«
»

Books read/finished in January

The Prodigal God (Tim Keller)
A great little book explaining the Parable of the Prodigal Sons; what I appreciate most about this book is its penetrating clarity, its lack of wordiness, and the biblical emphasis that we, like both the elder and younger brothers, are lost, and don’t understand the nature of sin or the nature of God’s abundant grace to us. Highly recommended, especially for older brother types like me.

A Treatise of Human Nature (David Hume)
As you might expect I read this nearly-700 page book for my PhD thesis (for the second time). Actually I’m unsure if I’d actually read all of it before now (having had read relevant parts and skimming the rest). For as much as Hume is maligned often as the Chief Skeptic I found most of his reasoning interesting and convincing — though he doesn’t leave room for many things beyond the empirical realm, which is indeed problematic. His writing is clear, fluid and actually gets into a narrative rhythm, especially in Book III: Of Morals. Recommended for philosophy-enthusiasts and for the layman, Book 1 of the Treatise would be worth picking up (especially for its pseudo-Calvinist ending).

Currently on the nightstand: Hypno-birthing, still working on What Mothers Do, Mama, PhD, skimming again through Sears’ The Birth Book, and for my book club, Things I’ve been Silent About.

This entry was posted by Ashley on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 9:22 pm. This entry was tagged with , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Books read/finished in January”

  1. joannabug Says:
    February 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 am

    I’d love to hear your thoughts on Mama PhD sometime!

  2. Ginette Says:
    February 2nd, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Go reader! Very impressive. Right now on my night stand is “Oh the Wonderful Sounds Mr. Brown Can Do” (no joke). Does that count? :)

  3. Daniel Says:
    February 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 am

    I can’t break out of sci-fi lately. In the last couples months I finished the Tripod Trilogy, Ender’s Shadow, The Short Stories of Philip K. Dick (Volume 4), and am currently reading Perdido Street Station (on loan from the Ben Friesen collection).