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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0586053662
| 3.75
| 1,949
| 1983
| Jan 01, 1985
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None
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 29, 2025
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not set
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Dec 29, 2025
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Paperback
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| B013PQLWL6
| 3.29
| 281
| Apr 18, 1990
| unknown
|
really liked it
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The Doctor is Very Small 29 December 2025 Well, it has been a while since I have read a Doctor Who book, so I guess it was time to move onto the next o The Doctor is Very Small 29 December 2025 Well, it has been a while since I have read a Doctor Who book, so I guess it was time to move onto the next one, what happened to be this one. Actually, it was the first series of season 2, and it sounds like they landed on an alien planet, but it quickly turns out that they haven’t. Basically, the Tardis malfunctions (as it has a habit of doing, especially in these early episodes) and they land up in what appears to be a canyon, and there are a lot of dead giant insects around. Anyway, after a bit of exploring they discover that they are actually on Earth and that they are only an inch or so high, and the canyon that they are wandering through is actually paving for a garden path. However, there is still the issue of all the dead insects around. As is expected in a Doctor Who story, there is something else going on, and it happens to involve a business wanted to make sure that all of the money that they have invested into a product hasn’t gone to waste, and they want to release the product whether it works or not. In this case it happens to be an insecticide. The thing is back then it seemed like the world was a different place, and we didn’t have to worry about business people forcing stuff on us that we don’t want. However, this seems to have changed a lot, especially with things like AI, and like autonomous vehicles. In fact so much money is being funnelled into these things that companies are wanting to make sure that they get a return for their investment. Yes, a lot has changed since the days where the local police officer could go and arrest the dodgy business man who is willing to kill to make sure his product gets to market. It seems these days its the dodgy businessmen who are calling the shots, and we are being dumped with stuff that we don’t want. Well, only to an extent – we are so lazy that we will literally burn the world to the ground just so that we can get AI to tell us what to wear today, and whether a pair of sunglasses looks good on us. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 25, 2025
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Dec 29, 2025
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Dec 25, 2025
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Unknown Binding
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1665023678
| 9781665023672
| 1665023678
| 3.43
| 5,951
| Nov 10, 2020
| Feb 09, 2021
|
really liked it
|
Last Thursday Night was when I First Saw the Werewolf Pissing on my Grandmother’s Grave 28 December 2025 And this isn’t the opening line to this book b Last Thursday Night was when I First Saw the Werewolf Pissing on my Grandmother’s Grave 28 December 2025 And this isn’t the opening line to this book but one of the books that happen to be in the basement of the Blackwell Building that had been tossed there because Blackwell is very particular about the books that he publishes. So, this is about a young editor named Lussi and she had just been made redundant (does such a term exist in the United States because they just use the word fired when you no longer have a job through no fault of your own) and the last opportunity she has is at Blackwell, a rather eccentric company that everybody avoids like the plague. Actually, she didn’t get the job but because the owner died during the interview the son agreed to give her the job on the condition that she finds the next Stephen King by New Years Eve – the catch is that it is only a couple of weeks before Christmas. So, this is a horror comedy and I picked this book up in a Secret Santa at the horror book club I irregularly attend (which is kinda odd because I really don’t like horror, but then again my English teacher did encourage us to read books that we would not normally read, though I really don’t think he had horror in mind, especially since he really hated Stephen King, no doubt because he got sick of all of his student submitting essays and assignments based on Stephen King novels. He also hated Megadeth but as far as I am aware I’m probably the only person who submitted an assignment about Megadeth). I actually really liked this book, at least at the start because it was really tongue in cheek. However, like a lot of books it does tend to start to drag at the end, but then again it isn’t actually a long book. It starts off at the end of World War II when a soldier finds a box and opens it, but we are never told what is in it. Actually, there are a number of things about this book that seem a little odd but it ends up making sense at the end, and what is happening. However, it does appear that the company is, well, rather strange. The employees have odd names. Well, they have normal names but because Lussi is bad at names she just gives them nick names, such as the chief editor, and the women who all have their hair tied in a side pony tail. Mind you, the fact that she got employed by the son after the father died does raise some suspicions, which would probably be normal in any company, especially a small company. Oh, and there is a mysterious janitor that everybody speaks about, and the fact that this part of New York is, or was, rather notorious, but then again it is set in the 80s before large parts of the city was cleaned up, and before the whole place became gentrified (though it does make me wonder how long it would take for somebody to get from Staten Island to the city for work – it does sound like a long time, especially since you do have to take the ferry – yeah, she lives on Staten Island). Oh, and there is also the author, Fabian, who seems to follow her around, so at least she has somebody that kinda trusts her. Yeah, it is pretty good, and it is definitely a good book to read around Christmas time, especially if you aren’t all that keen on Hallmark Movies. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 18, 2025
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Dec 25, 2025
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Dec 18, 2025
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Audio CD
| ||||||||||||||
| 0340979976
| 9780340979976
| 0340979976
| 4.43
| 45,963
| 2008
| Nov 13, 2008
|
really liked it
|
Keller Flips the Tables 20 December 2025 Okay, this isn’t one of Keller’s more famous works, but the title had always caught me because it sounded as Keller Flips the Tables 20 December 2025 Okay, this isn’t one of Keller’s more famous works, but the title had always caught me because it sounded as if it was God who ran away from us and then returned. Then again, I guess the reason for the title was to flip the tables on the original story, so by flipping the title it does work to get people’s attention (it got mine). Look, there are lots and lots of writing on the story of the Prodigal Son, and you could say that it is one of the most important parables in the new testament (though some would argue that the parable of the sower is that one). I have heard so many times of how the father repeatedly acts in an undignified manner (and honestly that in itself should teach us a lot of things about maintaining standing amongst out peers). However, I would definitely agree with Keller that the title we give the parable is, well, wrong. Yeah, it isn’t as if Jesus says “now I’m going to tell you the parable of the Prodigal Son”. No, it’s not a title he gave it, nor is it a title the writers of the New Testament gave it, rather it is a title that was given to it sometime down the track, and it is a bit misleading. Sure, the story in part is about a son who takes a heap of money from his dad, blows it on wild living in the big city, and then once reduced to poverty, returns to his father to seek forgiveness, and his father welcomes him with open arms. To us it’s not shocking, but there are so many aspects of this parable that world have been shocking at the time (such as the father actually giving his inheritance to the son). Keller’s point though is not this, namely because that is the story we are all familiar with. No, the focus is on the older brother, and that the older brother doesn’t respond in the parable points out that the listeners are the ones who are meant to relate to the older son. So, what he is pointing out is that many in the church are what Keller terms as older sons, namely that they have been to church since they were a kid, or they never really did anything wrong but become Christian later in life, and faithfully fulfilled their role, while there are people like me that have stormed out of the church multiple times, and returned knowing that the world has little to offer. The catch is that there is this attitude that I should be more grateful to god, and to them, for being welcomed back when I didn’t deserve it. Actually, come to think of it, there is a lot of attitude around the church as to how people should behave in a respectful and dignified manner, and they would have been appalled at the behaviour of the father back in the time the parable was told. Sure, the church will welcome people in, but there is eventually an expectation that you will start of conform with the people of the church that you are going to – like not voting for the social democrats (because abortion) or voting for the Christian party because, well, you never actually made any effort to find out what they stand for, but because they had a Christian sounding name, and self-professed Christian candidates, then they must be Christian. I suspect that Keller is writing this book to those of us who have never really strayed from the faith (and at the time the Pharisees were impeccable, yet Jesus repeatedly tore them to shreds), and those of us who believe God owes us because he kept up our end of the bargain, so then he needs to keep up his end. It also comes down to adding rules and expectations upon the people that enter the church, and treating church leaders as untouchable (including lay leaders). In a way, the church has come full circle (and it had done quite a long time ago). Back in the day, it stood out, particularly with its lack of temples and priests. It stood apart from the culture at the time, but since it has become the cultural hegemon, and dictates culture, and not in a good way either. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 12, 2025
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Dec 17, 2025
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Dec 12, 2025
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 4.44
| 489,662
| Mar 19, 2024
| Feb 27, 2025
|
it was amazing
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The Darker Side of Huck Finn 15 December 2025 You could say that this is a reinterpretation of Huckleberry Finn, but what it actually is is a retelling The Darker Side of Huck Finn 15 December 2025 You could say that this is a reinterpretation of Huckleberry Finn, but what it actually is is a retelling of the story from the point of view of Jim, or as he calls himself in the book, James. Well, that is the title, though he takes the name near to the end of the book as a sign of him gaining his independence. Not so much freedom from slavery, but rather freedom from domination under the white population. Actually, this book gives us a completely different perspective of the situation that he was in, and also gives us a completely different perspective of slavery in America. Sure, there is a lot of discussion as to how slavery was bad, but this puts it in a completely different perspective. For instance, the whites in the book, with the exception of Huck, are actually pretty brutal and evil people, and there are some very interesting ideas that come out of it. Like, the idea that slavery was such an evil that even if you didn’t own slaves, or considered African-Americans to be equals, but you didn’t fight against it, you could be implicated. I do get the impression that Percival Everett is an atheist, or he made James an atheist, and the main reason is because is heaven is full of his enslavers, and if they are saved despite the evil perpetrated on the black population, then he does not want to go to that heaven. It is similar to my thinking in that I really don’t want to go to a heaven that is full of Christians because a lot of the Christians that I know are absolute brutes (though I will have more to say about that in my next review). Another interesting thing is how a number of the characters are seen in a different light. The King and the Duke, in Huckleberry Finn, are seen are buffoons, but in this book they are portrayed much differently. They actually come across as a lot worse, like those toxic people that you simply cannot get rid of, and make sure that they are always present (and I have known numerous people like that). Oh, and Judge Thatcher, who is seem as a decent person in Huckleberry Finn, but in this book is portrayed as a white man whose job is to keep the African-American population in their place. There are also numerous other shocking scenes in the book that completely change the nature of the white America during this period. This book is certainly going to be divisive, but it is one of those books that really changed my perspective on what it was like to be a member of the slave class during the pre-civil war era. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 09, 2025
|
Dec 13, 2025
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Dec 09, 2025
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0384388167
| 9780384388161
| 0384388167
| 3.57
| 69
| 100
| Feb 01, 1926
|
really liked it
|
Play With Numbers in Ancient Rome 11 December 2025 One of the things that the writer opened this book with is a list of things that maths can be used Play With Numbers in Ancient Rome 11 December 2025 One of the things that the writer opened this book with is a list of things that maths can be used for, and that list is extensive, from building, to music, to waging war. In fact, for what seems to be a boring subject involving the manipulation of numbers, the use of this skill is extensive. Ironically, people seem to think that accounting and law is where money is made, as well as computer science, but it turns out that it is actually maths. Well paid jobs on Wall Street await those who are good at maths. Okay, this tract seems to involve the relationship of numbers, particularly with what he calls prime and secondary numbers (a prime number is a number that can only be divided by one and itself), and he also explores factors (that is the prime numbers that make up secondary, or composite numbers – and those are ones that can be divided by other numbers and returns a number that is not a fraction). So, this dude apparently came from Palestine, though the dates that the introduction gives date after the fall of Jerusalem, so it is more likely that he is a Greek as opposed to a Jew. I was going to say that the Jews only wrote theological stuff, but I suspect that Jewish literature extends somewhat beyond the Old Testament. Then again, the number of mathematical/scientific texts even from the Greeks seems to be limited – I suspect that a lot of the stuff was passed on by word of mouth and there wasn’t much in the way of text books. Then again this is the Ancient World, so yeah, schools didn’t exist the same way that they exist in our world (which honestly is just an extension of the factory). It is a rather interesting book, and does give an idea of how the ancients views numbers, as well as their understanding. Then again the Greeks were pretty sharp mathematicians, though a lot of that stuff actually came out of Alexandria. This book, though, seems to have a lot more to do with how numbers relate to each other, the patterns that we will see, and how they can be divided and arrange. Rather interesting to be honest. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 06, 2025
|
Dec 10, 2025
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Dec 06, 2025
|
Textbook Binding
| ||||||||||||||
| 3.85
| 237,945
| 1979
| Sep 02, 2011
|
did not like it
|
Deranged Swill – Washington Post 1981 19 November 2025 So, there are books that I keep because I believe I might have a use, or might want to read, th Deranged Swill – Washington Post 1981 19 November 2025 So, there are books that I keep because I believe I might have a use, or might want to read, them in the future, and there are books that I keep because they are so bad, or misleading, that I do not want to subject anybody else to them (and I don’t believe in book burning) – this is the second type of book. Honestly, I probably should just bury it in a box somewhere in the shed and forget about it. Mind you, this was a pretty popular book back in the day, but it was no doubt because it was marketed at the young adult community, and so controversial that people would try and ban in, and because they would try and ban it, all the young kids would want to get their hands on it to find out what it was about. Spoiler alert, not that I particularly care about spoilers with this load of garbage and anybody that gets upset about it can be thankful that I saved them from having to waste their time reading it. Basically, it contains incest. In fact, as somebody at the book club where this book was recommended said, if it is a Virginia Andrew’s book, you can be assured that it contains incest. Yeah, as I mentioned, the whole point was writing a book that was shocking, and she probably did it so as to cause controversy so that people would read it. This is why I get annoyed at some of these screachers that carry on, because what they are doing is that they are promoting a poorly written book, with shallow and cardboard characters, and an unrealistic plot, to a bunch of rebellious teenagers. Like, if they had just kept quiet maybe Andrews would have not written a series of progressively worse books (like in the sequel, which I read a synopsis of on Wikipedia, the main character, who had decided to move on with her life at the end of this book, decides not to, marries a guy who beats her up and breaks her feet, wants revenge against her mother, sleeps with and I believe has a child by, her step-father, and finally runs off to live with her brother as a married couple, all the while burning the house down with her mother in it – basically torture porn). Okay, I’ll be honest and say that I’m not entirely sure if it is possible to keep some kids locked up in an attic for four years, and, at least consulting with the plagiarism machine (ChatGPT) it suggests that it isn’t possible as there would be a lot of things tipping people off, especially the servants. Like the food being taken there, the fact that the kids would make a lot of noise, and that a disgruntled employee no doubt would go to the police. Okay, even if the police are on the payroll, with a teenage boy up there I doubt the Grandmother could possibly keep him locked up, since he would easily overpower her and escape. Oh, and I doubt that they would be trusting their mother for that long, with the hopes that they might get money. Also, the incest scene, and her statement that she didn’t fight back because she wanted it is probably why rape doesn’t actually get reported as much as it should. So, the book is poorly written with huge plotholes, cardboard characters, and scenes that are designed to create controversy (and as I mentioned, from a quick glance on Wikipedia, the sequel is even worse). Sure, it sold a lot of books, but that probably had more to do with marketing, and the fact that people objected to the book so much that people wanted to read it to find out what happened. Yeah, it’s terrible and I wouldn’t be recommending that anybody read it. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 08, 2025
|
Nov 18, 2025
|
Nov 08, 2025
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0586008241
| 9780586008249
| B000N7M9TU
| 3.85
| 21,956
| 1952
| 1978
|
it was amazing
|
None
|
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Nov 08, 2025
|
not set
|
Nov 08, 2025
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0646065432
| 9780646065434
| 0646065432
| 3.64
| 1,223
| 1991
| 2000
|
really liked it
|
Not Quite Augustine 10 November 2025 Well, the two things I get from this book is “don’t do drugs” and “don’t do crime”. Actually, it is a bit more of Not Quite Augustine 10 November 2025 Well, the two things I get from this book is “don’t do drugs” and “don’t do crime”. Actually, it is a bit more of a tell all from a self-confessed standover man, namely some guy who beat up drug dealers and the like and stole their money. Mind you, why not? Who are they going to complain to? The police? Well to be honest a lot of the bigger crims probably have the police in their pocket, but the thing is that a lot of them simply don’t like getting the fuzz involved. Mind you, one thing that he continues to emphasize is that gaol is really, really boring. Honestly, I get it. You are basically confined to a small area and pretty much have little to nothing to do all day. Well, not true because when you are in gaol you are put to work, and sure, there are people that claim making prisoners work is tantamount to slave labour, but when you consider the cost of keeping people in gaol, and the cost of the damage they have done to society, it kinda adds up (mind you that is an entirely different rabbit hole to go down). I get the impression that Chopper really doesn’t like drugs. Personally I don’t blame him. At least a single beer doesn’t knock you out cold. That isn’t the case with drugs, and the thing is that when you take drugs, it isn’t as if you are happy with a simple, small buzz, but rather the attitude is to basically become as disconnected from reality as possible. Well, okay, some people also do that with alcohol, and there is a lot of defence from certain quarters regarding drug use (and I certainly wouldn’t be locking users or low level dealers up), but the reality is that drugs knock you around just as much as alcohol, and if people claim that drug addicts aren’t as violent as piss-heads, they haven’t seen someone off their nut on speed whose grip on reality is close to falling apart (or a junkie who hasn’t had a hit for two days, and will literally do anything, include killing a rando on the street, for some). So, Chopper does tell a few stories, especially about life inside, in particular the overcoat war, where his gang was at war with the Painters & Dockers, and the tactics that he would use to get at them (such as slipping razor blades into the soap, so that they would end up cutting themselves, and apparently it got to a point where none of them were willing to ever take a shower). However, he does point out that gaol is actually really, really boring, which I can understand, since most of the time you spend in your cell, and you pretty much have little to do in your cell, unless you are lucky enough to have a television (and maybe a computer, but as of yet it looks like they won’t let you, and they definitely won’t let you have internet access). The last section of the book, Chopper goes through a number of what you could call celebrity criminals, including the Hoddle Street murderer (who went on a killing spree outside Clifton Hill Railway Station) and the Russell Street bombers (who detonated a bomb inside Russell Street Police Station). Oh, and also the Walsh Street murderers, some crims who called the cops to a house at Walsh Street and then ambushed them. Yeah, there does seem to be this attitude of there being a war between the police and the criminal underworld, but the problem is that when you have cops that are crooked, or the cops are actually zealously imposing a facist state (like the SS, or ICE) one starts to wonder where the line is drawn. Mind you, the criminal underworld is an incredibly violent place to be, and multiple factions are constantly warring against themselves. However, it is interesting to note that there are an awful lot of legitimate businesses that are being used by these organisations as well (and there has always been ‘massage parlours’, though they are much more visible these days). Yet, Chopper had some opinions on these people, to the point where we would intimidate them by doing things like walking into their clubs with a stick of dynamite in his mouth. In fact it also makes me wonder how many of those restaurants on Lygon Street are actually a front for the mafia, though I suspect things have changed a lot in the forty-five odd years since the events in the book. Still, it’s a pretty good read, and it is a shame that the politicians do their best to try and restrict criminal’s abilities to become quiet members of society after their release from gaol. In fact, it almost seems as if the ultimate goal is to get as many people into gaol as possible, and keep them there – a much cheaper workforce than outside. I also kinda wonder what it would have been like if Chopper had rose to fame during the internet era, whether he would have been more like Spanian, though I suspect he would have been much more of a joker. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 31, 2025
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Nov 08, 2025
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Oct 31, 2025
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 149647497X
| 4.39
| 1,990
| Jan 2024
| Jan 30, 2024
|
did not like it
|
Typical Ignorant Blathering 31 October 2025 I picked this book up from the church bookshop because, well, I suspected that it wasn’t actually going to Typical Ignorant Blathering 31 October 2025 I picked this book up from the church bookshop because, well, I suspected that it wasn’t actually going to be helpful, and basically would just be a typical book that ends up attacking people questioning their faith, or seeking to actually follow Jesus’ commands to love your neighbour. Actually, the title grabbed my attention because I had just finished reading Exvangelicals and as such it came across as a response to that book (which it sort of is) but the thing is that whenever I see such books, they end up demonstrating how tone deaf Christians are to people who raise issues about the behaviour of so-called Christians. Well, everything I assumed about this book turned out to be true, and it basically says absolutely nothing that hasn’t been said back in the 90s, 80s, 70s, or even the 60s. The basic line is that people who deconstruct are Christians who just do not want to follow God’s commands, and begin to look for ways to excuse themselves from doing so. Ironically, these people tend to be the ones who are critical of the faith, and while the authors say that they are only focusing on people who leave the faith, I got the impression that anybody that didn’t follow their conservative brand of Christianity has left the faith. Also, what about the Christians who state that love thy neighbour is kinda woke, and that version of Christianity isn’t the version that they follow. So, Alisa Childers used to be the member of a Christian pop group called ZOEgirl (you could say the Christian version of the Spice Girls, though I’ve never listened to them, or heard of them until I started digging up info on who she is, though it sounds like they were really popular amoung young Millennials), and she has since become a Christian apologist. Of course, whenever I hear the word apologist/apologetics it immediately comes across as attempting to treat Christianity like some product a salesperson is trying to flog off than actually addressing, and acknowledging, the issues within the church. So, in my research, I discovered that Preston Sprinkle spent two hours responding to one of her videos and Preston Sprinkle is somebody I respect because not only will he speak to anybody, he actually tries to understand them, and never puts them down or disparages them. Also, he doesn’t just target 18 yo Uni Students, or create gotcha moments; he actually really has a discussion where he tries to understand where the person is coming from without trying to convert them. Anyway, while there are some good aspects of the book, the what to do section simply comes across as being able to answer questions, and that is it. Also, while she does acknowledge there are issues, the response to these issues is simply ‘but Jesus is not like that, and there was this one guy …’ and that is it. Oh, and the attempts to reframe definitions, such as reading the Bible literally as being a literal historical reading of the Bible (and in reality nobody reads the Bible literally, they just take what they like and discard the rest), and taking a pro-life stance which clearly is one where she cares more about the baby in the womb than outside it (if pro-lifers were truly pro-life they would spend as much time dealing with the second amendment as they did overturning Roe vs Wade – in fact some speakers, while celebrating it, have turned around to say that much, much more needs to be done, such as restricting gun ownership and making sure children receive a good eduction, and health care). Oh, and the small government argument completely ignores the fact that nature abhours a vacuum, and if you get rid of the government something else moves in to take its place, and you never, ever, hear any criticism on the oversized amount of power that coporations have, or that they have a huge amount of influence in the corridors of power. My conclusion is that this book is, as pointed out, written to Christians whose loved ones have ‘deconstructed’ and to just let them know that all they want to do is live sinful and immoral lives (while church-going Christians live self-centred and greedy lives). Mind you, while I haven’t read Deridda, I suspect that they are taking what he said out of context, and to be honest, many of us spend a lot of our time actually deconstructing the Bible to actually understand what is being said – sadly, way too many Bible Teachers clearly do not know, or don’t care about, the historical context in which the Bible was written, and simply take what was said then and force it into a culture that is vastly different to the culture in which it was written. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 24, 2025
|
Oct 31, 2025
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Oct 24, 2025
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
|
| B0007I2RF6
| 4.00
| 2
| unknown
| Jan 01, 1969
|
it was amazing
|
MAGA of the Ancient World 26 September 2025 The thing that stood out the most with this tract was that I could literally imagine that the exact same co MAGA of the Ancient World 26 September 2025 The thing that stood out the most with this tract was that I could literally imagine that the exact same complaints would come for one of the MAGA adherents. Like, there are complaints about immigrants, complaints that poor people are taking rich people’s jobs, complaints that prices are too high, and most of all a desire to return to the great days of the Egyptian empire. Okay, this was probably written near the end of the Middle Kingdom, and I do wonder how, for a period that lasted hundreds of years, somebody would know that the past was better, except that they were probably being fed stories about how the past was better. Basically, this is a, well, complaint that is being made by a sage to Pharaoh (though the translation simply calls him a king), and all we seem to be getting is basically complaints. In fact, that is almost what we seem to get from people in our world, so it seems that, even in an authoritarian monarchy, people still seemed to be free to complain, though I suspect the person making the complaint was of high standing, though it seems that their high standing was meaningless at the time. In fact, in part, it sounds like somebody who has a degree in something is being overlooked in favour of somebody who doesn’t have one. The entitlement is big in this one. Another interesting thing that stood out is the reference to the shepherds in the delta region. When I read this I immediately thought of Joseph, and maybe this was written during the time of the seven years of famine. Look, it could, or it might not since we don’t actually have much. Sure, there are people that claim that we have huge numbers of records, but honestly, I reckon there is a lot that we don’t know, and a lot that has been lost. Anyway, the reference to the shepherds in the Delta says a lot, namely because we know from Genesis that the Hebrews were shepherds, and that the Egyptians didn’t like Shepherds (which is a pretty good indication that the Pharaoh at the time wasn’t a Hysok). Yet, it also sounds as if we are at a period where the oppression hasn’t started, but isn’t too far off, because they are foreigners, and it is clear that the complainant hates foreigners, because this is one of the reasons that Egypt is decaying. Yeah, so this treatise is really interesting because it gives us a window into the world of Ancient Egypt, at a time where the Middle Kingdom was nearing its end, and all the complaints we hear from the right have been made in centuries past. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Sep 26, 2025
not set
|
Sep 26, 2025
not set
|
Oct 01, 2025
|
Unknown Binding
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0425061868
| 9780425061862
| 0425061868
| 3.63
| 4,560
| Jan 01, 1982
| Oct 01, 1983
|
really liked it
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A World Wakes Up (25 October 2025) So, this is said to be a story about a planet, one that orbits two stars, a small one and a huge one. The thing wit A World Wakes Up (25 October 2025) So, this is said to be a story about a planet, one that orbits two stars, a small one and a huge one. The thing with the huge one is that it takes something like fifteen hundred years to orbit it, so the length of a season is something like centuries. However, while this book is set in the spring, the length of time really isn’t all that huge. Okay, there are two sections, the first one about a boy name Yuli who watches his father get captured by some humanoid creatures called Phagors, and then flees into an underground city, becomes disillusioned, and flees with some people, and then ends up capturing a city and setting up a dynasty. The second part involves the descendants of Yuli, though it is a bit tricky because one of them is his descendant, the other, Aoz Roon, who becomes the leader, is actually from the original stock. However, they still feel something like part characters in the warming climate of the planet of Halliconia. Well, sort of because over the eighteen years (Helliconian of course, though I think it is a little tricker than simply saying that a Helliconian year is 1.4 years longer than Earth years because you need to take into account the length of the days as well, though come to think of it, since a year is the time it takes to orbit the star, it does make sense) an army of Phagors march on the city to destroy it, and this has a lot to do with the fact that the grandfather of the Phagor leading the army was killed by an inhabitant of the city. Sure, we do watch the stories that occur in the city, and the power struggles, and what is interesting is that there is an orbital base, inhabited by Earthlings, who are watching the events unfold as well. In fact their ability to watch the events goes to the point where they can follow individual people (though I do kind of wonder how they would be able to see inside a cave, though it could be that they don’t know what happened with Yuli). Another interesting thing is that we don’t have much history, but then that also has something to do with us following the people of this town. Sure, we can kind of piece things together based upon what we are told, like how the priesthood become the rulers of the underground empire, and a few hints of the rise and fall of the other empires, but much like the characters, and in fact quite possibly like the people on Earth watching it, and like we do now, we can only piece history together based on the jigsaw puzzle before us. So, the Earth Orbit Station is beaming the information back to Earth (though one would think that surely over the thousand years between sending the information, and them receiving it, there would have been some breakthrough to speed things up – in fact, one would think that the time it took to get there would have resulted in some breakthrough, but I guess that is beyond the scope of the story) and it makes me wonder if we, the reader, are meant to be the people on Earth who are receiving this information. In fact, there is a discussion about how the events have already unfolded, but the people on Earth are glued to the story, much like we are, to see what happened. It is an interesting exploration of the development of a society on another world, a world that has a climate similar to ours, but also, somewhat different. Mind you, I am kinda wondering how bad the summers get because it seems like the winters are pretty brutal, but I guess I’ll have to wait for the second book in the series to find out (which is currently sitting on my to read list, but a part of me wants to read some other stuff first, such as a book that victim blames people who grow disillusioned from the church and walk away). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 26, 2025
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Oct 24, 2025
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Sep 26, 2025
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Paperback
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| 0099286874
| 9780099286875
| 0099286874
| 3.98
| 51,678
| Apr 1925
| Dec 01, 2009
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really liked it
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The Wages of Sin 26 September 2025 Well, at first I really didn’t like Kitty, and considered her a pretty terrible person, especially since she was chea The Wages of Sin 26 September 2025 Well, at first I really didn’t like Kitty, and considered her a pretty terrible person, especially since she was cheating on her husband. In fact, I’ve never really been a big fan of women cheating on their husbands, and I am certainly not a big fan of husbands doing it either (since for most of history it has been okay for Husbands to behave this way but not for women). In fact, one of the things that this book does explore are the two parties, and you do get the impression that Charlie really is able to get away with this rubbish, but the women who fall under his charms are, well, considered degenerate. Then again, the guy who explains this to us (Worthington) really doesn’t have a particularly high opinion of Charlie anyway. So, the story is about Kitty, a woman who is being pressured by her mother to marry into a high status. Actually, that is what her mother wanted, until she discovered that her husband, a lawyer, really wasn’t all that interested in pursuing status among the profession. So, bitter at this she started putting pressure on her daughters, and because Kitty was so picky, and her sister wasn’t, she ended up marrying some random guy that she didn’t even like just so she could get married before her sister. As I mentioned, in the first part of the book I really didn’t like Kitty because I got the impression that she was only using Walter. Well, let me rephrase that – she pretty much stated that she didn’t love Walter because he was, well, boring. However, Walter loved her, that is, until all of Kitty’s dirty laundry was aired out, and that was also when Kitty’s life started going downhill as well. In fact, as the story progresses I began to empathise more with Kitty because you could tell that these decisions that she had made had ruined her life, and further she realised how much of a fool that she was, and how she had let a terrible man (Charlie) take advantage of her in such a way. Honestly, when you have been through such an experience, and see how Kitty responds, and learns from it, then the character actually takes a much different road, and I began to see her in a much different light. I guess this was Maughn’s point in the book, that he would create a character (even though he says that the book was based on a story, as opposed to a character, which is how he would normally write, except that it really does feel like that Kitty was created to fill the role) that we would initially despise but as she grows, and comes to regret the decisions that she made, then we begin to empathise with her so much more. As such, yeah, this was actually a pretty good book, much better than I expected (though half the reason I did read it was because it was short). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 15, 2025
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Sep 24, 2025
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Sep 15, 2025
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Paperback
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| 1250284481
| 9781250284488
| B0C1X8213B
| 4.18
| 6,534
| Mar 19, 2024
| Mar 19, 2024
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it was amazing
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A Book Every Christian Should Read, but probably won’t 10 August 2025 So, the first thing I discovered is that the major Australian Christian retailer A Book Every Christian Should Read, but probably won’t 10 August 2025 So, the first thing I discovered is that the major Australian Christian retailer doesn’t have this book in stock (which doesn’t surprise me one bit since anything challenging Christianity is frowned upon, even if it is there to raise awareness of abuse within the church – like, look how the church tried to prevent certain offences from coming to light, so yeah, if they are going to cover up child abuse, they no doubt will cover up lesser stuff as well). I do think people, especially Christians, should be aware with what is in the book, and instead of just writing responses to it, suggesting that deconstruction is bad and that we should avoid it for fear of going to hell, we should be aware and look at ways of addressing these issues. Like, there is an awful lot that I could say about this book, so much that it could actually be a book in and of itself. Mind you, a lot of stuff these days you will find in blogs, podcasts, and on YouTube, but sometimes just having everything condensed into a readable book helps a lot. The frustrating thing is that while there are groups in Australia, such as Hillsong Survivors, since I grew up in and attended an Evangelical Anglican church, there doesn’t seem to some something similar (though I just realised that the church I went to, even though it was in a different state, fell under the umbrella of Sydney Anglicans). There are a lot of shocking, and eye-opening things in this book, such as the section on disciple. Honestly, parents following James Dobson’s advice that if one spares the rod, one spoils the child, should be hauled up on child abuse charges (especially since the Bible doesn’t actually encourage spanking a child). This is especially the case when we are told stories of how children are even being paddled in church. I know a number of people from my generation and older who make the statement that ‘they were paddled and they turned out okay’ (I’m one of them, but I did go through a real rebellious phase), but I feel that that completely ignores a lot of the harm that it has caused. The section on purity culture is interesting, though my church never went as far as having purity rings and the like. However, there was this desire for the girls to marry a godly man, yet the issue with this is that people can behave in a godly manner, but on the inside are absolute pricks. Mind you, growing up, we were told that we shouldn’t ‘play with ourselves’ and I remember my Dad starting to go through a book on relationships, and I remember seeing this chart where at the bottom was sex, and my memory is that it was bad (though Dad never really made that suggestion to me). I also remember in youth group having a session on sex, and our small group leader’s answer to everything was ‘that is Satan and we should pray to God to overcome those issues’. I do remember one question about same sex attraction (the leaders all asked the questions, and we would put down numbers relating to the questions if we were interested in it). However, when I was older, I do remember us boys being pulled aside at a camp where we were being taught about sex, and porn (and I do believe porn is very exploitative) and the pastor telling us that if we found ourselves looking at gay porn, we should speak to him. Ironically, about a year later, one of the small group leaders was named and shamed in front of the church for coming out (I suspect he approached the leadership team, and they proceeded to hit him with conversion therapy). Ironically, on the church website, they speak about abuse and welcome abuse survivors, but my inclination is to thank them and point out that the abuse came from their church, by their leaders – not sexual, but bullying. Like, the passage in Hebrews that talks about people wandering away from the faith, and they suggested that this was similar to leaving the church. I left the church three times, but I never doubted my faith. As a student of ancient history, I am convinced that the Biblical account of Jesus’ life is accurate, I believe that he was executed by the Romans, and that he rose from the dead. The problem was that you could never actually question the leaders and raise a differing understanding of the text – they had been to Bible college so they were the experts, and we should defer to them (or one of the many authors that they would promote). Unlike the experiences of the people discussed in this book, I grew up on an Anglican (Episcopal) Church, and went to a public school. I remember my parents asking me if I wanted to go to a new Christian school in the area. Both them, and me, believed that it would be a good school, run by Christians, and that it would be safer than the local public high schools (they were always planning on sending me to a private school, but many of the good ones were really expensive and quite far away). It was there that I discovered that there was more to Christianity than just my church. The first time I went to the main Pentecostal church, I thought they were insane. In fact, I thought they were wandering around demon-possessed. It turned out the school was terrible, especially since the science teacher did not believe in evolution. The problem with me was that I always had friends outside of the church, whether it be scouts, or Dungeons & Dragons (which I was punished for playing at school). After my rebellious stage, and returning to the church, the biggest issue was leadership. They were always promoting leadership roles, but I was never good enough (and looking back, I’m glad I never took a leadership role). There was also the feeling that I never quite fit in with the people at church. Sure, I have friends, but each time I went to that church (not the current one), it really felt like I wasn’t good enough for them, and I really didn’t fit in. I guess I have been deconstructing for a while (I hate that word, but I was never really in the type of churches that others have been to, though you do get the impression it is used a lot when getting people out of abusive cults), though I began to see through a lot of these things, such as while they weren’t necessarily the one true church, they were the best church, and a lot of the others were too liberal. Also, the encouragement to ‘open the Bible to see what I say comes from God’s Word’ – as if their interpretation is the only one. The lay leaders sticking their nose into your life, the accusations that you weren’t doing enough to immerse yourself in God’s Word, and the fact that many of these lay leaders acted like the enforcers for the church leadership, to keep you in line, so they won’t be held accountable for my apostasy. In the end, one thing does comfort me, and that is that Martin Luther was also considered a heretic, as was Jesus Christ. As one person said, Jesus had harsher words directed towards the religious leaders than he ever directed towards the common person. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 07, 2025
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Aug 10, 2025
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Aug 30, 2025
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Kindle Edition
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| 1405972920
| 9781405972925
| 1405972920
| 3.43
| 352
| 1920
| Oct 17, 2024
|
liked it
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The Horror of the Casket 7 August 2025 When I first started this, it sounded as if it was based on Lovecraft, namely what seemed to be an ancient, pre- The Horror of the Casket 7 August 2025 When I first started this, it sounded as if it was based on Lovecraft, namely what seemed to be an ancient, pre-human, city arising from the ocean, However, it ended up being mostly set in the mansion of a wealthy industrialist who had managed to get his hands on this mysterious box, a box with strange writing on it and that it didn’t seem to have a way to open. Well, there is a connection between the opening, set in a ship off some volcanic islands, and the box, namely because one of the sailors bursts into a shop that sells antiques and curios wanting to know what happened to the box and who he sold it to. Then most of the story involves this rich man, and a young doctor who ends up getting caught up in his orbit. Actually, he comes down with an illness, and his normal doctor is out of town, so he is called out, and manages to protect him from some thieves and because is this is hired on as his live in nurse. Like most wealthy industrialists (is there any other types – like I’m not sure if you can actually be a poverty stricken industrialist, just like you probably can’t be a poverty stricken tech-bro - though I suspect tech-bro probably has a wider meaning than an industrialist, which probably only applies to those we consider captains of industry – which is a rather nice way of describing somebody who in no doubt incredibly greedy, incredibly stingy, and incredibly unlikeable). Actually, come to think of it, Mr Robinson does pretty much falls into that category, namely stingy, unlikeable, and greedy. In fact, his statement at the beginning – what he want’s he gets – pretty much sums him up (and sums up quite a lot of other real-life people as well, such as one owner of a social media platform who will make life difficult for women who use the platform, refusing certain overtures). The thing with the box is that in part it sort of reminded me in part of the one ring, in the way that Mr Robinson obsesses over the box, however as it turns out, it is not so much the box having a control over him (the obsession, unlike Golum, is purely due to the fact that he has an obsessive nature as opposed to the ring actually having a curse over the creator). Yet, as it becomes clear, something, or somebody, and there are suggestions, but while ancient names are used, you sort of get the impression that it is more of a spiritual entity that wants it back. Even though the book doesn’t explicitly say it, you could say that, with the exception of the prologue, the entire story is from the point of view of Dr Venamen, namely because he seems to always be the central character, and anything that happens away from him is generally told through another person. Well, okay, the first chapter is from the point of view of the shopkeeper, Mr Lutz, but that is basically it. I guess the theme really comes down to theft, especially the theft of ancient artifacts. Like, we see them as curios, and stuff that we must have on display for the world to see. Things to be studied to understand how the past came about. The problem is that these artifacts actually belong to people and countries, and to remove them without their permission is tantamount to theft. Basically this is what happened with the Elgan Marbles, and many other items located in museums and universities around the world. The thing is that, I guess what the story suggests, is that in some cases, forces beyond our control, may want them back. Interestingly, a lot of her writing, did occur around the time that there was a lot of archaeological exploration around the ancient empires. As for the book, well, yeah, it was short (something I do like when reading a book for a book club, though short books can be deceptively dense), and it was entertaining. I guess this is a thing I do love about bookclubs, and that is that is that you end up reading books that you would not normally think about reading (and this was for the horror bookclub, that I decided to go to because, well, we will also be talking about the movie Sinners). ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Aug 05, 2025
not set
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Aug 07, 2025
not set
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Aug 30, 2025
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Paperback
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| 0141037660
| 9780141037660
| 0141037660
| 3.86
| 1,958
| Jan 01, 1992
| 2008
|
really liked it
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Where Science Meets Faith 7 September 2025 So, I do actually like cosmology, which is basically the science of where the universe came from, and how it Where Science Meets Faith 7 September 2025 So, I do actually like cosmology, which is basically the science of where the universe came from, and how it came about. However, as I was reading this I sort of wondered what the point is. Like, who cares what atoms are made out of, and the nature of how it can be impossible determining the position of an electron when you have to work in a toxic workplace every day, and are struggling to make ends meet (not my situation at the moment, by the way). This gets worse when you literally can’t afford a decent meal, and are being crushed by the rising costs of rent. Is this important? Well, the author sort of addresses this in this book, namely that certain ideas eventually enabled us to build the modern world in which we live. However, we need to remember that a lot of these ideas came from the upper class, from the few people that actually were interested in trying to understand how the world worked, while the rest of us were struggling to make ends meet. Sure, these days we are much more educated, and that we have access to much more learning. There was a time when if you were working class there was no way that you were going to go to university. Sadly, it appears that the whole concept has flipped in that just by getting a degree isn’t a guarantee for a high paying job. Like, when I was studying arts years ago the other degrees would laugh at us, until I realised that a lot of science degrees produced similar results (though as a chemist you could always start cooking illegal stuff, and botany means that you could grow certain plants). I remember a friend who completed a science degree majoring in aquaculture, and lasted a year at his job before quitting and becoming a teacher. So, it sounds like I am bagging this book, but the thing is that I’m not, really, I’m just raising issues with the state that our world has become. Like, I would love to have enough money to give my job the flick (and I like my job), and spend some more time exploring this, or just reading in general, but even then I can’t help but think of the people who don’t even have this luxury. Like, back in the era of the Ancient Greeks, such learning was essential (though like today you had a lot of people that would teach you rubbish for a lot of money), but only for the male citizens. If you were a slave, you probably wouldn’t care about Plato’s theory of forms (and I suspect that it didn’t apply to them either). The thing with this book is that it does explore the idea about how if you drill down in science you will eventually reach an area that is inexplicable. Okay, this does raise the problem of the God of the Gaps, which is the idea that if there is something that we aren’t able to explain then we just say that it is god. The problem is that as we begin to understand more and more the god of the gaps gets smaller and smaller. However, I still feel that the fact that the universe is ordered and random things, such as the entire atmosphere of Earth turning to chlorine, doesn’t happen then there is obviously some order behind the creation. This creates the idea that we might actually be living in a computer simulation, but that is where things get really weird, and that is why I raise the question of ‘who cares’. In my mind it is not whether there is a god or not, and whether we live in a simulation, but if there is a god, then is this god a good god, or are we governed by beings like the Great Old Ones (which would suggest that the universe is chaotic, but then again that is how Lovecraft viewed the universe). Look, I’m not going to become a god botherer here, or say anything beyond this. However, this book is interesting, and does explore the intersection between god and the world, religion and science. In fact, this was a much better book than some of the crappy Christian books that I have read on the subject (and these authors just seem to churn out crap – it is amazing how many Christian teachers that I have heard that are writing books). As for application, I have to admit that there really is none. Interesting, but in the end things will simply be the same as always. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 21, 2025
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Sep 04, 2025
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Aug 21, 2025
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| B00452V1Z2
| 3.98
| 71,204
| Dec 1955
| Aug 2020
|
really liked it
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A Vietnam War Novel before the Vietnam War 21 August 2025 I guess my title pretty much says it all, though at the time of writing, Vietnam was still oc A Vietnam War Novel before the Vietnam War 21 August 2025 I guess my title pretty much says it all, though at the time of writing, Vietnam was still occupied by the French, Ho Chi Minh was still alive, and the guerilla force was known as the Viet Minh. Sure, there are Americans involved in this story (as you can probably tell by the name), and the main character and narrator is a British journalist who is reporting on the war. The thing is that I suspect that this war, being fought by the French on the other side of the world, no doubt really had little interest back home. I guess this is the nature of wars in the modern world – unless it affects us directly, then we really don’t seem to really care about it. Like, we know that there is a war being fought in Eastern Congo, and there is also a massive civil war being fought in Sudan, as well as one in Burma, but the ones that seem to interest us are the ones that directly affect us (or at least the ones that the media pushes, thought the media landscape has changed dramatically these days) so that is basically Ukraine and anything involving Israel (which is probably a good thing, though I suspect that there are people that really don’t want us known what is going on in Gaza). In a way, this story is basically a discussion of the war, and the idea of bringing a third, nationalist force into the conflict in Vietnam. The thing is that at this time the war basically involved the French, who wanted to protect their colonial interests, and the communists as headed up by Ho Chi Minh (and supported by China – by this time China had been ‘liberated’ by Mao Zedong). Okay, there is a love triangle in this story, and while I haven’t watched the film (yet), I get the feeling that the focus will be on the love triangle between Fowler, Pyle, and Phoung. Actually, if you include Fowler’s wife, who doesn’t want to divorce him because she’s Anglican and Anglicans don’t get divorced (she obviously hasn’t read her history, and I suspect Greene did this deliberately because I couldn’t imagine that Graham Greene would be ignorant of history), you could say that it is actually a love quadrilateral (do such things exist?). Yet it is the concept of the third force that I believe was the main focus of the book, in particular General The, who appeared to be fighting both the communists and the colonialists. It is interesting looking at Asian history that the anti-colonial forces all tended to be communist. That probably has something to do with China, and the fact that the communists defeated the nationalist forces, though I wonder to what extent the nationalist forces represented the forces of colonialism, and if they had lost, whether the nationalists would have been little more than US proxies. I guess it is because Ho Chi Minh was much more organised than the ‘third’ force in Vietnam. This third force obviously turned out to be the corrupt South Vietnamese government, and the rampant corruption no doubt gave the people of Vietnam little option but to join the communists, particularly since the Americans ended up fighting a losing war to support a weak and ineffectual government. We all know what happened, and ironically, we saw history repeat itself when the US retreated from Afghanistan. Of course, the whole argument used in intervening in Vietnam was that if they didn’t then neighbouring countries would fall, and a domino effect would result meaning that we would eventually be expelled from Indochina and we no longer would be able to enjoy holidays in Phuket, and the cheap beer that flows out of Bangla Road. Mind you, it didn’t happen, and it did. The fact that the US ended up bombing Laos and Cambodia in an attempt to disrupt supply lines resulted in both governments collapsing to be replaced by communist governments, and all the horrors that that involved. Of course, nobody learnt their lessons. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 11, 2025
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Aug 21, 2025
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Aug 11, 2025
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0749300388
| 9780749300388
| 0749300388
| 3.69
| 1,024
| Apr 12, 1986
| 1989
|
liked it
|
A Messy Time Travel Epic 5 August 2025 So, this is a rather odd story, though by the end it sort of makes sense. In fact, for half, or actually most, o A Messy Time Travel Epic 5 August 2025 So, this is a rather odd story, though by the end it sort of makes sense. In fact, for half, or actually most, of the time I suspected that all of the characters were dead and they were experiencing the afterlife. Another character I thought had been tricked by an alien into an hallucinogenic state, though that idea was dashed when she met up with other characters later on in the story. This book is about a group of rebels from the future who are hiding out in the 17th Century in a manor that they had acquired from a noble family, who at the time were away on a European trip (and the manor ended up vanishing). They had fled a time when some aliens, known as the Infinites, had appeared and were encouraging humanity to shed their physical bodies and become pure thought. They basically didn’t like this idea, but by the time they fled, this transformation was being pursued rather aggressively. The trick with the book is that you need to work out where people are travelling in time, and where the specific main points are (such as when the Inifinites arrive and start transforming humanity). There was one period which was rather confusing, namely where everybody was living in an hallucinogenic dream, but that did set up the reason for the robots to be doing everything. There are a number of eras that they travel to, though the main one seems to be pre-human south western United States, an area where there happens to be the skeletal remains of a giant bison (that for some reason lasts for tens of thousands of years – like, I know that there are fossils, but they tend to be bones that have been buried, and over the centuries the bones rot a way, and the hollows are filled with a different type of sediment – when you have bones sitting on the ground, they just rot away to nothing). Of course, there is something important about this era, and it can be rather comical as well. As I suggested, it does get rather weird at the end, but then again this is from the era of speculative sci-fi, namely when you got a lot of weird stories and ideas that sometimes don’t make all that much sense. It’s not like modern sci-fi, which seems to be more world building, with space ships and space battles (not that I tend to read all that much of the modern stuff, unless it happens to be really good). Honestly, a quick scan of some of the reviews suggested that this wasn’t one of his best books, which I why I suspect you don’t get any diagrams of where and how the protagonists travel. As for me, well, yeah, it was strange, and it did take a while to work out, though some of the characters, and aliens, were rather strange, and the idea of Broome being able to step around corners was, well, used, but never satisfactorily explained. For instance, you have this character, and alien, named Horseface, and another one called The Hat, which collapses to be picked up and carried by a wolf that befriends Broome and follows him around (though he is definitely not a pet). As I mentioned, they do travel to North America before humans arrive, so when Broome, Enid, and later others, turn up, this is the first human encounters the wolf has. Would I say that it is a good ride? Well, I’m not all that sure, but it is the weird style of sci-fi that I don’t mind. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 31, 2025
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Aug 05, 2025
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Jul 31, 2025
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1784988294
| 9781784988296
| 1784988294
| 4.31
| 4,500
| Jul 01, 2013
| Mar 01, 2023
|
it was ok
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Maybe Not God, But Christians? 22 July 2025 Well, I can quickly tell you that this short book basically says no, but it is not a lifestyle that he want Maybe Not God, But Christians? 22 July 2025 Well, I can quickly tell you that this short book basically says no, but it is not a lifestyle that he wants you to live, so yeah, if you are looking for a book that will say that it is okay for you to live in a committed same-sex relationship, then unfortunately, you are shit out of luck. Look, to be honest there is nothing in this book that I have not read elsewhere, and it pretty much says what I have indicated that it said. Like, the interesting thing is that the first number of pages are full of people telling us why we should read this book, and honestly, while it is a short book, as I said it is nothing that I have read before. Yeah, it read like a list of Christian writers who pretty much agreed with everything that he said, and while there are some that I have heard, and appreciate, there are also some that really have no idea what it is actually like to live in the real world, and to have the struggles that people face. Okay, to give credit where credit is due, Sam Allberry is a same sex attracted individual (because we aren’t allowed to call him gay because gay makes it sound like he is actively pursuing relationships). The other thing is that he acknowledges that gay people aren’t out to sleep with, or convert, as many people as possible. Like, as I told a friend who didn’t like going into gay pubs, if girls aren’t throwing themselves at you, then the guys aren’t going to either. Mind you, as another friend said, the reason a lot of conservatives don’t like gay people is that they are treated the same way that they treat girls, and they don’t like that. Well, I guess Jesus has something to say about that attitude, namely that lust is as bad as committing adultery, and if the action is unwarranted, then you are basically guilty of rape. Yeah, people really don’t like it when the tables are turned on them. I guess that is why they drive those emotional support vehicles, because their masculinity is so fragile that they need to remind themselves, and tell everybody else, that they are actually a manly man. Mind you, sure, this book focuses on same sex sexual relationships, and I can’t criticise its focus, but at least Preston Sprinkle (whose book is much longer, even though he is a white heterosexual male), made it pretty clear that our lust for possessions, and wealth, is pretty much just as bad. In fact, one of the verses that is quoted, where we are told the sexual immoral will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, also includes in the same paragraph that neither will thieves and swindlers. In fact, the Bible tells us to have nothing to do with them, especially if they claim to be Christian (which would mean that there are churches, which in all intents and purposes, are Christian churches, but definitely fall into this category, and that is not forgetting that Christians have no problems actually voting for one). The other thing is that the book pretty much tells us that no, God does not appreciate this lifestyle, and will reject people who rebelliously live this lifestyle, and then comes to an end. Sure, there are some sections which tell us how we should respond to gay people interested in hearing the gospel, and that is to not jump straight into “well, first of all, about who you are sleeping with”. Actually, it doesn’t matter whether the person is gay or straight, or whatever, we should not be beginning the conversation with that. In fact, I live by the principle that whoever people are sleeping with is none of my fucking business, though if they want to talk about my faith, my thoughts on that will no doubt come out. Also, yeah, it isn’t the unforgivable sin either, which is a belief that has completely destroyed people in the church. Yeah, sure, you have sex and you are no longer a virgin. Guess what, you steal something, even a movie off the internet, or the wages of one of your employees, you are no longer innocent either. Like if you pass judgment on somebody based on their sexual history, I can assure you that God has a massive list of things that can be held against you. The thing is that we seem to focus on this as if it is one of the most important things we have to face today, and incredibly important to our interaction with society. Hey, how about fucking capitalism? Like, that is an entire economic system based on the accumulation of as much as possible, and damned if we burn the world to a crisp in doing so. Like, we pass judgement on gay people, yet go on implicitly supporting sweatshops, building massive houses, driving massive cars, and hording huge amounts of wealth that we will never need, and if we aren’t that lucky, we believe the lie that we are closer to Elon Musk than we are to the fucking guy sleeping on the street because he can’t afford a roof over his head. Honestly, I think we could go a long way to solving these issues if we actually realised that maybe sharing a house would actually solve the problem of loneliness. Like, I don’t know how many books I have read that suggest that if you are single you have to live alone. That’s bullshit. I’ve lived with heaps of people. It will also help solve the housing crisis. Oh, and the church community, yeah, like, there is more to a community than Sundays and Bible study. A community is a community, and as much as I hate this word, it is actually about doing life together. To be honest, and I’m just as guilty of this as others, doing life does not mean three hours on a Sunday, and another two hours at Bible study, and then it is back home. Sheesh, end rant. Oh, and for those who are upset because I used language unbecoming of a Christian, get a life. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Paperback
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| 0426202643
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| 3.60
| 348
| Jan 01, 1987
| Jan 01, 1987
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A Not Very Glamerous French Revolution 2 August 2025 So, at the start of this story we are told that the French Revolution is the Doctor’s favourite e A Not Very Glamerous French Revolution 2 August 2025 So, at the start of this story we are told that the French Revolution is the Doctor’s favourite era, though I kind of wonder whether, after this adventure, if it will still be. Basically, they arrive on Earth, and he is about to dump Ian and Barbara and nick off, but they convince him to hang around, despite the fact that he does not accept the fact that his Tardis is incredibly temperamental. As you can probably guess, if you are up on your history of France during the revolution, that this is set during the reign of Robespierre. It is the idea of fighting for freedom, but the thing is that everybody who thinks differently from you is an enemy and must be silenced. Sure, at the time there was a push from some quarters to restore the monarchy (which is why the king and queen were guillotined), but the problem was that it just went way overboard, to the point that Robespierre ended up in the guillotine himself. Well, it turns out that the Doctor and his companions get caught up in the mess, and because they are familiar with the period, there is a constant reminder that they are not allowed to interfere. Mind you, nobody actually would believe you that a Corsican would end up becoming emperor, so yeah, if you tried telling them, you would end up sounding like Cassandra. One of the interesting things is that we are constantly told that the Tardis translates for the Doctor’s companions, though it turns out that it will translate basically every language except for French. Yeah, this is the first adventure that I have encountered where they have to speak another language (though it turns out that they all speak French anyway, well everybody except for Ian, who probably didn’t pay all that much attention during French class, or just didn’t travel to France all that often). Well, it turns out that this is the last adventure of the first season (not that that means all that much when it comes to the books) so I guess that is why there was a suggestion that Ian and Barbara were going to leave, and Ian does correctly indicate that this is the closest that the Doctor has managed to come to their home, though unfortunately he was off by about 150 years. Still, it wasn’t bad, and I guess at the time it was fulfilling the roles of being a TV show that taught children about history, though I have discovered that apparently educational shows were looked upon more favourably by the BBC, so I guess a time-travelling alien sort of fulfils that role. ...more |
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my rating |
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| 3.75
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not set
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Dec 29, 2025
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| 3.29
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really liked it
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Dec 29, 2025
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Dec 25, 2025
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| 3.43
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really liked it
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Dec 25, 2025
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Dec 18, 2025
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| 4.43
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really liked it
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Dec 17, 2025
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Dec 12, 2025
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| 4.44
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it was amazing
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Dec 13, 2025
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Dec 09, 2025
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| 3.57
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really liked it
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Dec 10, 2025
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Dec 06, 2025
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| 3.85
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did not like it
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Nov 18, 2025
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Nov 08, 2025
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| 3.85
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it was amazing
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not set
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Nov 08, 2025
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| 3.64
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really liked it
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Nov 08, 2025
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Oct 31, 2025
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| 4.39
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did not like it
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Oct 31, 2025
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Oct 24, 2025
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| 4.00
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it was amazing
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Sep 26, 2025
not set
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Oct 01, 2025
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| 3.63
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really liked it
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Oct 24, 2025
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Sep 26, 2025
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| 3.98
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really liked it
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Sep 24, 2025
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Sep 15, 2025
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| 4.18
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it was amazing
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Aug 10, 2025
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Aug 30, 2025
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| 3.43
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liked it
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Aug 07, 2025
not set
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Aug 30, 2025
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| 3.86
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really liked it
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Sep 04, 2025
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Aug 21, 2025
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| 3.98
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really liked it
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Aug 21, 2025
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Aug 11, 2025
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| 3.69
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liked it
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Aug 05, 2025
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Jul 31, 2025
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| 4.31
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it was ok
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Jul 22, 2025
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Jul 24, 2025
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| 3.60
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Jul 31, 2025
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Jul 22, 2025
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