Witchfinders by Malcolm Gaskill A Review 'Even the illusion of a diabolical saviour might be preferable to the certainty of God's damnation.' 'Most extraordinary were the complaints of parishioners at Brandeston - not that their minister John Lowes had been set up on a charge of witchcraft - and hanged like a dog, but that …
Category: Religion
Unconfessed Sins
The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey A Review 'Father, I slept all day, I cut a hole in a wall to spy on a woman, I shovelled my no-good clay onto my neighbour's plot, I stole the last spoonfool of honey instead of offering it to my husband, I ate the lucky egg, I cursed …
No God But God
(The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam) by Reza Aslan A Review 'Fundamentalism, in all religious traditions, is impervious to suppression. The more one tries to squelch it, the stronger it becomes. Counter it with cruelty, and it gains adherents. Kill its leaders, and they become martyrs. Respond with despotism, and it becomes the sole …
And the Lesson for Today is ….
‘The bitter truth is that the world has simply become too complicated for our hunter-gatherer brains.’ 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari Disillusionment; Work; Liberty; Equality; Community; Civilisation; Nationalism; Religion; Immigration; Terrorism; War; Humility; God; Secularism; Ignorance; Justice; Post-Truth; Science Fiction; Education; Meaning; Meditation: What meaning do the words in this …
Computers Are Human Too!
Origin by Dan Brown A Review Dan Brown has established a very successful formula for his thrillers, entwining religious and scientific ideas with art and conspiracy theory. His latest, Origin, published in 2017, is no exception. It addresses two questions, posed by both science and religion for hundreds of years (in the case of religion, …
The Politics of Hate
The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse A Review As my first public post from my new address, I wanted to tackle a book by an author of whom I'm especially fond. Kate Mosse's love of the Languedoc always comes over in her fiction and I was looking forward to experiencing again the warmth of the …
Back to Carcassonne
I mentioned a few weeks ago taking another look at Kate Mosse's novel Sepulchre. I'm glad I did so because it put me in the right frame of mind to buy her latest book The Burning Chambers. This is the first book of a trilogy which tackles in novel form the history of the persecution …
The Great Escape
Katharina: Deliverance by Margaret Skea (a review) [The publisher kindly provided me with an advanced reading copy of Margaret Skea's new historical novel, due to be published on October 18th.] 'It is very shameful that children, especially defenceless young girls, are pushed into the nunneries. Shame on the unmerciful parents who treat their own so …
Homo Deus
A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari WARNING! - This book contains spoilers - spoilers of liberal humanism, and possibly of the whole human experience. 'People are usually afraid of change because they fear the unknown. But the single greatest constant of history is that everything changes.' Harari's earlier book Sapiens challenged us …
Brief Candle in the Dark
A Life in Science by Richard Dawkins Brief Candle in the Dark is the second volume of Dawkins's autobiography; the first part, An Appetite for Wonder I reviewed here. Rather than being a chronological account of his life, this volume is set out by subject and is all the more interesting and enjoyable because of …
