Tag Archives: nonfiction

What Makes Me a Muslim? by Catherine Petrini

Posted by melydia on April 2, 2009 None comments

What Makes Me A Muslim? by Catherine M. Petrini: Though aimed at elementary school children, this overview of the Muslim religion proved to be a pretty good primer for me as well. I wasn’t familiar with most of the holidays or the sheer diversity of practices in the global Muslim community. It’s always fascinating to see the vast differences in interpretation of the same book. Definitely recommended for explaining the basics of Islam to a small child (or an uninformed adult, like myself).

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Posted by melydia on March 31, 2009 None comments

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins: I imagine this book rankles a lot of people. The mere title is sure to raise hackles, calling their cherished lifelong faith a delusion. But it’s not nearly as mean-spirited as the title may suggest. The book begins with an explanation of the difference between supernatural religion and Einsteinian religion. Einstein, though he often mentioned “God” did not actually believe in a personal, supernatural god. He was talking about the universe as a whole. Though not something to be worshipped, the same awe and reverence usually associated with religion is unquestionably felt by atheists.

Dawkins then proceeds to address large numbers of arguments for the existence of a personal creator-god. Most of his rebuttals against the creator-god boil down to this: if the universe is so complex that it must have been designed, then the designer must have been even more complex, and using that same logic, must therefore also have been designed. He also responds to famous arguments such as those from Thomas Aquinas and Pascal’s Wager.

The chapter “why there almost certainly is no God” goes through various probability-based arguments, most of which return to the fact that natural selection is not random chance but rather a series of tiny changes over thousands or even billions of years. With the exception of the very first spark of life, nothing just spontaneously appeared over the course of evolution. That initial spark is then argued for using the anthropic principle. This idea, when applied to the origin of life, is that we know that though the odds of all the conditions being just right for life are infinitesimal, we know that they are non-zero because we are alive to ask the question. I can’t refute it, but it’s a terribly unsatisfying argument.

Dawkins then moves on to address the roots of religion and morality in Darwinian terms. That is, if there is no god, why does religion pop up in all cultures? If there is no god, what’s the point in being good? Dawkins discusses both of these questions thoroughly and concisely.

After a chapter about why he is so hostile to religion and one equating childhood religious upbringing with child abuse (though he does believe that religious books should be taught as part of literature, just as the Greek myths are currently), Dawkins closes with a discussion of why we as human beings don’t actually need religion to be happy. Though religion has traditionally been expected to fill our needs for consolation and inspiration (among other things already addressed), there are plenty of other sources for these. The book ends with a revisit to the Einsteinian religion with various descriptions of the amazing, the mind-boggling, and the inspiring in our universe. The more we know, the more we yearn to know. Life is beautiful even without the supernatural.

This book has given me quite a lot to think about, some of it rather uncomfortable. I’m not going to get into my own personal beliefs in this review. I don’t agree 100% with everything Dawkins has to say, but I do believe this is an extremely important book and something people should read. It’s not that reading this will necessarily turn you into an atheist (though I suppose it might), but I do believe that one cannot really hold convictions without having considered thoughtful and concise arguments to the contrary. Otherwise it’s not a conviction at all, just mindless parroting of whatever you’ve been told. Even if this book doesn’t change your mind about anything, it should help you focus on why you believe what you do.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

Posted by melydia on March 20, 2009 None comments

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt: I suspect most people who read this book do so for the same reason I did: they liked Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Instead of Savannah, we are now in Venice. The story opens a few days after the fire that destroyed the Fenice Theater and continues through its first performance after reopening almost ten years later. Most of the book is in some way related to this: a glassblower who makes vases to commemorate the event, the intracharity squabbles of an American group trying to fund restorations, and of course the investigation into the cause of the fire. In the middle are anecdotes about various other Venicians, including a rather long tale about Ezra Pound’s mistress, Olga Ruge. Berendt’s prose style reads very much like a novel, and I found myself very much wanting to see Venice. I also discovered that I don’t particularly want to visit Venice. The characters, while interesting and often eccentric, also struck me as particularly unfriendly and oversensitive. Gossip and bribery rule the day against the backdrop of gorgeous canals and palaces. Still, it’s an interesting book and very different from most travelogues. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for Berendt’s next work.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Naked by David Sedaris

Posted by melydia on February 27, 2009 None comments

Naked by David Sedaris: As with all of Sedaris’s books, this is a collection of autobiographical essays, mostly humorous. To be honest, this wasn’t one of his better books. A lot of the stories felt simply too long and drawn out, as if they could have been split into two stories about two different things. I should also note that the stories are more sequential, so that things make the most sense when read in the order they are presented in the book. This wasn’t a bad book, to be sure; I laughed in quite a few places. It just isn’t as strong a set of tales as those found in his other books. Recommended for Sedaris fans, but if you’re new to this author, you’d probably be better off trying out something else.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh

Posted by melydia on February 19, 2009 1 comments

Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh: Most people are familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem which describes a right triangle: a^2 + b^2 = c^2. However, what you may not know is that Pierre Fermat claimed back in the 1600s to be able to prove that a^n + b^n = c^n has no whole number solutions for n > 2. Trial and error suggests this to be true, but for over 350 years, no one could prove it. This is the story of the equation and those who worked towards the eventual solution in the early 1990s, from Pythagoras through Andrew Wiles, who published the final proof. His proof is complicated enough that I suspect Fermat’s proof was flawed, but it makes for a surprisingly engrossing read all the same. There are tons of names and personal stories in this book, and though they often feel tangential, every single person discussed has great bearing in one way or another on the solving of Fermat’s Last Theorem. One doesn’t usually equate mathematics with drama or suspense, but both are present here. Definitely recommended for anyone with even a passing interest in math or history.

Note: The UK version of this book, which I have, is titled Fermat’s Last Theorem. The American version is called Fermat’s Enigma. There is also another book called Fermat’s Last Theorem which was written by Amir D. Aczel. Confusion abounds.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Give Me a Break by John Stossel

Posted by melydia on January 21, 2009 None comments

Give Me a Break by John Stossel: This is a quick read. I enjoyed Stossel’s conversational tone and his no-nonsense way of addressing the issues. And in general I agree that government needs to shrink, lawsuits need to be reduced, and there’s no virtue in being a victim. His anecdotes were a mixture of humorous and maddening, as most stories of government stupidity are. Unfortunately, I don’t see this book as convincing anyone with firmer beliefs than the most tenuous of fence-sitters. As a reporter, Stossel knows how to break down complex issues into bite-sized chunks. Unfortunately, that means his evidence is a collection of soundbites from interviews rather than papers and studies you can go look up yourself. Interviews are a good source of information, but I am always wary of nonfiction books lacking a bibliography or at least a “further reading” section.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean

Posted by melydia on January 9, 2009 1 comments

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean: When my pharmacist caught sight of this book, he asked if it was a thriller. That is one thing this book is not. It is, however, a slew of other things. Though it began more or less as Orlean’s interest in the trial of one John Laroche, a Florida man caught poaching ghost orchids off park land with a trio of Seminole Indians, it rapidly blossomed into a full-scale investigation of the orchid-loving life. Evidently people go mad for these plants, sort of a “gotta catch ’em all” attitude for the floraphile set. And considering there are tens of thousands of orchid breeds, many costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars and meticulous care, it can become quite the costly and timely pursuit. Sound boring? Surprisingly, it isn’t. Perhaps the most fascinating part for me was not the unexpectedly vehement passions of orchid enthusiasts, but rather Orlean’s bald-faced judgementalism. It said a lot about her attitudes, and rather than being an impartial observer, she was clearly flabbergasted by the entire orchid culture – indeed, about any passion of that magnitude for anything. Without that air of “OMG look how weird this is” permeating throughout the story, this would have been rather dull. I didn’t know the orchid world was so cutthroat, but after you’ve spent time with sports fanatics and anime fanboys, you realize that there are many things in this world that interest people far more than they do you, and nothing is too unusual to obsess over.

If you want to get a taste of the many orchid varieties, check out the sampling at Orchid Court.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig

Posted by melydia on December 29, 2008 None comments

Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig: Copyright law! That’s right, folks, I read a book about copyright law. And a fascinating book, at that. Lessig takes us through the ins and outs of these ever-changing rules, sprinkled liberally with relevant examples. Should students be sued for their life savings for sharing music files? Should copyright automatically be renewed, even if the original holder is disinterested or even dead? Are fanart and fanfic actually a threat to creators of the content on which they are based? How does the internet change the way content is shared, and how should copyright law to reflect this? Lessig goes through this all in great detail. It’s an important book for most netizens, particularly those members of fandom.

As one might expect giving the subject matter, this entire text of this book is available for free download, as well as how I experienced it: a free audiobook podcast.

Why Don’t Your Eyelashes Grow? by Beth Ann Ditkoff

Posted by melydia on December 20, 2008 None comments

Why Don’t Your Eyelashes Grow? by Beth Ann Ditkoff: This is a collection of questions and answers geared towards parents answering their children’s queries about their bodies. No, it’s not about puberty. It’s about all the other little stuff: why do we have boogers, what are moles, etc. I knew most of the answers already, though I recognized several misconceptions I held as a child. I can see this being a useful book to have in the house. Unfortunately, I am a touch leery about the credibility of the information. Yes, the author is a doctor, but there is no bibliography or even recommended further reading. That always puts up a red flag for me when reading nonfiction.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell

Posted by melydia on December 12, 2008 None comments

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell: This is an autobiography unlike most others. Campbell, star of the Evil Dead films, starts from his surprisingly industrious childhood, through the physical tortures of his friendship with Sam Raimi (who would go on to direct the Spiderman films, among others), and into his career as a full-time actor. Not only is it a fascinating look into the making of Evil Dead and Hercules, it’s downright hilarious. Campbell writes the way he speaks, a sort of campy monologue full of entertaining anecdotes. My favorite part was the photo captions. Definitely recommended, not only to Bruce Campbell fans, but also to aspiring filmmakers. It’s amazing what Raimi and co. were able to accomplish on a meager budget, using homemade special effects. I look forward to Campbell’s other books.

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