July 30, 2020, South Amboy, NJ.
Paperback 1998, 222 pages.
Subtitle: Overcoming the Loss of a Spouse
Authors: Susan J. Zonnebelt-Smeenge and Robert C. De Vries
The book explores how one overcomes grief from the points of view of a psychologist and a pastor, who are both Christians.
Sunday, August 2, 2020
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Mythos by Stephen Fry
August 13, 2019, South Amboy, NJ.
Paperback 2018, 442 pages.
Subtitle: The Greek Myths Retold
This book tries to recast the Greek myths as told by authors like Homer and Hesiod in a way that is more accessible, mostly by using contemporary language, and adding various touches to make the episodes more realistic. I picked up the book at the British Museum during our trip to London in late May.
The bottom line is I finished the book, which is a lot more I can say about my prior attempts. That is high praise from me.
I do wish the author had made it clearer which parts of the story he made up. Since myths get embellished and edited every time it is retold, there are no intrinsic problems with that. However, the reader might want to know if there are substantial variations from Homer's and Hesiod's versions of the stories.
Greek myths are so complex, and there are multiple versions of stories, so there shouldn't be any expectations that the book would be able to provide a definitive account. Indeed, the booked started with Chaos, Erebus and Nyx, the Titans, the second order, and the Olympians. The cast of characters is limited enough that one could trace how each individual came to be (barely). After that the book concentrated on individual characters and their stories. What I didn't get was how limited the scope of the book was, compared with the totality of myths out there, and whether they were selected because of their prominence or their storylines.
Still, the book helped with my understanding of some of the stories, such as how Venus came on the shore of Cyprus (Botticelli), the statue of Eros and Pysche, and the roles Prometheus and Pandora played in the fate of the human race. Perhaps when I see art related to Greek myths in the future I will have more appreciation?
My last entry in this blog was in 2013. Does that mean I have not done any reading for over five years?
Paperback 2018, 442 pages.
Subtitle: The Greek Myths Retold
This book tries to recast the Greek myths as told by authors like Homer and Hesiod in a way that is more accessible, mostly by using contemporary language, and adding various touches to make the episodes more realistic. I picked up the book at the British Museum during our trip to London in late May.
The bottom line is I finished the book, which is a lot more I can say about my prior attempts. That is high praise from me.
I do wish the author had made it clearer which parts of the story he made up. Since myths get embellished and edited every time it is retold, there are no intrinsic problems with that. However, the reader might want to know if there are substantial variations from Homer's and Hesiod's versions of the stories.
Greek myths are so complex, and there are multiple versions of stories, so there shouldn't be any expectations that the book would be able to provide a definitive account. Indeed, the booked started with Chaos, Erebus and Nyx, the Titans, the second order, and the Olympians. The cast of characters is limited enough that one could trace how each individual came to be (barely). After that the book concentrated on individual characters and their stories. What I didn't get was how limited the scope of the book was, compared with the totality of myths out there, and whether they were selected because of their prominence or their storylines.
Still, the book helped with my understanding of some of the stories, such as how Venus came on the shore of Cyprus (Botticelli), the statue of Eros and Pysche, and the roles Prometheus and Pandora played in the fate of the human race. Perhaps when I see art related to Greek myths in the future I will have more appreciation?
Statue of Eros and Psyche, taken during our visit to the Louvre in 2012.
Prometheus and the vulture. Sculpture in Academy of Art Building next to the Brandenburg Square in Berlin. Taken during our visit earlier this year.
Birth of Venus by Botticelli. We visited the Uffizi gallery before, but didn't take any photos of this painting.
My last entry in this blog was in 2013. Does that mean I have not done any reading for over five years?
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Heart of Darkness by Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton
December 17. 2013, South Amboy, NJ.
Hardcover 2013, 299 pages.
Subtitle: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe
This book in the Science Essentials series where scientists prominent in their fields are invited to bring "cutting-edge science" to a general audience. No doubt a great disappointment to those that expected a thriller.
The authors go through the history of cosmology (from second century BC) to the current thinking of dark matter and dark energy. Even for a (former) student of science, the concepts are at times difficult to follow. The gist is the different scientific theories and experiments are consistent with a world where dark matter and dark energy make up the bulk of the universe (what we call "baryonic matter" constitutes only 4 or so percent) in the "Lambda Cold Dark Matter" model. Since I started off knowing that already, the book in some sense did not add much to my understanding of the subject.
While the authors seem to be quite satisfied with the extent of scientific knowledge, I find such level of satisfaction unwarranted. After all, 95% of "stuff" in the cosmos is dark (i.e., unknown) beyond some basic properties (gravity for dark matter, repulsive force for dark energy).
I do wonder if the authors' description of the universe is consistent with Stephen Hawking's description in the book Grand Design.
Hardcover 2013, 299 pages.
Subtitle: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe
This book in the Science Essentials series where scientists prominent in their fields are invited to bring "cutting-edge science" to a general audience. No doubt a great disappointment to those that expected a thriller.
The authors go through the history of cosmology (from second century BC) to the current thinking of dark matter and dark energy. Even for a (former) student of science, the concepts are at times difficult to follow. The gist is the different scientific theories and experiments are consistent with a world where dark matter and dark energy make up the bulk of the universe (what we call "baryonic matter" constitutes only 4 or so percent) in the "Lambda Cold Dark Matter" model. Since I started off knowing that already, the book in some sense did not add much to my understanding of the subject.
While the authors seem to be quite satisfied with the extent of scientific knowledge, I find such level of satisfaction unwarranted. After all, 95% of "stuff" in the cosmos is dark (i.e., unknown) beyond some basic properties (gravity for dark matter, repulsive force for dark energy).
I do wonder if the authors' description of the universe is consistent with Stephen Hawking's description in the book Grand Design.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
How to Be a Hero to Your Kids by Josh McDowell & Dick Day
August 29, 2013, South Amboy, NJ.
Paperback 1991, 234 pages.
Read in preparation to lead a discussion on "how to raise your kids." Authors (most of book was written by McDowell) talk about the 6 As of parenting: acceptance, appreciation, affection, availability, accountability, and Authority.
Paperback 1991, 234 pages.
Read in preparation to lead a discussion on "how to raise your kids." Authors (most of book was written by McDowell) talk about the 6 As of parenting: acceptance, appreciation, affection, availability, accountability, and Authority.
Friday, July 26, 2013
The End of Illness by David B. Agus, MD, with Kristen Loberg.
July 26, 2013, La Bruciata, Montepulciano, Italy.
Paperback 2011, 351 pages.
My physician brother, who hosts a radio show in Hong Kong on
health, was about 70 pages into this book when he gave it to me to read.
The claims made in the beginning of the book were certainly
gripping enough: a revolutionary way to look at illness and a way to maintain
our health until the day we die. To me
the book was just a collection of the author’s ideas on how to be healthy, an
assertion supported by the list of 10 things to do/avoid at the end of the
Q&A portion of the book.
The novel assertion in my judgment is the body is a complex
system, and this leads to the author’s campaign against vitamin D and other
diet supplements. On the other hand, he
is very much into statins, aspirins, and flu vaccines. The arguments against the former group are
somewhat supported by what he references, but there is no equal rigor to the
things he recommends (perhaps with the exception of aspirins.)
While the book doesn’t live up to the hype, it is
nonetheless not a bad book to read, and the advice is generally helpful. However, the author seems to have a typical
physician’s ego when he makes all these claims about how the book is different
from others.
Meanwhile, I am trying to get my MD daughter to read it
and tell me what she thinks.
Friday, June 7, 2013
The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good by Peter Greer with Anna Haggard.
June 7, 2013, South Amboy, NJ.
Advanced reading copy, paperback, 179 pages.
Original hardcover publication date: August 2013.
Peter Greer is president and CEO of HOPE International.
Forward by Brian Fikkert, author of When Helping Hurts.
Advanced reading copy, paperback, 179 pages.
Original hardcover publication date: August 2013.
Peter Greer is president and CEO of HOPE International.
Forward by Brian Fikkert, author of When Helping Hurts.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The Fifth Witness (A Lincoln Lawyer Novel) by Michael Connelly
February 15, 2013, Mannering Park, NSW, Australia
Paperback 2011, 421 pages.
First, the protagonist Mickey Haller is called the Lincoln
Lawyer because he works out from a Lincoln town car. Although for this case he rents an office so
he can be close to the courthouse.
Lisa Trammel, whose has retained Haller in a foreclosure
battle with the bank, is accused of murdering someone in the bank. Haller initial doubts about his clients claim
of innocence eventually dissipated as the case moves forward. Despite the DNA evidence obtained by the
prosecution, Haller wins his case by putting up an alternate theory that the murder
is a gang-related hit. He puts on a
fifth witness who eventually pleads the fifth, thus generating reasonable doubt
that gets Lisa Trammel acquitted. At the
celebration party afterwards, Haller realizes how his client actually used
balloons to get the victim to look up and then murdered him. The client is arrested again after the police
discovers the buried body of her husband in her yard.
I would rate this book average. It hangs together by-and-large, although at
the end the reader is left with: so I spent hours reading this book to get to
this? To me it was a page turner, not
because of the suspense, but because of the desire to get it over with. Some of the twists and turns are quite clever,
but not delivered in such a way that I would consider thrilling.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Caught by Harlan Coben
June 29, 2012, South Amboy, NJ.
Paperback 2011, 438 pages.
I am writing this blog about a week after I finished the book, so the plots are a bit fuzzy, especially since I read most of it inside a plane (Hong Kong to Chicago), in that state of neither being awake nor asleep.
There are several different plot lines that somehow intersect with one another. The main one, probably, is this group at Princeton University students whose prank resulted in the disfiguring of a woman. The one who volunteered to take the blame eventually tried to get even, one result of which was framing Dan Mercer as a pedophile. This resulted in Mercer being killed by Ed Grayson, a victim's father. Turns out the one who committed the crime was Grayson's brother-in-law. And, it turns out, Mercer was indeed guilty of murdering a young girl.
All the twists and resolution are in the final pages of the book. It felt as if the author was trying frantically to tie up all the loose ends and did only a so-so job of it. On top of that, he has a habit of taking the reader through a character's thinking process, resulting in a page of words where a sentence would do. And in most cases the reader probably doesn't care about how the characters think.
Overall, the book is an easy read, and I would rate it average, even though I find the plot a bit convoluted, and the ending unsatisfactory.
Paperback 2011, 438 pages.
I am writing this blog about a week after I finished the book, so the plots are a bit fuzzy, especially since I read most of it inside a plane (Hong Kong to Chicago), in that state of neither being awake nor asleep.
There are several different plot lines that somehow intersect with one another. The main one, probably, is this group at Princeton University students whose prank resulted in the disfiguring of a woman. The one who volunteered to take the blame eventually tried to get even, one result of which was framing Dan Mercer as a pedophile. This resulted in Mercer being killed by Ed Grayson, a victim's father. Turns out the one who committed the crime was Grayson's brother-in-law. And, it turns out, Mercer was indeed guilty of murdering a young girl.
All the twists and resolution are in the final pages of the book. It felt as if the author was trying frantically to tie up all the loose ends and did only a so-so job of it. On top of that, he has a habit of taking the reader through a character's thinking process, resulting in a page of words where a sentence would do. And in most cases the reader probably doesn't care about how the characters think.
Overall, the book is an easy read, and I would rate it average, even though I find the plot a bit convoluted, and the ending unsatisfactory.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Blasphemy by Douglas Preston
June 16, 2012, Hong Kong
Paperback 2007, 526 pages.
After the death of his wife, the brilliant scientist Hazelius goes about inventing a religion by getting the government to build a $40-billion particular collider to replicate the conditions of the big bang. He has it rigged so that a program claiming to be God appears as the energy level is increased to the maximum.
Meanwhile, politicians, tele-evangelists, and native Americans get involved, and the end result is that Hazelius is branded the Anti-Christ, and the collider exploded. Hazelius is burned at the stake by a mob, but the new religion ends up being established.
The author in his "Note on the Paperback Edition" claims he is not trying to put down religion, and I basically agree with him. It is equally obvious to me, however, that he thinks science is the answer.
As a thriller, this is not a bad book. As an argument for why science is better than religion, or an explanation of some of the metaphysical concepts associated with cosmology, the book falls short, at least for me. One big hole I see is how the AI program passes the Turing Test if it is indeed planted by Hazelius? The author meekly tries to explain it away by having Hazelius wonder if the program ends up being more sophisticated than he intended; and by doing so also admits there are elements outside science at work here.
Paperback 2007, 526 pages.
After the death of his wife, the brilliant scientist Hazelius goes about inventing a religion by getting the government to build a $40-billion particular collider to replicate the conditions of the big bang. He has it rigged so that a program claiming to be God appears as the energy level is increased to the maximum.
Meanwhile, politicians, tele-evangelists, and native Americans get involved, and the end result is that Hazelius is branded the Anti-Christ, and the collider exploded. Hazelius is burned at the stake by a mob, but the new religion ends up being established.
The author in his "Note on the Paperback Edition" claims he is not trying to put down religion, and I basically agree with him. It is equally obvious to me, however, that he thinks science is the answer.
As a thriller, this is not a bad book. As an argument for why science is better than religion, or an explanation of some of the metaphysical concepts associated with cosmology, the book falls short, at least for me. One big hole I see is how the AI program passes the Turing Test if it is indeed planted by Hazelius? The author meekly tries to explain it away by having Hazelius wonder if the program ends up being more sophisticated than he intended; and by doing so also admits there are elements outside science at work here.
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel
May 14, 2012, South Amboy
Paperback 2000, 409 pages.
Bought this book in Hong Kong. Author addresses eight principal objections to faith by interviewing various scholars on the issues. Also contains a brief summary of his earlier book The Case for Christ.
Paperback 2000, 409 pages.
Bought this book in Hong Kong. Author addresses eight principal objections to faith by interviewing various scholars on the issues. Also contains a brief summary of his earlier book The Case for Christ.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Sixth Man by David Baldacci
September 29, 2011, South Amboy
Paperback 2011, 416 pages.
This book is about how two agents-turned-Private Investigators got involved in an attempt, by the Head of Homeland Security and a certain defense contractor, to destroy a competitor defense contractor. It involves some (to me) far-fetched technology involving one single Analyst doing his job with all available information given to him. Nonetheless, the plot is quite well thought out, and the action, especially towards the end, quite gripping.
One complaint is the book started a bit slowly, and the attempts at humor were a bit contrived.
Overall a good book.
Paperback 2011, 416 pages.
This book is about how two agents-turned-Private Investigators got involved in an attempt, by the Head of Homeland Security and a certain defense contractor, to destroy a competitor defense contractor. It involves some (to me) far-fetched technology involving one single Analyst doing his job with all available information given to him. Nonetheless, the plot is quite well thought out, and the action, especially towards the end, quite gripping.
One complaint is the book started a bit slowly, and the attempts at humor were a bit contrived.
Overall a good book.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The Confession by John Grisham
September 24, 2011, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
Paperback 2010, 515 pages.
This is a rather straightforward accounting of how an innocent person was executed and how the attempt to save him during the last few days failed. The only suspense, so to speak, is whether Donte Drumm would be executed. Thus this is an undramatic book by the usual Grisham standards.
One wonders whether the author had an anti-death penalty philosophy and thus used the story to illustrate his point. Since I don't need much convincing on this point, I am okay with that. My other observation is the last part of the novel basically was simply a straightforward accounting of what happens to the various characters in the novel. As Grisham tends to have trouble finishing his novels anyway, this is to be expected, and is perhaps a technique he should use more often.
Overall an average, easy-to-read novel.
Paperback 2010, 515 pages.
This is a rather straightforward accounting of how an innocent person was executed and how the attempt to save him during the last few days failed. The only suspense, so to speak, is whether Donte Drumm would be executed. Thus this is an undramatic book by the usual Grisham standards.
One wonders whether the author had an anti-death penalty philosophy and thus used the story to illustrate his point. Since I don't need much convincing on this point, I am okay with that. My other observation is the last part of the novel basically was simply a straightforward accounting of what happens to the various characters in the novel. As Grisham tends to have trouble finishing his novels anyway, this is to be expected, and is perhaps a technique he should use more often.
Overall an average, easy-to-read novel.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
God and Stephen Hawking by John C. Lennox
September 8, 2011, South Amboy, NJ.
Paperback 2010, 96 pages.
An easy-to-read rebuttal of some of Hawking's arguments in the book "Grand Design."
Paperback 2010, 96 pages.
An easy-to-read rebuttal of some of Hawking's arguments in the book "Grand Design."
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
September 7, 2011, South Amboy, NJ
Hardcover 2010, 198 pages
Hardcover 2010, 198 pages
Thursday, August 11, 2011
The Devil’s Punchbowl by Greg Iles
August 11, 2011, South Amboy, NJ
Paperback 2009, 710 pages.
The setting of the story is Natchez, Mississippi. The mayor’s boyhood friend comes to him with disturbing information about dog-fighting activities going on as part of a local casino’s illegal operations; his friend ends up dead. The story is about how the mayor finds other people to help him take down the ruthless people behind such activities. The story ends with a fight on the casino (a riverboat) and one of the villains being eaten up by alligators. Some of the scenes are quite graphic and difficult to get through.
It is a rather good book, but does it have to be so long? It’s not quite “War and Peace”, after all.
Paperback 2009, 710 pages.
The setting of the story is Natchez, Mississippi. The mayor’s boyhood friend comes to him with disturbing information about dog-fighting activities going on as part of a local casino’s illegal operations; his friend ends up dead. The story is about how the mayor finds other people to help him take down the ruthless people behind such activities. The story ends with a fight on the casino (a riverboat) and one of the villains being eaten up by alligators. Some of the scenes are quite graphic and difficult to get through.
It is a rather good book, but does it have to be so long? It’s not quite “War and Peace”, after all.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Machu Picchu 100 Years: Summit of the Empire by Walter H. Wust
July 18, 2011, South Amboy, NJ.
Paperback 2011, 80 pages.
We bought this book at Cusco for Sol 40 (about $15). It was for sale at the Lima airport for Sol 100, so it was a bargain.
Mainly a picture book with four sections: The Discovery, Treasures in the Mountains, A Walk with the Incas, and The Tree of Life.
In a time span of 18 months, the author and other photographers spent quite a bit of time to capture these images. MP is so picture-perfect that we got some very good pictures, having spent only one day there. We are sure we can get pictures of similar quality if we could spend a couple more days there, although we are not quite ready to climb some of the nearby mountains to get some specific shots.
Nice coffee table book.
Paperback 2011, 80 pages.
We bought this book at Cusco for Sol 40 (about $15). It was for sale at the Lima airport for Sol 100, so it was a bargain.
Mainly a picture book with four sections: The Discovery, Treasures in the Mountains, A Walk with the Incas, and The Tree of Life.
In a time span of 18 months, the author and other photographers spent quite a bit of time to capture these images. MP is so picture-perfect that we got some very good pictures, having spent only one day there. We are sure we can get pictures of similar quality if we could spend a couple more days there, although we are not quite ready to climb some of the nearby mountains to get some specific shots.
Nice coffee table book.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Reckless by Andrew Gross
May 15, 2011, Hong Kong
Paperback 2010, 476 pages.
The story is about how a private investigator Ty Hauck and Treasury agent Naomi Blum worked together to uncover what initially was thought as a terrorist plot to bring down the financial system of the world. It turns out the plot was hatched by a group called Gstaad headed by none other than the Treasury Secretary and his former and current colleagues at a particular investment bank company Reynolds Reid. The chase got the agents to travel to various countries and do different types of detective work. While luck was always on the side of our protagonists, the plot is by and large plausible.
One may wonder whether political correctness led to the author’s choice of the ultimate villains, or he thought this would just add yet another twist to the story. I would not be disappointed if he had simply stuck with terrorism, but the plot line he used was okay.
Gross’s credits include working with James Paterson. He is certainly a better writer than Paterson (based on this one book). To the senior author’s credit, he endorses the book.
Paperback 2010, 476 pages.
The story is about how a private investigator Ty Hauck and Treasury agent Naomi Blum worked together to uncover what initially was thought as a terrorist plot to bring down the financial system of the world. It turns out the plot was hatched by a group called Gstaad headed by none other than the Treasury Secretary and his former and current colleagues at a particular investment bank company Reynolds Reid. The chase got the agents to travel to various countries and do different types of detective work. While luck was always on the side of our protagonists, the plot is by and large plausible.
One may wonder whether political correctness led to the author’s choice of the ultimate villains, or he thought this would just add yet another twist to the story. I would not be disappointed if he had simply stuck with terrorism, but the plot line he used was okay.
Gross’s credits include working with James Paterson. He is certainly a better writer than Paterson (based on this one book). To the senior author’s credit, he endorses the book.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd
Paperback 2010, 382 pages
April 16, 2011
South Amboy, NJ
From what I could tell, this is the first novel written by the former FBI agent. It is about the group Rubaco Pentad which extorts money ($5M total) from the FBI by killing and threatening to kill various people if its demands are not met. The FBI calls in a former agent (who works as a mason, hence the title of the book) Steve Vail to help solve the problem. The bad guys keep throwing in mental and physical challenges at Vail which he meets, and in the process kills many (or all, I forget) of them, including the mastermind Victor Radek.
The general technique of escalating challenges works quite well for the writer, but he seems to go to the same well a couple of times too many. The final twist (that the outgoing Deputy DA is involved) is quite unnecessary and not well-developed; the author uses a short narrative to describe what happened. If I were his editor, I would say either cut out that part of the story or make it more central and elaborate on it.
It would have been a much better book if the storyline ends say 2/3 of the way; as it is it drags on a bit. Nonetheless I enjoyed this book, and would gladly read other books by the same author.
April 16, 2011
South Amboy, NJ
From what I could tell, this is the first novel written by the former FBI agent. It is about the group Rubaco Pentad which extorts money ($5M total) from the FBI by killing and threatening to kill various people if its demands are not met. The FBI calls in a former agent (who works as a mason, hence the title of the book) Steve Vail to help solve the problem. The bad guys keep throwing in mental and physical challenges at Vail which he meets, and in the process kills many (or all, I forget) of them, including the mastermind Victor Radek.
The general technique of escalating challenges works quite well for the writer, but he seems to go to the same well a couple of times too many. The final twist (that the outgoing Deputy DA is involved) is quite unnecessary and not well-developed; the author uses a short narrative to describe what happened. If I were his editor, I would say either cut out that part of the story or make it more central and elaborate on it.
It would have been a much better book if the storyline ends say 2/3 of the way; as it is it drags on a bit. Nonetheless I enjoyed this book, and would gladly read other books by the same author.
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Kindle Edition 1996, 512 pages
January 28, 2011, UA839 enroute LAX-SYD
This is the first Amazon Kindle book that I read. I still have to get used to the device.
I saw the Musical Oliver in London, all I remember was the scene that he ran away and I thought the staging was quite clever. Of course I also remember his being exploited by various people. I did forget his background was eventually cleared up and that he was the illegitimate son of a rich person and thus inherited a substantial amount of money
Between the “olde” English, new reading device, and reading a few pages here and there, I can’t quite form an opinion whether this is a great book. I do remember some passages (usually the more graphic ones) are quite compelling.
January 28, 2011, UA839 enroute LAX-SYD
This is the first Amazon Kindle book that I read. I still have to get used to the device.
I saw the Musical Oliver in London, all I remember was the scene that he ran away and I thought the staging was quite clever. Of course I also remember his being exploited by various people. I did forget his background was eventually cleared up and that he was the illegitimate son of a rich person and thus inherited a substantial amount of money
Between the “olde” English, new reading device, and reading a few pages here and there, I can’t quite form an opinion whether this is a great book. I do remember some passages (usually the more graphic ones) are quite compelling.
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