I Am Not Hamlet

  I know I failed to post this last year for what I read in 2022. So, here is what I read this past year. As always, these are listed in the order of reading and not any kind of ranking. The Shadow Lamp * Stephen R. Lawhead Book four in the Bright Empires series, continues with many of the same characters and a few new ones. The mystery of the Skin Map underscore a threat to the entire universe. The story is a bit pulpy and not Lawhead’s best (I’m speaking of the series as a whole), but still an enjoyable read for fans of Sci-fi and to a lesser extent, fantasy. Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in your Yard * Douglas W. Tallamy This continues his ideas expressed in Bringing Nature Home . Essentially, if you want to “save the planet” (a phrase full of hubris) start with your yard and your neighborhood. If you’ve read about this stuff before, you won’t find any new insights, but it bears repeating. This is as good as any place to start for backyard ecol...

  Reads of 2021 This is a little late (only three days to go in February as I begin this, but here it is nonetheless). As always these are in order of reading not in order of goodness. Three Cheers for the Paraclete * Thomas Keneally I got through three chapters and put it down. It just didn’t grab me. The Compleat Angler * Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton Interesting as a primary source, but about 50+ pages too long for pleasurable reading. There were some worthwhile pieces in it–poetry, etc. Entangled * Martin Sheldrake I listened to this as an audio book, so I probably missed some things, but overall it was fascinating. All about fungus and how “There is more in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy…” The Lost World of Genesis One * John H. Walton Another audio book; Walton asserts how the first chapter of Genesis explains that the earth is a temple and all creation has a function in this temple, rather than some pseudo-scientific creation myth. My last Prote...

      Aside from a plague, 2020 turned out to be a good year for reading, what with the abundance of time on my hands. All books are listed in order of being read, not necessarily in ranking of quality. Methodical Realism * Etienne Gilson--a short, relatively accessible primer on philosophical realism. Parts of this were interesting, others, not so much. Ian Pollock's Illustrated King Lear by William Shakespeare --While I didn't appreciate Pollack's illustrative style, I did like that the play was visually presented with the unabridged text. Essentially, this was a graphic novelization of Lear. This was better than just reading the play, though without helpful notes, it still falls short of experiencing the play live. By the way, did anybody catch the Stratford Festival of Canada's streaming of many of their productions in late spring through midsummer? Lear happened to be one of them and it was the first time I saw the whole piece. Gravity and Grace * Simone Weil--Ye...