February 21, 2003
Finding God
This book was on the Introduction to Judaism class reading list. Finding God is a collection and summarization of different Jewish thinkers' views on God. The theologists and philosophers are from all differnt time periods and include Philo Judaeus, a Greek scholar in 300 BCE, Maimonides, a Spainish Rabbi born in 1138, and Martin Buber, who escaped from Nazi Germany in 1938 to write "I and Thou."
Being non-fiction, it wasn't the most fast-pased read. But it was interesting to learn how diverse Jewish ideas on God can be. Also, being pretty much an agnostic, I thought it was cool to learn that there are some flexible ways to think about God besides the strict biblical images of some old guy sitting on a throne in the clouds. I think Buber was my favorite theologist. All together, it was rather enlightening.
I give it a 7 out of 10.
February 07, 2003
Atlas Shrugged
Although it took me quite a while, I recently finished reading Altas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Similar to 1984 and Farhenheit 451, this sci-fi/ political commentary focuses on abuse of economical power. You might guess who recommended it ( who do I know who is into politics, economics, and sci-fi?).
The premise is that all the smart, efficient, productive people get sick and tired of having the government, lazy relatives, and other undeserving people leech them of their wealth. The sucessful folk decide to go on strike and teach the lazy bums a lesson. In the end, the world economy falls apart. Of course there is a juicy love triangle and some intrigue as well.
I guess it is a classic. For the most part it had a good story and the characters are interesting. But I find alot of what goes on in the book hard to believe. First of all, how can the entire country be dependant on just a handful of capable people? Also, the book is exceedingly long, over 1000 pages. Some of her characters have speechs that last over 60 pages for goodness sakes!
Overall, a 5 out of 10.