Books I Read: October

Whelp, I still enjoy reading books and after finishing Penn Jillette's God, No!, these are the other books I read in October.


Decoded
by Jay-Z (2010)

Pro: The book is beautifully produced with cool pictures, interesting fonts, and intriguing layouts.
Con: Jay-Z is not as articulate or insightful as this book's advocates would lead you to believe. One can easily guess his position on most things (for example he dislikes cops and feels rap music is misunderstood). I was surprised by his small dis of Hair Metal though.
Pro: The book's lyrics encouraged me to listen to a bunch of Jay-Z songs, many of which I enjoyed.
Con: The "decoding" of  song lyrics is the most boring part of the book. 9 times out of 10, Jay's insights are pointless as the lyrics are already obvious and self explanatory.
Pro: It's a quick read by a man passionate about his craft, music, and background.
Con: You learn less about his biography than you'd expect and his passion for himself and his own music sadly blinds him to the perspectives of others.

Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland

by Patton Oswalt (2011)

Patton Oswalt is a funny guy, over the years I've enjoyed his work on King of Queens, his starring role in Big Fan, and small glimpses into his stand up. In this book (apparently he's written a few), he's fucking hilarious with stories about his early days on the road, spoofing wine listings, writing greeting cards, and musing on personalities boiled down to either zombie, spaceship, or wasteland. Success.

Secret Societies

by Sylvia Browne (2007)

Sylvia Browne is a hack who claims to talk to spirits and knows all about the secret realms that surround us in the shadows. I picked up this book for some easy laughs and to learn what conspiracy people think about the Illuminati, Free Masons, etc. Sadly Sylvia gives such small and baseless looks into the majority of these groups, a night on Wiki would have been better spend. Also her research is instantly suspect when she admits to supplementing real information with shit her psychic friends have told her. She does have a great chapter about how Jesus didn't die on the crucifix; laughs were achieved. I did not complete this book.

Mere Christianity
by C.S. Lewis (1952)

C.S. Lewis is undoubtedly the most prolific Christian writer of the 20th century. If you spend anytime listening to sermons, Christian talk radio, or reading modern Christian apologist Lewis is quoted and referred to again and again. This continued praise is not surprising, Lewis is smarter and a far greater writer than 90% of the morons who waste paper and ink dreaming of Jesus's magic love for humanity. My own praise of Lewis's work comes from growing up with his writings. In 5th grade I purchased and devoured the Narnia series with great delight (the Christian parallels largely over my head). In middle school, I read his Space and Time Trilogy. Perelandra became my favorite book until I read 1984, and Dr. Ransom became my favorite literary character until I met Winston Smith (this time the Christian themes were dully noted). Finally I read The Screwtape Letters in college, a good book as long as you remember it's 100% fiction (sadly the author and most readers don't see it that way).
But enough background, let's get to the meat and potatoes of Mere Christianity, Lewis's seminal Christian work....................................it sucks. Lewis is a good writer and even though I strongly disagree with most of what he discussed in the book, I still found him surprisingly smart, funny, and down to Earth. He came across as a nice guy I could have a calm exchange with over hot chocolate, whereas most Christan writers I would never want to meet in real life. That being said, Lewis does little to convince the unbelieving of God, Jesus, or the goodness of Christianity. If you are already a Christan, Lewis will probably spellbound you with his ability to weave dogma, doctrine, and real life emotions into a cohesive, yet grand, tapestry to live  by. Within the realm of apologetics, Lewis makes astounding sense with detailed arguments all modern bible beaters should envy (some of his points are even good enough to transcend religion and make sense in a secular worldview). Of course if you don't initially accept God's existence, Jesus's divinity, or the Bible's merit, Lewis's argument and models, though interesting, stand meaningless. Reading this book, I was honestly shocked at the unevenness of Lewis's Christianity, at times smart and built on argued points while other times wholly ignorant built on only small mindlessness. Read his argument for why women should be subordinate to men, amazingly stupid whether you believe in a zombie hippie or not. Any interesting read Mr. Lewis, but I'm not drinking the Kool-aide.

"He should have known better."- Richard Dawkins

Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy

by John Julius Norwich (2011)

Wow, I'm so glad I gave up being Catholic. A horribly brutal, evil, hilarious, and stupid legacy, no man need think the Pope holy, credible, or justified in his smoke and mirror ruling position ever again. I strongly recommend this book to anyone curious of the papacy's long history (over 2,000 fucking years). Under 500 pages, it's amazingly concise and informing, with an author who's vastly informed, witty, and fair. He never wastes your time and wonderfully navigates the reader through Europe's vast history, providing all relevant insight and background. Read it, learn.

The Shack
by William P. Young (2007)

Oh The Shack, probably the most successful Christan book of recent memory, loved by millions of readers and a slightly controversial text in some Christan circles (there are literally books about the pros and cons of the book not to mention hundreds of blog posts, websties, and television/radio discussions). As an atheist, I initially had no interest in the book but after encountering scores of people who sang it's praises and two friends who heartily recommended it, I finally obliged. The book does offer a wonderful premise, God
offering to meet Mac at the cabin were Mac's daughter was mudered the previous year (I think it was a year, don't quote me on that). Off of that premise alone any number of worthy reads may have been penned, but sadly this is not one of them. Young is an adequate writer and in the early chapters he for the most part sets up a compelling narrative. I say for the most part because while I did enjoy those early chapters, a tone of over emotional, low brow explanations was also established. Every meandering thought and emotion rising in Mac, our protagonist, is horribly spelled out; goodbye subtlety, goodbye mystery. Later in the book, this lack of mystery buds out of Mac and infects the entire plot. Mac does meet God at the shack, and he's painfully open and obvious; nothing like the god believers supposedly encounter everyday. Trying to swallow this surprising lack of mystery, the author makes the text so sugary sweet to render me nauseous. The characters spew such constant and unrelenting personal devotions of love to once another, my politically incorrect mind labeled many scenes simply 'really gay'. 256 pages of blistering punishment for your thinking mind, the book never reallies the grandeur of its plot and instead plays out like a shitty Christian cable movie with a lot of bullshit conversatison about love, forgiveness, and above all, opening ourselves to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Given the opportunity to spend a weekend with god, it's endlessly frustrating to have a protagonist who refuses to question eve the simplest religious quandaries (the ones mentioned usually get ignored by poorly formed free will arguments or wagging the finger at Adam and Eve). If all this wasn't bad enough, the story 'jumps the shark' at least a half dozen times. I'll give you one example, Jesus invites Mac to walk on water with him quipping "if Peter can do it, anybody can." Moments like this I literally set down the book and shook my head. So ya, I didn't like this book.
Three additional things that pissed me off.
1. Satan never makes an appearance or is discussed.
2. The conclusion uses a shitty plot devise that to me undermines the main message of the fucking book.
3. Calling god 'papa' is fucking stupid.

Into the Wild

by Jon Krakauer (1996)

This book is an astounding literary accomplishment, Jon Krakauer transforms a tragic newspaper headline into a modern classic. With the crushing natural weight of the real outdoors, Krakauer rebuilds Chris McCandles with every maddening detail he could unearth, demanding we, both author and reader, relive and reexamine the final two years of a young man's erratic quest from every possible vantage point. To say this is the tale of an unprepared youth who perished alone in the wilderness is nothing short of an insult. This is a course on the cruelty and hardships of nature, the changing shackles of age, the brotherhood of humanity, the passions of youth, the complications of lineage, the failings of ideologies, mortality, and the pursuit of one's dreams. Loved it

Them: Adventures with Extremists

by Jon Ronson (2001)
Jon Ronson, a british journalist and jew, has an amazing ability; he can talk and travel with America's conspiracy exteremist without them batting an eye. In this book, Ronson meets Islamic radicals, KKK grand wizards, lizardman David Icke, and Texas radio nutcase Alex Jones. Ronson also travels into the heart of Bohemian Grove and the Bildeberg Group, to unravel their supposed conspiracies. A grand adventure from a sane point of view.

This Is a Book
by Demetri Martin (2011)
Funniest book I've ever read. Better than his stand up, better than his awful TV show, Demetri hit a home run with this one.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
by Seth Grahame-Smith (2010)

In the spirit of Halloween I decided to check out this book with pretty low expectations. It's a gimmick book of course, riding off the trendy vampire craze and offering the intriguing notion that old Abe battled creatures of the night. I read the first two chapters and was pleasantly surprised, the plot was interesting and the novel decently written. Sadly, this change of heart would not last. After reading around half the book it became clear the author simply intended to trace Abe's real bio and add vampire shit on the side. If I wanted to read a biography of Lincoln there are hundreds of books that would do a better job. Tedious and predictable, I abandoned this book and simply read the remaining plot points on Wiki, which only justified my refusal to finish it. Oh well, maybe the upcoming movie will be good.


The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho (1988)

An awesome fable on a young shepard's journey to find his destiny. Really enjoyed this book, but fear people will read too much into the spiritual/religous/new ageism information displayed here. Enjoy the book, don't try to live by it.