Jesus

I’ve been getting into a really bad habit lately of dropping books as soon as I think they’re boring, badly written, disingenuous, have too much of an axe to grind, or they write and cover a topic in a way I already agree with.

I’m about to take on Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus, made perhaps more famous (infamous?) than it deserves (remains to be seen) by this outrageous interview of the author Reza Aslan on Fox News by Lauren Green.

I’ll get back to you with a review of sorts in a few weeks’ time (I’m a slow reader) to see if all the hullabaloo is justified.

EDIT 10-14-15: Yeah, so I read the book and I thought it was OK. Just wanted to add that Reza Aslan may have overstated his scholarly credentials. I thought perhaps he doth protested too much.

Reading Fatigue

Adapted from “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger with later additions by Joe Hickerson.

Where have all the good books gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the good books gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the good books gone?
Lars read them every one.
When will he ever learn?
When will he eeever learn?

Is it possible that I have read all the good books ever written and I’m left with the garbage?

There is also the remote chance that I’m suffering from EOD (Early Onset Dementia).

I enjoy history, both fiction and non-fiction. Favorite periods are Roman Imperial and the Middle Ages. If non-fiction I don’t like my reading material to be overly scholarly, but don’t dumb it down too much either. Assume I have a brain.

I’m also a big fan of science fiction. Favorite authors include Peter F Hamilton and Stephen Baxter.

I thought I enjoyed philosophy, but it tends to be way over my head (Wittgenstein, Kant, Kierkegaard (besides, most people seem to derive their knowledge of the “heavy” philosophers from secondary and even tertiary commentaries of their works and the opinions of their professors)) or just opinion (no finger pointing for now), or they blather on about stuff I already intuitively know or don’t care about. Still open for suggestions, though.