Reading
Welcome to the “What I’m reading” Page of my blog. Rather than do lots of posts on all the things I read and what I think about them, I figure I’ll just keep a running list here along with some comments for the books as I finish them. Mostly its an excuse to use this “page” function on my blog for something other than an “About me.” Newer books will be at the top and the dates of entries will be included. Enjoy.
In The Pile
Mercy, Mercy Me; Living Buddha, Living Christ; Surprised by Joy;
Currently Reading
Comic Books I am Reading
Marvel Proper: Omega The Unknown, Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man
DC Proper: Batman, All-Star Superman
Other Publishers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, Angel: After the Fall
Finished Books (of any sort)
05/31/2008
Kirby: King of Comics-An over-sized biography of maybe the hardest working man in comics, Jack Kirby did as much to change the art (and make it what it is today) as Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Alan Moore or anyone else you could put up there. Beautiful artwork and a great insight, not into just the creative side of things, but into the dark and greedy business side of comics. Although his nickname was “The King” (and truly he was in many ways), Kirby remains an unappreciated hero in comics if only because all the praise that is heaped on him now still isn’t enough. Post.
Born Standing Up-Steve Martin‘s autobiography as relating to his stand-up career. A few things I took away from this: Steve Martin is a an incredibly talented writer, a very insightful man and probably funnier than I thought before. The other thing I took away from this book is that I will never, ever, ever have the dedication necessary to be a stand-up comic professionally. Nor did I ever. The only thing he was more so than funny, talented, bright or whatever is a hard worker-dedicated. Very good and quick read.
05/15/2008
Said the Shotgun to the Head; Saul Williams‘ second or third book of poetry-well really one huge ass poem with lots of parts. Perfectly sculpted for the ADD generation, lots of pictures and changes of tone and opportunities to go back over small parts at any time. While this will certainly require several readings to really wrap my head around it (and that is what Saul does best-write things that reveal themselves slowly to you) the gist of the book is about ushering in the new age of the Feminine dominant paradigm and the end of a male-centric war culture. Essentially, Williams call for the end of violence and degradation is a cal for an end to the worst things about men-naming women (and the worship and basis around the Female spirit) as the answer-or at least the next thing. Not sure I completely agree (the next thing isn’t always the best thing) but it’s a great read, and very eye-opening.
04/02/2008
Jesus:Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary-Marcus Borg- This is more than a historical view of Jesus, but its the best place to start describing it. Borg gets past the concept of whether the Gospel is factually true (which he points out was never how it was written anyway) and gets to what can we tell about Jesus from these books. The book really acts as a counter punch to the conservative, right wing Christian fundamentalism that dominates the perceptions of Christianity by Americans-not so much as discussion of why it is wrong, but simply that it doesn’t fit with what we can actually pull from the Bible. The question of what actually happened must take a back seat to just what it is Christ calls us (Christians that is) to do. Highly recommended for any Christian who wants to challenge their faith a bit, or anyone who would appreciate the perspective of a Christian who isn’t going to smack you over the head with a Bible. Probably deserves a full post too, but not sure if I’ll get to it.
03/06/08
Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington-Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien- Much more subject specific than the “Plato” book below, and so ultimately a lot more satisfying. Very much about the language of bullshit and fallacy, how specifically politicians use it all the time and why it is wrong. Also, the jokes (while fewer in this book) are much more on point. I’ll be using these (and maybe parts of this book) when I teach fallacy in class later this year.
2/28/08
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business- Neil Postman: This book is an amazing exploration in how television (and the telegraph and photograph before it) changed the nature of information and how we view it. Postman doesn’t say TV shouldn’t (or doesn’t) entertain, but that it is its most dangerous when it pretends to inform. We have become a nation of Huxlean pleasure seekers that, not only cannot have a serious discourse using television-but cannot fathom the processing of information outside of a television influenced format. This now has a full post (4/2/08)
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar-Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien: This is the perfect cocktail party philosophy book. You’ll get a little bit of information regarding kinda-sorta what a particular concept is, and then a great joke or two to tell. Excellent Material for fun-although I wouldn’t cite this in your PHD dissertation.
2/25/08
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer: If I were to write something that read like it was coming from the back cover of a book about Into the Wild, it would read something like “Into the Wild is not just the tragic story of one man’s journey across the hobo paths of America and into the Alaskan wilderness. Mcandless’ story is an exploration into the wild, uncharted territory of identity, the human soul and what it means to be ‘free.’” A full post was written here.
