Tuesday, June 28, 2011

It seems to me that if you......

....want a good history book, it's best to go back a few years.  When I was in Vancouver earlier this month for my ERCP, I called in at the Vancouver Library and picked up this copy of "How the Reformation Happened."  by Hilaire Belloc.  He didn't disappoint me.  Packed with information, a very thorough description of the Reformation as it unfolded, he tells in a short book the major sequence of events in England, Scotland, France, Germany and Holland.  I would like to have a copy of this book for reference.  He claims that when it started, the Reformation was not about Doctrine, but a protest against clerical and Papal abuses, and a realization by the nobility that it was an opportunity to get rich by plundering Church and Monastic property, and that it was a movement of nobles more than a popular uprising.  Also surprising was the involvement of Islam, which won in Hungary at the battle of Mohacs in August 1526, which distracted the German Emperor and stopped him from quelling the rebellion at home.  He also claims that Henry Vlll's break from the Pope was not meant to be permanent, Kings did that all the time.  But that Henry died before he could repair the break.  Excellent book.

One of the most dramatic books.....

I've read lately was "Under an Afghan Sky"  by Melissa Fung, a Canadian journalist.  She was captured by a group of young Afghans outside a refugee camp in Kabul and kept prisoner in a hole in the ground for 28 days.  The only way I could get through this book was because I knew at the end of it she escaped.  I saw her interviewed on the National by Peter Mansbridge a few weeks ago.  I read it in about 3 days.  She behaved in a very intelligent way with her captors,  asking their names and taking an interest in their lives.  They told her they were Talib, but she suspected that they were just criminals, who supported the Taliban.  Finally she was released in exchange for a member of her captors' family, without payment.  She was lucky to get out alive.  It could have ended very differently.  The book is very well written and a compelling read.

A book I've been waiting for.......

arrived sooner than I thought it would.  Michael Coren's book  "Why Catholics are Right."  No false modesty here!   It's about time someone wrote this book.  I've heard many of the arguments used here often enough and others have heard them too.  Michael gives a good response to the confused ideas around such topics as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Catholic Doctrines like Purgatory.  I bought myself a copy to keep as a reference and also one to lend out.

More of the same.....

from Melanie Phillips in "Londonistan".   It breaks my heart to see what has happened to England's green and pleasant land.  Some towns in the north are all Muslim.  She speaks about the rise of militant Islam in Britain and how it has been allowed to be taught in the Mosques there.  British born youths whose loyalty is not to the country they were born in, but to Muslim countries.  She tells how the Underground bombers went white water rafting in Wales the weekend before the attack, and how they were all born in Britain.  She also speaks of institutional reluctance to name and confront the problem.  It does not speak well for the future of Britain, I hope it's not too late.

A book to entertain and frustrate.......

"America Alone" by Mark Steyn.  It had me convulsed and it had me shaking my head in disbelief.  Bracing, brisk a call to common sense in our confused world.  To be read to be believed.

For a better understanding......

of the war in Afghanistan I took out a copy of "Descent into chaos"  by Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist, who seems to be on friendly terms with many of the crucial players.  He paints a tangled picture of intrigue, corruption, mistakes in judgement and general incompetence of those involved in the  American invasion of Afghanistan, and its consequences.  It's hard to believe that peace will ever come to this region, including Pakistan and central Asia.  It's a fascinating read and I came away with a better knowledge of the people and places involved, and even admiration for the ordinary people who have endured so much, and for those who continue the struggle, against many odds, to bring some kind of stability here.

Long Hiatus......

....Not sure why but I've had trouble accessing my blog in recent weeks.  So I have quite a number of books to review.
The first is a book by the well known British Atheist Antony Flew.  At least the blurb says that he is a well known atheist, but I had never heard of him.  I guess I haven't been moving in the right/wrong circle.  The book:  "There is A God".  Apparently Antony Flew was the first to come up with a systematic theory of atheism.   He tells in this book how he came to change his mind, from atheism to a belief in God, a Creator.  He says:  "I have followed the argument where it has led me.  And it has led me to accept the existence of a self-existent, immutable, immaterial, omnipotent, and omniscient Being."  He also says about Christianity that:  "If you are wanting omnipotence to set up a religion, it seems to me that this is the one to beat!"
One thing that puzzled him was consciousness:  how could matter give birth to consciousness, another was rationality and conceptual thought:  "How is it possible to evaluate data at all?"
A good read, which I intend to go back to, if ever I have the time.