December Reviews Part 2-Capsule & Religious
About this Episode
This is the second half of my book reviews for books I finished in December. It contains reviews for:
- Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the 116 Days that Changed the World by: Chris Wallace
- Enemy At the Gates by: William Craig
- Necroscope by: Brian Lumley
- Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process by: John McPhee
- Bang For Your Buck by: Stefan Gasic
- The Darkest Winter by: Nick Johns
- C. S. Lewis Essay Collection & Other Short Pieces by: C. S. Lewis
- Book of Mormon Made Harder by: James E. Faulconer
- The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion by: Sterling M. McMurrin
Recent Episodes from We Are Not Saved
Short Book Reviews Volume I
Have More Kids!
My report from Natal Con 2023. Including reflections on Tommy Boy, seatbelts, and the proliferation of polycrises.
The 10 Books I Finished in November
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Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny by: Robert Wright
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Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by: Matthew Desmond
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Scarcity Brain: Fix Your Craving Mindset and Rewire Your Habits to Thrive with Enough by: Michael Easter
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by: Robert Pirsig
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Finite and Infinite Games by: James Carse
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Fever Pitch by: Nick Hornby
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Sun and Steel by: Yukio Mishima
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Coraline by: Neil Gaiman
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The Gods Never Left Us by: Erich von Däniken
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Mere Christianity by: C. S. Lewis
Egregores, Group Minds, and White Magic
Transcript: https://www.wearenotsaved.com/p/egregores-group-minds-and-white-magic
Is there such a thing as a group mind? If so how does it affect the thriving and surviving of groups? What do such group minds look like from a historical perspective? What about a modern perspective?
[Patheos] - The Overemphasis on Love and Tolerance
Transcript: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatchesendofworld/2023/11/the-overemphasis-on-love-and-tolerance/
Love is very important for Christians, but has there been too much emphasis placed on it? And has this emphasis warped it into something else? To put it more simply is perfect Christian love the same as unlimited tolerance? This post argues that it's not, and that in fact if you're looking for the ultimate Christian principle it might be "repentance".
The 10 Books I Finished in October
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The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics by: Richard Hanania
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How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by: Fredrik deBoer
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The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World (Volume 1) by: Iain McGilchrist
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The Alter Ego Effect: Defeat the Enemy, Unlock Your Heroic Self, and Start Kicking Ass by: Todd Herman
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The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by: Jonathan Rosen
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To Hell and Back by: Audie Murphy
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The Ministry for the Future by: Kim Stanley Robinson
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The Mysteries by: Bill Watterson
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A Desert of Vast Eternities (Pilgrim's Path Book 2) by: Vic Davis
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The New Copernicans: Millennials and the Survival of the Church by: David John Seel Jr.
[Patheos] - The Worst Book I've Ever Read
Transcript: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatchesendofworld/2023/10/the-worst-book-ive-ever-read/
John Seel Jr.'s book, The New Copernicans, is the worst book I have ever read. He puts forth a dubious premise. In support of which he provides no data to back it up, nor any anecdotes which illustrate it actually occurring. To the extent there is anything backing it up, it's provided by extensive misrepresentation of other books.
Worthy of Our Sufferings
Transcript: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatchesendofworld/2023/10/worthy-of-our-sufferings/
Dostoevsky wrote, "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings." What does that mean? I think he meant that whatever suffering we’re experiencing it’s suffering God felt we were capable of handling. We need to prove worthy of that trust. This has always been hard to do, and now that we have numerous ways of mitigating suffering, it's not only hard, but confusing.
Can We Eliminate Struggle? - 2023
Transcript: https://www.wearenotsaved.com/p/can-we-eliminate-struggle-2023
Humanity has struggled and suffered for so long that we might be unable to survive without them. We dream of such elimination through technology, but will that dream turn into a nightmare?