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Books/Reading Thread


axlrose15

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18 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

The God Delusion

Worst book I have ever read in my entire life. I barely got through it (skim read the last few pages). Pretentious, arrogant, biased drivel. 

Biased? Oh the irony. :lol: 

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Killing for Company: The Case of Dennis Nilsen (1985) by Brian Masters.

What the new three-part ITV drama, Des starring David Tennant, is based on * - Brian Masters is indeed a prominent character in the drama. 1983-5, Masters wrote this biography through multiple interviews, even receiving manuscripts from the serial killer. It is biographic, psycho-analytical, poetic-romantic and horrendously disturbing in equal measure. 

* Indeed, recently reissued in accordance.

 

Edited by DieselDaisy
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On the Trail of the Yorkshire Ripper: His Final Secrets Revealed (2019) by Richard Charles Cobb.

Forensic scrutiny of crime scenes, then and now, through mapping and photography. Essential for understanding Sutcliffe's reign of terror and modus operandi. The author also posits two-three interesting theories of his own.

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Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron, by Alexander Freed.

Re-listening while I read the tie in comics. Part one of a trilogy on tie fighters taking care of loose ends after the Empires collapse in the film Return of the Jedi. Lots of star battles in this chaotic time!!

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Yorkshire Ripper - The Secret Murders (2015) by Chris Clark and Tim Tate.

Argues forcefully that Peter Sutcliffe murdered far more than the ''certified'' thirteen women, and that these attacks occurred outside the vicinity of Yorkshire, even London. Also argues - convincingly - of a mass Police cover-up then and today (put in a Freedom of Information request on the Ripper case files and see the result...). This book is more a polemic that these ''cold cases'' should be looked at again, with modern DNA profiling applied.

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currently reading the most important book in history.

I had already read the gospels, but now I'm planning on finally reading all the other books too. I'm reading them at random, as I find that reading the bible from first to last page is too much of a gargantuan effort. To keep track of what I've read, I'm making a small mark on the start of each book / chapter.

I find it utterly fascinating to read such an old text from milennia in the past. To my knowledge no other book offers such an inside view in the times so far back in the past. And much of it is surprisingly topical. How you should view other people's opinions / religions, how you should approach people who lay claim to the truth, not to lose yourself in wordly things like money, alcohol and hatred. They are talking about athletes in stadions, and marriage being an institution that brings a lot of sorrows and problems, and generally stuff that could have easily been written yesterday.

with every page I read, I can litterally feel myself become a better person.

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The varieties of the religious experience - William James

The Cold War - John Lewis Gaddis

Hitch 22 - Christopher Hitchens 

William Blake and the age of revolution - Jacob Bronowski

The Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels

Lonely Boy - Steve Jones (Sex pistols)

The Barry town trilogy - Roddy Doyle

Read those over the last couple of days.

 

20 minutes ago, action said:

currently reading the most important book in history.

I had already read the gospels, but now I'm planning on finally reading all the other books too. I'm reading them at random, as I find that reading the bible from first to last page is too much of a gargantuan effort. To keep track of what I've read, I'm making a small mark on the start of each book / chapter.

I find it utterly fascinating to read such an old text from milennia in the past. To my knowledge no other book offers such an inside view in the times so far back in the past. And much of it is surprisingly topical. How you should view other people's opinions / religions, how you should approach people who lay claim to the truth, not to lose yourself in wordly things like money, alcohol and hatred. They are talking about athletes in stadions, and marriage being an institution that brings a lot of sorrows and problems, and generally stuff that could have easily been written yesterday.

with every page I read, I can litterally feel myself become a better person.

Read the Nag Hamadi texts....

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20 minutes ago, action said:

currently reading the most important book in history.

I had already read the gospels, but now I'm planning on finally reading all the other books too. I'm reading them at random, as I find that reading the bible from first to last page is too much of a gargantuan effort. To keep track of what I've read, I'm making a small mark on the start of each book / chapter.

I find it utterly fascinating to read such an old text from milennia in the past. To my knowledge no other book offers such an inside view in the times so far back in the past. And much of it is surprisingly topical. How you should view other people's opinions / religions, how you should approach people who lay claim to the truth, not to lose yourself in wordly things like money, alcohol and hatred. They are talking about athletes in stadions, and marriage being an institution that brings a lot of sorrows and problems, and generally stuff that could have easily been written yesterday.

with every page I read, I can litterally feel myself become a better person.

Very cool!

I always love when I get to read Acts again! John is the Gospel that I feel most 'in touch with.'

What I do is I follow whats called a lectionary. They are daily and/or weekly readings from OT, prophet, Psalms, Gospel and NT. The various scriptures are linked by theme.

I use the daily lectionary at anglicandailyoffice.online and I get my Sunday/Weekly lectionary from lectionarypage.net

Both are super easy with the text either appearing on screen or by hyper link. I study the weekly one over the week. I simply read the daily ones. With the weekly one alone you end up reading the entire Bible every three years - and not in order just like you prefer!

I also listen to the audio bible lots. Just let NT play. I got my annual listening stats and was surprised to learn its my most listened book. Weird because... Star Wars audio books also exists!! :lol:

20 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

The Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels

Ive got that one!

You read lots and fast :headbang:

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5 minutes ago, soon said:

Very cool!

I always love when I get to read Acts again! John is the Gospel that I feel most 'in touch with.'

What I do is I follow whats called a lectionary. They are daily and/or weekly readings from OT, prophet, Psalms, Gospel and NT. The various scriptures are linked by theme.

I use the daily lectionary at anglicandailyoffice.online and I get my Sunday/Weekly lectionary from lectionarypage.net

Both are super easy with the text either appearing on screen or by hyper link. I study the weekly one over the week. I simply read the daily ones. With the weekly one alone you end up reading the entire Bible every three years - and not in order just like you prefer!

I also listen to the audio bible lots. Just let NT play. I got my annual listening stats and was surprised to learn its my most listened book. Weird because... Star Wars audio books also exists!! :lol:

Ive got that one!

You read lots and fast :headbang:

thanks!

I'm more of a quick reader though. I want to read the entire bible in no more than three months. you think that's possible? Well, I was never one to shy away from a good challenge. 

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1 minute ago, action said:

thanks!

I'm more of a quick reader though. I want to read the entire bible in no more than three months. you think that's possible? Well, I was never one to shy away from a good challenge. 

Gnarly! I bet you can! Just skim over all the drawn out genealogies lol

Go action, go!!

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Just now, soon said:

Gnarly! I bet you can! Just skim over all the drawn out genealogies lol

Go action, go!!

yeah, the genealogies are a bit too much lol. they're like footnotes in your reader that you could skip over at uni. Don't really get the point of all those names.

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4 hours ago, soon said:

Very cool!

I always love when I get to read Acts again! John is the Gospel that I feel most 'in touch with.'

What I do is I follow whats called a lectionary. They are daily and/or weekly readings from OT, prophet, Psalms, Gospel and NT. The various scriptures are linked by theme.

I use the daily lectionary at anglicandailyoffice.online and I get my Sunday/Weekly lectionary from lectionarypage.net

Both are super easy with the text either appearing on screen or by hyper link. I study the weekly one over the week. I simply read the daily ones. With the weekly one alone you end up reading the entire Bible every three years - and not in order just like you prefer!

I also listen to the audio bible lots. Just let NT play. I got my annual listening stats and was surprised to learn its my most listened book. Weird because... Star Wars audio books also exists!! :lol:

Ive got that one!

You read lots and fast :headbang:

A book for the sofa, one for the park, one for bed, one for the toilet :D Thats usually how I read. 4-5 at the same time. Stuff like William James or the Blake Book get tedious after 60-80 pages sometimes so it’s handy to pick up a different book. 
It probably sounds mad, switching off from reading by reading something else, but it works! 
 

What did you think of the gnostic gospels book? I really enjoyed it. Lots of stuff to chew on...

Edited by Powderfinger
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13 hours ago, Powderfinger said:

A book for the sofa, one for the park, one for bed, one for the toilet :D Thats usually how I read. 4-5 at the same time. Stuff like William James or the Blake Book get tedious after 60-80 pages sometimes so it’s handy to pick up a different book. 
It probably sounds mad, switching off from reading by reading something else, but it works! 
 

What did you think of the gnostic gospels book? I really enjoyed it. Lots of stuff to chew on...

I like your system :lol: Now that I think of it, I'm similar. Ive always got some Star Wars, social theory, the Bible, something lighter on hobbies such as herbalism and at least one audio book. On the toilet I post recipes to mygnr forum though  lol

I have to admit that I don't remember word one of Pagels commentary, but thats not to say that at the time I read it I didnt enjoy it and learn stuff. Maybe you can remind me about it?

As for the texts themselves - some of which I know as part of the Ante-Nicene cannon - some of them have sound origins and can help illuminate the NT. And anything that can help us with scripture is in valuable and should be celebrated.

Sorry, but I find it impossible to speak briefly on Christian texts :lol:. Id love to hear your thoughts as well.

Regarding the texts use in christianity and place in canon (if you care lol), heres some further thoughts,
 

Spoiler

The gnostic notion of Archons is really helpful in understanding power dynamics, for instance. And conversely, Paul and others spoke against gnostics precisely because claiming divine knowledge was an easy way to gain power and authority. I lean on Harvard Divinities Laura S Nasrallah for her invaluable work on this subject.

All told, as far as canonization goes, the gnostics seem to have lost on merit. They fought for the inclusion of Jude in the NT. It's entirely likely that this Jude is Jesus brother which a gnostic would be excited about. Its inclusion seems to be solely for one passing mention of Enoch, though (another gnostic fav). Basically mentioning Enoch was canonizing that text by proxy. But heres the thing - Jude is poorly written and says nothing that hadn't already been said elsewhere. Like its presence hasn't aged well. The NT is an awesome read and then you hit Jude and the bottom falls out. Ones just like "Okay.... and moving right along." Its hard to see it as a win for gnostics, and really makes me question what they were bringing to the table.

In my view of Christology the divine became flesh. I dont see the flesh becomes divine part that gnosticism seems to imply. Thats not a rejection mysticism though - the NT is full of mysticism. Apostle John, who was Jesus favorite, was a mystic through and through. By the end hes literally Obi-Wan Kenobi!

So I'm kinda like, once I get all this canonized mysiticism on lock, then I can spend time on other texts. But there is some interesting and useful stuff for sure.

What are your thoughts?

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