Books

Anybody rereading Ender's game in prep for the movie coming out? I have a copy of the author's definitive version I'm working on. And have the next 3 waiting in the wings.
 
ursen said:
Anybody rereading Ender's game in prep for the movie coming out? I have a copy of the author's definitive version I'm working on. And have the next 3 waiting in the wings.
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Hmm. Gonna hafta do that.

...after I finish the Hobbit and Casino Royale.
 
I'm currently reading Rob Bell's What We Talk About When We Talk About God. I'm not sure it's worth my time yet, but I'm willing to tell you what I think after I finish it.
 
Neirai the Forgiven said:
I'm currently reading Rob Bell's What We Talk About When We Talk About God. I'm not sure it's worth my time yet, but I'm willing to tell you what I think after I finish it.
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I've lost a lot of respect for Rob Bell. I need to read more of his work mainly to refute it (as education pastor that's kinda part of my job).
 
Kahiel said:
Phoenix, my bedroom has two wall length book shelves, there is a 6 foot one next to this desk and I still have about 15 boxes in the attic. I really need to stop buying books. Never.
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I've got more books than this, however nowhere near as many as you. :) Maybe on day. Although my collection has been growing on my kindle, as they're usually cheaper and more convenient. Then... you have my collection on Logos... yeah... I've got a lot of books. :)

Kahiel said:
I've lost a lot of respect for Rob Bell. I need to read more of his work mainly to refute it (as education pastor that's kinda part of my job).
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This earlier stuff wasn't all bad.
 
Pheonix28 said:
I've got more books than this, however nowhere near as many as you. :) Maybe on day. Although my collection has been growing on my kindle, as they're usually cheaper and more convenient. Then... you have my collection on Logos... yeah... I've got a lot of books. :)



This earlier stuff wasn't all bad.
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I've heard good things about Velvet Elvis (that was his right?). I have a buddy who also went to seminary and said there was something missing from Bell's earlier books and laid out a convincing argument which was punctuated by Bell's Love Wins and he cut the heart out of orthodox Christian theology. He's a good writer, speaker and I really like his Nooma videos, I just wish he hadn't compromised on his theology.
 
I am of the opinion that Rob Bell is a false teacher who is repainting the errors of the past. He forsakes truth and deceives. Even his earlier stuff had theological issues.
 
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I've read all of Rob Bell's books and appreciated most of them (this last one is rather bland, it should really be entitled What I Mean When I Say What I Say: How to Understand Rob Bell-ese So You Don't Attack Me With Pitchforks and doesn't do much besides tell you where he's coming from.) Love Wins was controversial but not truly heretical but it was also a book with a ton of questions and not a lot of real answers. Some interesting perspectives, though.

What We Talk About When We Talk About God was disappointing because it was about 70% rehash of his movies and only about 30% new content, content that I was mostly already aware of.

I'd say if you're a Christian, you can skip the first two chapters. If you're a postmodernist, you can skip chapter three. The book doesn't start going until chapter four or five, and even then, if you're familiar with Jurgen Moltmann, you can pretty much skip out altogether.

That reminds me, I should read more Moltmann.



Sorry, an edit: The book certainly has this overall feel of "I need to be careful what I say because last time I got in a lot of trouble" -- but that also means it doesn't have a lot of new stuff to say.
 
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Does anyone read any non-fiction that's not political or religious in nature? Fiction and those seem to be a theme here and I'm curious if anyone does regularly read non-fiction.
 
Regularly? No. I do read a little history here and there when my historian friend recommends stuff. Of that category, I most recently read Landscape of History by John Lewis Gaddis. An interesting overview to the art/science and why of historical study.

Occasionally read stuff on programming or textbooks on the sciences.
 
Bowser said:
Does anyone read any non-fiction that's not political or religious in nature? Fiction and those seem to be a theme here and I'm curious if anyone does regularly read non-fiction.
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I cannot say regularly, but I love history. Especially military/war history.
 
Then you might like a book I just found in the library today, Human Game by Simon Read. It is a story of the search for the Gestapo gunmen that commited the murders of the 50 men from The Great Escape. I am just getting started, but it does hold promise of tieing up some loose ends in one of the great stories of WWII.
 
Currently reading The Rise of Christian Europe by Hugh Trevor-Roper. It was super cheap in a local "friends of the library" sale and I'm finally getting around to reading it after buying it a few years ago.

Interesting so far.
 
I don't really read non-fiction to begin with; It hurts my eyes and brain too much for me to keep going through it. Even reading What We Talk About When We Talk About God, which was a pretty easy read, was a challenge.

For whatever reason, I can usually handle fiction a lot better -- often because it's printed on crappier paper that doesn't reflect as much light.
 
Neirai the Forgiven said:
I don't really read non-fiction to begin with; It hurts my eyes and brain too much for me to keep going through it. Even reading What We Talk About When We Talk About God, which was a pretty easy read, was a challenge.

For whatever reason, I can usually handle fiction a lot better -- often because it's printed on crappier paper that doesn't reflect as much light.
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This is the case for me as well, but I believe the reason is how I am reading. When I read fiction the scenes play out in my head like a movie (which is why I get so absorbed) but when I read non-fiction there is often nothing but concepts and ideas which cannot play inside my head in a visual manner.

This is also probably why my wife reads non-fiction as opposed to fiction. She is less visually oriented.
 
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