Most commented posts
- The Origins of the Second World War by A.J.P. Taylor — 1 comments
- The Cider House Rules by John Irving — 1 comments
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving — 1 comments
- Theogony / Works and Days / Shield by Hesiod — 1 comments
Al Singh
Author's posts
Mar 22 2013
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Judaism by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Like most Christians, I think I understand Judaism; this book showed me how much there remains to learn about this ancient and important religion. Jews believe in the Fall, but they do not believe in original sin. They believe in an afterlife, but they do not believe in a bodily resurrection. They believe in hell, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/03/22/the-complete-idiots-guide-to-understanding-judaism-by-rabbi-benjamin-blech/
Mar 19 2013
A History of the Middle East by Peter Mansfield
The best written and most informative book I have read on the modern Middle East. A recurring theme is the way outside powers have shaped and interfered in the destiny of the region. The book is ambivalent about America’s role in the Middle East, arguing that the post-9/11 approach has abandoned the goal of democracy …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/03/19/a-history-of-the-middle-east-by-peter-mansfield/
Mar 11 2013
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
This book is quite simply the most enthralling work of fiction that I have read in the last twenty years. The building of a cathedral in itself is not terribly interesting; what is interesting is the way in which individuals thrown upon their own resources struggle to survive in a harsh medieval world. And the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/03/11/the-pillars-of-the-earth-by-ken-follett/
Feb 20 2013
The Dark Half by Stephen King
This one of the better books from the period that I tend to think of as the Decline of the Master. Naturally, the bad guy is the most interesting character; the other characters are quite bland and uninteresting. King employs his usual device of supernatural phenomenon without a shred of explanation or plausibility, but we …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/02/20/the-dark-half-by-stephen-king/
Dec 10 2012
Burmese Days by George Orwell
This book deals with many important and socially relevant issues, such as racism, imperialism, colonialism, and the White Man’s Burden. Unfortunately, these important issues fail to compensate for the fact that this is an exceedingly dull story. There were parts of this book that made me feel profoundly disgusted, but other than that it left …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/12/10/burmese-days-by-george-orwell/
Oct 26 2012
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
This is the WORST Stephen King novel I have ever read. No zombies, no vampires, no demons, just a writer dealing with writer’s block. No doubt this is Stephen King’s worst nightmare, but it hardly makes for an interesting story for the general reader. There are some ghosts and haunting going on, but most of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/10/26/bag-of-bones-by-stephen-king/
Oct 14 2012
Spain: The Root and the Flower by John Crow
The best book on this little-studied corner of Europe I have read so far. The author sees Spanish history mostly as a series of tragedies and disappointments, implying that while the rest of Europe was forging ahead on the path to progress, Spain lagged irremediably behind. But he is full of admiration for the qualities …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/10/14/spain-the-root-and-the-flower-by-john-crow/
Sep 22 2012
A Clergyman’s Daughter by George Orwell
Most of us are familiar with Animal Farm and 1984; this story of a clergyman’s daughter living in 1930’s England is far more grim and depressing than any of Orwell’s totalitarian dystopias. Orwell the freethinker sees the Christian life as nothing but unrelieved hypocrisy, cant, and flummery, a way of making you feel like you …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/09/22/a-clergymans-daughter-by-george-orwell/
Aug 21 2012
De Anima by Aristotle
I think of “soul” as another word for consciousness, but Aristotle says remarkably little about consciousness in this book. For Aristotle the primary characteristic of the soul is that it moves or animates the body. The secondary characteristic is that it is endowed with perception through the physical sense organs. By the time he comes …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/08/21/de-anima-by-aristotle/
Aug 04 2012
Six Days of War by Michael Oren
Excellent book. If anyone wants to know how a pitifully small nation, surrounded by implacable enemies, hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, can resoundingly defeat those enemies in six days, this is the book to read. The author is a card-carrying Israeli Jew, but he gives a thoroughly balanced treatment of the events leading up to the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/08/04/six-days-of-war-by-michael-oren/