Thursday, February 23, 2012

Eco-Fads

by Todd Myers

A central, yet unspoken, lesson of this book is, "You can't believe everything you read." Mr. Myers shows how this tenet is shown in the realm of environmentalism. In particular, he focuses on those movements which capture the public imagination, cause political and social action, and yet, are really a bad idea. He calls them "Eco-fads". First he explains them, and explores how different social forces bring them about. Then he looks at specific examples and points out how the arguments and data against them have been marginalized or just plain ignored. There are a lot of folks out there who want you to buy into the latest "green" scheme--people with an agenda, looking to modify your behavior. Of course, in the course of the book, Mr. Myers shows that he has his oen values, priorities, and possibly even an agenda. But as with anything, its usually worthwhile to hear and consider what both sides have to say.

Check it out.
LibraryThing link

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Friday, February 17, 2012

Do Butlers Burgle Banks?

by P.G. Wodenhouse

An amusing little tale from the late 60s about a burglary. A delightful and relaxing bit of waiting room material.

LibraryThing link

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Thursday, February 09, 2012

Paganism

by Joyce and River Higginbotham

This book is an intro to Paganism, geared towards those seekers who might be wanting to give one of the various practices a try. It's clearly written and well laid out. So well laid out, in fact, that I was able to see right away in the first chapter that I disagreed with paganism's two main themes. I didn't let that stop me from reading the rest of the book, of course. As a Christian, I found the experience to be interesting and, at times, irritating. Given the diversity in paganism, the Higginbothams had to be somewhat generic in their explanations. Even so, I was able to see the differing world view and could better understand the logic behind some pagan practices I had heard of or encountered in the past. The irritating parts were when they tried to touch on Christianity. Their tone is very polite and clement, but I got the sense that they have no use for it. They raised some good points, but there were also times when they were describing a religion other than my own. All in all, I sometimes felt like I was on the receiving end of a sales pitch. (Just toss out that old Christian doctrine and replace them with some bright, new, shiny pagan beliefs!)

Now the question is, how do I rate this book? In the past, I've up-rated some dreck because the book happened to mention that Jesus loves you. In this case, I have a well written book with a message I find quite disagreeable. I guess I'll be nice and tell you to check it out, with the understanding that, should you start to find paganism appealing, you contact me and let me tell you all the arguments I have with this book.

LibraryThing link

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Tuesday, February 07, 2012

DC Universe Legacies

by Len Wein, et al

Legacies, in my humble opinion, is DC's version of the Marvels mini-series that came out in the 90s--a series retelling some of the stories of past comics through the eyes of a regular guy. Unfortunately, despite being drawn by some of my favorite artists, it's an inferior version. In Marvels, Kurt Busiek limited himself to only part of the Marvel Universe's history, focusing on his main characters reaction to a handful of stories. Mr. Wein takes us from the 40s right up to the present, switching back and forth from his protagonist and the events--usually the one of the big summer crossovers--of the era. In the end, it just wasn't satisfying. In fact, I'd have to say that the best part of this collection is the short backup stories that follow the main opus.

Good for waiting room material.
LibraryThing link

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