Comments for 1207 Books

Comment on “The Normal Christian Life” by Watchman Nee by Frank R

Frank R — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 02:16:07 +0000

Greetings from New Farm. Thanks for the useful data. I’m doing a project at uni and your content was quite useful. Thanks for sharing

Comment on “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon reviewed by Colin

Colin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:03:10 +0000

What a well written review. The writing style is very influenced by Gibbon too. I almost feel I should spend twenty years writing a comment in six volumes in response.

Comment on “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson by Vergil

Vergil — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:45:00 +0000

I agree that humans can destroy life easily (just look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII) but some things she stopped were helping humanity. DDT, for example; there was no scientific evidence that suggested DDT had any negative affect on the wildlife (none serious, at least, 10% of eggs laid by quails had thinner shells than usual). DDT almost eradicated Malaria in certain parts of Africa because it killed the mosquitoes. Her incentives were good, but some of the things that came from her actions were negative. Just saying.

Comment on “Pebble in the Sky” by Isaac Asimov reviewed by candelyn

candelyn — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:17:31 +0000

Thank you for the recommendations.

Great review, very thorough. I’ve read Pebble in the Sky, and I liked it, but not my favorite as far as Sci-fi goes.

Comment on “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller reviewed by Tim

Tim — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:11:24 +0000

I missed this one when you put it up. Nice review. A friend gave this book to me a few years ago, but I confess I never finished it. I have always focused too much on analytical reading material. Your review is good. The theme of authenticity has been at the forefront of existential thought since Kierkegaard. “Cool” as its opposite is interesting. I would say “cool” is nothing more that one’s perception of what pleases others. It makes sense people would live for this when they feel alone and alienated. And we feel alone because we do not experience or give love, we don’t love because we don’t know how, we don’t know how because we have believed not the gospel but that physical or market forces determine reality. I have a cousin who tells his child to be “cool” rather than to be good–is our culture losing even the vocabulary in which the gospel makes any sense?

Comment on About by ash

ash — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:08:03 +0000

jacob, do you/did you go to reed college?

Comment on “The Silmarillion” by J.R.R. Tolkien reviewed by omegamormegil

omegamormegil — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:17:29 +0000

I didn’t get much at all from my first reading of the Simarillion – I found it to be arduous and painful. However, I REALLY enjoyed it the 2nd time. I would be the first to admit that it’s not for everyone. It’s also interesting that as Tolkien never intended to publish The Simarillion, at least in it’s current form, that he reused a number of important names from The Simarillion in The Lord of the Rings such as “Minas Tirith”, “Glorfindel” and “Grond”.

I found your terse description of the Two Trees and the Simarils to be a bit offensive to the spirit of the text – Tolkien makes them sound Spectacularly Awesome in the book, which is necessary as the Simarils are so important to the mythology. It is somewhat forgivable, however, as I find that the Simarils are ultimately much less interesting than other aspects of the book, such as the adventures of Túrin Turambar, the valor of Fingolfin, or the backstory to elements of the Lord of the Rings. Also, the author does make an effort explain why some things can’t be remade, such as the Trees and the Simarils, although it’s hard to find a specific reference. It had something to do with waning of (or waning access to?) the creative power (The Fire of Ilúvatar) which caused the song of the Ainur to actually make the world, a theme similar to the waning of the Elves in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Túrin needs so many names because he’s so awesome. But seriously, there are an awful lot of names to keep track of. I’d recommend that anyone making the attempt to do so should make use of The Encyclopedia of Arda at http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/a/arda.html. Oh, and it’s spelled “Agarwaen”

I’d also add that anyone who would like a taste of this excellent book in a more readable style should check out the more recently published book _The Children of Húrin_, a more accessible and very excellent account of my favorite story in the Simarillion. I’m looking forward to the movie

An accurately representative and excellent review, as usual!

Comment on “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller reviewed by omegamormegil

omegamormegil — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:10:28 +0000

Excellent review.

Comment on “Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Vol. I: 1905-1931″ reviewed by omegamormegil

omegamormegil — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:58:17 +0000

A great review. I found his quote about factory workers quite interesting.

Comment on “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller reviewed by weaverterminalconfessioncom

weaverterminalconfessioncom — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:05:30 +0000

Solid review bro… My only addition to your notes is that there is quite a difference between the “emerging” movement… and the “emergent” movement. I’m not sure where Don aligns himself in these two movements… but I would assume (from reading several of his books, hearing him speak in living color, and listening to him lecture via audio-download) he leans toward the former rather than the latter.

Regardless… you make a fine assessment of “Blue Like Jazz” and I am interested to hear more of your thoughts in a coming conversation.