommon to see the “top ten” books, but now we have a first review of the “bottom 10” (actually 15) texts since the Renaissance. This is a fun read for idle moments, and worth getting.

Christianity’s Dangerous Idea, by Alister McGrath ?????

I had varied throughout the reading of the book, at rating the book between 3-5. I finally settled on a 5 in spite of a few serious misgivings. Alister McGrath is known as a conservative Protestant scholar working out of Oxford. McGrath takes a fairly event stance in spite of his supposed academic and conservative stance. Sometimes, he goes a little too far in trying to be moderate, such as when he seems to side with Fosdick in the Fosdick/Machen controversy, Machen accusing liberal Christianity of having abandoned Christian roots and thus not being Christian at all. I think Machen was correct. Yet, McGrath also is very even keeled in his presentation of Pentecostalism as being the dominant force now driving the massive spread of Protestantism throughout much of the rest of the world, including South America, Africa, Asia and Korea, as well as possibly the Philippines. Thematically, McGrath holds tight to his thesis of displaying how the Christian “dangerous” idea that put the Bible into the hands of the layman, allowing them to read and interpret scripture outside of the forced interpretation of the church, has allowed the Protestant movement to adapt to other cultures and societies well beyond the expectations of the west. The book is divided into three parts, the first being a standard historical outline from Luther and Zwingli and Calvin to the present day. It is a focused history, examining the fundamental thesis of what happens when you put the Bible into the hands of a layman. True, you get diversity, heresy, secularization, etc., but you also get adaptability to various cultures. The second part outlined Protestant influence on Western culture, including music, art, science, etc. I’m not sure all of his analyses were entirely accurate, especially with issues of evolution and science, but again, McGrath is possibly attempting to not takes sides in the issue. He still leans toward the evolutionists, sadly. The third part speaks of the rapid growth of Christianity through the rest of the world, and his hypothesis as to why that is happening, which is, as mentioned above, Pentecostalism and other forms of spirituality that are more directed to the culture, thinking  of the lifestyle of people outside of the Western world and adapting Christianity to those cultures, rather than forcing a pure Western cultural interpretation on Christianity. Missing in the book is discussions as to how a large part of Christianity has trashed the Scripture. This is especially true of liberal Christianity. Since the basic thesis of this book is the freedom to interpret Scripture, when you deconstruct Scripture rather than interpret it, does that produce a Christian? I don’t think so. Also not included is the concept of the “heretic”. Essentially, Islam, as well as Jehovah’s Witness and Mormonism are heresies, that I would fail to define as essentially Christian, yet he doesn’t address this issue of deviants of interpretation and belief that delegitimize being a Christian. This is a book worth reading, though a bit dense and sometimes controversial, it reads easily and is very thought provoking.

The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross  ?????

This book was a joy to read, in that I have a great enjoyment of classical music. Ross provides a deep insight into what has happened to modern classical music, by providing a historical commentary on the twentieth century development of classical music. The story starts with the struggles between the differing styles of Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler. He then delves into the effects of the New Viennese school (Schoenberg, etc.), the development of Stravinsky and a counter to atonality, early modern American music, such as Ives, etc., Sibelius, and the post-WWI German scene. A second part delves into music in the Soviet Union 1933-1945, American music, including Copland, and music at the end of Hitler’s Germany. The third part, from 1945 to 1999, discusses the development of the Avant-Garde and a rebellion against all tonality, indeed, all formality in music, including the very beat and structure of music from the time of the middle ages. Various movements, including that of Benjamin Britten, Messiaen, Ligeti, and others continuing to rebel against the rebellers, were described. Finally, the minimalists and final composers of the end of the twentieth century are noted. What I appreciated about Ross was his ability to go beyond the discussion of the method of music, in order to discuss the media and message of music. He freely admits that the music scene changed in part because composers no longer had a message, no longer had anything to say, and no longer saw a point to music. Leading among these was the heavy influence of John Cage in the post-WWII years. Thus, it is surprising that all forms of art, including painting, sculpture, literature, as well as music have followed similar routes in deconstruction with loss of any legitimate message to convey. So, we are left in a perplexing situation, where music is sometimes sold as the sounds of somebody hacking a table apart with an axe, or a locomotive rolling down the tracks, or sounds of nature, or the audience shuffling their chairs, or human voices degraded by electronic means to the point of no longer perceiving the word or even the recognition of humanness. In deed, in the despair, and destruction of music from its highest form as found in JS Bach and others.  This does not mean that all twentieth century music is bad, and I have an appreciation for some of the music that has been written in the last 75-100 years. Yet, the awareness of the underlying philosophy, and personal character of the composers, was more informative as the loss of moral, spiritual, ethical, or personal value of both the composer and their music, is noted. This leads to a discussion of the title of this book, which is itself ambiguous. A “rest” in music is a pause where no sound is made. To the modern composer, a rest may actually be noise. Ross never defines noise, but sometimes suggests that some of modern music may be noise. So, just has time has weeded away the dross of most classical composers, time may again weed away much of the dross of our current noise composers.

Kein Grund zur Resignation, Peter Hahne ????

This book is obviously in German, and is an encouragement to hang in there. Specifically, it speaks of maintaining time in Scripture, praying, and fellowshipping. Hahne has an easy writing style to understand, which allows me to enjoy his writing, and I appreciate his strength of faith.

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ???

This is a fairly short book that I read in flight to Cameroon. It was written by a French pilot, who was once grounded while flying over the Sahara Desert in the 1930’s. He eventually died in WWII. The book has achieved a near cult status, in part owing to many implications which could be drawn from the story. I’m not sure if the author was hinting at deep profoundness when he wrote the book, though his suggestion that it’s a story mostly for adults tends to hint at that. The story is of a pilot who crashes in the desert, meets a little man (prince) who asks him lots of questions. The little prince then goes into detail describing his own planet, and various other planets that he has visiting in the universe before falling to earth. In then follows the little Princes’ impression of earth.

This book was an interesting read, encouraging a focus on appreciating the little things, like a rose. Is was not so good of book at inspiring an ideology. For example, the little prince was responsible for keeping his plant in good order and for preventing the overgrowth of baobabs, by uprooting them early, and if not uprooted, they will overgrow the planet. Yet, the baobabs are simply trees. Does he mean that we offer preference for one plant over another on our earth. He disdains planets that have egotistical kings and greedy businesspeople, but is he suggesting a generality? I hope not. Always mentioned was his preoccupation for getting back to his small world to tend for a single flower, which was supposed to be the only one in the universe, except that there was an abundance of them on earth. So, what is he implying? Environmental implications? Societal implications? Economic, capitalistic implications? I suppose that a person who most loves this story would imply that I simply do not understand. Yet, that in itself is a form of wanton arrogance, as perhaps I understand all too well what the author’s intentions were. The back cover suggests that I am supposed to learn what is really important in life through this little story. But, it hasn’t happened. Perhaps my greatest dismay is that relations with others is important, yet the little prince seemed to control the entire exchange between the pilot and himself. Even the little prince could not tell what was most important in life. Was it his flower, or was it the sheep he desired on his planet, though it might eat his flower? In fact, the little prince seems to imply that he himself was most important. So, we’ll let the little prince return to his own planet, and spend our time on earth using other means as to what is best in life. Just ask Conan the Barbarian!

Don’t Let the Goats eat the Loquat Trees, by Dr. Thomas Hale ????

I really wanted to give this book 5-stars as I truly enjoyed reading it. Thomas Hale is a wonderful writer, mixing an entertaining style with a story line that is quite fascinating. I truly appreciated his frank, honest style, that seemed to hit home with the experiences that I had in Bangladesh, with the overwhelming number of patients, the extreme poverty, the prejudices against Western medicine, the personal struggles, the struggles with natives and their own peculiarities. He never paints himself as the miracle doctor, and seems to spend more time describing his failures than his successes. The book starts out as a chronological narrative for several chapters, which left me ready to put it down. He describes himself and his wife as not having a clue as to exactly where they were going, or under what conditions they would be living. The first thought was that I was reading the story of a quasi-clueless but deeply atruistic missionary dragging God along as the magic puppy-dog who bales him out of every trouble created by dumb decisions. This book ended up being anything but that, and reflected a very pragmatic, hard-working surgeon who had a very realistic sense of what he could expect and accomplish in Nepal. Much of the book was written in non-chronological order, but with chapters divided into various topics, such as the living conditions, certain events, and philosophical reflections. I enjoyed the chapters where he vignetted various patients.  So, my criticisms. 1) I get a flavor for his character, but read almost nothing of his wife, kids, other doctors, or other people involved in his life. 2) He speaks some of Christ, but little about the intention to bring Christ to the Nepalis. I am not certain whether his motivations were altruistic vs. Christ oriented. 3) The final few chapters entails rhetoric of a Malthusian nature, with him fretting over population growth and food supply and wealth distribution. It seemed like a chapter right out of the clueless mutterings of Tony Campolo, Thomas Sines or Ron Sider. Overlooking the criticisms, this is a fun book to read and reflective of what it is really like to be a missionary surgeon. I hope that someone like Dr. Kelley offer an autobiography of their own experiences in the field, which certainly would be as enthralling, but leading toward a more appreciative conservatism and reflective of a work of God in the mission field.