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2017

Book Reviews 2017
January 14, 20202017After reading Lesley Hazelton’s “After the Prophet,” I have become immensely interested in Islam. In the west, there is a lack of understanding regarding the actual beliefs of Muslims, whether you are on the right and find all Muslims to be abhorrent or on the left and believe all Muslims to be demonized. The fact of the matter is there is a disconnect between what we think we know and what we actually know, particularly about religious belief. That’s why I appreciate Nabeel Qureshi. This book traces his life as a devout Muslim in his early life. His parents took him, religiously, to the Mosque for service; he prayed five times a day as we was suppose to; he memorized the Koran and lived a pious life. But something was missing; as he went off to college and was exposed to other views, he began questioning the center of his entire life. Through men who came into his life that helped him recognize the validity of the Christian Gospel, he began to see a transformation. Even though he had grown up a certain way believing certain things about Islam, the pull of the Gospel could be no match to the knowledge of his childhood. What is so brilliant about this book is that it not only speaks to the beliefs of Muslims, but it also demonstrates how to respond to Muslims who have the same kinds of questions. While in its most basic sense, this book is a memoir but Qureshi has managed to turn it into an effective tool for apologetics and evangelism as well. This book is fantastic and I think more Christians should read it in order to understand a different perspective. [...]
January 14, 20202017I remember when this book came out: I had just started getting into Harry Potter, and after devouring the first four books, there was a long wait for the fifth. In elementary school, I remember getting the Goblet of Fire and reading it over and over. There was so much there: action, intrigue, mystery, and questions that were answered and some that were left to the imagination. Then this book came along and I remember feeling disappointed. For a couple of reasons: first, it took a much darker tone than the first four books. Harry is obviously going through some trauma relating to the end of the fourth book. His tone with Ron and Hermione becomes irritable and hormonal. It often sounds like he is going through the height of puberty in this book. Second, the narrative is so cringy at points that it makes you want to put it down. For example, Umbridge is a horrible woman. She is the epitome of evil. In fact, I have more sympathy for Voldemort than I do for Umbridge. Third, one of the most beautiful parts about the HP series is Harry’s interaction with Dumbledore. This book severely lacks that element. But on another read through, I’m warming up to this book. It is no longer my least favorite for several more reasons: first, we get answers to a lot of questions. For a long time when I first starting reading HP, I always asked the question, “well, why is Harry so special? Why does Voldemort want to kill him and why did he want to kill him in the first place?” This book, although it comes at the very end, finally provides that critical question. Second, the mystery really is quite brilliant. Rowling is a mystery writer; while I feel that GoF has more of this element, the lingering dream of the door provides the suspense in this book. And finally, I think I just got over the hormonal Harry issue. True, he does act irrationally. You do want to punch him at times. But to understand the trauma he went through and sympathize with him makes it somewhat bearable. [...]
January 14, 20202017The premise of the book is almost unreal. Matthew Desmond weaves a narrative about people who were evicted from their homes and the ensuing poverty in the rust belt city of Milwaukee. I was disappointed when I first started this book because it was just a bunch of stories of different people. There was a landlady and her husband who collected rent from folks; there was a trailer park that saw aspects from both the renter and the tenants; stories that followed particular people around the city among others. I thought “This can’t be real.” But I was wrong. Matthew Desmond explains that he lived in the trailer park and had a tape recorder playing almost all the time. He transcribed hours of recordings that then become this book. An incredible feat. But what is heartbreaking is the sad reality of the content. Many of the people Desmond followed were either on welfare or some other government program targeted at the poorest citizens. In many instances, the patron renting the trailer or apartment spends most of their paycheck on rent alone, leaving sometimes $50-$100 leftover for necessities. One unexpected expense could derail a person for months and most certainly end in eviction. The book is filled with stories like this, often times worse. Having children complicates issues quite a bit. But ultimately, the narrative is about real people experiencing issues that, for the majority of readers, are non-existent. What this book provided for me was a look into a dark corner of how many, many Americans live. Scraping by each month to just survive is difficult; picking up and moving your entire life because you’ve been kicked out of your home is even more dire. This isn’t without controversy however. While I sympathize and agree that we probably need to do more (more on this later), the poor are poor for a reason. I thought it was interesting that throughout the book you get a glimpse of what kind of purchases people who were living paycheck to paycheck made. Cigarettes, drugs, beer among other conveniences are prominent. It makes me wonder if their plight is somewhat self-induced. Which complicates simply throwing money at the situation. On both sides we can be concerned about this epidemic but not want to be unwise in how to target the core issue. I think Matthew Desmond has a really interesting solution to such a problem. The last chapter of the book looks at some of the ways we can address this large issue. His main theme is that creating a stable home helps families, period. Obviously this has so much merit to it, I believe. Home owning, as the founding fathers understood, creates a sense of duty and responsibility. Even more still, having a place to call home is one of the ways America has reached a level of prominence. Desmond suggests the government creates a program that caps low income families from paying only 30% of the monthly income towards rent. This is an interesting idea from Desmond who has spent years studying this issue. We will have to continue to watch this issue and be concerned for the poor and destitute. This book is a great start for that objective. [...]

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

C. S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity”: A Biography

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2017)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2017)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2017)

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It

Bop Apocalypse: Jazz, Race, the Beats, and Drugs

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse #1)

Star Trek the Next Generation: Headlong Flight 

After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam (2017)

Silence

Star Trek: Prey: Hell’s Heart 

Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1)

Jonathan Edwards

Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force Book #1)

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2017)

SpecOps (Expeditionary Force Book #2)

A Confederacy of Dunces (2017)

Waking Gods (Themis Files #2)

Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian

Star Wars: Thrawn: Thrawn

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy: Dark Forces Rising

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy: The Last Command

Jezebel: The Untold Story Of The Bible’s Harlot Queen

Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto

The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad

Star Wars: Aftermath

Star Trek: Prey: The Jackal’s Trick

12 Way Your Phone Is Changing You

Star Trek: Hearts and Minds

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East

Steve Jobs

Wine. All the Time.: The Casual Guide to Confident Drinking

Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Outliers: The Story of Success

iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood–and What That Means for the Rest of Us

Leonardo and the Last Supper

Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling

Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made

The Maltese Falcon

The Interdependency: The Collapsing Empire

The Fold

Paradox Bound

Escape from Reason: A Penetrating Analysis of Trends in Modern Thought

14

Leonardo Da Vinci

An Exorcist Tells His Story

The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Artemis

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