Books

It looks like I'm on pace to finish around 50 books this year. I just finished The Knowledge Machine. It's a book about scientific method and how we have advanced in science to this point. Compared to the history of humankind, modern science methods are relatively young. It was an interesting book, but definitely not a page turner.
While at the library to return it and one other book (Life Maps which I wrote about here), I ordered a book that my friend and fellow blogger Mike posted a few days ago. It sounded like an interesting read so I'm waiting for my local library to get it from one of its neighbors.

I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. The local library should have it in a week or so and I'll pick it up and give it look.

I'm currently finishing up This Life or the Next by Demian Vitanza. It's a novel about a young man's radicalization into the violence of the Muslim holy wars.  I find it interesting because while the Middle Eastern Muslim world has been engaged in violence for millennia, western Christianity has stepped away from it in the past hundred years or so. It is easy to see the scenarios where contemporary and radical American Christians would again (and in some cases are) take up arms and declare their own holy war. I think the only thing that has prevented it in the US is the separation of church and state. If we were to allow the government to be a religious government, we would see the violent divisions within the Christian faith as well as the fighting with those of other beliefs.
It is terrifying to see how easily our minds and core beliefs can be manipulated by the people we are supposed to trust.

Be a skeptic.
Question every thing.
And read.

What are you reading?

John