Mar 12
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The Fantastic Imagination | Robert H. Boyer & Kenneth J. Zahorski

The Fantastic Imagination: An Anthology of High Fantasy © 1977 Avon ix+325 pages This is the good stuff. While I admit enjoying the odd swords & sorcerers style of pop-fantasy, it’s work like this that really inspires me. This is more than mere genre-fantasy—it’s literature in its own right. Boyer & Zahorski’s collection is broad. [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Mar 05
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The Information Diet | Clay A. Johnson

The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption © 2012 O’Reilly Media ix+160 pages What would the world look like if information sources—television, websites, newspapers—had an ingredients label on them like our food has? In The Information Diet, Clay Johnson examines the link between the obesity epidemic and information gluttony. The parallel is interesting. For [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Feb 27
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The Wise Woman and Other Fantasy Stories | George MacDonald

The Wise Woman and Other Fantasy Stories © 1980 Eerdmans x+172 pages What comes to mind when you think of fairy tales? Children’s stories? One-dimensional fables? Moralistic illustrations? George MacDonald mastered and elevated the genre of “fairy tale” to something greater. The Wise Woman and Other Fantasy Stories is one of four books published by [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Feb 20
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Turn Left At Thursday | Frederick Pohl

Turn Left at Thursday © 1961 Ballantine 159 pages Turn Left At Thursday is a collection of three novelettes and three stories, although I’d call the “novelettes” short stories as well. The longest clocked in at 43 pages. These stories go beyond the usual golden age sci-fi fare. Rather than just setting adventure stories in [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Feb 13
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Marathon | Hal Higdon

Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide: Advice, Plans, and Programs for Half and Full Marathons, Third Edition © 2005 Rodale 369 pages Higdon’s the man. He’s run 111 marathons, including seven in seven months to celebrate his seventieth birthday! In addition to this near superhuman record, he’s set up a online training program that’s helped thousands [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Feb 06
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Evangelical Theology | Karl Barth

Evangelical Theology: An Introduction © 1963 Eerdmans 206 pages Here’s my first encounter with Karl Barth: I was asked to present a three minute profile of the man to my class in Bible College. I went to the library’s theological dictionary, thinking to find a one or two column profile I could regurgitate in class. [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jan 30
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The Theology of Paul the Apostle | James D. G. Dunn

The Theology of Paul the Apostle © 1998 Eerdmans xxxvi+808 pages James Dunn has spent over four decades with Paul on his mind. He’s produced commentaries on his letters and been one of the pioneers of the New Perspective on Paul. When you read The Theology of Paul the Apostle, his experience and knowledge of [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jan 23
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All Is Grace | Brennan Manning

All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir © 2011 David C. Cook 240 pages At the end of Kubric’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Commander David Bowman left the ship to explore a massive black monolith stationed between Jupiter and Io. This monolith represented mystery and higher intelligence in the universe. As he stared full into [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jan 16
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The End of Eternity | Isaac Asimov

The End of Eternity © 1955 Fawcett Crest (1971) 192 pages Reading 50 year old science fiction is an entertaining experience. Not only do you have to envision the future with the author, you have to view it through a dated lens. Asimov’s The End of Eternity is a great example of classic science fiction. [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jan 09
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Old Testament Theology | Walter Brueggemann

Old Testament Theology © 1996 Augsburg Fortress 318 pages This book is a godsend for those of us who don’t live close to a theological library. Patrick Miller has collected 15 different articles Brueggemann has written for various theological journals between 1978 and 1990 and organized them loosely into two categories. The first articles discuss [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley