gabriel

Very Repetitive

Revisado: 04-23-25

If you have gone through the Cycle of Arawn and the Cycle of Galand, there is nothing new here (and a lot less). Many meaningless side quests with a decent ending, but the ending should have come at the end of the last book.

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Author is Uninspired by their Own Subject

Revisado: 03-27-25

I don't know as I have ever read another biography where the writer seemed so unenthusiastic about their own subject. This attempt to show the "real" Teddy Roosevelt, stripped of the glamour and hero-worship so often given him falls utterly flat. Naked truths and bare facts are valuable approaches to writing about biology, astronomy, or mathematics. But to write about people and about history, understanding the ideals of the person is essential. When she talks about Roosevelts views of masculinity, morality, and faith, she does so with a condescending pat on the head for his quaint victorian ideas. It is almost as if she is telling her readers not to get too fond of this guy because he wasn't all that great. Then why write about him? The best biographies are those written by people who either truly connect with the ideals of the person they are writing about and hold them up as a champion, or else viemently oppose the person's ideals as a cautionary tale. This book does neither, and leaves you feeling indifferent about one of the most fascinating and complex presidents America has ever seen. Instead of truly unpacking the man Roosevelt, the author spends more time psychoanalizing his family dynamics, reducing his priniciples and values to a series of family conditionings and trauma.

One redeeming quality to this book, however, is the thoroughness of the explinations of all Roosevelt had to juggle during his time as president. Dalton does an excellent job highlighting the numerous conflicting interests and landmark changes Roosevelt faught for during those years. I found that portion of the book quite fascinating.

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Great Intro to the Puritans

Revisado: 03-13-25

If you are looking to get more into the Puritan authors and their writing, this is a great little sampling of quotes and ideas from the Puritans around prayer. The author does a good job unpacking their ideas to help you enjoy the full weight of their practical approach to theology.

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Outstanding Work!

Revisado: 02-26-25

This is an exemplary Puritan work that blends conviction and comfort, stirring believers to strive for holiness and joy. Similar to The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, this work’s shorter length makes it more easily accessible for many readers.

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Start with the Heart

Revisado: 02-24-25

An excellent parenting book that helps parents focus on the most important aspects of parenting: your heart as the parent and your teenagers heart. Tripp does a great job directing both hearts towards Christ in a gospel-centered life. A great message of hope for those fearful of the teen years!

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Stuff Happens

Revisado: 02-21-25

The best summary I can give of this book is “stuff happens.” With the messy world building of a dream realm where anything can happen, there is very little that ties all the events together. The party gets attacked, then they escape, rinse and repeat. The story was obviously trying to do what Chronicles of Narnia did with a Christian allegory wrapped in a child’s fantasy world, but fell very short of Lewis’ brilliant story telling.

I had a hard time with the narrator as well. I believe she mainly does romance novels, not action adventure books, and it’s noticeable. The intense action scenes are read with very little intensity which—with the magical ability to conjure whatever is needed to escape—makes every situation feel low stakes.

A young kid may enjoy it, but not great storytelling.

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A Good Kind of Challenging

Revisado: 01-17-25

I would caution anyone who struggles with a deep sense of guilt or failure that this may be a defeating read; Bridges takes a very thorough and honest look at the many little sins we allow into our lives moment by moment. But for those who feel they are growing stagnant in their Christian growth because they feel they are already doing well, this can be a great introduction to some of the ways we can go deeper in our relationship with God by ongoing sanctification, even in the small stuff. Bridges does an excellent job of always tying together what we are called to do in holiness with what Christ has already accomplished through grace.

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Therapy and Moralizing rather than Story

Revisado: 01-10-25

This was the first of Sanderson’s books I couldn’t get through, and the last of the Stormlight books I plan on reading. I loved the start of this series and thought it would become one of the classic fantasy series, but Sanderson lost the core of the series and has been too deeply influenced by contemporary thinking to make the series relevant in a few decades.

One big rule in film is “show, don’t tell.” This means displaying the characters actions and emotions, and letting the audience intuit their way to the emotional and psychological undercurrent. This rule still applies to literature as well, and when a character reflects too much on their own thinking, it becomes overt instead of covert and comes across as preachy. Sanderson is clearly trying to make a point about mental health and healing from it, but the overt dialogue and introspection by every character about their mental health is a very unnatural way to do it. I have worked in the mental health field for over a decade, and Sanderson’s version is very far from the real thing. His characters are largely in effected in their ability to function despite serious mental health issues (not typical for most people), are very aware of where there thinking is abnormal, and have moments of insight which make them take huge leaps in their recovery. Real MH is not this glamorous or so easy to recover from. And most people do not embrace the mental health of friends and family easily, unlike every character in these books.

My final issue with the series is that Sanderson’s started with a medieval feudal system for his world, and in about a decade had them jump in values, ideals, government, and gender identity to contemporary 21st century American values with no real reason for all the major shifts. He treats modern American ideals as inevitable, and all cultures will flow to them eventually like water runs down hill, but the modern American culture and values was built over centuries by multiple competing philosophies, events, and revolutions. The shift of tone is too jarring from book one to this book. I hope some of Sanderson’s other works return to his original creative style and less phsycologizing of his characters.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

A Classic in Christian Apologetics

Revisado: 01-03-25

One of the cornerstones of Christian thought, this book is a very thoughtful apologetic of the Christian faith. As Augustine is addressing the beliefs of the ancient Roman empire, much of the first third of the book is not greatly relevant to today. But the last two thirds in which Augustine makes a defense for the Christian faith is still extremely relevant for today. So many of the questions he addresses are still being asked today (How old is the earth? Where did sin come from? How do we know the Bible is reliable if we have vary manuscripts? How can the rational person accept miracles? How will God resurect the body?) St. Augustine's argumentation around these questions continue to impact modern apologetics, and though some of his ideas would not be held by modern protestants, the majority still hold firm. My only critique of Augustine's arguments from Scripture is his love for allegory and his tendency to read allegory in every story and verse, which I believe often neglects the plain meaning of the passage.

The audio quality of this book is not great. It sounds a little tinny and there are a lot of microphone bumps. That being said, the narrators skill in modulating his tone and adding a touch of passion to parts that deserve it I believe make up for this. Most of these classics have very monotone readers, but this narrators performance keeps you engaged in the conversation.

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A Monumental Work Made Hard to Listen to By Poor Performance

Revisado: 12-10-24

Calvin’s institutes are one of the greatest works of Protestantism and has so many deep and quotable thoughts. But this audiobook makes it almost unlistenable. The reader has very little inflection and reads the book like a dry report rather than with the pastoral passion it was intended to have. They also made the bizarre choice to read all the headings that fall into a chapter (like reading a table of contents) before starting the chapter. This makes no sense since the audiobook is not broken down to allow you to skip to a section, and in some chapters it takes the reader 15 minutes just to read the table of contents. A better narrator and the cutting out of the table of contents, this book would be less than 50 hours and would be an excellent book. This book deserves to be rereleased with a new narrator.

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