Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading? - Page 665

maianhvk · 07-05-2011, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

In The Language of God, physician-geneticist Francis S. Collins, who headed the Human Genome Project after Francis Crick left, puts forth his case that accepting the findings of science and being a Christian are not incompatible. Well worth reading, for both believers and non-believers. Those who don't like the theology will still find themselves fascinated by the science and challenged by the moral issues raised by it.

Now it's on to Decoding the Language of God by geneticist George Cunningham, who, in arguing that being a scientist and a Christian are incompatible, takes Dr. Collins to task for his claims.

And it's down the yellow brick road with Dorothy and her friends as I read the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum for the first time.

1. "Language of God" was not very interesting to me, at least it wasn't when I read it some years ago

The copy I read is paperback, translated. Perhaps because the translator did a poor job? Should do a reread in English I guess, but re-buying the book is costly...

2. And there is another book, "Decoding the book I didn't like very much". Sounds interesting

3. Wait, you never read Oz books?
(Neither did I)

kennyc · 07-05-2011, 11:14 AM

and I'm still

reading (a bit at a time) Evolution of God by Richard Wright...That's the cool thing about having many books on my e-readers ... I can jump back to those I'm slowly working through.

Hamlet53 · 07-05-2011, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I won't get into my personal assessment of the arguments put forward by Collins and Cunningham (the authors of the books I mentioned) in this thread, but if you'd like to discuss them, I'm open to starting a thread on the books in the Politics and Religion forums.

There is a separate forum for discussion of books about politics and religion?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

There is a significant difference in discussing books about religion and in proclaiming religious beliefs.

Yes, I do not see how anyone could discuss a book about religion―it's validity, it's importance―without injecting ones own beliefs on that subject. No more than one could discuss a cookbook without opining on the recipes therein.

WT Sharpe · 07-05-2011, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maianhvk

1. "Language of God" was not very interesting to me, at least it wasn't when I read it some years ago

The copy I read is paperback, translated. Perhaps because the translator did a poor job? Should do a reread in English I guess, but re-buying the book is costly...

2. And there is another book, "Decoding the book I didn't like very much". Sounds interesting

3. Wait, you never read Oz books?
(Neither did I)

Not until now. I bought and read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a prelude to reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (which I'm reading now), and wouldn't you know it? Wicked contains the original Baum story as a bonus!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

There is a separate forum for discussion of books about politics and religion?...

Not only books about religious and political topics, but religious and political topics themselves. It's a separate opt-in section. If you're interested, see the first post in this thread for information on how to join the "Hardened Debaters" group.

maianhvk · 07-05-2011, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

There is a separate forum for discussion of books about politics and religion?

I think he meant the P&R forums, where many nice people are suspended and/or banned.

pilotbob · 07-05-2011, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I think he meant the P&R forums, where many nice people are suspended and/or banned.

It's not about who's "nice"... its about their actions on the forums, and private messages, and visitor messages also.

Frankly, you are out of line.

Can we get back on topic please?

BOb

maianhvk · 07-05-2011, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

It's not about who's "nice"... its about their actions on the forums, and private messages, and visitor messages also.

Frankly, you are out of line.

Can we get back on topic please?

BOb

My apologies. I meant no offense

on topic now: Have any of you read N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance trilogy? What do you think? My TBR list is putting on weight and I want to cut off some titles.

Latinandgreek · 07-05-2011, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Not until now. I bought and read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a prelude to reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (which I'm reading now), and wouldn't you know it? Wicked contains the original Baum story as a bonus!

Not only books about religious and political topics, but religious and political topics themselves. It's a separate opt-in section. If you're interested, see the first post in this thread for information on how to join the "Hardened Debaters" group.

Isn't the Wizard of Oz in the public domain? I was pretty sure that I had downloaded it here.

WT Sharpe · 07-05-2011, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

Isn't the Wizard of Oz in the public domain? I was pretty sure that I had downloaded it here.

Yes it is. I should have got one of the freebies, but I didn't pay much for it.

Ditchleyportrait · 07-05-2011, 03:09 PM

in defense of benham, the fellow calls his book "the god delusion", which is a highly inflammatory pop lit crap of a title.

he's looking to be controversial with that title and by that title is a smug know-nothing. the stephen king of science and philosophy. crap.

WT Sharpe · 07-05-2011, 03:16 PM

It's OK to mention what you are reading, and it's OK to give a brief description that details what the author is trying to convey. What isn't okay is turning this into a P&R thread. If you can't review the book without letting your own biases creep in, then don't mention it here.

Lucid_Dreamer · 07-05-2011, 04:01 PM

I personally preferred Dawkins' books before he went off the deep end with the religious stuff. I found the God Delusion entertaining, and even informative in some places, but the fact is it was written to be inflammatory and that is exactly what we DON'T need these days.

I like to stick to his scientific books, like "The Selfish Gene" and "The Greatest Show on Earth." They are wonderfully written and informative books, and I'd recommend them to anyone who has an interest in Biology (but then, I'm a Biology major so I'm biased towards that kind of thing.)

These days I stick to fiction though. Has anyone here read the Necronomicon? It's a collection of 32 stories by H.P. Lovecraft...amazing book!

orlok · 07-05-2011, 04:43 PM

Funny that the first post on page 666 is so appropriate

Recently finished Life & Laughing by Michael McIntyre, his autobiography. I don't suppose any of our US friends will know this standup comedian, but I would be interested to hear from anyone who has read it. I felt he stretched the truth a lot for laughs, though to be fair to him he admits this in many places in the book.

A fun read.

Namekuseijin · 07-05-2011, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ditchleyportrait

the stephen king of science and philosophy.

oh, come on. Dawkin's not quite that good.

Namekuseijin · 07-05-2011, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucid_Dreamer

Has anyone here read the Necronomicon? It's a collection of 32 stories by H.P. Lovecraft...amazing book!

I'm reading the complete omnibus of Lovecraft people crafted here as a full ebook in the ebooks section.

ah, here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94970

07-05-2011, 03:09 PM	#9970
Ditchleyportrait Fanatic Posts: 504 Karma: 780086 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: ny Device: Kindle DX Graphite	in defense of benham, the fellow calls his book "the god delusion", which is a highly inflammatory pop lit crap of a title. he's looking to be controversial with that title and by that title is a smug know-nothing. the stephen king of science and philosophy. crap. Last edited by Ditchleyportrait; 07-05-2011 at 03:41 PM.

07-05-2011, 04:43 PM	#9973
orlok Close to the Edit! Posts: 9,797 Karma: 267994408 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Amazon Fire 8", Kindle 6"	Funny that the first post on page 666 is so appropriate Recently finished Life & Laughing by Michael McIntyre, his autobiography. I don't suppose any of our US friends will know this standup comedian, but I would be interested to hear from anyone who has read it. I felt he stretched the truth a lot for laughs, though to be fair to him he admits this in many places in the book. A fun read. Last edited by orlok; 07-05-2011 at 04:51 PM.

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07-05-2011, 11:14 AM	#9962
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,901 Karma: 119230421 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	and I'm still reading (a bit at a time) Evolution of God by Richard Wright...That's the cool thing about having many books on my e-readers ... I can jump back to those I'm slowly working through.

07-05-2011, 03:16 PM	#9971
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	It's OK to mention what you are reading, and it's OK to give a brief description that details what the author is trying to convey. What isn't okay is turning this into a P&R thread. If you can't review the book without letting your own biases creep in, then don't mention it here.

07-05-2011, 04:01 PM	#9972
Lucid_Dreamer Andrew Kincaid Posts: 40 Karma: 50000 Join Date: May 2011 Location: Ohio Device: none	I personally preferred Dawkins' books before he went off the deep end with the religious stuff. I found the God Delusion entertaining, and even informative in some places, but the fact is it was written to be inflammatory and that is exactly what we DON'T need these days. I like to stick to his scientific books, like "The Selfish Gene" and "The Greatest Show on Earth." They are wonderfully written and informative books, and I'd recommend them to anyone who has an interest in Biology (but then, I'm a Biology major so I'm biased towards that kind of thing.) These days I stick to fiction though. Has anyone here read the Necronomicon? It's a collection of 32 stories by H.P. Lovecraft...amazing book!

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