Tony Zbaraschuk
Author: Gian Francesco Guidice
Title: A zeptospace odyssey: a journey into the physics of the LHC
LSU Rating: 4
Summary: Moderately detailed account of the Large Hadron Collider in Europe and some of the physics it's intended to solve. Some of the review of previous discoveries is intended to set the stage for those who have no previous knowledge of 20th-century particle physics, and is a bit repetitive for those who do. The book is also a bit disorganized in places. That said, it's a fun read and you learn a lot, both about the LHC itself and about the physics it's supposed to do. There was a very nice section on the Higgs boson, and good descriptions of the magnets and instruments that make up the LHC. Recommended.
Author: Lester L. Grabbe (editor)
Title: Israel in transition 2: from Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (c. 1250-850 BCE): the texts
Rating: 3
Summary: A useful collection of essays by the minimalist school (whose basic keynotes are that most of the historical books of the OT should only be trusted if they can be confirmed externally, and that most of the history of Israel in the Bible is a fraud cooked up sometime under the Persian or even Greek period.) I find the essays interesting, and with occasional good points to make, but on the whole not convincing. I know enough to see when they're leaving out evidence that might upset their case. Still, useful reading for archaeologists or people who want to know what some archaeologists are saying.
Author: Marguerite Yon
Title: The city of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra
LSU Rating: 5
Summary: Very good summary of the archaeology and history of Ugarit. Would be a great introduction for someone taking an archaeology class, or a fun read for someone wanting a good solid book on the subject. Nicely illustrated, well-written, I wish more books were like this.
Author: Erik Larson
Title: The devil in the white city
LSU Rating: 3
Summary: Bicephalism is an occasional problem for books. The author has two separate stories to tell, and they just don't intersect. The story of the 1893 Chicago Worlds' Far is interesting, and the story of a serial killer in Chicago at the same time is interesting, but the two never really come together despite much heroic forcing.
Author: Marco Polo
Title: The Travels of Marco Polo
LSU Rating: 3
Summary: More of a geography than a travel book, but there are still a lot of fun stories and things in here. This classic of travel literature repays close and careful reading. And Polo's repeated astonishment at paper money is certainly worth noting.
Author: Leon R. Kass
Title: The beginning of wisdom
LSU Rating: 5
Summary: An absolutely mind-blowing close read of the book of Genesis. Kass, a philosophy professor, has been reading the book and conducting graduate seminars on it for more than twenty years. He looks at Genesis as a source of wisdom: what does it tell us about ourself and the human condition. Did I mention it was mind-blowing? Well, it bears repeating. This is a really excellent discussion of what the book is, what we can learn from the stories it tells, and what it says about God's purposes in the world. I have already used some of the insights here for a Sabbath School class I taught, and hope to carry more of them into future ones. I learned a LOT from this book. (A minor grace point: Kass is quite open about granting credit to those of his students who gave him good ideas or even argued him into changing his mind on certain topics.) You must read this.
Title: A zeptospace odyssey: a journey into the physics of the LHC
LSU Rating: 4
Summary: Moderately detailed account of the Large Hadron Collider in Europe and some of the physics it's intended to solve. Some of the review of previous discoveries is intended to set the stage for those who have no previous knowledge of 20th-century particle physics, and is a bit repetitive for those who do. The book is also a bit disorganized in places. That said, it's a fun read and you learn a lot, both about the LHC itself and about the physics it's supposed to do. There was a very nice section on the Higgs boson, and good descriptions of the magnets and instruments that make up the LHC. Recommended.
Author: Lester L. Grabbe (editor)
Title: Israel in transition 2: from Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (c. 1250-850 BCE): the texts
Rating: 3
Summary: A useful collection of essays by the minimalist school (whose basic keynotes are that most of the historical books of the OT should only be trusted if they can be confirmed externally, and that most of the history of Israel in the Bible is a fraud cooked up sometime under the Persian or even Greek period.) I find the essays interesting, and with occasional good points to make, but on the whole not convincing. I know enough to see when they're leaving out evidence that might upset their case. Still, useful reading for archaeologists or people who want to know what some archaeologists are saying.
Author: Marguerite Yon
Title: The city of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra
LSU Rating: 5
Summary: Very good summary of the archaeology and history of Ugarit. Would be a great introduction for someone taking an archaeology class, or a fun read for someone wanting a good solid book on the subject. Nicely illustrated, well-written, I wish more books were like this.
Author: Erik Larson
Title: The devil in the white city
LSU Rating: 3
Summary: Bicephalism is an occasional problem for books. The author has two separate stories to tell, and they just don't intersect. The story of the 1893 Chicago Worlds' Far is interesting, and the story of a serial killer in Chicago at the same time is interesting, but the two never really come together despite much heroic forcing.
Author: Marco Polo
Title: The Travels of Marco Polo
LSU Rating: 3
Summary: More of a geography than a travel book, but there are still a lot of fun stories and things in here. This classic of travel literature repays close and careful reading. And Polo's repeated astonishment at paper money is certainly worth noting.
Author: Leon R. Kass
Title: The beginning of wisdom
LSU Rating: 5
Summary: An absolutely mind-blowing close read of the book of Genesis. Kass, a philosophy professor, has been reading the book and conducting graduate seminars on it for more than twenty years. He looks at Genesis as a source of wisdom: what does it tell us about ourself and the human condition. Did I mention it was mind-blowing? Well, it bears repeating. This is a really excellent discussion of what the book is, what we can learn from the stories it tells, and what it says about God's purposes in the world. I have already used some of the insights here for a Sabbath School class I taught, and hope to carry more of them into future ones. I learned a LOT from this book. (A minor grace point: Kass is quite open about granting credit to those of his students who gave him good ideas or even argued him into changing his mind on certain topics.) You must read this.