Larry's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 11 Apr 2025 21:03:18 -0700 60 Larry's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive]]> 85830
Listening to something absent did not prove fruitless work for this author. Above all, it made it necessary to clear away almost all the doctrines that, since Auschwitz, have been advanced in the name of ethics. For my own part, I will consider myself content with my work if, in attempting to locate the place and theme of testimony, I have erected some signposts allowing future cartographers of the new ethical territory to orient themselves. Indeed, I will be satisfied if Remnants of Auschwitz succeeds only in correcting some of the terms with which we register the decisive lesson of the century and if this book makes it possible for certain words to be left behind and others to be understood in a different sense. This is also a way � perhaps the only way � to listen to what is unsaid.”� Giorgio Agamben]]> 176 Giorgio Agamben 189095117X Larry 3
1. Difficult to imagine. The experience that is. Which is a / the author’s central thesis and poignantly put forward throughout.
2. Difficult to comprehend. The book that is. Potential readers be forewarned of the likely need to proceed slowly, dictionary alongside, to backtrack, to re-read, to ponder, and ultimately to concede.
3. Difficult to tolerate emotionally. Beyond unpleasant.

Vital (ironically). Worthy.

1. Worthy of one’s time.
2. Worthy of one’s heart and mind.
3. Worthy of its difficulty.
4. Perhaps even vital by such.]]> 4.13 1998 Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive
author: Giorgio Agamben
name: Larry
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: epistemology-philosophy, history
review:
Difficult.

1. Difficult to imagine. The experience that is. Which is a / the author’s central thesis and poignantly put forward throughout.
2. Difficult to comprehend. The book that is. Potential readers be forewarned of the likely need to proceed slowly, dictionary alongside, to backtrack, to re-read, to ponder, and ultimately to concede.
3. Difficult to tolerate emotionally. Beyond unpleasant.

Vital (ironically). Worthy.

1. Worthy of one’s time.
2. Worthy of one’s heart and mind.
3. Worthy of its difficulty.
4. Perhaps even vital by such.
]]> <![CDATA[The Necessity of God: In the Flesh, Present Tense, Imperative Mood]]> 228245987
In The Necessity of God, Miller offers a sustained reflection on the nature of "divine indwelling," exploring Jesus' promise that his disciples would come to "know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).

Drawing on Latter-day Saint teachings about vicarious forms of redemption, Friedrich Schleiermacher's work on "God-consciousness," and Spinoza's account of divine necessity, with examples drawn from Joshua Ferris' unforgettable novel The Unnamed, Miller sketches a novel and genuinely material account of divine indwelling.

An abridged version of this text was originally delivered as the 2022 Maxwell Lecture at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.]]> 40 Adam S. Miller Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
Truth, profundity, meaning, can indeed be found in so many places.

I am reminded (not that I forgot) of how powerfully fiction / literature may convey meaning which supersedes words for example through symbolism.

And it can be found in musings of long ago philosophers. Or contemporary.

And it can be found in God-revealed words.

Perhaps most effectively can it be found at the intersection of multiple seemingly unrelated (?) sources.

Such connectings are delightful, memorable, soul-moving.

This work is just that: delightful, memorable, and soul moving.

PS I am now reading a copy of The Unnamed. Seems relevant to share as demonstration of the influence of this book.]]> 4.71 The Necessity of God: In the Flesh, Present Tense, Imperative Mood
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.71
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Creative. Synthetic. Demonstrative.

Truth, profundity, meaning, can indeed be found in so many places.

I am reminded (not that I forgot) of how powerfully fiction / literature may convey meaning which supersedes words for example through symbolism.

And it can be found in musings of long ago philosophers. Or contemporary.

And it can be found in God-revealed words.

Perhaps most effectively can it be found at the intersection of multiple seemingly unrelated (?) sources.

Such connectings are delightful, memorable, soul-moving.

This work is just that: delightful, memorable, and soul moving.

PS I am now reading a copy of The Unnamed. Seems relevant to share as demonstration of the influence of this book.
]]> <![CDATA[Joseph Smith’s Uncanonized Revelations]]> 214346101
This book collects Joseph Smith’s uncanonized revelations, offering a new edition of these text and update to past work. While most of the text featured in this volume are accessible in The Joseph Smith Papers, both online and in print, many readers will probably find it difficult to sift through all twenty-seven volumes of the papers to locate these items. This book aims to remove that barrier to help facilitate access to these fascinating revelations.]]> 222 Stephen O. Smoot 1649333455 Larry 0 currently-reading 5.00 Joseph Smith’s Uncanonized Revelations
author: Stephen O. Smoot
name: Larry
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Joseph Smith's Uncanonized Revelations]]> 213473951 183 Stephen O. Smoot 1950304566 Larry 0 4.05 Joseph Smith's Uncanonized Revelations
author: Stephen O. Smoot
name: Larry
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: to-read, gospel-study, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Revelation: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants]]> 222247857
Throughout his life, Joseph Smith revealed that speaking is a part of who God is. He laid a foundation for a theology of what this book calls “revelatory abundance.� Common themes and modes of revelation are modeled in the Doctrine and Covenants and practically enacted in the lives of the early Saints.

The chapters in this book progress thematically, each one focusing on a specific section or sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. Each considers how this book of scripture helps us to better recognize the Spirit and better develop our relationship with God so we can “hear Him� in all His abundance.]]> 126 Janiece Johnson 1649334338 Larry 0 0.0 Revelation: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
author: Janiece Johnson
name: Larry
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: gospel-study, theology, currently-reading
review:

]]> The Unnamed 229487449 The Unnamed is a dazzling novel about a marriage, family, and the unseen forces of nature and desire that seem to threaten them both.

He was going to lose the house and everything in it.

The rare pleasure of a bath, the copper pots hanging above the kitchen island, his family-again he would lose his family. He stood inside the house and took stock. Everything in it had been taken for granted. How had that happened again? He had promised himself not to take anything for granted and now he couldn't recall the moment that promise had given way to the everyday.

Tim Farnsworth is a handsome, healthy man, aging with the grace of a matinee idol. His wife Jane still loves him, and for all its quiet trials, their marriage is still stronger than most. Despite long hours at the office, he remains passionate about his work, and his partnership at a prestigious Manhattan law firm means that the work he does is important. And, even as his daughter Becka retreats behind her guitar, her dreadlocks, and her puppy fat, he offers her every one of a father's honest lies about her being the most beautiful girl in the world.

He loves his wife, his family, his work, his home. He loves his kitchen. And then one day he stands up and walks out. And keeps walking.

The Unnamed is a heartbreaking story of a life taken for granted - and what happens when that life is abruptly and irrevocably taken away.]]> Joshua Ferris Larry 0 to-read, recreational-reading 0.0 2010 The Unnamed
author: Joshua Ferris
name: Larry
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read, recreational-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Waiting (Renée Ballard, #6)]]> 206125098 LAPD Detective Renée Ballard tracks a terrifying serial rapist whose trail has gone cold with the help of the newest volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry's daughter.

Renée Ballard and the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit get a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago. The arrested man is only twenty-three, so the genetic link must be familial. It is his father who was the Pillowcase Rapist, responsible for a five-year reign of terror in the city of angels. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.

Meanwhile, Ballard's badge, gun, and ID are stolen-a theft she can't report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career as a detective. She works the burglary alone, but her solo mission leads her into greater danger than she anticipates. She has no choice but to go outside the department for help, and that leads her to the door of Harry Bosch.

Finally, Ballard takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit. Bosch's daughter Maddie wants to supplement her work as a patrol officer on the night beat by investigating cases with Ballard. But Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city's library of lost souls.

***

CRIME DOESN'T COME BETTER THAN 'The pre-eminent detective novelist of his generation' IAN RANKIN 'The best mystery writer in the world' GQ 'A superb natural storyteller' LEE CHILD 'A master' STEPHEN KING 'America's greatest living crime writer' DAILY EXPRESS 'One of the great storytellers of crime fiction' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH]]> Michael Connelly 0316563811 Larry 4 recreational-reading
Connelly is masterful, enduringly so.]]> 4.55 2024 The Waiting (Renée Ballard, #6)
author: Michael Connelly
name: Larry
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: recreational-reading
review:
I rather enjoy the world of Harry, Mickey, Madeline, and Renée et al. I have looked and continue to look forward to the next addition � irrespective of the lead protagonist (though I have preferences among them).

Connelly is masterful, enduringly so.
]]> <![CDATA[As It Shall Be Given Thee: Reading Doctrine and Covenants 25: Proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar]]> 181525418 As It Shall Be Given Reading Doctrine and Covenants 25 collects the proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar dedicated to investigating the text of Section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Edited by Joseph Spencer and Rosalynde Welch, contributors include Jennifer Reeder, Rachel Cope, Hannah McLaughlin, Katherine Payne, Robin Scott Jensen, Timothy Farrant, Rosalynde Welch, and Joseph Spencer.

The Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar is based on a novel that Latter-day Saints do theology. Doing theology is different from weighing history or deciding doctrine. Theology experiments with questions and advances hypotheses. It tests new angles and pulls loose threads.

To this end, the Seminar organizes interdisciplinary, collaborative, theological readings of Latter-day Saint scripture. Seminar participants with diverse backgrounds closely explore familiar texts in creative ways. In frequent partnership with the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University, the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar presents these experiments upon the word to foster greater theological engagement with basic Restoration texts.]]> 243 Joseph Spencer Larry 4 8 Essays: 5 of 8 are 5 Star IMO

Two are 4 star. One is 3 star. All are worth spending time with.

Most appreciated were / are, by sequence # (and excluding the summary report), 2 (Ungendering the Text), 3 (Now We’ll Sing �), 4 (� a Theophany of Touch), 7 (Emma as Church, Emma as Christ), and 8 (Things of a Better).

The 3 star contribution was weak by comparison which manifest for example in 1) imprecise and wandering thought development and, 2) a nit but a jarring one, an outright inaccurate statement which unfortunately suggests a likely unwitting gender bias. I’m sure I’ve biases too. Seen and un. Too bad for him it wasn’t caught and corrected in editing.]]> 4.00 As It Shall Be Given Thee: Reading Doctrine and Covenants 25: Proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar
author: Joseph Spencer
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:
8 Essays: 5 of 8 are 5 Star IMO

Two are 4 star. One is 3 star. All are worth spending time with.

Most appreciated were / are, by sequence # (and excluding the summary report), 2 (Ungendering the Text), 3 (Now We’ll Sing �), 4 (� a Theophany of Touch), 7 (Emma as Church, Emma as Christ), and 8 (Things of a Better).

The 3 star contribution was weak by comparison which manifest for example in 1) imprecise and wandering thought development and, 2) a nit but a jarring one, an outright inaccurate statement which unfortunately suggests a likely unwitting gender bias. I’m sure I’ve biases too. Seen and un. Too bad for him it wasn’t caught and corrected in editing.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ghost Orchid (Alex Delaware, #39)]]> 150249627
LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis sees it all the time: Reinvention’s a way of life in a city fueled by fantasy. But try as you might to erase the person you once were, there are those who will never forget the past . . . and who can still find you.

A pool boy enters a secluded Bel Air property and discovers two bodies floating in the bright blue water: Gio Aggiunta, the playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire, and a gorgeous, even wealthier neighbor named Meagin March. A married neighbor.

An illicit affair stoking rage is a perfect motive. But a “double� in this neighborhood of gated estates isn’t something you see every day. The house is untouched. No forced entry, no forensic evidence. The case has “that feeling,� and when that happens, Milo turns to his friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware.

As Milo and Alex investigate both victims, they discover two troubled pasts. And as they dig deeper, Meagin March’s very identity begins to blur. Who was this glamorous but conflicted woman? Did her past catch up to her? Or did Gio’s family connections create a threat spanning two continents?

Chasing down the answers leads Alex and Milo on an exploration of L.A.’s darkest side as they contend with one of the most shocking cases of their careers and learn that that some secrets are best left buried in the past.]]> 304 Jonathan Kellerman 0593497686 Larry 5 I’ve been away too long

Fun. Entertaining. Effective balance of mystery, progress, resolution, and the linkages that bring them together (some authors overdo the mystery and under-do believable linkage(.

And as always, delightful characters. Milo and Alex are near perfect compliments. ]]> 4.39 2024 The Ghost Orchid (Alex Delaware, #39)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Larry
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:
I’ve been away too long

Fun. Entertaining. Effective balance of mystery, progress, resolution, and the linkages that bring them together (some authors overdo the mystery and under-do believable linkage(.

And as always, delightful characters. Milo and Alex are near perfect compliments.
]]> <![CDATA[Exit Strategy: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher)]]> 223928580 The page-turning new Jack Reacher thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child.

Reacher makes hisway towards the entrance of a coffee shop. A young, stressed-looking guy in a suit brushes against him. Instinctively Reacher checks the pocket holding his cash and passport. There's no problem. Nothing is missing. But later in the day he finds something newhas appearedin another pocket. A cryptic note. Reacher figures the guy in the suit must have planted it during their brief contact. Impressed by the guy's technique and intrigued by the message, he decides to find out more...]]> Lee Child 0593725859 Larry 0 to-read, recreational-reading 0.0 Exit Strategy: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher)
author: Lee Child
name: Larry
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read, recreational-reading
review:

]]> West With Giraffes 56449476 An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America.

“Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes…�

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave.

It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.]]> 346 Lynda Rutledge 1542023351 Larry 5 recreational-reading
Some feelings, some experiences, some notions defy words. Or rather they defy explicit, precise, and direct description.

But a story. A story.

This story approached me time and again unawares. Finding in me anew or reminding me again of feelings, experiences, and intuitions.

Contrasts. Joy and melancholy. Fulfillment and longing. Goodness and missed opportunity. Divine and human. Curious perhaps or upon reflection perhaps not.

It seems to me life’s greatest meaning is unutterable. It seems also to me a good story, like this story, may be one way to touch the edges of that meaning.

Might I, as did Woody Nickel, see the face of God, see Good, see life’s meaning in the Edenic faces of Boy and Girl, and in the images of Old Man and Red? And of course in the character Woodrow Wilson Nickel?]]> 4.35 2021 West With Giraffes
author: Lynda Rutledge
name: Larry
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: recreational-reading
review:
“The Face of God�

Some feelings, some experiences, some notions defy words. Or rather they defy explicit, precise, and direct description.

But a story. A story.

This story approached me time and again unawares. Finding in me anew or reminding me again of feelings, experiences, and intuitions.

Contrasts. Joy and melancholy. Fulfillment and longing. Goodness and missed opportunity. Divine and human. Curious perhaps or upon reflection perhaps not.

It seems to me life’s greatest meaning is unutterable. It seems also to me a good story, like this story, may be one way to touch the edges of that meaning.

Might I, as did Woody Nickel, see the face of God, see Good, see life’s meaning in the Edenic faces of Boy and Girl, and in the images of Old Man and Red? And of course in the character Woodrow Wilson Nickel?
]]> <![CDATA[Are We Not All Beggars? Reading Mosiah 4: Proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar]]> 181525334 Are We Not All Beggars? Reading Mosiah 4 collects the proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar dedicated to investigating the text of Mosiah 4 in the Book of Mormon.

Edited by Rosalynde Frandsen Welch and Diana Brown, contributors include Joseph Spencer, Diana Brown, Patrick Mason, Adam Miller, Rosalynde Welch, Jared Hickman, Christy Spackman, and Brandie Siegfried.

The Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar is based on a novel that Latter-day Saints do theology. Doing theology is different from weighing history or deciding doctrine. Theology experiments with questions and advances hypotheses. It tests new angles and pulls loose threads.

To this end, the Seminar organizes interdisciplinary, collaborative, theological readings of Latter-day Saint scripture. Seminar participants with diverse backgrounds closely explore familiar texts in creative ways. In frequent partnership with the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University, the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar presents these experiments upon the word to foster greater theological engagement with basic Restoration texts.]]> 270 Rosalynde Frandsen Welch Larry 4 gospel-study, theology
I’ve read several / many / most (??) of the compilations which like this have arisen from Latter Day Saint Theology Seminars; and enjoyed each. Thoroughly.

This series of essays has been thoroughly enjoyable as well. Descriptors might include: Creative. Analytical. Contrary. Atypical. Inspiring. Lucid. Articulate. Uplifting. Challenging. Delightful. And �

Freighted. A word the use of which made me smile. Its user, one of the essayist authors, thus manifested self and other awareness, perhaps while attempting to pre-empt a reader’s potential objections. Objections?

I suppose.

On occasion one might have an impression that an author is reaching a tad far to find meaning, perhaps more than the text can bear.

Nevertheless these occasions may be fittingly described by words noted previously. To which it occurs to me Honest must be added.

I remain a fan. Or rather am I yet more appreciative of this fine work and others like it. Self-awareness seems rarely expressed.]]> 4.00 Are We Not All Beggars? Reading Mosiah 4: Proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar
author: Rosalynde Frandsen Welch
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Always Thought Prompting

I’ve read several / many / most (??) of the compilations which like this have arisen from Latter Day Saint Theology Seminars; and enjoyed each. Thoroughly.

This series of essays has been thoroughly enjoyable as well. Descriptors might include: Creative. Analytical. Contrary. Atypical. Inspiring. Lucid. Articulate. Uplifting. Challenging. Delightful. And �

Freighted. A word the use of which made me smile. Its user, one of the essayist authors, thus manifested self and other awareness, perhaps while attempting to pre-empt a reader’s potential objections. Objections?

I suppose.

On occasion one might have an impression that an author is reaching a tad far to find meaning, perhaps more than the text can bear.

Nevertheless these occasions may be fittingly described by words noted previously. To which it occurs to me Honest must be added.

I remain a fan. Or rather am I yet more appreciative of this fine work and others like it. Self-awareness seems rarely expressed.
]]> <![CDATA[The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth]]> 196774869
“Mesmerizing, world-expanding, and achingly beautiful.� –Ed Yong, author of An Immense World

“Rich, vital, and full of surprises. Read it!”–Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction

“A brilliant must-read. This book shook and changed me.� –David George Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken, The Songs of Trees, and The Forest Unseen

Award-winning Atlantic staff writer Zoë Schlanger delivers a groundbreaking work of popular science that probes the hidden world of the plant kingdom and reveals the astonishing capabilities of the green life all around us.

It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.

The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.

What can we learn about life on Earth from the living things that thrive, adapt, consume, and accommodate simultaneously? More important, what do we owe these life forms once we come to understand their rich and varied abilities? Examining the latest epiphanies in botanical research, Schlanger spotlights the intellectual struggles among the researchers conceiving a wholly new view of their subject, offering a glimpse of a field in turmoil as plant scientists debate the tenets of ongoing discoveries and how they influence our understanding of what a plant is.

We need plants to survive. But what do they need us for—if at all? An eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants—and our own place—in the natural world.]]> 298 Zoë Schlanger 0063073870 Larry 5 physical-sciences What is “man’s dominion?�

Or, what is humankind’s stewardship? Or perhaps better yet what relationship among nature’s entities is well, healthy, proper, or complete?

1972. The year an essay titled from this query was published. Philosophical, theological, ethical in nature. The words, though now awkward if not somehow offensive to my ear, invite a profound wondering.

2024. The year of publication of The Lighteaters. It invites a similar wondering. By design, by evolution, or otherwise, humankind is in a position (time/place) to think and behave in a manner to enable community or to enable self.

From 1972, “The contemporary reappraisal of man’s relationship to his environment now confronts society at large with a question that has always been of major concern � What is man’s dominion? � The words kivshu and rdu both have a basic root-meaning of exerting pressure, that being, however, merely a point of departure for a whole spectrum of derivatives, so that scholars have translated the words according to individual taste and temperament to convey various ideas and types of dominion. Thus the dictionaries tell us that radad, with the basic meaning of trampling the earth � specifically means “to plow,”while kavash, with the original idea of squeezing or hugging, can mean everything from “violate� to “cherish.� � In all the interpretations we are confronted by two opposing concepts of dominion that have always divided the human race.

From this book: “The hard evidence of plants� primacy is not hard to find, in a practical sense. The harder thing is to feel it. To begin to include plants in our vision of the moving, living world, and see them as animate individuals in their own right, takes mental effort. We may sense it, but many of us have been given neither the way of seeing nor the words to turn that feeling into fact � This business of drawing a line between what does and doesn’t deserve our respect and attention can feel like an exercise in absurdism. It produces a great deal of cognitive dissonance in me now � We are the new kids on the block. Traditionally, you should pay respect to the elders,� by which she meant bacteria, fungi, and plants. She called the view of humanity at the top of an evolutionary chain “arrogant� and “juvenile.�

“Opposing concepts of dominion.� To violate or to cherish? “Does and doesn’t deserve our respect.� Objects to analyze (mechanistcally) or entities to seek to comprehend and respect.

A heart song: flourishing co-existence. There is truth in this heart song.

Philosophically profound. Scientifically informative. This book is an outstanding synthesis, reflection, and invitation. ]]> 4.43 2024 The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
author: Zoë Schlanger
name: Larry
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: physical-sciences
review:
What is “man’s dominion?�

Or, what is humankind’s stewardship? Or perhaps better yet what relationship among nature’s entities is well, healthy, proper, or complete?

1972. The year an essay titled from this query was published. Philosophical, theological, ethical in nature. The words, though now awkward if not somehow offensive to my ear, invite a profound wondering.

2024. The year of publication of The Lighteaters. It invites a similar wondering. By design, by evolution, or otherwise, humankind is in a position (time/place) to think and behave in a manner to enable community or to enable self.

From 1972, “The contemporary reappraisal of man’s relationship to his environment now confronts society at large with a question that has always been of major concern � What is man’s dominion? � The words kivshu and rdu both have a basic root-meaning of exerting pressure, that being, however, merely a point of departure for a whole spectrum of derivatives, so that scholars have translated the words according to individual taste and temperament to convey various ideas and types of dominion. Thus the dictionaries tell us that radad, with the basic meaning of trampling the earth � specifically means “to plow,”while kavash, with the original idea of squeezing or hugging, can mean everything from “violate� to “cherish.� � In all the interpretations we are confronted by two opposing concepts of dominion that have always divided the human race.

From this book: “The hard evidence of plants� primacy is not hard to find, in a practical sense. The harder thing is to feel it. To begin to include plants in our vision of the moving, living world, and see them as animate individuals in their own right, takes mental effort. We may sense it, but many of us have been given neither the way of seeing nor the words to turn that feeling into fact � This business of drawing a line between what does and doesn’t deserve our respect and attention can feel like an exercise in absurdism. It produces a great deal of cognitive dissonance in me now � We are the new kids on the block. Traditionally, you should pay respect to the elders,� by which she meant bacteria, fungi, and plants. She called the view of humanity at the top of an evolutionary chain “arrogant� and “juvenile.�

“Opposing concepts of dominion.� To violate or to cherish? “Does and doesn’t deserve our respect.� Objects to analyze (mechanistcally) or entities to seek to comprehend and respect.

A heart song: flourishing co-existence. There is truth in this heart song.

Philosophically profound. Scientifically informative. This book is an outstanding synthesis, reflection, and invitation.
]]> <![CDATA[Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: a Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed]]> 44801538 14 hrs and 21 mins

Now being developed as a television series with Eva Longoria and ABC!

"An irresistibly addictive tour of the human condition." (Kirkus, starred review)

"Rarely have I read a book that challenged me to see myself in an entirely new light, and was at the same time laugh-out-loud funny and utterly absorbing." (Katie Couric)

"This is a daring, delightful, and transformative book." (Arianna Huffington, founder, Huffington Post and founder & CEO, Thrive Global)

"Wise, warm, smart, and funny. You must read this book." (Susan Cain, New York Times best-selling author of Quiet)

From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world - where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose of­fice she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives - a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a 20-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys - she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.

]]> 15 Lori Gottlieb Larry 5 human-behavior 4.33 2019 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: a Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
author: Lori Gottlieb
name: Larry
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: human-behavior
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow of the Solstice: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel (A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel, 10)]]> 216724269 “Anne Hillerman deserves recognition as one of the finest mystery authors currently working in the genre.”�New York Journal of Books

In this gripping chapter in New York Times bestselling author Anne Hillerman’s Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series, the detectives must sort out a save-the-planet meditation group connected to a mysterious death and a nefarious scheme targeting vulnerable indigenous people living with addiction.

The Navajo Nation police are on high alert when a U.S. Cabinet Secretary schedules an unprecedented trip to the little Navajo town of Shiprock, New Mexico. The visit coincides with a plan to resume uranium mining along the Navajo Nation border. Tensions around the official’s arrival escalate when the body of a stranger is found in an area restricted for the disposal of radioactive uranium waste. Is it coincidence that a cult with a propensity for violence arrives at a private camp group outside Shiprock the same week to celebrate the summer solstice? When the outsiders� erratic behavior makes their Navajo hosts uneasy, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is assigned to monitor the situation. She finds a young boy at grave risk, abused women, and other shocking discoveries that plunge her and Lt. Jim Chee into a volatile and deadly situation.

Meanwhile, Darleen Manuelito, Bernie’s high spirited younger sister, learns one of her home health clients is gone–and the woman’s daughter doesn’t seem to care. Darleen’s curiosity and sense of duty combine to lead her to discover that the client’s grandson is also missing and that the two have become ensnared in a wickedly complex scheme exploiting indigenous people. Darleen’s information meshes with a case Chee has begun to solve that deals with the evil underside of human nature.]]> 480 Anne Hillerman 0063433559 Larry 0 to-read, recreational-reading 4.33 2025 Shadow of the Solstice: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel (A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel, 10)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Larry
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read, recreational-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell]]> 198123506
When acclaimed naturalist Sy Montgomery and wildlife artist Matt Patterson arrive at Turtle Rescue League, they are greeted by hundreds of turtles recovering from injury and illness. Endangered by cars and highways, pollution and poachers, these turtles—with wounds so severe that even veterinarians would have dismissed them as fatal—are given a second chance at life. The League’s founders, Natasha and Alexxia, live by one Never give up on a turtle.

But why turtles?What is it about them that inspires such devotion? Ancient and unhurried, long-lived and majestic, their lineage stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs. Some live to two hundred years, or longer.Others spend months buried under cold winter water. Montgomery turns to these little understood yet endlessly surprising creatures to probe the eternal How can we make peace with our time?

In pursuit of the answer, Sy and Matt immerse themselves in the delicate work of protecting turtle nests, incubating eggs, rescuing sea turtles, and releasing hatchlings to their homes in the wild.We follow the snapping turtle Fire Chief on his astonishing journey as he battles against injuries incurred by a truck.

Hopeful and optimistic,Of Time and Turtlesis an antidote to the instability of our frenzied world.Elegantly blending science, memoir, and philosophy, and drawing on cultures from across the globe, this compassionate portrait of injured turtles and their determined rescuers invites us all to slow down and slip into turtle time.]]> 294 Sy Montgomery 0358460204 Larry 5 Relationship. Reverence. Stewardship. Time.

Likes:
1. Values described and illustrated throughout including: reverence for nature, passion for nurture, relationship with all life, responsibility to honor life, stewardship felt and exemplified.
2. Philosophical wonderings nudged by the above values, and potential insights regarding time. Seeing truth in nature.

Less liked:
1. The occasional interlude, I suppose as context, of (Covid) pandemic-related events. Post pandemic, it seems unnecessary and lightly distracting. Not a big enough “less-like� to lower my rating.
]]> 4.27 2023 Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell
author: Sy Montgomery
name: Larry
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: recreational-reading, biography-autobiography, physical-sciences
review:
Relationship. Reverence. Stewardship. Time.

Likes:
1. Values described and illustrated throughout including: reverence for nature, passion for nurture, relationship with all life, responsibility to honor life, stewardship felt and exemplified.
2. Philosophical wonderings nudged by the above values, and potential insights regarding time. Seeing truth in nature.

Less liked:
1. The occasional interlude, I suppose as context, of (Covid) pandemic-related events. Post pandemic, it seems unnecessary and lightly distracting. Not a big enough “less-like� to lower my rating.

]]> <![CDATA[The Spiritual Physics of Light: How We See, Feel, and Know Truth]]> 58231672 202 Aaron D. Franklin 1649330510 Larry 4 . Perhaps most of all I appreciate the questions posed.
. And I appreciate the open-to-suggestion potential answers. They seem offered fully aware of the potential for greater insight as truth becomes revealed.
. His insights and wonderings square with and expand upon my own musings on the subject(s).

Dislikes:
. None

Long have I been taken with the notion of a universal, unifying truth. I believe the Atonement is that. More than an event. More than a manifestation of any phenomenon or phenomena. More than a manifestation of any characteristic or set of such. More than � words may describe.]]> 4.29 The Spiritual Physics of Light: How We See, Feel, and Know Truth
author: Aaron D. Franklin
name: Larry
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: gospel-study, physical-sciences
review:
Likes:
. Perhaps most of all I appreciate the questions posed.
. And I appreciate the open-to-suggestion potential answers. They seem offered fully aware of the potential for greater insight as truth becomes revealed.
. His insights and wonderings square with and expand upon my own musings on the subject(s).

Dislikes:
. None

Long have I been taken with the notion of a universal, unifying truth. I believe the Atonement is that. More than an event. More than a manifestation of any phenomenon or phenomena. More than a manifestation of any characteristic or set of such. More than � words may describe.
]]> <![CDATA[Fragments of Revelation: Exploring the Book of Doctrine and Covenants]]> 221891381 Fragments of Exploring the Book of Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of essays reflecting on the text of the Doctrine and Covenants. The collection includes theological musings on interpretations, examinations of the ideas portrayed in the documents and how those ideas have evolved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since the time the revelations were recorded, stories from Church history that relate to the revelations and the things they taught, and wrestling with concerns and anxieties about the texts and history.

“These notes from Chad Nielsen's desk reflect serious textual and historical study of the collection of revelations, sermons, and other documents known today as the Doctrine and Covenants. Nielsen correctly notes that the D&C is often neglected among the Saints as far as serious devotional study goes. This volume will help close the gap.�
—Matthew Bowman, Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate University

“The sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and other Church history documents are often approached as independent, stand-alone pieces, if they are approached at all beyond a cursory read-through. Here Chad Nielsen dives deep into the language, concepts, and themes of these 19th-century documents, weaving them into an intertextual story that often remains untold.�
—Stephen Cranney, Non-Resident Fellow at Baylor University’s Institute for the Studies of Religion, Adjunct Professor at Catholic University of America, Data Scientist

”In this collection of thought-provoking essays, Chad Nielsen offers fresh perspectives on the Doctrine and Covenants. With clear, agenda-free insights, each chapter serves as a concise yet deep exploration of topics both familiar and unexpected. Nielsen takes historical context to the next level, outlining not only how things got started, but also how interpretations have evolved over time. He makes the old feel new again!�
—Kurt Manwaring, Editor-in-chief of the Latter-day Saint history blog From the By Study and Faith]]> 487 Chad Nielsen Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
Perhaps indicative of my assessment: long have I read widely, studied deeply, and attempted to articulate my evolving understanding in the form of written notes. References and at times citations occupy some small-ish space within these written notes. Fragments of “Fragments of Revelation� are now among them.]]> 5.00 Fragments of Revelation: Exploring the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
author: Chad Nielsen
name: Larry
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
I appreciate the author's method, the questions he poses (their inclusion period and their specific, careful formulation), his seeming thoroughness, his inclusion of sources authoritative (i.e., affirmed by present-day leadership), once-thought-to-be-authoritative, rationalistic-based sources, and etc; and his own thoughts, wonderings, and conclusions. His style is descriptive. He is mindful to articulate any potential theory which may explain a seeming dilemma or contradiction. And to assess the merits of each, at least preliminarily (if not thoroughly).

Perhaps indicative of my assessment: long have I read widely, studied deeply, and attempted to articulate my evolving understanding in the form of written notes. References and at times citations occupy some small-ish space within these written notes. Fragments of “Fragments of Revelation� are now among them.
]]> <![CDATA[Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 3: Theology (Joseph Smith's Polygamy)]]> 19351231
During Joseph Smith’s lifetime, polygamy was taught and practiced in intense secrecy, with the result that he never fully explained its doctrinal underpinnings or systematized its practice. As a result, reconstructing Joseph Smith’s theology of plurality is a task that has seldom been undertaken. Most theological examinations have either focused on its development during Brigham Young’s Utah period, with its need to resist increasing federal legislative and judicial pressures, or the efforts of twentieth-century and contemporary “fundamentalists� who continue to marry a plurality of wives.

Volume 3 of this three-volume work builds on the carefully reconstructed history of the development of Mormon polygamy during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, then assembles the doctrinal principles from his recorded addresses, the diary entries of those closely associated with him, and his broader teachings on the related topics of obedience to God’s will, marriage and family relations, and the mechanics of eternal progression, salvation, and exaltation. The revelation he dictated in July 1843 that authorized the practice of eternal and plural marriage receives unprecedented examination and careful interpretation that illuminate this significant document and its underlying doctrines.

Attempts to explain the history of Joseph Smith’s polygamy without comprehending the theological principles undergirding its practice will always be incomplete and skewed. This volume, which takes those principles and evidences with the utmost seriousness, has produced the most important explanation of “why� this ancient practice reemerged among the Latter-day Saints on the shores of the Mississippi in the early 1840s.

Praise for Joseph Smith's Polygamy:

"Brian Hales wants to face up to every question, every problem, every fear about plural marriage. His answers may not satisfy everyone, but he gives readers the relevant sources where answers, if they exist, are to be found. There has never been a more thorough examination of the polygamy idea." —Richard L. Bushman, Claremont Graduate University, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

“Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, the first thorough treatment of Joseph Smith’s plural marriages written by a conservative Mormon scholar, is a landmark in the historiography of Mormon polygamy. While I disagree with some of Hales’s conclusions, I admire his willingness to confront difficult topics and the depth of his research. This impressive work furthers the ongoing dialogue in the Mormon historical community on a fascinating and challenging aspect of the life and teachings of Mormonism’s founding prophet.� —Todd M. Compton, author of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith]]> 354 Brian C. Hales Larry 5 history
I appreciate the author's method, the questions he poses (their inclusion period and their specific, careful formulation), his seeming thoroughness, his inclusion of sources damning and otherwise, his descriptive style, and his style in observing how well (or not) the available evidence supports (or doesn't) various plausible theories as to why Joseph did what he did with respect to polygamy.

With respect to the latter (why Joseph did what he did), and attempting to peer through an unbiased lens, it seems any effort to explain Jospeh's actions which does not also allow for the possibility that he acted out of a sincere faith in God and communication with Him (whether or not one personally subscribes to any faith in such a being), is a logically incomplete effort. One may logically conclude that the evidence best supports other plausible theories but to exclude a possible theory is incomplete history just as it would be incomplete science.

This author allows for it. Ye, he also does not exclude any (it seems to me) plausible antagonistic or agnostic explanations. The effort seems assiduously complete and even enormously generous in its inclusion of potential explanatory source material, friendly to Joseph or otherwise.

Other reviewers have noted repetition within and between volumes of this 4-volume set, including and perhaps especially noting repeated use of the same historical document(s). This is accurate and understandable as such documents elucidate multiple aspects of a person, circumstance, relationship, thought, action, and so forth.

I am pleased to have read this work; and have recommended it to others who share a passion for truth.]]> 4.50 2013 Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 3: Theology (Joseph Smith's Polygamy)
author: Brian C. Hales
name: Larry
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: history
review:
(Remarks from a well-read yet amateur lover and seeker of truth).

I appreciate the author's method, the questions he poses (their inclusion period and their specific, careful formulation), his seeming thoroughness, his inclusion of sources damning and otherwise, his descriptive style, and his style in observing how well (or not) the available evidence supports (or doesn't) various plausible theories as to why Joseph did what he did with respect to polygamy.

With respect to the latter (why Joseph did what he did), and attempting to peer through an unbiased lens, it seems any effort to explain Jospeh's actions which does not also allow for the possibility that he acted out of a sincere faith in God and communication with Him (whether or not one personally subscribes to any faith in such a being), is a logically incomplete effort. One may logically conclude that the evidence best supports other plausible theories but to exclude a possible theory is incomplete history just as it would be incomplete science.

This author allows for it. Ye, he also does not exclude any (it seems to me) plausible antagonistic or agnostic explanations. The effort seems assiduously complete and even enormously generous in its inclusion of potential explanatory source material, friendly to Joseph or otherwise.

Other reviewers have noted repetition within and between volumes of this 4-volume set, including and perhaps especially noting repeated use of the same historical document(s). This is accurate and understandable as such documents elucidate multiple aspects of a person, circumstance, relationship, thought, action, and so forth.

I am pleased to have read this work; and have recommended it to others who share a passion for truth.
]]> <![CDATA[The Divine Gift of Forgiveness]]> 50199293 292 Neil L. Andersen 1629727415 Larry 0 4.72 2019 The Divine Gift of Forgiveness
author: Neil L. Andersen
name: Larry
average rating: 4.72
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: currently-reading, gospel-study
review:

]]> The Let Them Theory 216351768
If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words�Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.

In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins�New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset—teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.

Using the same no-nonsense, science-backed approach that's made The Mel Robbins Podcast a global sensation, Robbins explains why The Let Them Theory is already loved by millions and how you can apply it in eight key areas of your life to make the biggest impact. Within a few pages, you'll realize how much energy and time you've been wasting trying to control the wrong things—at work, in relationships, and in pursuing your goals—and how this is keeping you from the happiness and success you deserve.

Written as an easy-to-understand guide, Robbins shares relatable stories from her own life, highlights key takeaways, relevant research and introduces you to world-renowned experts in psychology, neuroscience, relationships, happiness, and ancient wisdom who champion The Let Them Theory every step of the way.

Learn how

Stop wasting energy on things you can't control Stop comparing yourself to other peopleBreak free from fear and self-doubtRelease the grip of people's expectationsBuild the best friendships of your lifeCreate the love you deservePursue what truly matters to you with confidenceBuild resilience against everyday stressors and distractionsDefine your own path to success, joy, and fulfillment. . . and so much more.

The Let Them Theory will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. Whether you want to advance your career, motivate others to change, take creative risks, find deeper connections, build better habits, start a new chapter, or simply create more happiness in your life and relationships, this book gives you the mindset and tools to unlock your full potential.

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory now and discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words.]]> 311 Mel Robbins 1401971377 Larry 3 human-behavior
Permission and choice.

Those words capture the (for me) most relevant and uplifting notions put forward by the author. Of course awareness is required hence the book’s value. Permission to let go. Choice � not to respond but rather to do and be. Very nice. Let them. Let me.

I also appreciate the energy of her presentation, the associated passion, and that she would share vulnerable experiences by way of illustration.

Less valuable (for me), the partitioning / sectioning of the book (and the application of the mindset in each). The marginal gain in insight decreased with each passing chapter which unfortunately allowed other light annoyances to become more, well, annoying.

For example, “theory.� Is it really a theory? In my opinion (I get to have one :)) theory suggests something more complex, i.e., a set of theorems that “deal with principles as distinct from practice.� This book is unarguably pragmatic. The author’s post-hoc research, her seeking to understand the psychological phenomenon underneath the practice is admirable; and, it also makes the point: what’s underneath the practice is properly thought of as the theory.

By the end I was actually a bit fatigued. Or weary. Again a little annoyance in the beginning had too little to keep it at bay as content grew repetitive and incremental insight decreased. Fatigued by what I earlier (above) noted as appreciable: energy, passion, and vulnerability.

Too much of an at one-point useful presentation approach eventually became self-ingratiating and optimized-to-sell-books marketing.

Worth reading. For sure. No regrets. And, perhaps some of what I’ve written re what was less desirable for me will serve to inoculate you against the same.]]> 4.19 2024 The Let Them Theory
author: Mel Robbins
name: Larry
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: human-behavior
review:
The Content is Almost Self-evident from the Title.

Permission and choice.

Those words capture the (for me) most relevant and uplifting notions put forward by the author. Of course awareness is required hence the book’s value. Permission to let go. Choice � not to respond but rather to do and be. Very nice. Let them. Let me.

I also appreciate the energy of her presentation, the associated passion, and that she would share vulnerable experiences by way of illustration.

Less valuable (for me), the partitioning / sectioning of the book (and the application of the mindset in each). The marginal gain in insight decreased with each passing chapter which unfortunately allowed other light annoyances to become more, well, annoying.

For example, “theory.� Is it really a theory? In my opinion (I get to have one :)) theory suggests something more complex, i.e., a set of theorems that “deal with principles as distinct from practice.� This book is unarguably pragmatic. The author’s post-hoc research, her seeking to understand the psychological phenomenon underneath the practice is admirable; and, it also makes the point: what’s underneath the practice is properly thought of as the theory.

By the end I was actually a bit fatigued. Or weary. Again a little annoyance in the beginning had too little to keep it at bay as content grew repetitive and incremental insight decreased. Fatigued by what I earlier (above) noted as appreciable: energy, passion, and vulnerability.

Too much of an at one-point useful presentation approach eventually became self-ingratiating and optimized-to-sell-books marketing.

Worth reading. For sure. No regrets. And, perhaps some of what I’ve written re what was less desirable for me will serve to inoculate you against the same.
]]> <![CDATA[Light and Truth Letter: My Search For More Light and Truth]]> 218654926 : If I could find more light and truth outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she would follow me. And she meant it.

The Light and Truth Letter is the culmination of my honest and extensive ten-year search for more light and truth.�

Read for free online at ]]> 437 Austin Fife Larry 0 4.86 Light and Truth Letter: My Search For More Light and Truth
author: Austin Fife
name: Larry
average rating: 4.86
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: to-read, biography-autobiography
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form-of-Life (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)]]> 16158016
It is to these questions that Agamben's new book turns by means of an impassioned reading of the fascinating and massive phenomenon of Western monasticism from Pachomius to St. Francis. The book reconstructs in detail the life of the monks with their obsessive attention to temporal articulation and to the Rule, to ascetic techniques and to liturgy. But Agamben's thesis is that the true novelty of monasticism lies not in the confusion between life and norm, but in the discovery of a new dimension, in which "life" as such, perhaps for the first time, is affirmed in its autonomy, and in which the claim of the "highest poverty" and "use" challenges the law in ways that we must still grapple with today.

How can we think a form-of-life, that is, a human life released from the grip of law, and a use of bodies and of the world that never becomes an appropriation? How can we think life as something not subject to ownership but only for common use?]]> 178 Giorgio Agamben 080478406X Larry 0 3.98 2011 The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form-of-Life (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)
author: Giorgio Agamben
name: Larry
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: to-read, epistemology-philosophy, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life]]> 10261794 300 Alison Gopnik Larry 4 human-behavior Approachable. Ponderous. On Topic.

The title is remarkably accurate.

Her writing creates an impression of a conversation, a dialogue.

The content is well-ordered, research-supported (including the delightful illuminating experience which follows words such as “contrary to popular opinion or previous theorizing�), and laced with illustrative, occasional self-and / or family anecdotes.

I came to the book by following a footnote referenced in a theological work. Footnotes are a prize, are they not?]]> 4.00 2003 The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life
author: Alison Gopnik
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: human-behavior
review:
Approachable. Ponderous. On Topic.

The title is remarkably accurate.

Her writing creates an impression of a conversation, a dialogue.

The content is well-ordered, research-supported (including the delightful illuminating experience which follows words such as “contrary to popular opinion or previous theorizing�), and laced with illustrative, occasional self-and / or family anecdotes.

I came to the book by following a footnote referenced in a theological work. Footnotes are a prize, are they not?
]]> Einstein's Dreams 12086102
Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein’s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence]]> 174 Alan Lightman Larry 4 epistemology-philosophy Playful.

Playful and imaginative. Interludes were unanticipated delights. Light, quick and typically value avoidant (not especially optimistic or pessimistic)

Indeed, what would existence be like without time? ]]> 4.00 1993 Einstein's Dreams
author: Alan Lightman
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: epistemology-philosophy
review:
Playful.

Playful and imaginative. Interludes were unanticipated delights. Light, quick and typically value avoidant (not especially optimistic or pessimistic)

Indeed, what would existence be like without time?
]]> <![CDATA[God Himself Shall Come Down: Reading Mosiah 15: Proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar]]> 181527224
Edited by Andrew Smith and Joseph Spencer, contributors include Joseph Spencer, Adam Miller,Deidre Nicole Green, Andrew Smith, Rob Fergus, Nathan B. Oman, Sue Mangelson, Kimberly Matheson, and Michelle Lee.

The Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar is based on a novel that Latter-day Saints do theology. Doing theology is different from weighing history or deciding doctrine. Theology experiments with questions and advances hypotheses. It tests new angles and pulls loose threads. To this end, the Seminar organizes interdisciplinary, collaborative, theological readings of Latter-day Saint scripture. Seminar participants with diverse backgrounds closely explore familiar texts in creative ways. In frequent partnership with the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University, the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar presents these experiments upon the word to foster greater theological engagement with basic Restoration texts.]]> 259 Andrew Smith Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Episteomphilic

Inviting. Creative. Inquisitive. Profound. Moving. Enabling.

These (contributors) define what it means to love learning and, it seems apparent to me, for the effects learning may have on a mind, a heart, a relationship with the Divine, and relationships with humans and humankind. ]]> 4.00 God Himself Shall Come Down: Reading Mosiah 15: Proceedings of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar
author: Andrew Smith
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Episteomphilic

Inviting. Creative. Inquisitive. Profound. Moving. Enabling.

These (contributors) define what it means to love learning and, it seems apparent to me, for the effects learning may have on a mind, a heart, a relationship with the Divine, and relationships with humans and humankind.
]]> <![CDATA[When Anger Hurts: Quieting the Storm Within]]> 278196 •Recognize anger-triggering thoughts and learn ways to challenge them
•Learn how to control anger-generating stress
•Recognize the early warning signals of anger and find out how to cool down before things get really hot
When you work through the exercises and lessons in this book, you will immediately see positive change in every aspect of your life.]]> 320 Matthew McKay 1572243449 Larry 5
If you approach it as the workbook it is and invest the time required to learn and apply the truths within, it may change your life. Its use and application has begun to do so for me.

On the other hand if read, for example, just to read, I predict it will make little difference in your life.

It takes work. Mental and emotional work. The work of being honest with oneself. The work of letting go of how you like to think of yourself and instead seeing yourself for what your behaviors suggest.

That said, the content and applications exercises, were presented in a manner to facilitate my desire to learn and apply.

Highly recommend.
]]> 4.03 1989 When Anger Hurts: Quieting the Storm Within
author: Matthew McKay
name: Larry
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/15
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: human-behavior, self-improvement
review:
Courage required. Not for the faint of heart.

If you approach it as the workbook it is and invest the time required to learn and apply the truths within, it may change your life. Its use and application has begun to do so for me.

On the other hand if read, for example, just to read, I predict it will make little difference in your life.

It takes work. Mental and emotional work. The work of being honest with oneself. The work of letting go of how you like to think of yourself and instead seeing yourself for what your behaviors suggest.

That said, the content and applications exercises, were presented in a manner to facilitate my desire to learn and apply.

Highly recommend.

]]> <![CDATA[Latter Day Dissent: At the Crossroads of Intellectual Inquiry and Ecclesiastical Authority]]> 12295481 291 Philip Lindholm 1589581415 Larry 4 history “Mistakes were Made�

Conflict. It seems humankind is generally and often rather ineffective in experiencing conflict. Brilliant or bumpkin. Trained academically or tutored experientially. Intellectual or pragmatic. Conservative or progressive leaning. The source of divergence seems not to matter: humankind is often and generally conflict inept.

This phenomenon seems apparent, and evidenced by the interview data herein presented. Those interviewed acknowledged as much. I imagine (and imagination it is) other parties mentioned though not interviewed would likewise concede a degree of ineptitude in living through the various specific conflicts. And if not it’d be to me a manifestation of ego not Godly aligned.

It is sad � for any and everyone involved or affected.

The history and content thus presented are instructive and thought prompting. The telling in this book or another (there are others) will have been of value if the reader, leader or “dissident.,� institution (al representative) or individual, will self-reflect.

One criticism: I find the inclusion of the Tom Murphy circumstance a bit of a stretch. Stated or implied, the historical theme regards the “September Six.� The connection of his circumstance seems qualitatively different and far removed, temporally, generationally, topically, and attitudinally. There is little to learn from its inclusion. ]]> 4.00 2010 Latter Day Dissent: At the Crossroads of Intellectual Inquiry and Ecclesiastical Authority
author: Philip Lindholm
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: history
review:
“Mistakes were Made�

Conflict. It seems humankind is generally and often rather ineffective in experiencing conflict. Brilliant or bumpkin. Trained academically or tutored experientially. Intellectual or pragmatic. Conservative or progressive leaning. The source of divergence seems not to matter: humankind is often and generally conflict inept.

This phenomenon seems apparent, and evidenced by the interview data herein presented. Those interviewed acknowledged as much. I imagine (and imagination it is) other parties mentioned though not interviewed would likewise concede a degree of ineptitude in living through the various specific conflicts. And if not it’d be to me a manifestation of ego not Godly aligned.

It is sad � for any and everyone involved or affected.

The history and content thus presented are instructive and thought prompting. The telling in this book or another (there are others) will have been of value if the reader, leader or “dissident.,� institution (al representative) or individual, will self-reflect.

One criticism: I find the inclusion of the Tom Murphy circumstance a bit of a stretch. Stated or implied, the historical theme regards the “September Six.� The connection of his circumstance seems qualitatively different and far removed, temporally, generationally, topically, and attitudinally. There is little to learn from its inclusion.
]]> <![CDATA[Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 1: History (Joseph Smith's Polygamy)]]> 19057118
Among his many novel teachings and practices, none is more controversial than plural marriage, a restoration of the Old Testament practice that he accepted as part of his divinely appointed mission. Joseph Smith taught his polygamy doctrines only in secret and dictated a revelation in July 1843 authorizing its practice (now LDS D&C 132) that was never published during his lifetime. Although rumors and exposés multiplied, it was not until 1852 that Mormons in Brigham Young’s Utah took a public stand. By then, thousands of Mormons were engaged in the practice that was seen as essential to salvation.

Victorian America saw plural marriage as immoral and Joseph Smith as acting on libido. However, the private writings of Nauvoo participants and other polygamy insiders tell another, more complex and nuanced story. Many of these accounts have never been published. Others have been printed sporadically in unrelated publications. Drawing on every known historical account, whether by supporters or opponents, Volumes 1 and 2 take a fresh look at the chronology and development of Mormon polygamy, including the difficult conundrums of the Fannie Alger relationship, polyandry, the “angel with a sword� accounts, Emma Smith’s poignant response, and the possibility of Joseph Smith offspring by his plural wives. Among the most intriguing are the newly available Andrew Jenson papers containing not only the often-quoted statements by surviving plural wives but also Jenson’s own private research, conducted in the late nineteenth century.

Telling the story of Joseph Smith’s polygamy from the records of those who knew him best, augmented by those who observed him from a distance, may have produced the most useful view of all.

Praise for Joseph Smith's Polygamy:

"Brian Hales wants to face up to every question, every problem, every fear about plural marriage. His answers may not satisfy everyone, but he gives readers the relevant sources where answers, if they exist, are to be found. There has never been a more thorough examination of the polygamy idea." —Richard L. Bushman, Claremont Graduate University, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

“Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, the first thorough treatment of Joseph Smith’s plural marriages written by a conservative Mormon scholar, is a landmark in the historiography of Mormon polygamy. While I disagree with some of Hales’s conclusions, I admire his willingness to confront difficult topics and the depth of his research. This impressive work furthers the ongoing dialogue in the Mormon historical community on a fascinating and challenging aspect of the life and teachings of Mormonism’s founding prophet.� —Todd M. Compton, author of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith]]> 1107 Brian C. Hales Larry 0 history 4.17 2012 Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 1: History (Joseph Smith's Polygamy)
author: Brian C. Hales
name: Larry
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 2: History (Joseph Smith's Polygamy)]]> 20345672
Among his many novel teachings and practices, none is more controversial than plural marriage, a restoration of the Old Testament practice that he accepted as part of his divinely appointed mission. Joseph Smith taught his polygamy doctrines only in secret and dictated a revelation in July 1843 authorizing its practice (now LDS D&C 132) that was never published during his lifetime. Although rumors and exposés multiplied, it was not until 1852 that Mormons in Brigham Young’s Utah took a public stand. By then, thousands of Mormons were engaged in the practice that was seen as essential to salvation.

Victorian America saw plural marriage as immoral and Joseph Smith as acting on libido. However, the private writings of Nauvoo participants and other polygamy insiders tell another, more complex and nuanced story. Many of these accounts have never been published. Others have been printed sporadically in unrelated publications. Drawing on every known historical account, whether by supporters or opponents, Volumes 1 and 2 take a fresh look at the chronology and development of Mormon polygamy, including the difficult conundrums of the Fannie Alger relationship, polyandry, the “angel with a sword� accounts, Emma Smith’s poignant response, and the possibility of Joseph Smith offspring by his plural wives. Among the most intriguing are the newly available Andrew Jenson papers containing not only the often-quoted statements by surviving plural wives but also Jenson’s own private research, conducted in the late nineteenth century.

Telling the story of Joseph Smith’s polygamy from the records of those who knew him best, augmented by those who observed him from a distance, may have produced the most useful view of all.

Praise for Joseph Smith's Polygamy:

"Brian Hales wants to face up to every question, every problem, every fear about plural marriage. His answers may not satisfy everyone, but he gives readers the relevant sources where answers, if they exist, are to be found. There has never been a more thorough examination of the polygamy idea." —Richard L. Bushman, Claremont Graduate University, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

“Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, the first thorough treatment of Joseph Smith’s plural marriages written by a conservative Mormon scholar, is a landmark in the historiography of Mormon polygamy. While I disagree with some of Hales’s conclusions, I admire his willingness to confront difficult topics and the depth of his research. This impressive work furthers the ongoing dialogue in the Mormon historical community on a fascinating and challenging aspect of the life and teachings of Mormonism’s founding prophet.� —Todd M. Compton, author of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith]]> 610 Brian C. Hales Larry 0 history 5.00 2013 Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 2: History (Joseph Smith's Polygamy)
author: Brian C. Hales
name: Larry
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Divine Aid: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants]]> 222248344



The images of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in the Doctrine and Covenants are certainly not ones of remote gods but rather of a loving Divine Father and a Savior who are deeply invested in humanity’s welfare.




Through exploring and analyzing both well-known and often overlooked sections in the Doctrine and Covenants, this book provides answers to these central How does the Lord interact with His people? How does He encourage them and move them forward? And what is He trying to teach us about how we should interact with one another?]]> 108 Amy Easton-Flake 1649334311 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
Amy Easton-Flake is new to me; yet it seems apparent she is and her work manifests being drawn to truth and Truth.

Her observations as recorded in this book lean more personal even testimonial than other authors contributing to this series, the similar Book of Mormon series, or other writings by these [select] authors.

This I suspect explains an initial though short-lived reaction, [internal dialogue] “Hmmmm. Feels a bit too Sunday school-ish for my present taste,� which is oriented toward more theologically rigorous works.

But, as noted the reaction was short-lived, not due to less-rigorous content, style, and feel (it is less rigorous), but due to truths brought forward and / or made plainer in new and insightful ways

I hope to find other works by her.
]]> 4.67 Divine Aid: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
author: Amy Easton-Flake
name: Larry
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
It is contrary to the gratitude I feel for truth-seeking and truth-expressing efforts to be critical. Perhaps critique is also less called for because I’m rather particular in selecting the books I choose to read. I’ve come to trust certain authors as truth seekers and truth expressers.

Amy Easton-Flake is new to me; yet it seems apparent she is and her work manifests being drawn to truth and Truth.

Her observations as recorded in this book lean more personal even testimonial than other authors contributing to this series, the similar Book of Mormon series, or other writings by these [select] authors.

This I suspect explains an initial though short-lived reaction, [internal dialogue] “Hmmmm. Feels a bit too Sunday school-ish for my present taste,� which is oriented toward more theologically rigorous works.

But, as noted the reaction was short-lived, not due to less-rigorous content, style, and feel (it is less rigorous), but due to truths brought forward and / or made plainer in new and insightful ways

I hope to find other works by her.

]]> <![CDATA[Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah]]> 207613227 From New York Times bestselling historian and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Charles King, the moving untold story of the eighteenth-century men and women behind the making of Handel’s Messiah

George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is arguably the greatest piece of participatory art ever created. Adored by millions, it is performed each year by renowned choirs and orchestras, as well as by audiences singing along with the words on their cell phones.

But this work of triumphant joy was born in a worried age. Britain in the early Enlightenment was a place of astonishing creativity but also the seat of an empire mired in war, enslavement, and conflicts over everything from the legitimacy of government to the meaning of truth. Against this turbulent background, prize-winning author Charles King has crafted a cinematic drama of the troubled lives that shaped a masterpiece of hope.

Every Valley presents a depressive dissenter stirred to action by an ancient prophecy; an actress plagued by an abusive husband and public scorn; an Atlantic sea captain and penniless philanthropist; and an African Muslim man held captive in the American colonies and hatching a dangerous plan for getting back home. At center stage is Handel himself, composer to kings but, at midlife, in ill health and straining to keep an audience’s attention. Set amid royal intrigue, theater scandals, and political conspiracy, Every Valley is entertaining, inspiring, unforgettable.]]> 351 Charles King 0385548273 Larry 4 history well-woven biographies

I’d not anticipated the proportion of the book which is devoted to context, the history associated with the era, and with the several individuals whose lives intersected, to me at the outset, in unforeseen ways. It surprised and delighted me.

Confession: I’m history-challenged, sadly by choice in life’s earlier years. Joyfully I am less so and seeking to be yet less so. Surely this accounts for some of my delight. (If you’re not so challenged, you might find that aspect of the book less fulfilling).

Otherwise, as biographies of several, it was to me, similarly entertaining, enlightening, and here & there even moving.

Biographies, histories, woven together in a manner that illuminates how destiny or heavenly influence (or whatever cause or purpose you might ascribe) work to create what will be, perhaps something more than might otherwise have happened.]]> 4.23 2024 Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah
author: Charles King
name: Larry
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: history
review:
well-woven biographies

I’d not anticipated the proportion of the book which is devoted to context, the history associated with the era, and with the several individuals whose lives intersected, to me at the outset, in unforeseen ways. It surprised and delighted me.

Confession: I’m history-challenged, sadly by choice in life’s earlier years. Joyfully I am less so and seeking to be yet less so. Surely this accounts for some of my delight. (If you’re not so challenged, you might find that aspect of the book less fulfilling).

Otherwise, as biographies of several, it was to me, similarly entertaining, enlightening, and here & there even moving.

Biographies, histories, woven together in a manner that illuminates how destiny or heavenly influence (or whatever cause or purpose you might ascribe) work to create what will be, perhaps something more than might otherwise have happened.
]]> <![CDATA[The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)]]> 4223
As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever.]]> 752 Dan Brown 0739326740 Larry 4 recreational-reading 3.64 2003 The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
author: Dan Brown
name: Larry
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: recreational-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rampage (The Singular Menace, #3)]]> 27856198
Shay Remby and her band of renegade activists have got the corrupt Singular Corporation on the run. Their expose is finally working. Or is it?

Even as revelations about the human experimental subjects break in the news, Singular’s employees are slithering out of sight. And then their CEO is killed in a plane crash... Was it a freak accident? Or a cover-up?

Shay’s gang begins to see signs that there may be even more powerful figures than they knew managing events—publicly expressing outrage and mopping up the mess, but secretly gathering up their scientists and moving the operation further out of sight.

It will take nothing short of a rampage to stop the Singular menace for good...
]]> 329 John Sandford Larry 3 recreational-reading
It’s not the first book or series I’ve ceased reading for similar reason. I much prefer characters with significant and relatable flaws � which mix with and enrich the meaning of the assets for which they have become known.

The development of this protagonist and many of the characters in this book lack believable-enough richness.

Who’d win in a duel of wit and physical prowess? Shay or Lucy (Kay Scarpetta’s niece)?

Not interested in finding out. ]]> 4.46 2016 Rampage (The Singular Menace, #3)
author: John Sandford
name: Larry
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: recreational-reading
review:
Fun and fine enough. FWIW, I picked it up the first time over a year ago. Shelved it mostly out of incredulity. “Found� it among my shelved books and gave it another whirl. “Fun and fine enough� befits.

It’s not the first book or series I’ve ceased reading for similar reason. I much prefer characters with significant and relatable flaws � which mix with and enrich the meaning of the assets for which they have become known.

The development of this protagonist and many of the characters in this book lack believable-enough richness.

Who’d win in a duel of wit and physical prowess? Shay or Lucy (Kay Scarpetta’s niece)?

Not interested in finding out.
]]> <![CDATA[Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding (Joseph Smith's Polygamy Book 4)]]> 25356017
In this short volume, Brian C. Hales (author of the 3-volume Joseph Smith’s Polygamy set) and Laura H. Hales wade through the murky waters of history to help bring some clarity to this episode of Mormonism’s past, examining both the theological explanations of the practice and the accounts of those who experienced it first hand. As this episode of Mormon history involved more than just Joseph and his first wife Emma, this volume also includes short biographies of the 36 women who were married to the Prophet but whose stories of faith, struggle, and courage have been largely forgotten and ignored over time. While we may never fully understand the details and reasons surrounding this practice, Brian and Laura Hales provide readers with an accessible, forthright, and faithful look into this challenging topic so that we can at least come toward a better understanding.]]> 341 Brian C. Hales Larry 4 history
Also, the inclusion of even brief biographies of each of the person’s known or thought to have been in a polygamous relationship with Joseph is noteworthy. And the seeming care and precision to incorporate source precedence and reliability is impressive � period, and yet more so when one considers the compact nature of the biographies and book in total.

Alternatively, a chord of skepticism is plucked by for example, choice of active as compared to passive voice, declarative as compared to descriptive statements which seem to convey a degree of authority or conclusiveness which exceeds source availability and reliability particularly when explicating doctrine. An almost, this is what is to be concluded Q.E.D. � end of discussion. I’m not ready, that is sufficiently informed, to cede that conclusiveness to them. Nor am I willing to cede that privilege to them as to matters of doctrine.

Perhaps finally, as I concluded my reading (tho� not yet my associated pondering), I note increased awareness, understanding, comprehension, empathy, and perhaps even conviction regarding Joseph Smith. Certainly a somewhat settling feeling attributable to the multitude of witnesses asserting his upstanding behavior and character by those who might have been most likely to express damning witness. Witnesses expressed by those most aware by direct interaction for many years and decades-long reflection. Witnesses carefully and seemingly exhaustively noted in precedence and timing i.e., as first hand, second hand, journal entry, correspondence, sworn testimony, immediate, or decades later. The inclusion of witnesses to the contrary is perhaps oddly settling as well. Why? I suppose because I’ve observed that rarely (if ever) in this life is perspective and perception unified and harmonious. Nor is any human perfect.
]]> 4.11 2015 Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding (Joseph Smith's Polygamy Book 4)
author: Brian C. Hales
name: Larry
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: history
review:
I appreciate that content is well-ordered, for example with respect to sequence of events, appropriately corresponding context (in time and place), and statements reflecting source availability (or not), precedence, and reliability.

Also, the inclusion of even brief biographies of each of the person’s known or thought to have been in a polygamous relationship with Joseph is noteworthy. And the seeming care and precision to incorporate source precedence and reliability is impressive � period, and yet more so when one considers the compact nature of the biographies and book in total.

Alternatively, a chord of skepticism is plucked by for example, choice of active as compared to passive voice, declarative as compared to descriptive statements which seem to convey a degree of authority or conclusiveness which exceeds source availability and reliability particularly when explicating doctrine. An almost, this is what is to be concluded Q.E.D. � end of discussion. I’m not ready, that is sufficiently informed, to cede that conclusiveness to them. Nor am I willing to cede that privilege to them as to matters of doctrine.

Perhaps finally, as I concluded my reading (tho� not yet my associated pondering), I note increased awareness, understanding, comprehension, empathy, and perhaps even conviction regarding Joseph Smith. Certainly a somewhat settling feeling attributable to the multitude of witnesses asserting his upstanding behavior and character by those who might have been most likely to express damning witness. Witnesses expressed by those most aware by direct interaction for many years and decades-long reflection. Witnesses carefully and seemingly exhaustively noted in precedence and timing i.e., as first hand, second hand, journal entry, correspondence, sworn testimony, immediate, or decades later. The inclusion of witnesses to the contrary is perhaps oddly settling as well. Why? I suppose because I’ve observed that rarely (if ever) in this life is perspective and perception unified and harmonious. Nor is any human perfect.

]]> <![CDATA[Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping]]> 9348931 Renowned primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a completely revised and updated edition of his most popular work, with over 225,000 copies in print Now in a third edition, Robert M. Sapolsky's acclaimed and successful Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of spirituality on managing stress.As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear-and the ones that plague us now-are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same way-through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a stress response makes us literally sick. Combining cutting-edge research with a healthy dose of good humor and practical advice, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers explains how prolonged stress causes or intensifies a range of physical and mental afflictions, including depression, ulcers, colitis, heart disease, and more. It also provides essential guidance to controlling our stress responses. This new edition promises to be the most comprehensive and engaging one yet.]]> 559 Robert M. Sapolsky Larry 2 health-care, human-behavior An underwhelming, oversold mess

I’d have done well to wonder sooner. Who is his audience? What was his purpose?

And why (in the world) did I read it?

Beginning with an answer to the latter question �
1. I seem to have OCD-like need to complete any book begun.
2. I anticipated some chapters (at least) would describe a more definitively understood state of affairs.
3. His repeated promise of a meaningful what-to-do-about-it final chapter.

Dear potential reader, there is nothing can do re #1 on the list � ‘tis my existence. You can however adjust your anticipation regarding #2, a concise, well-ordered, definitive description of contemporary science on stress and [blank] where [blank] is a topic addressed chapter by chapter e.g., aging, death, memory, and so forth. Better to anticipate ambiguity, many (too many) words, and even (dare I suggest) a lack of awareness [or worse, biased inclusion / exclusion] of contemporary thought e.g., pain is but one example.

You, dear potential reader might also adjust your expectation regarding #3, the promised ending. The author himself is aware of its tragedy when he inoculating-ly and self-deprecatingly half suggested readers might think it grandmotherly advice. Well, indeed it is that and not more. An appropriate chapter title: “Grandma’s Advice: Don’t Worry, Be Happy� (see p 418).

Or perhaps, you get to choose (!), you might simply avoid 17 chapters over 383 pages of stress and [blank] where “blank� = “mess.� What a mess it seems.

Who precisely is the audience? Other scientists? Nah. It lacks precision. Practitioners? Nah. It lacks protocols. Lay persons? Nah. Who in their right mind would plow through the encyclopedic breadth and artificial depth of this pseudoscience? Oops. Me.

What is his purpose? He seems to be the Malcolm Gladwell of biology and neurology. Underwhelming. Oversold. His name is out there. It sells books. Might be entertaining to invite Gladwell to analyze the tipping point associated with Sapolsky’s fame.]]> 4.13 1993 Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
author: Robert M. Sapolsky
name: Larry
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1993
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: health-care, human-behavior
review:
An underwhelming, oversold mess

I’d have done well to wonder sooner. Who is his audience? What was his purpose?

And why (in the world) did I read it?

Beginning with an answer to the latter question �
1. I seem to have OCD-like need to complete any book begun.
2. I anticipated some chapters (at least) would describe a more definitively understood state of affairs.
3. His repeated promise of a meaningful what-to-do-about-it final chapter.

Dear potential reader, there is nothing can do re #1 on the list � ‘tis my existence. You can however adjust your anticipation regarding #2, a concise, well-ordered, definitive description of contemporary science on stress and [blank] where [blank] is a topic addressed chapter by chapter e.g., aging, death, memory, and so forth. Better to anticipate ambiguity, many (too many) words, and even (dare I suggest) a lack of awareness [or worse, biased inclusion / exclusion] of contemporary thought e.g., pain is but one example.

You, dear potential reader might also adjust your expectation regarding #3, the promised ending. The author himself is aware of its tragedy when he inoculating-ly and self-deprecatingly half suggested readers might think it grandmotherly advice. Well, indeed it is that and not more. An appropriate chapter title: “Grandma’s Advice: Don’t Worry, Be Happy� (see p 418).

Or perhaps, you get to choose (!), you might simply avoid 17 chapters over 383 pages of stress and [blank] where “blank� = “mess.� What a mess it seems.

Who precisely is the audience? Other scientists? Nah. It lacks precision. Practitioners? Nah. It lacks protocols. Lay persons? Nah. Who in their right mind would plow through the encyclopedic breadth and artificial depth of this pseudoscience? Oops. Me.

What is his purpose? He seems to be the Malcolm Gladwell of biology and neurology. Underwhelming. Oversold. His name is out there. It sells books. Might be entertaining to invite Gladwell to analyze the tipping point associated with Sapolsky’s fame.
]]> <![CDATA[Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: Old Testament 2022]]> 59844104
Who Is This Resource For?
This resource is for every individual and family in the Church. It is designed to help you learn the gospel—whether on your own or with your family. If you haven’t studied the gospel regularly in the past, this resource can help you get started. If you already have a good habit of gospel study, this resource can help you have more meaningful experiences.

How Should I Use This Resource?
Use this resource in any way that is helpful to you. You may find it helpful as a guide or aid for personal and family scripture study. You could also use it for home evening. The outlines highlight important principles found in the Old Testament, suggest study ideas and activities for individuals and families, and provide places to record your impressions.

Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families is not meant to replace or compete with other good things you are doing. Follow the Spirit’s guidance to determine how to approach your own study of the word of God.

How Does This Resource Relate to What Happens at Church?
The outlines in this resource are organized according to a weekly reading schedule. Come, Follow Me—For Primary and Come, Follow Me—For Sunday School follow the same schedule. To support your efforts to learn and live the gospel at home, your teachers at church will give you opportunities to share your experiences, thoughts, and questions about the scripture passages that you have been studying at home.

Because Sunday School is taught only twice a month, Sunday School teachers may choose to skip or combine outlines to keep up with the weekly schedule. This may also be necessary on weeks when regular Church meetings are not held because of stake conference or other reasons. During these weeks you are invited to continue to study the Old Testament at home.

Do I Need to Follow the Schedule?
The schedule will help you finish reading the Old Testament by the end of the year. In addition, following the same schedule as others can lead to meaningful experiences at home, at church, and everywhere else. But don’t feel bound by the schedule or compelled to read every verse; the schedule is simply a guide to help you pace yourself. The important thing is that you are learning the gospel individually and as a family.]]> 226 Larry 5 gospel-study 4.82 Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: Old Testament 2022
author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
name: Larry
average rating: 4.82
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/03
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: gospel-study
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Time: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants]]> 220485032
Philip Barlow goes so far as to propose that time can fruitfully be imagined as “the 0th principle of the gospel.� Time is, he says, an innate element, a precondition, and a malleable tool not only for principles whose names advertise the fact (such as Sabbath, millennium, preexistence, and prophecy), but also for every gospel precept, including faith, baptism, obedience, and love. Mastery of elements of time, for example, is what enables agency to become real rather than a mirage. Modern revelation asserts that life is a test, but also a school for knowledge, wisdom, joy, and skill. How we imagine time affects it all. Come, let us reason together.]]> 152 Philip L. Barlow 0842501363 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
And a primer. And masterful.

I imagine it a challenge to write to an audience as divergent as seems likely will read this book (and any book in the series).

For this reader, the author created a work which accomplishes a perfect balance between the rigor of a strict theological treatment, and a new user’s guide to living “in sync� with Time (and what that may mean and suggest. Such a delightful balance. Inviting of further reflection whether such may lean toward application, or rigorous exploration of Truth, or both / all.

A truth-seekers delight � for truths suggested and merely hinted at.]]> 4.50 Time: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
author: Philip L. Barlow
name: Larry
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
A Theological, Philosophical, Religious Treat

And a primer. And masterful.

I imagine it a challenge to write to an audience as divergent as seems likely will read this book (and any book in the series).

For this reader, the author created a work which accomplishes a perfect balance between the rigor of a strict theological treatment, and a new user’s guide to living “in sync� with Time (and what that may mean and suggest. Such a delightful balance. Inviting of further reflection whether such may lean toward application, or rigorous exploration of Truth, or both / all.

A truth-seekers delight � for truths suggested and merely hinted at.
]]> Eleven Numbers 222163948 An American mathematician’s assignment in Russia spirals into a high-stakes maze of shifting loyalties and intrigue in a propulsive short thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child.

Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics—in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.]]> 50 Lee Child 1662526202 Larry 5 Entirely Different. Still Utterly Delightful

I suppose I’d begun to believe Reacher was the magic in a Reacher book. And surely he is.

BUT, Lee Child is the magic of Reacher in time and space, whether I see him in a book or in my mind, or else wise. Making him real. And all else that he is.

And so it is again with this little vignette of Professor Tyler.

Awesome fun.]]> 4.09 2025 Eleven Numbers
author: Lee Child
name: Larry
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:
Entirely Different. Still Utterly Delightful

I suppose I’d begun to believe Reacher was the magic in a Reacher book. And surely he is.

BUT, Lee Child is the magic of Reacher in time and space, whether I see him in a book or in my mind, or else wise. Making him real. And all else that he is.

And so it is again with this little vignette of Professor Tyler.

Awesome fun.
]]> Nightshade 221508547 #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly introduces a new cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina island.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly introduces a new cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina island.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled� to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbor—a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig.

Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague determined to thwart him at every turn, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.� Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.

Propulsive and atmospheric, Nightshade launches a brand new character into the Connelly universe, and proves without question that Michael Connelly is “the undisputed master of the modern crime novel� (Real Book Spy).]]> 352 Michael Connelly 0316588482 Larry 0 to-read, recreational-reading 4.15 2025 Nightshade
author: Michael Connelly
name: Larry
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read, recreational-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Proclaim Peace: The Restoration's Answer to an Age of Conflict]]> 59125896 288 Patrick Q. Mason 1950304167 Larry 0 4.43 Proclaim Peace: The Restoration's Answer to an Age of Conflict
author: Patrick Q. Mason
name: Larry
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read, gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Redeeming the Dead: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants]]> 220485034 142 Amy Harris 0842501347 Larry 0 4.71 Redeeming the Dead: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
author: Amy Harris
name: Larry
average rating: 4.71
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read, gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Divine Law: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants]]> 220485028
In stark contrast to this bleak vision, the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants depict law as a glorious blessing—a ladder of grace by which we may climb closer and closer toward our Heavenly Parents and our heavenly home. The revelations promise that the faithful will “be crowned with blessings from above . . . and with commandments not a few� (D&C 59:4). This volume invites students of the Doctrine and Covenants to relish and claim that crown.]]> 136 Justin Collings 0842501312 Larry 0 4.50 Divine Law: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
author: Justin Collings
name: Larry
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read, gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Agency: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants]]> 222248441



The question of human agency, of how free you are to make meaningful choices, has always been a central concern of the Christian life. Philosophy, biology, cognitive science, and historical studies all have made us more aware of the ways in which agency is challenged by genes, cognitive biases, cultural contexts and personal traumas. As a result, it is more important than ever to reflect upon the meaning of agency, and how modern revelation can illuminate the central how do I live my best life? How can we more fully become, in President Spencer W. Kimball’s expression, the architect of our own destinies?]]> 100 Terryl Givens 1649334354 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Lovely is the search for truth

There was in my reading of this a discernible and desirable difference as compared to other books I’ve read of late, that I also classify as theological, and which I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed. Two excerpts will serve to illustrate:

1. “This is not to say that agency, free will, and moral responsibility are exact synonyms. Nor is it to say that our agency or free will is absolute, without bounds or limits, or without internal and external conditions that can limit, impair, or predispose our choices. It is to say that Restoration scriptures repeatedly affirm the reality of “agency,� “free will,� and “freedom,� using those terms more or less interchangeably. So this book will simply take as a starting point the facticity of our ability to make meaningful choices and bear moral responsibility for those choices…� (p 12).


2. “This clarification is enormously important for a few reasons. First, President Nelson’s reminder is important because we are too easily absorbed in constructing “theologies of atonement,� theories that attempt to explain the exact mechanics by which mercy and justice are reconciled or whether ransom or substitution are better analogies for what transpired, or how the work of atoning was divided between Gethsemane and Golgotha, and so forth. Second, it’s necessary to keep Christ foremost in view because turning the Atonement into a concrete thing or episode places it in the past, invoking historical memory more than a living presence, an ongoing encounter. And finally, we must beware lest the prominence in our discourse of the word “atonement� and its theological weight and ambiguity may obscure the greater reality it was originally intended to describe: the transformative, healing love of Jesus Christ. One moment when this obfuscation happened in our own Restoration history is the pattern of misquoting and mischaracterizing Joseph Smith’s words on the subject in the direction President Nelson lamented. “All things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to the atonement� is the phrase we frequently read and hear. What Joseph actually said was, “The fundamental principles of our religion [are] the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, ‘that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended up into heaven;� and all other things are only appendages to these.� (p 84)

I note the precedence given to revelation while also acknowledging the merit of a theological lens, a search for the mechanism of action.

Lovely is the search for truth. ]]> 5.00 Agency: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
author: Terryl Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Lovely is the search for truth

There was in my reading of this a discernible and desirable difference as compared to other books I’ve read of late, that I also classify as theological, and which I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed. Two excerpts will serve to illustrate:

1. “This is not to say that agency, free will, and moral responsibility are exact synonyms. Nor is it to say that our agency or free will is absolute, without bounds or limits, or without internal and external conditions that can limit, impair, or predispose our choices. It is to say that Restoration scriptures repeatedly affirm the reality of “agency,� “free will,� and “freedom,� using those terms more or less interchangeably. So this book will simply take as a starting point the facticity of our ability to make meaningful choices and bear moral responsibility for those choices…� (p 12).


2. “This clarification is enormously important for a few reasons. First, President Nelson’s reminder is important because we are too easily absorbed in constructing “theologies of atonement,� theories that attempt to explain the exact mechanics by which mercy and justice are reconciled or whether ransom or substitution are better analogies for what transpired, or how the work of atoning was divided between Gethsemane and Golgotha, and so forth. Second, it’s necessary to keep Christ foremost in view because turning the Atonement into a concrete thing or episode places it in the past, invoking historical memory more than a living presence, an ongoing encounter. And finally, we must beware lest the prominence in our discourse of the word “atonement� and its theological weight and ambiguity may obscure the greater reality it was originally intended to describe: the transformative, healing love of Jesus Christ. One moment when this obfuscation happened in our own Restoration history is the pattern of misquoting and mischaracterizing Joseph Smith’s words on the subject in the direction President Nelson lamented. “All things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to the atonement� is the phrase we frequently read and hear. What Joseph actually said was, “The fundamental principles of our religion [are] the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, ‘that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended up into heaven;� and all other things are only appendages to these.� (p 84)

I note the precedence given to revelation while also acknowledging the merit of a theological lens, a search for the mechanism of action.

Lovely is the search for truth.
]]> <![CDATA[Seeing: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants]]> 220485035
By looking for truth with our whole bodies, we can be better equipped to develop spiritually in our media saturated world. As the early Church members did then, we can today avoid deception and gain revelation. Enhancing our vision through learning to not only look at but truly see nature, others, our covenants, and even the Lord, we can get our eye single to the glory of God and see things as they really are.]]> 136 Mason Kamana Allred 0842501304 Larry 0 4.38 Seeing: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
author: Mason Kamana Allred
name: Larry
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: to-read, gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East]]> 34703716 Sandy Tolan Larry 5
Likes:
1. The telling was descriptive and seemingly even-handed as compared / contrasted with an attempt to persuade.
2. The self-and-(attempt-at)-other-aware peace / tension associated with the friendship of the protagonists: Dalia and Bashir.
3. Beauty which may be found in as-yet unresolved dissonance; it is relevant to so much I observe around me.
4. The symbol of the lemon and lemon tree.

Dislikes:
None]]> 4.24 2006 The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
author: Sandy Tolan
name: Larry
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: biography-autobiography, history
review:
Ironic Beauty in Dissonance

Likes:
1. The telling was descriptive and seemingly even-handed as compared / contrasted with an attempt to persuade.
2. The self-and-(attempt-at)-other-aware peace / tension associated with the friendship of the protagonists: Dalia and Bashir.
3. Beauty which may be found in as-yet unresolved dissonance; it is relevant to so much I observe around me.
4. The symbol of the lemon and lemon tree.

Dislikes:
None
]]> <![CDATA[Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity]]> 61222788 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a visionary physician and leading longevity expert

“One of the most important books you’ll ever read.”—Steven D. Levitt, New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics

Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.

For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting.

This is not “biohacking,� it’s science: a well-founded strategic and tactical approach to extending lifespan while also improving our physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Dr. Attia’s aim is less to tell you what to do and more to help you learn how to think about long-term health, in order to create the best plan for you as an individual. In Outlive, readers will discover:

� Why the cholesterol test at your annual physical doesn’t tell you enough about your actual risk of dying from a heart attack.
� That you may already suffer from an extremely common yet underdiagnosed liver condition that could be a precursor to the chronic diseases of aging.
� Why exercise is the most potent pro-longevity “drug”—and how to begin training for the “Centenarian Decathlon.�
� Why you should forget about diets, and focus instead on nutritional biochemistry, using technology and data to personalize your eating pattern.
� Why striving for physical health and longevity, but ignoring emotional health, could be the ultimate curse of all.

Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.]]> 478 Peter Attia 0593236602 Larry 3 Autobiographical � mislabeled as “science� (and art).

I’d hoped for something new. Therein is the problem. How many ways can “� not really sure …� be said written? And that is the essence of the book’s contribution to “science.�

MANY words. little (no cap intended) knowledge. “Ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.�

Even so, efforts to discern and articulate truth are laudable. Less laudable, or rather less valuable are MANY words to convey so little.

—ĔĔĔ�

I suspect had I approached the book from the beginning as autobiographical, I’d have been less disappointed as my hope for something new was trued up with / dashed by the current state of “science� on matters attended to by the author.

To me, rather than “the science and art of longevity� a more apt subtitle would be, “one person’s findings about living well and perhaps living well longer.� That the author has an MD seems to me to bear little relevance to the content other than to corroborate the already overblown connotation of the word “science� as used in the subtitle and throughout.]]> 4.48 2023 Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
author: Peter Attia
name: Larry
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:
Autobiographical � mislabeled as “science� (and art).

I’d hoped for something new. Therein is the problem. How many ways can “� not really sure …� be said written? And that is the essence of the book’s contribution to “science.�

MANY words. little (no cap intended) knowledge. “Ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.�

Even so, efforts to discern and articulate truth are laudable. Less laudable, or rather less valuable are MANY words to convey so little.

—ĔĔĔ�

I suspect had I approached the book from the beginning as autobiographical, I’d have been less disappointed as my hope for something new was trued up with / dashed by the current state of “science� on matters attended to by the author.

To me, rather than “the science and art of longevity� a more apt subtitle would be, “one person’s findings about living well and perhaps living well longer.� That the author has an MD seems to me to bear little relevance to the content other than to corroborate the already overblown connotation of the word “science� as used in the subtitle and throughout.
]]> <![CDATA[Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith]]> 596364 432 Linda King Newell 0252062914 Larry 0 4.09 1984 Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith
author: Linda King Newell
name: Larry
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read, biography-autobiography
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mercy without End: Toward a More Inclusive Church]]> 53710064 289 Lavina Fielding Anderson Larry 5 Poetic. Poignant. At times Raw. Moving.

A later-in-life discovery for me. Lavinia Anderson is among a small set of Theologically-oriented authors whose works I seek and consume with care, reflection, and wonderment.]]> 4.82 Mercy without End: Toward a More Inclusive Church
author: Lavina Fielding Anderson
name: Larry
average rating: 4.82
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
shelves:
review:
Poetic. Poignant. At times Raw. Moving.

A later-in-life discovery for me. Lavinia Anderson is among a small set of Theologically-oriented authors whose works I seek and consume with care, reflection, and wonderment.
]]> The Silmarillion 178936880 The forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion tells the earlier history of Middle-earth, recounting the events of the First and Second Ages, and introducing some of the key characters, such as Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil and the Dark Lord, Sauron.

The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Included on the recording are several shorter works. The Ainulindalë is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabêth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age, and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

This brand-new unabridged recording is read by the acclaimed actor, director and author, Andy Serkis.]]> 19 J.R.R. Tolkien 0008585881 Larry 5 recreational-reading
What’s helpful to know? A couple of tidbits:
� It isn’t an end-to-end story. It is rather more of a compilation of related stories, most 1 chapter in length, a few 2 chapters in length.
� There are intersections with more familiar Tolkien works such as LOTR, and The Hobbit. IMO, it’s best not to expect them (they’re fewer than you might expect). Though once you experience one, I predict you’ll be delighted and want to reflect on it � to appreciate the richness it provides to both familiar and new stories.]]> 4.25 1977 The Silmarillion
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Larry
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1977
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: recreational-reading
review:
How can I rate it anything other than 5 stars? I can’t. If you’ve contemplated reading it, it seems a reasonable inference you know what you’re getting into. And it’s a reasonable inference you already love Tolkien works. So it is with me.

What’s helpful to know? A couple of tidbits:
� It isn’t an end-to-end story. It is rather more of a compilation of related stories, most 1 chapter in length, a few 2 chapters in length.
� There are intersections with more familiar Tolkien works such as LOTR, and The Hobbit. IMO, it’s best not to expect them (they’re fewer than you might expect). Though once you experience one, I predict you’ll be delighted and want to reflect on it � to appreciate the richness it provides to both familiar and new stories.
]]> <![CDATA[The Priesthood Power of Women: In the Temple, Church, and Family]]> 53127591
Some are surprised to learn that priesthood authority, privileges, and power apply to women as well as men. On the other hand, many women feel undervalued, voiceless, and marginalized regarding the priesthood. Our limited understanding and frustration often stems from the priesthood being taught too narrowly.

The Priesthood Power of Women relies on the standard works and teachings of the living prophets to help all members, especially women, more fully understand God's power and take full advantage of the powers, blessings, and privileges available to them in this mortal journey by

� clarifying truth regarding the priesthood, for both men and women.
� further expanding our knowledge of the priesthood, and
� strengthening and empowering us as we seek to better fulfill our priesthood responsibilities and make full use of priesthood privileges.]]> 183 Barbara Morgan Gardner 1629738948 Larry 3 gospel-study
Why did I feel ever-so-slightly � mmmm � head-held-askance, one-eye-grimacing-shut tinged with skepticism � while reading?

Definitions:
1. Rhetoric: Speaking or writing that is intended to persuade. Hyperbole. Verbosity. Oratory. Eloquent. Magniloquence. Rant. Bombast.

2. Descriptive: Describing something, especially something in a detailed and interesting way. Definitive. Detailed. Eloquent. Expressive. Illuminating. Vivid. Revealing.

Answer (to my opening inquiry): This book is more rhetoric than descriptive. I am drawn to descriptive. A descriptive approach allows, invites, and even requires a more active reader involvement. It acknowledges and honors individual sentience, agency, intellect, discernment, reason, and so forth.

In the main I discern what is presented as motivated by the search for truth and thus accurate and helpful. Certainly it is observant of citing authoritative sources from contemporary decades and prior times even to the restoration origins of 19th century. It occurs to me historical citations were selected with an eye to what is only affirming of present era authoritative discourse and “adjusted� practices. I suppose therein is part of the slight rub. It’s not dissembling per se. However, it doesn’t wholly honor (or attempt to or even acknowledge) the often-difficult yet glorious unfolding of truths as God reveals them to humankind � according (when, how, through whom, etc) as He will which surely also reflects our willingness to hear and receive.

Perhaps also the dichotomous model of priesthood the author puts forward early on ie, hierarchical / structural vs patriarchal / familial, while thought prompting, insight enabling, and didactically useful, risks simplifying thus overlooking the richness and nuance of something divine. It is easy to imagine it (the theoretical model) becoming a missionary model � not unlike creating an inverted pyramid by stacking 12 cups upside down to illustrate the foundation of apostles and prophets. Or the hand in glove illustration of spirit and body. Or the famed Plan of Salvation diagram. Not inaccurate. Sort of helpful didactically. And thoroughly incomplete. And perhaps too-often fostering a false sense of full understanding.]]> 4.69 2019 The Priesthood Power of Women: In the Temple, Church, and Family
author: Barbara Morgan Gardner
name: Larry
average rating: 4.69
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: gospel-study
review:
More Rhetoric than Descriptive

Why did I feel ever-so-slightly � mmmm � head-held-askance, one-eye-grimacing-shut tinged with skepticism � while reading?

Definitions:
1. Rhetoric: Speaking or writing that is intended to persuade. Hyperbole. Verbosity. Oratory. Eloquent. Magniloquence. Rant. Bombast.

2. Descriptive: Describing something, especially something in a detailed and interesting way. Definitive. Detailed. Eloquent. Expressive. Illuminating. Vivid. Revealing.

Answer (to my opening inquiry): This book is more rhetoric than descriptive. I am drawn to descriptive. A descriptive approach allows, invites, and even requires a more active reader involvement. It acknowledges and honors individual sentience, agency, intellect, discernment, reason, and so forth.

In the main I discern what is presented as motivated by the search for truth and thus accurate and helpful. Certainly it is observant of citing authoritative sources from contemporary decades and prior times even to the restoration origins of 19th century. It occurs to me historical citations were selected with an eye to what is only affirming of present era authoritative discourse and “adjusted� practices. I suppose therein is part of the slight rub. It’s not dissembling per se. However, it doesn’t wholly honor (or attempt to or even acknowledge) the often-difficult yet glorious unfolding of truths as God reveals them to humankind � according (when, how, through whom, etc) as He will which surely also reflects our willingness to hear and receive.

Perhaps also the dichotomous model of priesthood the author puts forward early on ie, hierarchical / structural vs patriarchal / familial, while thought prompting, insight enabling, and didactically useful, risks simplifying thus overlooking the richness and nuance of something divine. It is easy to imagine it (the theoretical model) becoming a missionary model � not unlike creating an inverted pyramid by stacking 12 cups upside down to illustrate the foundation of apostles and prophets. Or the hand in glove illustration of spirit and body. Or the famed Plan of Salvation diagram. Not inaccurate. Sort of helpful didactically. And thoroughly incomplete. And perhaps too-often fostering a false sense of full understanding.
]]> <![CDATA[For Zion: A Mormon Theology of Hope]]> 22398550 195 Joseph M. Spencer 1589585690 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Precision. Connection.

Analytical. Precise. Connection (-making). Inventive.

Through my life, including and substantially so in my profession (which was wholly different than Joseph Spencer’s), I’ve had occasion to observe persons skilled at one or the other (seeing with precision and or seeing connections). On rare occasion I’ve observed a person skilled at both.

Truth it seems to me may often be found at the intersection of precision and connection.

The notion that such might be gifts as well, inherited or dispensed, comes more clearly into focus upon reading certain authors.

Joseph Spencer is among those. Gifted with an ability to see and articulate with precision. Gifted with an ability to make connections not obvious to many / most.

Challenging to read. Yes. I’d be disappointed if precision and connection were otherwise.]]> 4.43 2014 For Zion: A Mormon Theology of Hope
author: Joseph M. Spencer
name: Larry
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Precision. Connection.

Analytical. Precise. Connection (-making). Inventive.

Through my life, including and substantially so in my profession (which was wholly different than Joseph Spencer’s), I’ve had occasion to observe persons skilled at one or the other (seeing with precision and or seeing connections). On rare occasion I’ve observed a person skilled at both.

Truth it seems to me may often be found at the intersection of precision and connection.

The notion that such might be gifts as well, inherited or dispensed, comes more clearly into focus upon reading certain authors.

Joseph Spencer is among those. Gifted with an ability to see and articulate with precision. Gifted with an ability to make connections not obvious to many / most.

Challenging to read. Yes. I’d be disappointed if precision and connection were otherwise.
]]> <![CDATA[The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life]]> 15954244
As humans, we are, like the poet John Keats, "straining at particles of light in the midst of a great darkness." And yet, the authors describe a version of life's meaning that is reasonable—and radically resonant. It tells of a God whose heart beats in sympathy with ours, who set His heart upon us before the world was formed, who fashioned the earth as a place of human ascent, not exile, and who has the desire and the capacity to bring the entire human family home again.]]> 160 Terryl L. Givens 1609071883 Larry 5 Deserving � of Reading and Contemplation

Each book I’ve read by a Givens:
� Impels reflection, contemplation, and revision.
� Invites insight, inspiration, and change.
� Celebrates intellect and faith.
� Moves me. Quite literally, my heart and mind are in a different place than before reading. ]]> 4.31 2012 The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/28
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, theology, reference
review:
Deserving � of Reading and Contemplation

Each book I’ve read by a Givens:
� Impels reflection, contemplation, and revision.
� Invites insight, inspiration, and change.
� Celebrates intellect and faith.
� Moves me. Quite literally, my heart and mind are in a different place than before reading.
]]> <![CDATA[Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism]]> 61063751
In 1842, founder Joseph Smith foresaw the LDS Women's Relief Society as "a kingdom of Priests," that he "would ordain them to preside over the society...just the Presidency preside over the church." Originally, the LDS Women's Relief Society paralleled the LDS men's priesthood quorums. Women were "ordained" to various positions, as well as set apart to be healers "with power to rebuke diseases."



In the 19th-century, Mormon theology also spoke of a Mother God, having "all power and glory" with the Father in Heaven. Mormon doctrine also hinted at the divine status of Eve, Mary, and Mary Magdalene.



The 19th-century Woman's Exponent, published by the LDS Women's Relief Society, editorialized in favor of "equal rights before the law, equal pay for equal work, equal political rights." The magazine's masthead read, "The Rights of the Women of Zion and the Rights of Women of All Nations."



One Relief Society founder, Sarah Kimball, referred to herself as "a woman's rights woman," while another leader, Bathsheba Smith, was called on a Relief Society mission in 1870 to preach "woman's rights" throughout southern Utah. According to the Woman's Exponent, a woman's place was not just "in the nursery" but "in the library, the laboratory, the observatory."

Women were encouraged to pursue formal education and career opportunities, study medicine and involve themselves in politics. Mormon women were assured that "when men see that women can exist without them, it will perhaps take a little of the conceit out of some of them."



Women who served inside LDS temples were termed "priestesses," while LDS Women's Relief Society president Eliza R. Snow was known as a "prophetess." Snow discouraged women from confiding their personal issues to male bishops, saying that such matters "should be referred to the Relief Society president and her counselors."



In 1875, LDS Women's Relief Society president, Emmeline B. Wells, could say with "Let woman speak for herself; she has the right of freedom of speech. Women are too slow in moving forward, afraid of criticism, of being called unwomanly, of being thought masculine. What of it? If men are so much superior to women, the nearer we come up to the manly standard the higher we elevate ourselves."]]> 565 Maxine Hanks Larry 5 history, reference Eyes to See & Ears to Hear.

I am taken with the questions and attempts at clarity offered / suggested by the cumulative messages of these herein-compiled essays.

I prize truth. I seek for and prize the gift to discern truth (period and from error). It, as is any gift, subject to human flaw. Nevertheless and FWIW I find much truth in this work. Much.

It seems from my evolving understanding, Mormon feminism asserts two primary tenets: we of the Mormon faith do not, as God (Father and Mother) would have us, attend to 2) the Feminine Divine and 2) the endowment / anointing / ordination / setting apart / of or with power which has been thus far revealed. We are ignoring light which has been revealed. And much / most / all of that is particularly detrimental to women.

Truth. A stunning observation elucidated by this work. Profound.

And a corollary in the form of a question: might we not petition God (Father and Mother) to provide a revelation to aid believers in overcoming the decades / century long devolution and now inertia which prevents many / most in the greater community and institution (? as seems apparent) from recognizing that light?

It seems that was necessary to help the community begin to overcome the century-long inertia associated with another form of bias.

P.S. I cannot help but observe how many more recent “adjustments� align with points made by various contributors to this work. A spirit of truth and revelation is manifest in such change.]]> 5.00 1992 Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism
author: Maxine Hanks
name: Larry
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: history, reference
review:
Eyes to See & Ears to Hear.

I am taken with the questions and attempts at clarity offered / suggested by the cumulative messages of these herein-compiled essays.

I prize truth. I seek for and prize the gift to discern truth (period and from error). It, as is any gift, subject to human flaw. Nevertheless and FWIW I find much truth in this work. Much.

It seems from my evolving understanding, Mormon feminism asserts two primary tenets: we of the Mormon faith do not, as God (Father and Mother) would have us, attend to 2) the Feminine Divine and 2) the endowment / anointing / ordination / setting apart / of or with power which has been thus far revealed. We are ignoring light which has been revealed. And much / most / all of that is particularly detrimental to women.

Truth. A stunning observation elucidated by this work. Profound.

And a corollary in the form of a question: might we not petition God (Father and Mother) to provide a revelation to aid believers in overcoming the decades / century long devolution and now inertia which prevents many / most in the greater community and institution (? as seems apparent) from recognizing that light?

It seems that was necessary to help the community begin to overcome the century-long inertia associated with another form of bias.

P.S. I cannot help but observe how many more recent “adjustments� align with points made by various contributors to this work. A spirit of truth and revelation is manifest in such change.
]]> <![CDATA[The Pamphlets of Orson Pratt (The Works of Orson Pratt, Volume 1)]]> 38235623

Contains the following �











Who Was Joseph Smith?











The Redemption of Zion
The Majesty of God]]> 748 Orson Pratt Larry 0 4.00 The Pamphlets of Orson Pratt (The Works of Orson Pratt, Volume 1)
author: Orson Pratt
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, to-read, theology, reference
review:

]]> The Common Good 40983489
Powerful, urgent, and utterly vital, this is a heartfelt missive from one of our foremost political thinkers.]]> 208 Robert B. Reich 0525436375 Larry 5
The author suggests several and to me most notably truth and the common good.

Truth and Good are values, characteristics, attributes, and perfections of the God I worship and emulate.

The author’s words ring true. His plea to re-enthrone these values resonates. His hope that such values can again become the foundation of our society inspires my personal devotion.

Like many, I am a witness to the devaluing of truth and good. Good is called evil (or rather “dumb�) and evil good (or rather “smart�). Truth is whatever a person wants it to be. “My truth� is a phrase of the day. Truth is attacked as “fake news.� Lies are an acceptable means to whatever end is sought.

An attempt to refresh, re-invigorate, renew, and inspire is timely, worthy, and appreciated.]]> 4.00 2018 The Common Good
author: Robert B. Reich
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/28
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: economics, human-behavior, reference
review:
The question to ask and answer, for myself and each citizen of our nation, is what do I value?

The author suggests several and to me most notably truth and the common good.

Truth and Good are values, characteristics, attributes, and perfections of the God I worship and emulate.

The author’s words ring true. His plea to re-enthrone these values resonates. His hope that such values can again become the foundation of our society inspires my personal devotion.

Like many, I am a witness to the devaluing of truth and good. Good is called evil (or rather “dumb�) and evil good (or rather “smart�). Truth is whatever a person wants it to be. “My truth� is a phrase of the day. Truth is attacked as “fake news.� Lies are an acceptable means to whatever end is sought.

An attempt to refresh, re-invigorate, renew, and inspire is timely, worthy, and appreciated.
]]> <![CDATA[The Pearl of Greatest Price: Mormonism's Most Controversial Scripture]]> 50176106 The Pearl of Greatest Price narrates the history of Mormonism's fourth volume of scripture, canonized in 1880. The authors track its predecessors, describe its several components, and assess their theological significance within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Four principal sections are discussed, along with attendant controversies associated with each. The Book of Moses purports to be a Mosaic narrative missing from the biblical version of Genesis. Too little treated in the scholarship on Mormonism, these chapters, produced only months after the Book of Mormon was published, actually contain the theological nucleus of Latter-day Saint doctrines as well as a virtual template for the Restoration Joseph Smith was to effect.

In The Pearl of Greatest Price, the author covers three principal parts that are the focus of many of the controversies engulfing Mormonism today. These parts are The Book of Abraham, The Book of Moses, and The Joseph Smith History. Most controversial of all is the Book of Abraham, a production that arose out of a group of papyri Smith acquired, along with four mummies, in 1835. Most of the papyri disappeared in the great Chicago Fire, but surviving fragments have been identified as Egyptian funerary documents. This has created one of the most serious challenges to Smith's prophetic claims the LDS church has faced. LDS scholars, however, have developed several frameworks for vindicating the inspiration of the resulting narrative and Smith's calling as a prophet. The author attempts to make sense of Smith's several, at times divergent, accounts of his First Vision, one of which is canonized as scripture. He also assesses the creedal nature of Smith's "Articles of Faith," in the context of his professed anti-creedalism. In sum, this study chronicles the volume's historical legacy and theological indispensability to the Latter-day Saint tradition, as well as the reasons for its resilience and future prospects in the face of daunting challenges.]]> 293 Terryl L. Givens 0190603887 Larry 5 Inspiring Veracity

What does it mean to be a seer and a prophet?

Attempting to ascribe a universally accepted definition to such words seems to perpetuate linguistic limits hence misconceptions which Joseph decried.

Givens and Hauglid have done a masterful job in bringing to light concepts, theories, and, IMO, truths that allow a believer to find a way forward; and, I add, not just “find� but embrace as one properly embraces any / all truth i.e., with an open heart and mind, with delight, and subject to critical thought and workings of the Spirit of revelation.
]]> 3.96 The Pearl of Greatest Price: Mormonism's Most Controversial Scripture
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/26
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, theology, reference
review:
Inspiring Veracity

What does it mean to be a seer and a prophet?

Attempting to ascribe a universally accepted definition to such words seems to perpetuate linguistic limits hence misconceptions which Joseph decried.

Givens and Hauglid have done a masterful job in bringing to light concepts, theories, and, IMO, truths that allow a believer to find a way forward; and, I add, not just “find� but embrace as one properly embraces any / all truth i.e., with an open heart and mind, with delight, and subject to critical thought and workings of the Spirit of revelation.

]]> <![CDATA[Original Grace: An Experiment in Restoration Thinking]]> 61278478 Original Grace, Adam S. Miller proposes an experiment in Restoration What if instead of implicitly affirming the traditional logic of original sin, we, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, emphasized the deeper reality of God’s original grace? What if we broke entirely with the belief that suffering can sometimes be deserved and claimed that suffering can never be deserved?

In exploring these questions, Miller draws on scriptures and the truths of the Restoration to reframe Christianity’s traditional thinking about grace, justice, and sin. He outlines the logic of original sin versus that of original grace and generates fresh insights into how the doctrine of grace relates to justice, creation, forgiveness, and more.

As we embrace the reality of God’s original grace and refuse the logic of original sin, we achieve a deeper understanding of our relationship with Christ and the meaning of his atonement. Christ suffers with us in order to heal our wounds and redeem our suffering. He rescues us from sin by empowering us to exercise our agency and accept. God’s original offer of grace. He fills us with this pure love by teaching us how to respond to all suffering the same way God with even more grace. Indeed, as Miller suggests, the very substance of salvation has always been a grace-filled partnership with Christ.]]> 111 Adam S. Miller 1649331339 Larry 5
A packet has edges. Words have edges. Edges, limits, or boundaries serve to differentiate, distinguish and divide one packet of meaning from another.

Placing words next to one another may also convey additional meaning. Obviously that is an intent of grammar. But it may also occur by mere juxtaposition. A conjunction may also add meaning. The choice of conjunction can significantly alter the meaning of the adjacent words.

For some time, as I have studied to better understand the nature of God and Jesus, I have wondered if meaning typically attached to the words mercy and justice, individually and jointly, is confounded, confused, and even errant. I believe the embodiment of the concepts these words attempt to convey is Jesus Christ. I believe that whereas I use two words in an attempt to comprehend Him, and to articulate His character, attributes, and perfections, the embodiment is in no way dichotomous. The fulfillment of the concept these two words (and their various conjoint usages) attempt to convey is one in Him. There are no edges, boundaries, partitions, distinctions.

This book and others of Adam S. Miller have sharpened my wonderings, added precision to them, offered meaningful ways of thinking, and are enabling a more complete comprehension of God and Jesus Christ.

I appreciate his using the language of hypothesis. I appreciate his providing supporting revelatory sources. I appreciate his presenting contrary points of view and offering his reconciling thoughts. I appreciate his lacing concept with vignettes from his life.

FWIW, I believe it helpful, in general and in reading this book, to be comfortable with and even welcoming of dissonance.]]> 4.77 Original Grace: An Experiment in Restoration Thinking
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.77
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/13
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, theology, reference
review:
I employ words to convey meaning; and they do. They are little packets of meaning.

A packet has edges. Words have edges. Edges, limits, or boundaries serve to differentiate, distinguish and divide one packet of meaning from another.

Placing words next to one another may also convey additional meaning. Obviously that is an intent of grammar. But it may also occur by mere juxtaposition. A conjunction may also add meaning. The choice of conjunction can significantly alter the meaning of the adjacent words.

For some time, as I have studied to better understand the nature of God and Jesus, I have wondered if meaning typically attached to the words mercy and justice, individually and jointly, is confounded, confused, and even errant. I believe the embodiment of the concepts these words attempt to convey is Jesus Christ. I believe that whereas I use two words in an attempt to comprehend Him, and to articulate His character, attributes, and perfections, the embodiment is in no way dichotomous. The fulfillment of the concept these two words (and their various conjoint usages) attempt to convey is one in Him. There are no edges, boundaries, partitions, distinctions.

This book and others of Adam S. Miller have sharpened my wonderings, added precision to them, offered meaningful ways of thinking, and are enabling a more complete comprehension of God and Jesus Christ.

I appreciate his using the language of hypothesis. I appreciate his providing supporting revelatory sources. I appreciate his presenting contrary points of view and offering his reconciling thoughts. I appreciate his lacing concept with vignettes from his life.

FWIW, I believe it helpful, in general and in reading this book, to be comfortable with and even welcoming of dissonance.
]]> <![CDATA[Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints]]> 63364358 Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saintsis a historical and theological window on Christianity’s first six centuries and beyond. It invites Latter-day Saints to encounter ancient followers of Jesus Christ, to hear what they heard, see what they saw, understand how they worshipped, and learnwhat they believed. Readers will come to see early Christian women and men as our sisters and brothers, fellow disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Informed by the questions and interests of Latter-day Saints, each chapter explores the history of important ancient Christian beliefs and practices. Readers will also experience the ancient Christians� material world, their art, architecture, and manuscripts, through beautiful images that adorn the text. Together, their writings and art stand as a witness to the profound faith and devotion of these followers of Christ.

Latter-day Saints are connected with early Christians through Joseph Smith’s restoration project and what he called “the primitive church.� Yet the lives of these spiritual forebears are often overlooked, and their faith is sometimes misunderstood. In this book, readers are invited to learn from these venerable ancient Saints, feel their love of God, and rejoice in their testimonies of the Savior of the world.]]> 716 Jason R. Combs Larry 5 Myths Dispelled. History Revealed.

The words of Miranda Wilcox written specific to medieval Christianity, yet applicable to any era of ancient Christianity, provide a fitting description of the effect of this book on my heart and mind.

“Studying their creative devotion enriches mine. While not every aspect of medieval Christianity is worthy of emulation, much may be admired. The lives, work, and art of medieval Christians yield insights about how Christianity transforms human culture, how ministering in the Savior’s way includes discerning spiritual vocation, how meditating on Christ’s life cultivates a personal relationship with him, and how enacting the drama of salvation anticipates resurrection and communion.�

It seems apparent � ancient Christians were real people doing their best to to ascertain truth in pursuit of worshipping God and Jesus Christ. Not so (if at all) different than me.]]> 4.33 Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints
author: Jason R. Combs
name: Larry
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/09
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, history, reference
review:
Myths Dispelled. History Revealed.

The words of Miranda Wilcox written specific to medieval Christianity, yet applicable to any era of ancient Christianity, provide a fitting description of the effect of this book on my heart and mind.

“Studying their creative devotion enriches mine. While not every aspect of medieval Christianity is worthy of emulation, much may be admired. The lives, work, and art of medieval Christians yield insights about how Christianity transforms human culture, how ministering in the Savior’s way includes discerning spiritual vocation, how meditating on Christ’s life cultivates a personal relationship with him, and how enacting the drama of salvation anticipates resurrection and communion.�

It seems apparent � ancient Christians were real people doing their best to to ascertain truth in pursuit of worshipping God and Jesus Christ. Not so (if at all) different than me.
]]> <![CDATA[All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation, and Everything in Between]]> 55938279
"I make all things new," proclaimed the Lord. Regrettably, many are still mired in the past, in ways we have not recognized. In this book, Fiona and Terryl Givens trace the roots of our religious vocabulary, explore how a flawed inheritance compounds the wounds and challenges of a life devoted to discipleship, and suggest ways of reformulating our language in more healthy ways all in the hope that, as B. H. Roberts urged, we may all "cooperate in the works of the Spirit" to find "a truer expression" of a gospel restored.]]> 206 Fiona Givens 1953677037 Larry 5 A Treasure for Truth Seekers

Moving. Inspiring. Challenging. Paradigm shifting.

The concepts and discourses herein benefit from reflection and pondering. Therefore it is well to read in doses.

I have added this to a very few books I keep at hand which prompt thought and facilitate acquiring truth and light.
]]> 4.59 All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation, and Everything in Between
author: Fiona Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/14
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, history, theology, reference
review:
A Treasure for Truth Seekers

Moving. Inspiring. Challenging. Paradigm shifting.

The concepts and discourses herein benefit from reflection and pondering. Therefore it is well to read in doses.

I have added this to a very few books I keep at hand which prompt thought and facilitate acquiring truth and light.

]]> Mere Christianity 6573892
One of the most popular introductions to Christian faith ever written, Mere Christianity brings together Lewis’s legendary broadcast talks during World War Two. Here, Lewis provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.

A collection of scintillating brilliance, Mere Christianity remains strikingly fresh for the modern reader and at the same time confirms C.S. Lewis’s reputation as one of the leading writers and thinkers of our age.]]> 248 C.S. Lewis Larry 4
Classic indeed.

Books 1-3 are to me 5-star worthy.

His understanding of the subject underlying Book 4 is inaccurate. Hence significant portions of the proffered arguments are unnecessarily complicated and unnecessarily confused.]]> 4.58 1952 Mere Christianity
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Larry
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/25
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: gospel-study, theology, reference
review:
Reasoned. Plain. Notable. Citable.

Classic indeed.

Books 1-3 are to me 5-star worthy.

His understanding of the subject underlying Book 4 is inaccurate. Hence significant portions of the proffered arguments are unnecessarily complicated and unnecessarily confused.
]]> <![CDATA[Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think]]> 36185940 Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends�what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse).

Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases.

It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.

Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. ]]> 341 Hans Rosling 125012381X Larry 5 Do You Seek Truth? Be Inspired. Be Guided.

For decades I have held tightly to 2 works which are dispensable to my personal search for truth. I now add this to those. ]]> 4.48 2018 Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
author: Hans Rosling
name: Larry
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/07/30
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: human-behavior, math-and-statistics, reference
review:
Do You Seek Truth? Be Inspired. Be Guided.

For decades I have held tightly to 2 works which are dispensable to my personal search for truth. I now add this to those.
]]> Business Model Generation 7723797
1) Change the way you think about business models

Business Model Generation will teach you powerful and practical innovation techniques used today by leading companies worldwide. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a new business model or analyze and renovate an old one.

2) Co-created by 470 strategy practitioners

Business Model Generation practices what it preaches. Co-authored by 470 Business Model Canvas practitioners from 45 countries, the book was financed and produced independently of the traditional publishing industry. It features a tightly-integrated, visual, lie-flat design that enables immediate hands-on use.

3) Designed for doers

Business Model Generation is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new, innovative models of value creation: executives, consultants, entrepreneurs and leaders of all organizations.]]> 273 Alexander Osterwalder 2839906171 Larry 1 4.20 2010 Business Model Generation
author: Alexander Osterwalder
name: Larry
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2010
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Moroni: a brief theological introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions 12)]]> 56270306 134 David F. Holland 0842500278 Larry 4 gospel-study, theology So Much to Consider

Drawn toward. I am drawn toward this book, the series, the authors, other works by several of these authors � to truth. An awareness of things past, present, and yet to be. A lifting of a / the fog which seems to inhibit awareness. Questions. Well formulated questions. Precise wonderings. Reasoned and inspired. The breadth of God’s gifts on display. ]]> 4.65 Moroni: a brief theological introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions 12)
author: David F. Holland
name: Larry
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
So Much to Consider

Drawn toward. I am drawn toward this book, the series, the authors, other works by several of these authors � to truth. An awareness of things past, present, and yet to be. A lifting of a / the fog which seems to inhibit awareness. Questions. Well formulated questions. Precise wonderings. Reasoned and inspired. The breadth of God’s gifts on display.
]]> <![CDATA[Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet]]> 60383156
After the 1844 murder of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Young gathered those Latter-day Saints who would follow him and led them over the Rocky Mountains. In Utah, he styled himself after the patriarchs, judges, and prophets of ancient Israel. As charismatic as he was autocratic, he was viewed by his followers as an indispensable protector and by his opponents as a theocratic, treasonous heretic.

Under his fiery tutelage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defended plural marriage, restricted the place of African Americans within the church, fought the U.S. Army in 1857, and obstructed federal efforts to prosecute perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. At the same time, Young's tenacity and faith brought tens of thousands of Mormons to the American West, imbued their everyday lives with sacred purpose, and sustained his church against adversity. Turner reveals the complexity of this spiritual prophet, whose commitment made a deep imprint on his church and the American Mountain West.]]> John G. Turner 1452690758 Larry 4 history
On the challenge of balance: Absent an intentional review of sources, manuscripts, and editorial decisions eg, inclusion / exclusion, observational and summary word choices, it would be disingenuous to suggest I can adequately assess balance. Thus “seemingly� balanced. To whit much is included that seems both favorable and less favorable or unfavorable as to the man, his character, events, outcomes, and so forth. I appreciate that “seeming� balance. Greatly.

Regarding long: Reading / listening is an investment of time. Understanding requires yet more. And comprehension yet more. I’m certain I’ve at best understood a portion of the man and the history. The investment is in the end rewarding; it is at times enjoyable or even entertaining; and it is at times tedious. Contributing ever so slightly to the tedium is the narrator’s mispronunciation of place names such as Man-tī (not Man-tē).

Thus is it thorough. It seems few stones are left unturned, rolled (made effective use of as in gathered no moss), or thrown (as seemed fitting to author / editor).]]> 4.20 2012 Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet
author: John G. Turner
name: Larry
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: history
review:
Thorough. Necessarily long. Seemingly balanced.

On the challenge of balance: Absent an intentional review of sources, manuscripts, and editorial decisions eg, inclusion / exclusion, observational and summary word choices, it would be disingenuous to suggest I can adequately assess balance. Thus “seemingly� balanced. To whit much is included that seems both favorable and less favorable or unfavorable as to the man, his character, events, outcomes, and so forth. I appreciate that “seeming� balance. Greatly.

Regarding long: Reading / listening is an investment of time. Understanding requires yet more. And comprehension yet more. I’m certain I’ve at best understood a portion of the man and the history. The investment is in the end rewarding; it is at times enjoyable or even entertaining; and it is at times tedious. Contributing ever so slightly to the tedium is the narrator’s mispronunciation of place names such as Man-tī (not Man-tē).

Thus is it thorough. It seems few stones are left unturned, rolled (made effective use of as in gathered no moss), or thrown (as seemed fitting to author / editor).
]]> The Christ Child 216995222 69 Adam S. Miller 1649333390 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Imagine the Unseen

I seem unable to articulate in writing my responses, in-the-moments-while-reading, and thereafter. Words like unseen, imagine, unseeable, unimaginable, foolish, real, familiar, fresh � attempt to assemble from jumble to order.

‘Tis of little consequence for a review.

Of consequence: attestation of an experience influential, moving, memorable and which bears repeating.]]> 4.29 The Christ Child
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Imagine the Unseen

I seem unable to articulate in writing my responses, in-the-moments-while-reading, and thereafter. Words like unseen, imagine, unseeable, unimaginable, foolish, real, familiar, fresh � attempt to assemble from jumble to order.

‘Tis of little consequence for a review.

Of consequence: attestation of an experience influential, moving, memorable and which bears repeating.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lies We Tell Ourselves: How to Face the Truth, Accept Yourself, and Create a Better Life]]> 33389885 178 Jon Frederickson 0988378892 Larry 5 Moving. Unrelentingly Honest.

I’ve not words to adequately describe the author’s influence by this work on my mind and heart.

One attempt: “Moving.� I’ve moved. It rather my heart and mind are in a different place than where they were before reading.

Perhaps this too will be telling for some. I wrote this below to the person who shared this book with me,

“Wow. Humorous, witty, at times poetic, poignant, eye-opening, and most of all unreserved truth telling.

One of a reader’s challenges: not marking every page with a self-relevant insight.

Thank you.”]]> 4.20 2017 The Lies We Tell Ourselves: How to Face the Truth, Accept Yourself, and Create a Better Life
author: Jon Frederickson
name: Larry
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: human-behavior, self-improvement
review:
Moving. Unrelentingly Honest.

I’ve not words to adequately describe the author’s influence by this work on my mind and heart.

One attempt: “Moving.� I’ve moved. It rather my heart and mind are in a different place than where they were before reading.

Perhaps this too will be telling for some. I wrote this below to the person who shared this book with me,

“Wow. Humorous, witty, at times poetic, poignant, eye-opening, and most of all unreserved truth telling.

One of a reader’s challenges: not marking every page with a self-relevant insight.

Thank you.�
]]> <![CDATA[3rd, 4th Nephi: a brief theological introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #9)]]> 55978462 “And now Father, I pray unto thee for them . . . that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one.�

Generations of prophecy are fulfilled when Jesus Christ visits the people of the Book of Mormon following his crucifixion and resurrection. In his short time among these “other sheep,� Christ teaches about the path of discipleship, inaugurating a centuries-long period of righteous peace and prosperity in Nephite society.

In this brief theological introduction, Daniel Becerra enlists 3 and 4 Nephi as aids in the disciple’s pursuit of Christ and Christlikeness. What do these books reveal about divine nature, human nature, and the means of bridging the gap between the two?

Becerra places Christ at the center of all theological thinking in his interpretation of these remarkable books of scripture. He proposes that the fullest expression of discipleship—Christlikeness—can only be found in community and collaboration.]]> 119 Daniel Becerra Larry 5 gospel-study, theology If �

� the count of citations embedded in my personal study notes are an indication of novel thought, articulate speech, content value, and profundity then this book rates high.

I love my religion, this faith practice which invites thinking and feeling and becoming. ]]> 4.47 3rd, 4th Nephi: a brief theological introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #9)
author: Daniel Becerra
name: Larry
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
If �

� the count of citations embedded in my personal study notes are an indication of novel thought, articulate speech, content value, and profundity then this book rates high.

I love my religion, this faith practice which invites thinking and feeling and becoming.
]]> <![CDATA[Alma 1-29: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #6)]]> 55935354 ". . . that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth."

Alma is an idolatrous man—until an angel’s rebuke leads to repentance and two decades of righteous service in realms both political and religious. But Alma’s past haunts him. He abdicates political power in order to focus more fully on his ministry. When war against Nephite dissenters shatters the community, he laments.

In this brief theological introduction to the first twenty-nine chapters of the book of Alma, literary scholar Kylie Nielson Turley considers how Alma’s profound transformation from anti-Christ to high priest of the church of God can deepen our understanding of Christ’s mercy. What if God forgives and forgets but humans do not? Does following God ensure a less painful life? Is it faithless to mourn, question, or cry out when beset by sin, violence, or death?

Turley foregrounds Alma as a man who sinned grievously and who was grievously sinned against, a man who found hope and healing in the darkest abyss, a man whose words offer hope and healing to a burdened world.]]> 157 Kylie Nielson Turley Larry 5 gospel-study, theology “I am not the same person …�

These words, “I am not the same person who began studying Alma years ago� echo my feeling as I conclude this volume in the series. That sentiment applies to this volume specifically and the series entirely.

Questions, questions, questions. Well articulated questions. Questions which challenge and therefore add to too-tidy conclusions and perhaps too-comforting interpretations. Questions. Enlightenment. Light. Life. Truth.

I appreciate this author’s persistence in asking questions and sharing where those lead.]]> 4.47 Alma 1-29: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #6)
author: Kylie Nielson Turley
name: Larry
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/16
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
“I am not the same person …�

These words, “I am not the same person who began studying Alma years ago� echo my feeling as I conclude this volume in the series. That sentiment applies to this volume specifically and the series entirely.

Questions, questions, questions. Well articulated questions. Questions which challenge and therefore add to too-tidy conclusions and perhaps too-comforting interpretations. Questions. Enlightenment. Light. Life. Truth.

I appreciate this author’s persistence in asking questions and sharing where those lead.
]]> <![CDATA[Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know]]> 55539565 Think Again is a book about the benefit of doubt, and about how we can get better at embracing the unknown and the joy of being wrong. Evidence has shown that creative geniuses are not attached to one identity, but constantly willing to rethink their stances and that leaders who admit they don't know something and seek critical feedback lead more productive and innovative teams.

New evidence shows us that as a mindset and a skilllset, rethinking can be taught and Grant explains how to develop the necessary qualities to do it. Section 1 explores why we struggle to think again and how we can learn to do it as individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can actually be counterproductive. Section 2 discusses how we can help others think again through learning about 'argument literacy'. And the final section 3 looks at how schools, businesses and governments fall short in building cultures that encourage rethinking.

In the end, learning to rethink may be the secret skill to give you the edge in a world changing faster than ever.]]> 307 Adam M. Grant 1984878107 Larry 3 epistemology-philosophy
Lots of words. Some even highlight prompting.

Meaning? Occasionally.

New insights? Less often.

Great book or greatest book? How about simply a good book. Worthy in the moment.

Unlikely to “move.�

More likely to fade into the pantheon of things-I-wish-I’d-understood memoirs. Which do indeed have a certain amount of utility.

Philosophy lite. Epistemology lite. Science lite.

Mind opening. Inviting. At times.


P.S. Too intent on attempting to cleverly display his belief that to influence thought it is well to acknowledge complexity.

]]> 4.12 2021 Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
author: Adam M. Grant
name: Larry
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: epistemology-philosophy
review:
Meh+.

Lots of words. Some even highlight prompting.

Meaning? Occasionally.

New insights? Less often.

Great book or greatest book? How about simply a good book. Worthy in the moment.

Unlikely to “move.�

More likely to fade into the pantheon of things-I-wish-I’d-understood memoirs. Which do indeed have a certain amount of utility.

Philosophy lite. Epistemology lite. Science lite.

Mind opening. Inviting. At times.


P.S. Too intent on attempting to cleverly display his belief that to influence thought it is well to acknowledge complexity.


]]> <![CDATA[Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down]]> 157981706
If you’re muddling through the day in a fog, often forgetting why you walked into a room...
If you feel emotionally flattened, lacking the energy to socialize or feel joy in the small things...
If you feel an inner void—like something is missing, but you aren’t sure what...

Then this book is for you.

Languishing—the state of mental weariness that erodes our self-esteem, motivation, and sense of meaning—can be easy to brush off as the new normal, especially since indifference is one of its symptoms. It’s not a synonym for depression and its attendant state of prolonged sadness. Languishers are more likely to feel out of control of their lives, uncertain about what they want from the future, and paralyzed when faced with decisions. Left unchecked, languishing not only impedes our daily functioning but is a gateway to serious mental illness and early mortality.

Emory University sociologist Corey Keyes has spent his career studying the causes and costs of languishing—the neglected middle child of mental health. Now Keyes has written the first definitive book on the subject, examining the subtle complexities of languishing before deftly diagnosing the larger forces behind its the false promises of the self-help industrial complex, a global moment of intense fear and loss, and a failing healthcare system focused on treating rather than preventing illness.

Ultimately, Keyes presents a groundbreaking approach to breaking the cycles keeping us stuck and finding a path to true flourishing. Unlike self-improvement systems offering quick-fix mood boosts, his framework focuses on functioning taking simple but powerful steps to hold our emotions loosely, becoming more accepting of ourselves and others, and carving out daily moments for the activities that create cycles of meaning, connection, and personal growth.

Languishing is a must-read for anyone tempted to downplay feelings of demotivation and emptiness as they struggle to haul themselves through the day, and for those eager to build a higher tolerance for adversity and the pressures of modern life. We can expand our vocabulary—and, with it, our potential to flourish.]]> 304 Corey Keyes 0593444620 Larry 2 health-care
Likes:
� The title
� The distinction of the observed phenomena as compared to e.g., depression.

Dislikes:
� Hypothesis and conjecture laden.
� Short on testable and tested phenomenological relationships.
� The author’s continued disregard of the distinction between depression and languishing. This is most notable in his attempts to support his conjecture with curable research.
� Sloppy / imprecise use of language

The small amount of truly additive content (additive to literature on mental and emotional health) could be done with one blogpost.


]]> 3.59 2024 Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down
author: Corey Keyes
name: Larry
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/27
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves: health-care
review:
Imprecise. Loose. Barely additive.

Likes:
� The title
� The distinction of the observed phenomena as compared to e.g., depression.

Dislikes:
� Hypothesis and conjecture laden.
� Short on testable and tested phenomenological relationships.
� The author’s continued disregard of the distinction between depression and languishing. This is most notable in his attempts to support his conjecture with curable research.
� Sloppy / imprecise use of language

The small amount of truly additive content (additive to literature on mental and emotional health) could be done with one blogpost.



]]> <![CDATA[Faking a Murderer (Temperance Brennan, #18.5)]]> 46157284 Jack Reacher walked out of the Baltimore bust depot into a world of frozen streets and dirty snow�

In this short story from the thrilling anthology MatchUp, bestselling authors Kathy Reichs and Lee Child—along with their popular series characters Temperance Brennan and Jack Reacher—team up for the first time ever.]]> 51 Kathy Reichs 1982139579 Larry 5 recreational-reading
I cannot imagine missing even one available Jack Reacher book. Child’s record with the series is flawless.

And Temperance Brennan � now introduced I’ll be seeking her out.

Fun. ]]> 4.12 2017 Faking a Murderer (Temperance Brennan, #18.5)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: Larry
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: recreational-reading
review:
Fun.

I cannot imagine missing even one available Jack Reacher book. Child’s record with the series is flawless.

And Temperance Brennan � now introduced I’ll be seeking her out.

Fun.
]]> <![CDATA[Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country]]> 124961437 A fearless, powerfully written on-the-ground account of a nation careening into violent autocracy—told through harrowing stories of the Philippines� state-sanctioned killings of its citizens—from a journalist of international renown

“My job is to go to places where people die. I pack my bags, talk to the survivors, write my stories, then go home to wait for the next catastrophe. I don’t wait very long.�

Journalist Patricia Evangelista came of age in the aftermath of a street revolution that forged a new future for the Philippines. Three decades later, in the face of mounting inequality, the nation discovered the fragility of its democratic institutions under the regime of strongman Rodrigo Duterte.

Some People Need Killing is Evangelista’s meticulously reported and deeply human chronicle of the Philippines� drug war. For six years, Evangelista chronicled the killings carried out by police and vigilantes in the name of Duterte’s war on drugs—a war that has led to the slaughter of thousands—immersing herself in the world of killers and survivors and capturing the atmosphere of fear created when an elected president decides that some lives are worth less than others.

The book takes its title from a vigilante whose words seemed to reflect the psychological accommodation that most of the country had made: “I’m really not a bad guy,� he said. “I’m not all bad. Some people need killing.�

A profound act of witness and a tour de force of literary journalism, Some People Need Killing is also a brilliant dissection of the grammar of violence and an important investigation of the human impulses to dominate and resist.]]> 428 Patricia Evangelista 0593133137 Larry 2 history � The nod to history preceding Duterte hence some sense of characteristics of the people and context.
� Attention given to novel and less familiar word meanings eg, “salvage.�
� Generally descriptive style as contrasted with something intended to be rhetorical / persuasive. Done well, descriptive may be rather persuasive while respecting the reader’s sentience.

Dislikes:
� Could have had a similar impact (and remain sufficient to the gravity of the subject matter) in much less space / time.
� Chapters would benefit from more descriptive titles to enable a reader to select those portions most relevant to read. For example, a Philippino likely would not need historical background.]]> 4.19 2023 Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country
author: Patricia Evangelista
name: Larry
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: history
review:
Likes:
� The nod to history preceding Duterte hence some sense of characteristics of the people and context.
� Attention given to novel and less familiar word meanings eg, “salvage.�
� Generally descriptive style as contrasted with something intended to be rhetorical / persuasive. Done well, descriptive may be rather persuasive while respecting the reader’s sentience.

Dislikes:
� Could have had a similar impact (and remain sufficient to the gravity of the subject matter) in much less space / time.
� Chapters would benefit from more descriptive titles to enable a reader to select those portions most relevant to read. For example, a Philippino likely would not need historical background.
]]> <![CDATA[Breach Of Trust (Jason Kolarich, #2)]]> 10568338 Former college football star and criminal defense attorney Jason Kolarich returns in this shocking thriller from the award-winning author of The Hidden Man.Jason Kolarich has spent the past year struggling to recover from the horrific deaths of his wife and baby daughter.On the night of their deaths, Kolarich was at the office, awaiting a call from a confidential informant named Ernesto Ramirez-a call that never came. Kolarich blames himself not only for the deaths of his wife and child, but for the informant's murder as well. He can't bring back his family, but he can find out who killed Ramirez and bring the killer to justice.Unfortunately, Kolarich's guns-blazing approach to justice lands him smack in the middle of an FBI probe of a deeply corrupt governor and his cronies. To avoid jail, Kolarich must enter a world of wiretaps, double-dealing, and kickbacks, where he soon discovers that the murder of his informant was only the tip of the iceberg.This breach of trust runs up to the highest levels of power, and exposing it may drag Kolarich into the fight of his life.]]> 431 David Ellis 110148635X Larry 4 recreational-reading His Best Yet

Some months ago I came to David Ellis’s books as recommended by an acquaintance. I began reading chronologically.

Prior to this book I’ve had 2 recurring critiques: 1) implausiblility (typically associated with his seeming penchant for layered twists), and 2) too-tidy (and again unbelievable), in-a-single-moment, character-inconsistent reveals � making key heretofore brilliant characters amazingly of-the-sudden dupes.

This book (mostly) avoids those issues. Much better. I’d give it 4.5 stars if it were possible to post half a star.

Good story. Good addition to the Kolarich series. Enjoyable character creation and development. I look forward to book 3 of the series.]]> 4.27 2011 Breach Of Trust (Jason Kolarich, #2)
author: David Ellis
name: Larry
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: recreational-reading
review:
His Best Yet

Some months ago I came to David Ellis’s books as recommended by an acquaintance. I began reading chronologically.

Prior to this book I’ve had 2 recurring critiques: 1) implausiblility (typically associated with his seeming penchant for layered twists), and 2) too-tidy (and again unbelievable), in-a-single-moment, character-inconsistent reveals � making key heretofore brilliant characters amazingly of-the-sudden dupes.

This book (mostly) avoids those issues. Much better. I’d give it 4.5 stars if it were possible to post half a star.

Good story. Good addition to the Kolarich series. Enjoyable character creation and development. I look forward to book 3 of the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier]]> 45894097 Kingdom of Nauvoo, Benjamin E. Park excavates the brief, tragic life of a lost Mormon city, demonstrating that the Mormons are essential to understanding American history writ large. Using newly accessible sources, Park recreates the Mormons� 1839 flight from Missouri to Illinois. There, under the charismatic leadership of Joseph Smith, they founded Nauvoo, which shimmered briefly—but Smith’s challenge to democratic traditions, as well as his new doctrine of polygamy, would bring about its fall. His wife Emma, rarely written about, opposed him, but the greater threat came from without: in 1844, a mob murdered Joseph, precipitating the Mormon trek to Utah. Throughout his absorbing chronicle, Park shows that far from being outsiders, the Mormons were representative of their era in their distrust of democracy and their attempt to forge a sovereign society of their own.]]> 336 Benjamin E. Park 1631494864 Larry 5
Thus is a careful and sincere effort admirable and appreciated. Thus do I admire and appreciate this work by Benjamin Parker.

It seems carefully sourced and documented. And it seems to leverage and benefit greatly from access to previously unavailable sources.

Life (and human nature) is � well life (and human behavior) is messy. And delightful. And troublesome. And in some fundamental ways unchanging. And it (both) defy tidy too-oft imposed dichotomous classifications ie, good/bad, right/wrong, and so forth.

My compliments to the author whose work allows and invites understanding, sympathy, empathy, and self reflection. ]]> 4.17 2020 Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier
author: Benjamin E. Park
name: Larry
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:
Accurate history telling / writing. Philosophically and epistemologically it seems an unavoidable contradiction in terms.

Thus is a careful and sincere effort admirable and appreciated. Thus do I admire and appreciate this work by Benjamin Parker.

It seems carefully sourced and documented. And it seems to leverage and benefit greatly from access to previously unavailable sources.

Life (and human nature) is � well life (and human behavior) is messy. And delightful. And troublesome. And in some fundamental ways unchanging. And it (both) defy tidy too-oft imposed dichotomous classifications ie, good/bad, right/wrong, and so forth.

My compliments to the author whose work allows and invites understanding, sympathy, empathy, and self reflection.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mystery of Being 1: Reflection and Mystery (Gifford Lectures 1949-50)]]> 528574 237 Gabriel Marcel 189031885X Larry 0 to-read, theology 3.95 1951 The Mystery of Being 1: Reflection and Mystery (Gifford Lectures 1949-50)
author: Gabriel Marcel
name: Larry
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos]]> 50752085 “If you liked Chaos, you’ll love Complexity. Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year� (The Washington Post).

In a rarified world of scientific research, a revolution has been brewing. Its activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics and pony-tailed graduates, mathematicians, and computer scientists from all over the world. They have formed an iconoclastic think-tank and their radical idea is to create a new science: complexity. They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell—and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today.

This book is their story—the story of how they have tried to forge what they like to call the science of the twenty-first century.

“Lucidly shows physicists, biologists, computer scientists and economists swapping metaphors and reveling in the sense that epochal discoveries are just around the corner . . . [Waldrop] has a special talent for relaying the exhilaration of moments of intellectual insight.� �The New York Times Book Review

“Where I enjoyed the book was when it dove into the actual question of complexity, talking about complex systems in economics, biology, genetics, computer modeling, and so on. Snippets of rare beauty here and there almost took your breath away.� �Medium

“[Waldrop] provides a good grounding of what may indeed be the first flowering of a new science.� �Publishers Weekly
]]> 376 M. Mitchell Waldrop 150405914X Larry 4 � The story of unfolding understanding
� The passion for understanding
� The accounts of learning by intuition, inspiration, relentless inquiry, patient pondering, communal interests / intuitions
� The science itself
� Seeming universality of the science and explication of associated conditions
� The characters so to speak tho� very real people

Dislikes:
� Just one. I’d devote less space / time on administrative troubles eg funding and leadership. Inclusion is important but the same degree of thoroughness wasn’t as interesting / useful (to me)


]]> 4.07 1992 Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos
author: M. Mitchell Waldrop
name: Larry
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: economics, math-and-statistics, epistemology-philosophy
review:
Likes:
� The story of unfolding understanding
� The passion for understanding
� The accounts of learning by intuition, inspiration, relentless inquiry, patient pondering, communal interests / intuitions
� The science itself
� Seeming universality of the science and explication of associated conditions
� The characters so to speak tho� very real people

Dislikes:
� Just one. I’d devote less space / time on administrative troubles eg funding and leadership. Inclusion is important but the same degree of thoroughness wasn’t as interesting / useful (to me)



]]> Postponing Heaven 37897609 131 Jad Hatem 0842529535 Larry 4 theology Intellectually Stimulating

I came to this by way of a footnote; and I’m pleased to have done so. Why?

My understanding of comparative scripture (study / analysis) is richer than otherwise.

Though nascent, my understanding of other religious traditions is expanded. And I am thus delighted.

Believing myself to be well-read, and perhaps particularly as relates to my faith, I am delighted to now in a richer and more profound way ponder the meaning and phenomena associated with messianicity, jen, charity, and so forth.

Delightful.]]> 4.00 Postponing Heaven
author: Jad Hatem
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: theology
review:
Intellectually Stimulating

I came to this by way of a footnote; and I’m pleased to have done so. Why?

My understanding of comparative scripture (study / analysis) is richer than otherwise.

Though nascent, my understanding of other religious traditions is expanded. And I am thus delighted.

Believing myself to be well-read, and perhaps particularly as relates to my faith, I am delighted to now in a richer and more profound way ponder the meaning and phenomena associated with messianicity, jen, charity, and so forth.

Delightful.
]]> <![CDATA[Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard—and Still Is]]> 62339017 A deeper look at how people individually and collectively form religious beliefs—and what that means for faith in an increasingly secular culture.

Secularism is increasingly a fact of life in Western society. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that faith is harder than it has been before. Even in the past when organized religion enjoyed more widespread cultural acceptance, there were still obstacles to true belief. Today, the obstacles are different, but faith is still viable.

Acclaimed author Terryl Givens and his son, Nathaniel Givens, combine their respective areas of expertise to offer a fresh take on religious belief through the lens of contemporary research on psychology, cognition, and human nature. They also address two of faith’s foremost modern-day rationalism,the myththat humans can or should make the majority of their choices based on logical thought, and scientism, the myth that science is the only reliable means of discovering truth. After reckoning with the surprising fact that people often don’t even understand their own beliefs and are influenced in ways they seldom perceive, the authors go on to describe genuine faith as an act of will—an effortful response to the deepest yearnings of the mind and heart—that engenders moral responsibility, the ability to embrace uncertainty, the motivation and means to relate to others, and the capacity to apprehend reality through nonrational means.

Written for truth seekers who may or may not belong to religious communities,Into the Headwindsis less a work of apologetics than an inquiry into the role that faith can and does still play in a society where participation in institutional religion is declining precipitously. Terryl and Nathaniel Givens propose that to reclaim the power of genuine faith we need to first acknowledge the reality that religious belief is hard. It always has been, and it always will be. But perhaps, instead of a hindrance, that is its most important aspect.]]> 140 Terryl L. Givens 1467465496 Larry 5 Unafraid, Multi-disciplinary, Profound

I am drawn to hard questions and open-minded exploration of a solution set which allows for and gives due consideration to all forms of knowledge acquisition.

Perhaps this is in part why, having “discovered� Given’s works, I am now drawn to read more.

His writing belies wide, deep, and intersecting study and contemplation. A quest for understanding and for meaning.

I am a little different for having read this book. Perhaps to good effect. Yet to be, costly decisions will bear that out (or not).]]> 4.12 Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard—and Still Is
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/28
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, epistemology-philosophy, theology
review:
Unafraid, Multi-disciplinary, Profound

I am drawn to hard questions and open-minded exploration of a solution set which allows for and gives due consideration to all forms of knowledge acquisition.

Perhaps this is in part why, having “discovered� Given’s works, I am now drawn to read more.

His writing belies wide, deep, and intersecting study and contemplation. A quest for understanding and for meaning.

I am a little different for having read this book. Perhaps to good effect. Yet to be, costly decisions will bear that out (or not).
]]> <![CDATA[Restoration: God's Call to the 21st Century World]]> 56170555
That was two hundred years ago. As the Restoration enters its third century, the world has new questions. A loving God has answers. In Restoration, scholar and author Patrick Mason reflects on what it means for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to participate in the ongoing Restoration. Every generation must rediscover the gospel anew, and this book breathes new life into well-worn terms and phrases. What does it mean to restore Israel ? How can a church with less than one percent of the world s population be true ? What baggage have we picked up these past two centuries, and how do we move forward with confidence, relevance, and impact? The Restoration was intended to bless all of our Heavenly Parents children, especially the marginalized and vulnerable among us. This book will inspire and challenge you to rethink, recommit, and respond to God s call to the 21st-century world.]]> 100 Patrick Q. Mason 1953677053 Larry 5 Discerning and Refreshing; Compassionate and Courageous

Are these titular words not markers of truth?

God is at work in the hearts and minds of His children. Isn’t it bracing and invigorating to be present as truth continues to be revealed? Even, and perhaps especially, accurate self-awareness (individual, communal, and societal) that enables and ennobles “that which is in part [to be] done away?�

Thank you Patrick for your thoughtful and certainly enduring contemplation and articulation.]]> 4.53 Restoration: God's Call to the 21st Century World
author: Patrick Q. Mason
name: Larry
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/30
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, history, theology
review:
Discerning and Refreshing; Compassionate and Courageous

Are these titular words not markers of truth?

God is at work in the hearts and minds of His children. Isn’t it bracing and invigorating to be present as truth continues to be revealed? Even, and perhaps especially, accurate self-awareness (individual, communal, and societal) that enables and ennobles “that which is in part [to be] done away?�

Thank you Patrick for your thoughtful and certainly enduring contemplation and articulation.
]]> <![CDATA[The Christ Who Heals: How God Restored The Truth That Saves Us]]> 36460772 The Christ Who Heals.]]> 191 Fiona Givens 162973666X Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Profoundly Moving

Faith promoting. Thought provoking. Encourages even requires use of intellect and faith. Encourages, inspires, and prompts a soft heart and open mind in the pursuit of truth and acquiring personal knowledge.

The following citation illustrates the author’s care to acknowledge that there exist credible dissonant points of view from their careful, rational, and inspired approach to discern truth and form conclusions regarding Who God Is.

“The Church leadership has officially declared that the question of eternal progression and movement through the kingdoms is not a resolved point of doctrine. “Some of the Brethren have held that it was possible in the course of progression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others of the Brethren have taken the opposite view. But as stated, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point,� declared two First Presidency statements in the modern era.�

Concluding with truths like these:

“Only charity never fails us. Only Jesus Christ the Healer is a sure foundation. Because they are the same.�

“Well finally, it isn’t a matter of reason. Finally, it’s a matter of love.�

Profound. Moving. Literally. I am in a different place after reading many of Givens� works.]]> 4.71 The Christ Who Heals: How God Restored The Truth That Saves Us
author: Fiona Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.71
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/11
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Profoundly Moving

Faith promoting. Thought provoking. Encourages even requires use of intellect and faith. Encourages, inspires, and prompts a soft heart and open mind in the pursuit of truth and acquiring personal knowledge.

The following citation illustrates the author’s care to acknowledge that there exist credible dissonant points of view from their careful, rational, and inspired approach to discern truth and form conclusions regarding Who God Is.

“The Church leadership has officially declared that the question of eternal progression and movement through the kingdoms is not a resolved point of doctrine. “Some of the Brethren have held that it was possible in the course of progression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others of the Brethren have taken the opposite view. But as stated, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point,� declared two First Presidency statements in the modern era.�

Concluding with truths like these:

“Only charity never fails us. Only Jesus Christ the Healer is a sure foundation. Because they are the same.�

“Well finally, it isn’t a matter of reason. Finally, it’s a matter of love.�

Profound. Moving. Literally. I am in a different place after reading many of Givens� works.
]]> <![CDATA[An Experiment on the Word: Reading Alma 32]]> 43546016 109 Adam S. Miller 0842528970 Larry 4 gospel-study, theology intellectually Fun Occasionally Inspiring

Questions. I’ve long thought well-formulated questions are at least as stimulating as their potential answers. This book demonstrates that. I appreciate each contributors� interest in and willingness to ask and attempt to answer atypical questions in pursuit of truth and enlightenment. ]]> 4.00 2011 An Experiment on the Word: Reading Alma 32
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/04
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
intellectually Fun Occasionally Inspiring

Questions. I’ve long thought well-formulated questions are at least as stimulating as their potential answers. This book demonstrates that. I appreciate each contributors� interest in and willingness to ask and attempt to answer atypical questions in pursuit of truth and enlightenment.
]]> <![CDATA[Christ and Antichrist: Reading Jacob 7]]> 57197788 179 Adam S. Miller Larry 4 gospel-study, theology Intellectually and Spiritually Gratifying

This book is comprised of 8 papers written by separate authors. I value the challenge and risk each author has taken to explore, inquire, suggest, theorize, and invite me to do the same with them. I suspect each and any reader will find their reading experience expansive and enlightening in a manner fitted to them.

Six of the eight papers resonated and resonate with me. These are There Came a Man: Sherem, Scapegoating, and the Inversion of Prophetic Tradition by Janna Riess, Reading Signs or Repeating Symptoms by Adam S. Miller, Divine Dream Time: The Hope and Hazard of Revelation by Jacob Rennaker, To Destroy Us Continually: Time and the Katechon in Jacob 7 by Jeremy Walker, Weeping for Zion by Joseph M. Spencer, and Formed by Family: Jacob 7 as a Site for Sealing. Creative. Unusual. Meaningful. Poignant. Lasting. And occasionally poetic, e.g., “So we read, again and again, fleshy fingers tracing text and folding families into one.�

Others (papers) were for me less thought provoking and at times tedious and even stultifying.]]> 4.00 Christ and Antichrist: Reading Jacob 7
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/16
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Intellectually and Spiritually Gratifying

This book is comprised of 8 papers written by separate authors. I value the challenge and risk each author has taken to explore, inquire, suggest, theorize, and invite me to do the same with them. I suspect each and any reader will find their reading experience expansive and enlightening in a manner fitted to them.

Six of the eight papers resonated and resonate with me. These are There Came a Man: Sherem, Scapegoating, and the Inversion of Prophetic Tradition by Janna Riess, Reading Signs or Repeating Symptoms by Adam S. Miller, Divine Dream Time: The Hope and Hazard of Revelation by Jacob Rennaker, To Destroy Us Continually: Time and the Katechon in Jacob 7 by Jeremy Walker, Weeping for Zion by Joseph M. Spencer, and Formed by Family: Jacob 7 as a Site for Sealing. Creative. Unusual. Meaningful. Poignant. Lasting. And occasionally poetic, e.g., “So we read, again and again, fleshy fingers tracing text and folding families into one.�

Others (papers) were for me less thought provoking and at times tedious and even stultifying.
]]> <![CDATA[The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith]]> 23197985 Faith is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So what happens when a person has doubts?


Questioning is not the problem, according to authors Terryl and Fiona Givens. “After all,� they write, “the Restoration unfolded because a young man asked questions.� The difficulty arises when questions are based on flawed assumptions or incorrect perceptions, which can “point us in the wrong direction, misdirect our attention, or constrain the answers we are capable of hearing.�


This insightful book offers a careful, intelligent look at doubt—at some of its common sources, the challenges it presents, and the opportunities it may open up in a person’s quest for faith. Whether you struggle with your own doubts or mostly want to understand loved ones who question, you will appreciate this candid discussion. You’ll come away feeling more certain than ever of the Lord’s love for all of His children.

]]> 200 Terryl L. Givens 1629732060 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Beautiful and Poignant

Words sufficient to my appreciation come haltingly. Among them are:
� Poignant.
� Poetic.
� Circumstances, events and others humbly, generously, and thus enrichingly perceived.
� Differences appreciated even prized.
� Inspiring.
� Moving, in emotional, intellectual, and spiritual senses.]]> 4.55 2014 The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/24
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Beautiful and Poignant

Words sufficient to my appreciation come haltingly. Among them are:
� Poignant.
� Poetic.
� Circumstances, events and others humbly, generously, and thus enrichingly perceived.
� Differences appreciated even prized.
� Inspiring.
� Moving, in emotional, intellectual, and spiritual senses.
]]> <![CDATA[Mormon: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #10)]]> 55972200
From the moment Sariah and Lehi s family arrived in the promised land, their prophets warned that the people would face destruction if they failed to trust in Christ. Centuries later, Mormon witnesses the fulfillment of this dark prophecy. He witnesses his own people hewn down in open rebellion against God. Crying out from the depths of his heart, the prophet reflects on what went wrong and how it might have been avoided. Through it all, hope in Christ abides.
,br> In this brief theological introduction, philosopher and theologian Adam S. Miller presents Mormon s book as a beginner s guide to the end of the world. Mormon s life is a case study in apocalyptic discipleship. What does a disciple s task of sacrificing all things look like in a world where all things are already passing away? Miller introduces a Mormon for our own troubled times a sober and observant prophet who models hope in Christ even as everything in the world he loves collapses around him.]]> 151 Adam S. Miller Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
“One live question: exactly how, in Christ, are we saved?�

This question spoke to me before, during, and after reading. (Before reading I scanned the intro to learn something more of the book). Long have I sought to understand how the Atonement works, the mechanisms by which it activates reconciliation.

Inevitably it leads to wondering regarding mercy and justice, which this book recognizes. And so much more. ]]> 4.56 Mormon: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #10)
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/14
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
“At the outset of this study, I defined its relatively narrow parameters. Treating history and doctrine as raw materials rather than as ends in themselves, my aims were explicitly theological. Though working with an ancient text, my intention was to think in the present tense. And, perhaps surprisingly, my theological ambitions were resolutely practical as I insisted on the priority of just one live question: exactly how, in Christ, are we saved?�

“One live question: exactly how, in Christ, are we saved?�

This question spoke to me before, during, and after reading. (Before reading I scanned the intro to learn something more of the book). Long have I sought to understand how the Atonement works, the mechanisms by which it activates reconciliation.

Inevitably it leads to wondering regarding mercy and justice, which this book recognizes. And so much more.
]]> <![CDATA[Fleeing the Garden: Reading Genesis 2-3]]> 39933464 168 Adam S. Miller Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Thoroughly Thought Provoking

A fascinating and captivating collection of curious, diverse, unique, and faith-deepening insights, put forward in a framework which invites shared curiosity and by contemplation pushes my love of God and faith in Him yet deeper in my mind and heart. ]]> 4.67 Fleeing the Garden: Reading Genesis 2-3
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/26
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Thoroughly Thought Provoking

A fascinating and captivating collection of curious, diverse, unique, and faith-deepening insights, put forward in a framework which invites shared curiosity and by contemplation pushes my love of God and faith in Him yet deeper in my mind and heart.
]]> <![CDATA[Nothing New Under the Sun: A Blunt Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes]]> 29996253 66 Adam S. Miller Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Fascinating

I’m smitten with the notion of writing a personal translation � for my own use and in an effort to more fully hear and hearken to God’s will and word.

I’m inspired by Adam having written a personal translation and I’m thrilled he’d risk sharing it. It is beautiful to me.

And beyond beautiful, it aids application by its contemporary usage and thereby clear relevance.

I’m a student of religion, scripture, revelation and a seeker of truth and Truth.

Revelation, like all communication, attempts to convey meaning. A spoken language is limiting. This work conveys meaning which is consistent with and revealing of the God I worship. Truth and truth.

Worthy of multiple reads � next pass will be side by side (w the KJV and / or NIV).

Fascinating.]]> 4.53 Nothing New Under the Sun: A Blunt Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/06
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Fascinating

I’m smitten with the notion of writing a personal translation � for my own use and in an effort to more fully hear and hearken to God’s will and word.

I’m inspired by Adam having written a personal translation and I’m thrilled he’d risk sharing it. It is beautiful to me.

And beyond beautiful, it aids application by its contemporary usage and thereby clear relevance.

I’m a student of religion, scripture, revelation and a seeker of truth and Truth.

Revelation, like all communication, attempts to convey meaning. A spoken language is limiting. This work conveys meaning which is consistent with and revealing of the God I worship. Truth and truth.

Worthy of multiple reads � next pass will be side by side (w the KJV and / or NIV).

Fascinating.
]]> <![CDATA[Grace Is Not God's Backup Plan: An Urgent Paraphrase of Paul's Letter to the Romans]]> 25028680 84 Adam S. Miller Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Once is Not Enough

Fascinating.

I’m a student of religion, scripture, revelation and a seeker of truth and Truth.

Reactions after a first pass:
� Next pass will be side by side (w the KJV and / or NIV).
� Revelation, like all communication, attempts to convey meaning. A spoken language is limiting.
� I’m smitten with the notion of writing a personal translation � for my own use and in an effort to more fully hear and hearken to God’s will and word.
� I’m inspired by Adam having written a personal translation and I’m thrilled he’d risk sharing it. It is beautiful to me.
� And beyond beautiful, it aids application by its contemporary usage and thereby clear relevance.

Fascinating.]]> 4.55 2015 Grace Is Not God's Backup Plan: An Urgent Paraphrase of Paul's Letter to the Romans
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/06
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Once is Not Enough

Fascinating.

I’m a student of religion, scripture, revelation and a seeker of truth and Truth.

Reactions after a first pass:
� Next pass will be side by side (w the KJV and / or NIV).
� Revelation, like all communication, attempts to convey meaning. A spoken language is limiting.
� I’m smitten with the notion of writing a personal translation � for my own use and in an effort to more fully hear and hearken to God’s will and word.
� I’m inspired by Adam having written a personal translation and I’m thrilled he’d risk sharing it. It is beautiful to me.
� And beyond beautiful, it aids application by its contemporary usage and thereby clear relevance.

Fascinating.
]]> <![CDATA[Ether: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #11)]]> 56128004 102 Rosalynde Frandsen Welch Larry 5 gospel-study, theology 4.22 Ether: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #11)
author: Rosalynde Frandsen Welch
name: Larry
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/12
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> An Early Resurrection 40115008 Along with Nephi, "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ," but in all our talking and learning, have we learned how to live in Christ? What does a life in Christ look like—or feel like?

In this thought-provoking exploration of the writings of the Apostle Paul and Book of Mormon prophets, Adam Miller examines what life in Christ looks like. How can we let ourselves and our own desires die so we can be born again to a new life, a full life in Christ, here and now in this mortal life?

Embark with the author on this journey—at once scriptural, philosophical, and literary—and discover one way to share a life with Christ as if he were present today.

]]> 78 Adam S. Miller 1629737275 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology 4.68 An Early Resurrection
author: Adam S. Miller
name: Larry
average rating: 4.68
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/21
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Existence in Western Thought]]> 39171350 400 Terryl L. Givens 0190914483 Larry 4 Comprehensive

Likes: Seemingly exhaustive in its subject matter. Approachable even by a history-challenged consumer.

Not so much: Exhaustive or exhausting? Stimulating or stultifying? A bit of both. ]]> 3.75 2009 When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Existence in Western Thought
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/18
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, reference, theology
review:
Comprehensive

Likes: Seemingly exhaustive in its subject matter. Approachable even by a history-challenged consumer.

Not so much: Exhaustive or exhausting? Stimulating or stultifying? A bit of both.
]]> The Doors of Faith 59736116 127 Terryl L. Givens 1649330952 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology Moving

My heart and mind are in a different place then before having read this book.

Deep thinking. Poetic and precise articulation. Philosophical and pragmatic. A few words to describe the contents. Inspiring. Moving.]]> 4.59 The Doors of Faith
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/03
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Moving

My heart and mind are in a different place then before having read this book.

Deep thinking. Poetic and precise articulation. Philosophical and pragmatic. A few words to describe the contents. Inspiring. Moving.
]]> <![CDATA[1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #1)]]> 50916925 So begins the first book in the Book of Mormon, as the prophet Nephi brings us through the wilderness to a promised land where his family fractures rather than flourishes. But in spite of that tragedy, Nephi points us to the hope he found in his father's inspired dream for the future. Driven by his father's fears and faith, he sought and received his own revelations about how his people might someday find redemption and might ultimately help bring about the redemption of Israel and the entire human family.
In this brief theological introduction, philosopher and theologian Joseph M. Spencer investigates the central themes and purposes of a book he calls a "theological masterpiece." What was Nephi trying to accomplish with his writings? How can readers today make better sense of Nephi's words? What can an ancient seer offer readers in the twenty-first century? Spencer introduces a Nephi for our moment, a complex prophet with an urgent message for a world in turmoil.]]> 146 Joseph M. Spencer 0842500073 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
I love my God. I love finding Him more fully as I learn to use that which I, like all of His children, have been gifted.]]> 4.44 1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #1)
author: Joseph M. Spencer
name: Larry
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/17
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Humans have been endowed with numerous means for for discerning truth. Among these are intellect and revelation (in its many forms). This book and series illustrate how understanding and insight may be profoundly enriched by application of our full endowment.

I love my God. I love finding Him more fully as I learn to use that which I, like all of His children, have been gifted.
]]> <![CDATA[2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #2)]]> 52356687
In the wake of epic cataclysm, Nephi launches a second book of writings. Inspired by the prophet Isaiah’s remark­able account of the scattering and gather­ing of God’s covenant people, Nephi aches to reassure his family by providing a clear understanding of their unbroken place in God’s designs. Interweaving history, theology, and prophecy, Nephi brings together the covenant’s ancient roots and its future fulfillment, orienting everything around the person of Jesus Christ.

In this brief theological introduction, Terryl Givens echoes Nephi’s invitation for readers to keep Christ front and center in their minds, hearts, and wor­ship. Givens finds clear emphasis on the Redeemer’s healing atonement, the promise of resurrection, the necessity of oppositional strife and of agency wisely employed, and other plain and precious truths lost or obscured by time. Above all, Nephi presents essential elements of the doctrine of Christ, emphasizing repentance as a lifelong process of heart reeducation, and of scripture as a re­source for spiritual succor and personal revelation.

Jerusalem is destroyed. But all is not lost.]]> 116 Terryl L. Givens 0842500081 Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
Why:
� The search for truth has been and continues to be an unceasing passion.
� Discerning misconception, bias, and error, irrespective of its source is necessarily part of that passion.
� Givens and other authors of this series seem similarly impassioned to seek precise meaning beyond sometimes-too-oft-or-too-quickly-stated therefore-lightly-or-wholly-misconceived truth.
� And he / they are willing to “risk� exploration from which I infer a right-mindedness regarding truth seeking.

Thus is more fully revealed “The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men.�

The Spirit of Truth.]]> 4.40 2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #2)
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/31
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Bias acknowledged: I am drawn to Given’s writings. I am drawn to this series.

Why:
� The search for truth has been and continues to be an unceasing passion.
� Discerning misconception, bias, and error, irrespective of its source is necessarily part of that passion.
� Givens and other authors of this series seem similarly impassioned to seek precise meaning beyond sometimes-too-oft-or-too-quickly-stated therefore-lightly-or-wholly-misconceived truth.
� And he / they are willing to “risk� exploration from which I infer a right-mindedness regarding truth seeking.

Thus is more fully revealed “The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men.�

The Spirit of Truth.
]]> <![CDATA[Mosiah: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #5)]]> 54160724
The prophet Mormon faces the monumental task of abridging Nephite history for future generations. He looks back hundreds of years to discern God’s hand amid the people’s divisions and conversions. Multiple records recount multiple migrations to lands where different kings organize competing societies. A righteous monarchy ends, and a reign of judges begins.

In this brief theological introduction to the book of Mosiah, philosopher and theologian James E. Faulconer untangles a complicated timeline. Mormon transports readers back and forth through time—King Benjamin’s sermons provide a backdrop for the earlier speeches of the prophet-martyr Abinadi and the later conversion of the renegade Alma. What might we learn about covenant and community from a history of Nephite division?

Faulconer presents the book of Mosiah as a fragmentary history about a fragmented people, written by a record keeper obsessed with unity. According to Mormon, destruction can be avoided only if we understand the mysteries of Christ’s atonement and perform the service God calls us to do together.]]> 146 James E. Faulconer 084250012X Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
This work, and the series of works with the same subtitle, are fine examples of the precision and learning and insight which may be prompted by this truth-seeking approach.

My mind lights up and my heart swells as at times stunning insight is conveyed Spirit to spirit.

The entire series is outstanding.]]> 4.16 Mosiah: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #5)
author: James E. Faulconer
name: Larry
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Higher criticism as a method of analysis seems at times to have earned a black eye among some subscribing to the religious institution associated with my faith.

This work, and the series of works with the same subtitle, are fine examples of the precision and learning and insight which may be prompted by this truth-seeking approach.

My mind lights up and my heart swells as at times stunning insight is conveyed Spirit to spirit.

The entire series is outstanding.
]]> <![CDATA[Jacob: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #3)]]> 54198969 161 Deidre Nicole Green Larry 5 gospel-study, theology
Mine is a thinking faith, and yet faith nonetheless.

By “mine� I indeed mean my own yet more. It is the religion and faith I adhere to and share with many others within and without the specific institution to which I belong.]]> 4.22 Jacob: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #3)
author: Deidre Nicole Green
name: Larry
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/13
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:
Theology, the science of religion. That word, theology, captures well what I enjoyed about this book and what I’ve enjoyed about other books in this series.

Mine is a thinking faith, and yet faith nonetheless.

By “mine� I indeed mean my own yet more. It is the religion and faith I adhere to and share with many others within and without the specific institution to which I belong.
]]> <![CDATA[Enos, Jarom, Omni: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #4)]]> 54859180 145 Sharon J. Harris Larry 5 gospel-study, theology 4.39 Enos, Jarom, Omni: A Brief Theological Introduction (The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions, #4)
author: Sharon J. Harris
name: Larry
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/30
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Vision of All: Twenty-five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record]]> 32026398 330 Joseph M. Spencer 1589586328 Larry 0 4.43 The Vision of All: Twenty-five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record
author: Joseph M. Spencer
name: Larry
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: to-read, gospel-study, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity]]> 23472372 Wrestling the Angel traces the essential contours of Mormon thought from the time of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young to the contemporary LDS church, illuminating both the seminal influence of the founding generation of Mormon thinkers and the significant developments in the church over almost 200 years. The most comprehensive account of the development of Mormon thought ever written, Wrestling the Angel will be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Mormon faith.]]> 480 Terryl L. Givens 0199394245 Larry 5 Comprehensive. Descriptive. Unbiased. Truth telling.

What draws me to writing like that in Wrestling the Angel by Terryl Givens?

� Descriptive articulation (vs attempts to articulate persuasively).
� The related (to descriptive writing) underlying assumption that the reader is sentient, an agent, capable of and defined by discernment and choice.

He is gifted in his ability to describe � comparing, contrasting, and synthesizing without bias, without attempting to influence a particular point of view.

It becomes incumbent upon the reader to ingest, comprehend, and evaluate. My mind is a necessary participant in transmission of truth. He trusts my mind to do its part. Nay, he writes knowing it cannot be otherwise.

� Thinking, reflecting, wondering, pondering.
� Practicing discernment.
� Learning.
� Enlightenment.
� Reception of the Holy Ghost.
� Precision.
� Clarity.
� Truth.

Truth telling at its finest. ]]> 4.33 2014 Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity
author: Terryl L. Givens
name: Larry
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, history, reference, theology
review:
Comprehensive. Descriptive. Unbiased. Truth telling.

What draws me to writing like that in Wrestling the Angel by Terryl Givens?

� Descriptive articulation (vs attempts to articulate persuasively).
� The related (to descriptive writing) underlying assumption that the reader is sentient, an agent, capable of and defined by discernment and choice.

He is gifted in his ability to describe � comparing, contrasting, and synthesizing without bias, without attempting to influence a particular point of view.

It becomes incumbent upon the reader to ingest, comprehend, and evaluate. My mind is a necessary participant in transmission of truth. He trusts my mind to do its part. Nay, he writes knowing it cannot be otherwise.

� Thinking, reflecting, wondering, pondering.
� Practicing discernment.
� Learning.
� Enlightenment.
� Reception of the Holy Ghost.
� Precision.
� Clarity.
� Truth.

Truth telling at its finest.
]]> Yet to be Revealed 62692227
Ours is an effort to clarify some of the hazy borders of orthodoxy and to honor the dynamism, the richness, and the possibilities of a Restoration still very much in process of unfolding. Joseph Smith taught, “By proving contraries truth is manifest.� A fuller understanding of truth can come by keeping multiple perspectives in mind and letting them work themselves out in patience and God’s own time, like fruitful leaven.

“We as Latter-day Saints have too often felt sure about things the prophets haven’t actually decided, and about things God seems to have left open for us to reflect on humbly. This breathtakingly honest collection of essays does excellent work to make clear just how much we in fact don’t know. That there’s so much to learn is wonderful news, however. We’ll have to bring all of our minds, and not just all of our hearts, to the task of being earnest disciples.”� —Joseph Spencer, author of 1st A Brief Theological Introduction

“This much-needed engagement with . . . interesting theological questions is long overdue.”� —Blake T. Ostler, Esq., author of the four-volume Exploring Mormon Thought book series on Latter-day Saint theology

Topics

What is the nature of God’s progress?

Where did Book of Mormon events take place?

What is women’s relationship to priesthood?

Is God subject to or the creator of eternal law?

Will things get better or worse before the Second Coming?

Was Jesus married?

Is the Song of Solomon scripture?

How was the Book of Mormon translated?]]> 382 Eric A. Eliason 1942161859 Larry 5 Clear, Concise, Descriptive, Informed. Valuable Reference.

Balanced presentation of various and differing points of view.
Outstanding reference, including associated footnotes.
I thrill at the laid-bare approach to seeking truth and understanding.

]]> 5.00 Yet to be Revealed
author: Eric A. Eliason
name: Larry
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/21
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: gospel-study, history, reference, theology
review:
Clear, Concise, Descriptive, Informed. Valuable Reference.

Balanced presentation of various and differing points of view.
Outstanding reference, including associated footnotes.
I thrill at the laid-bare approach to seeking truth and understanding.


]]>