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Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time) © 2010 Tor Fantasy 861 pages It’s difficult to be objective here. If you’ve read the first twelve books in the series, you’ll read this one. If you haven’t, then you won’t open this volume any time soon! Towers of Midnight is the penultimate book in a monster-sized series. [...]

Here’s a nice little observation on the nature of imagination from H. G. Wells (Star Begotten). Blood that does not circulate festers; imaginations that are not stirred decay.

Sabbath: The Ancient Practices © 2009 Thomas Nelson 213 pages This was unexpected. When I started to read a book whose purpose is to promote modern-day Sabbath keeping, I fully expected the modern approach, “let’s not be legalistic here…” Instead, Allender based his book in the fourth commandment: remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. [...]

This chapter on baptism rounds out Dunn’s entire section on “The Beginning of Salvation”. Dunn took such pains to show how “in Christ”, “justification”, and the “gift of the spirit” fit together, it will be interesting to see how he fits baptism into the picture. . . .

Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives © 2009 Penguin 304 pages Michael Specter is one frustrated and fiery man. He’s fed up with people’s mistrust of science and affection for homey remedies. Take the latest raw milk craze, for example. Before pasteurization, milk was a major source [...]

In the last of four weekend wisdom quotes from Will & Ariel Durant, we are encouraged to consider the value of tradition (in The Lessons of History). As the sanity of the individual lies in the continuity of his memories, so the sanity of a group lies in the continuity of its traditions; in either [...]

River Out Of Eden: A Darwinian View Of Life (Science Masters Series) © 1995 Basic Books: Perseus 172 pages I don’t know why I keep torturing myself by reading Dawkins. I’m a believer in Jesus with a serious love and respect for the sciences. Dawkins would assume that my faith in God undermines my ability [...]

Have you ever wondered if, in our concern fight works-righteousness, we have neglected the role of morality in Christian life? Will and Ariel Durant make this astute observation (in The Lessons of History). There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.

Survive!: My Fight for Life in the High Sierras © 2005 Simon & Schuster 241 pages Compelling and irritating are the two best words I can think of to describe Survive. Fortunately, compelling beat irritating and I finished the book. Let me explain. Survive is DeLeo’s true story about surviving a plane crash followed by [...]

In this second of four weekend wisdom quotes from Will & Ariel Durant, we find their brief definition of morals (in The Lessons of History). Morals are the rules by which a society exhorts (as laws are the rules by which it seeks to compel) its members and associations to behavior consistent with its order, [...]