Book Reviews 2011 - Part 1 - The First Ten

Book Reviews 2011
by Craig Hamilton on Sunday, January 2, 2011 at 3:45pm
Some things in this note some people will probably find interesting, while others not so interesting, or even distasteful, as this note covers a variety of subjects, which may or may not seem to be in conflict. This might add to the difficulty of commenting on it, as at times it may seem more puzzling than consistent.
If someone wants to comment on a particular book, then I suggest putting the book in question’s title in the comment.
I created this note with the idea that someone might find it that was looking for a book review (in a search engine perhaps) on a certain book and search the page for it using the “Find,” command. The reason I have not divided this into multiple notes is for the purpose of my own organization. Instead of creating 50 – 100 book review notes for the year, I intend to create one. However, I suspect that eventually this note will run out of space (I don’t know how long notes are permitted to be), such that I will have to create a note title, “Book Reviews – 2011 Part 2.”
I have no expectation for myself that anyone will read it in its entirety. There are no addressees to this, such that I know that the only people that want comments, if any are made, are those that want to be updated. That said, I wrote this with the idea that it probably wouldn’t be commented mainly because material is so diverse.
Feel free to message me personally if you prefer a closed discussion. I would appreciate that. It is my experience that extroverts prefer open ended discussions, while introverts prefer personal contact, and that neither is wrong, so in order to facilitate everyone’s preferences I encourage the use of both mediums to respond to me, or others.




1. *** A Devil’s Chaplain by Richard Dawkins: I was mesmerized in the first section of the book, having hopes that I could give this one a five star rating. However, its failures come in later sections of the book. A Devil’s Chaplain is a collection of odds and ends that Dawkins put together to make this book. Some of it is among his best, and some of it is boring.
2. **** Whargoul by Dave Brockie – A true testimony to the power of Jesus. The main character, “Whargoul” heads straight for gore very much the same way a soldier’s courage might drive him straight to the center of wartime conflict, such that this book satirically delves into the seemingly amoral nature of being a soldier through satire in the same way that The Prince by Machiavelli delves into the amorality of politics. This book crosses the line between the sacredness and profanity of wartime killing, and immorality that often reportedly happens during war. The book often reverses and confuses right and wrong in an environment where discernment is next to impossible because of immersion in gore similar to the Garden of Eden in Genesis. Whargoul, knowing nothing but gore, first innocently engages in immorality for lack of discernment, sometimes concluding what he has done is wrong, but that he did the immoral thing because he learned wrong before right. Whargoul has no parents, which similar to Adam. Whargoul rapes, which is similar to Genesis: “This is bone of my bones.” Whargoul eats a baby, which is similar to eating the forbidden fruit Genesis. Then, Whargoul murders, which is similar to the Genesis story of Cain, and his life is cursed and bitter toward God, similar to the curse of Cain. As in the song off GWAR’s Ragnarok album goes, Whargoul is, “Uncool,” in the way that Machiavelli’s Prince, is not cool. Finally, at the end Whargoul becomes a Christian.
3. *** My Life by Bill Clinton (audiobook) – Clinton paints a complex picture full of out of the box predicaments. Much of it is lacking. Clinton is not eager to forgive the Republicans, though he embraces humanity in its sinful nature, which is not a contradiction until Clinton adds that he does this in order to form a more perfect union. Put 1 and 1 together and he might have well just say, “I, myself, am a sinner. I don’t forgive sinners for the sake of unity.” As a contrarian, it makes sense to me that the only way to not forgive the Republicans and embrace humanity is to respect the idea of anarchy and disunity. At least, that is what I do. Frankly, I agree with Clinton in that Republicans piss me off, yet I figure they are digging their own grave or they are just plain studying or they can’t separate right from wrong, yet because I am not a conformist, outnumbered by Republicans in my town, I believe some amount of disunity is good. A world of union is boring. A world of individualism is exciting. In fact, I believe that the Bible can be summed up as be unique and ethical. There was only one Moses. There was only one Abraham. There was only one Noah, etc. But, in the case of something like being an alcoholic, it is the antithesis of the Bible for alcoholics are common. Yet, union causes people to put aside their differences and essentially it is a command to join the animal heard. Perhaps, this is the greatest horror of the idea of marriage. I have anarchist tendencies and mentally I bleed stupid thoughts to my wife on the idea that my wife and I are anarchists, united. Anarchists by nature aren’t united, and I would have hoped that Clinton as a democrat would have displayed some anarchist tendencies, not to be confused with immorality, as the idea of democracy is closer to that of anarchy than that of a republic, at least according to Plato.
There are some angelic aspects to his character, as well as some devilish characteristics, and that much is healthy.
His delivery is charismatic, but also quitae predictable in the same way as that of Martin Luther King. Nearly every sentence starts with a low note, quickly rises and then trails to lower pitches, with occasional rises on the downward trail. At one time, I fell asleep listening to this incessant pattern over and over. A typical delivery of Clinton goes as follows (I made up the words), “I (low) found (middle) some (high) hope (high). Then (middle), the Republicans (middle) attacked my character (low), and (middle) the hope (low) went away (lowest).”
4. * How We Die by Sherwin Nuland - Did not finish. I thought this book was pretty close to being a pile of dung. I appreciate his attitude that it is not necessary to save life at all costs though.
5. *** Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - Did not finish. It started out as a completely amazing book, but then became boring.
6. *** As You Like It by William Shakespeare
7. ***** The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu – Classic. This book combines the wisdom of Plato’s Republic to technology, and the wisdom of Gibbon’s Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.
8. ***** The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare (audiobook) – An often overlooked classic that deserves more attention.
9. *** The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis – I imagine a lot of video game authors and other media producers in the modern age might site this book as influential.
10. ***** The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – I love how he posits the trilemma of Mere Christianity to also support the idea that Narnia exists. That is Lucy must either be a liar, mad, or telling the truth that Narnia is real in the same way that in Mere Christianity he posits that Jesus must be Lord, liar or lunatic. Clearly, there are more possibilities than these with regard to Jesus, lest we believe every fantasy our children tell us.
This writing is very much secretly evangelistic. I feel when an evangelist presents me with the Jesus story, and declares something like that Jesus must be Lord, liar or lunatic, it is not Jesus whom I am passing judgment upon, but the witness of a fairytale presented to me. It is thus not Jesus that must be Lord, liar or lunatic, but the person or author that presents Jesus to me that is probably liar, lunatic or telling the truth. But, as I believe happens in the case of the Jesus story, most people that believe in fairy tales are just honestly mistaken about their tale. That is, they are neither telling the truth, lying, or insane, but that they are just plain honestly mistaken. As for me, when someone tells me that if I don’t believe in a fairytale, such that my soul depends on it in order to escape eternal punishment, I won’t sell my soul to believe in Jesus anymore than I would subscribe to the idea that Narnia is a real place.
I agree with this much: Jesus was a real person, but anything beyond that is anyone’s guess. Three major religions have three stories about Jesus that are very much in conflict. Christianity says that Jesus is Lord. Judaism says that Jesus was the antichrist. And, Islam says that Jesus was the humblest prophet, but not as great as Mohammed. Therefore, what is to be made of this man’s story is anybody’s guess. Two of these religions, Christianity and Islam, say that this decision is central going to either heaven or hell in the afterlife. The other religion calls me a gentile, and says that they can feed me stuff not appropriate for them to eat and says that they could have me as a slave for my entire existence on earth without release among other things, yet because I am a gentile it is okay for me to believe in Jesus, but if I were a Jew they would declare that I was dead and wicked for believing in Jesus. None of these are very compelling arguments for or against the Jesus story.