Monday 31 August 2015

Creation or Evolution?

So far I haven't read much of The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel, just the first thirty pages or so.

I might not be able to tell you much about it yet, but I can tell you about the beginning. We haven't looked at any evidence yet as Strobel has been explaining about how he came to be investigating this. And it all comes back to evolution and how he was convinced by that theory and so became an atheist.

His story is intriguing and I am interested to know how he came to change his mind.

Saturday 29 August 2015

Why Announce a Murder?

Well apparently to avoid suspicion. Or so it would seem from what I have read so far in A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie.

It seems that the ad in the local paper was a ploy to get a number of people into one place so that suspicion will not fall anyone - well if everything went to plan, which it never seems to do in this sort of books. It's like it is fiction or something. Anyway it is all very dramatic and someone does end up dead, but you get the feeling that there should have been more than one death.

Tension is mounting.

Thursday 20 August 2015

Who is Kim?

As I mentioned in a previous post I have started reading Kim by Rudyard Kipling.

But who is Kim?

Well I have so far discovered that he is the son of a man in the British Army who dies leaving Kim with almost nothing. Kim grows up to be a bazaar-boy who seems to get involved with British intelligence and a Tibetan lama who is on a quest to be redeemed from the Wheel of Life. And it's set in India at the time of the Raj. So far I like.

Note to self - it wouldn't be a bad thing to acquire some historical knowledge of this time.

Saturday 15 August 2015

Sofa Shelf - On the Case

One addition this week:

The Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel

From what I can tell this is a book that isn't taken from The Case for Christ  but looks at the evidence for the existence of a creator. This is a book that I wish I could have read when I was being taught biology in school just because I think it might help me understand why I am convinced that God does exist. Anyway will let you know if it lives up to expectations.

Friday 14 August 2015

Sofa Spotlight - The Case for Christmas, Lee Strobel


As I mentioned in a previous post this is a book that is taken from Strobel's earlier book The Case for Christ. And it is shorter. The aim of the book is to find out who was in the manger at the first Christmas.

And it works as a book in its own right. It might be the middle of summer but somehow it didn't feel wrong to be reading a book about Christmas. This version only has four chapters and less than a hundred pages. It took me about an hour and a half to get through it, which isn't bad for an entire book, short though it was.

If you are looking for a book that looks into the evidence for the reliability of the Christmas accounts in the Bible, that isn't too heavy, this could be the book for you. The one thing I would say is that the cover sort makes you want to choose the right season for this book, if you know what I mean.

Saturday 1 August 2015

What's on the Shelf?

Racing Through the Dark - The Fall and Rise of David Millar

A Life's Ambition - Alexandre Dumas

The Journal of Madame Giovanni - Alexandre Dumas

The Prince of Thieves - Alexandre Dumas

Le Tour - Geoffrey Wheatcroft

On Looking - Alexandra Horowitz

Time Warped - Claudia Hammond

The Neapolitan Lovers - Alexandre Dumas

How to find Fulfilling Work - Roman Krznaric

Intuition Pumps and Other Thinking Tools - Daniel C. Dennett

Mastermind - Maria Konnikova

How Children Succeed - Paul Tough

Thinking - edited by John Brockman

Manage Your Day-to Day - edited by Jocelyn K. Glei

Give and Take - Adam Grant


The Examined Life - Stephen Grosz

The Case for Christmas - Lee Strobel

Kim - Rudyard Kipling

A Murder is Announced - Agatha Christie