Look At It This Way (#LAITW)

Steven E. Koonin

Subtitled: What climate science tells us, what it doesn’t, and why it matters.

Excellent review of the status of “the science” on climate change. Should help calm minds prevail. Hardly an equation in it, but lots of graphs. He focuses on where public perception is very different from what science says, and why that’s happening. Here are a few provocative statements…

“Hurricanes show no sign of human influence.”

“Global warming won’t have much impact on the economy at least through the end of this century.”

“There’s no question the globe is warming. The real question is, what do humans have to do with that, and can it, or even should it, be mitigated.”

“Heatwaves in the US are now no more common than they were in 1900.”

“The warmest temperatures in the US have not risen in the past fifty years.”

“Greenland’s ice sheet isn’t shrinking any more rapidly today than it was eighty years ago.”

Stephen C. Meyer

Subtitle: Three scientific discoveries that reveal the mind behind the universe.

And just what are those three discoveries? The Big Bang. The Fine-Tuning of the Universe. The Coding in DNA.

Years ago, my Dad (Presbyterian minister) developed a course for church groups on science and religion, and I picked up on it and offered something similar (see here). I called my course “Is God Expanding, Too?” as it was clear that our scientific understanding was expanding rapidly but our understanding of God was not, perhaps even going backward. This book argues why our understanding and appreciation of both science and God should be at an all-time high.

Wow, it’s been over 4 years since I’ve posted on my Book Fave site. And the books I’m going to tell you about now are so good and so important, this could be the last book post for another very long while.

It’s all about the great wisdom and life lessons available in the Torah (first five books of the Bible).

Dennis Prager has worked all his life putting this Bible commentary together. And it’s based purely on reason. You need not be religious to appreciate these five books (Genesis through Deuteronomy). Only the first two are out right now, the rest are coming.

It changed me. Once I started reading I was hooked. Couldn’t get enough. In a matter of a couple months I’ve been through the first two books twice each (each is about 500 pages). And my life is changed. Or renewed. Or focused.

Those of you who know me know that I grew up in a Christian home, my father was a Presbyterian minister his entire career. We got married in the church. We raised our kids in the church. And with only a few periods of “stepping back” we were pretty well churched. I was a church choir director, we led youth groups and puppet troupes, taught Sunday School, sat on boards and committees, etc. And I have been known to create and teach adult Bible study curriculum… I am amazed by how much I missed, or forgot. Or forgot to fully appreciate.

So guess what I did with this?! I created an adult Bible study using Prager’s Genesis and Exodus as the textbooks. It’s really just a highlights reel. In 8-10 hours of class time total you can only scratch the surface. The class is over, but since it was online for COVID, all the sessions were recorded and you can watch them any time: God Is Good. Or, check out my offer of Torah Talks.

The Rational Bible: Genesis

The Rational Bible: Exodus

This is one of those tomes that I’ve managed to avoid all my life. Disadvantage me. I got motivated to give it a go when then men’s reading group at church (which I cannot attend due to timing) took it up. So, after the intro and three full chapters, I’m all in. Pretty heavy, lots of references, fascinating ideas, phrases that turn in all manner of ways. Very religious, obviously, so don’t be surprised. I even got excited telling Lynn she might want to plow through the first chapter or two because of the babyhood, parenting, learning, discipline, and related topics covered.

What a wonderful Christmas experience. I’m something of a Christmas connoisseur – movies, songs, books, versions, from the very warped (like Bad Santa) to the disgustingly sweet (like some movies on “that” channel can get). I’ve studied St. Nicholas, even wrote and performed a short 1-act about him. I thought I had seen every angle there was.

This book is altogether different, captivating, inspiring, thought-provoking. I guarantee you’ve never contemplated the Christmas Story from this angle, let alone St. Nick’s story. I couldn’t put it down, about 4 hours straight through; good thing it was something of a lazy Saturday afternoon (after adding some Christmas lights to the back deck).

Just get it and read it. You can thank me later.

I’ve just started reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Serafina (and Lynn who takes to listening in sometimes). We’re only 20 pages in. It’s very significant reading. The vocabulary is immense, the sentence structure is complicated, and the imagery is astounding. And Serafina is engaged. It helps that she played “The Child” in a stage version of Dracula (with Cuesta College Theater Dept, last October, see some pics), and that makes for interesting discussions comparing the original writing to the play. I haven’t read anything as demanding in a very long time; loving it.

Be warned: there are significant adult themes and horrifying (imagine that, in a horror story!) descriptions of sexual predators and mental illness. Not for the faint of heart, and not for any aged person who doesn’t have a basic grip on the world. Fortunately, it’s never explicit (IMO), everything is done with imagery, leaving the mind to fill in the blanks as it can. Your mileage may vary. The lowest age I saw mentioned as appropriate was 8th grade, and some suggested “adults only”.

When we get done, I’ll come back and update this post with any additional thoughts I may have about the experience of reading this with a well-grounded 4th grader.

Did you know Steve Martin wrote plays?! The SLO Little Theatre (now SLOREP) is doing Picasso at the Lapin Agile this October. It all takes place in a bar called the Lapin Agile (Nimble Rabbit) in Montmartre, Paris where Einstein and Picasso fictitiously meet, along with a couple of other characters that fill out the evening. It’s a fun exploration of the nature of art and science, pretty funny, too. I would have liked to play Einstein in this adventure, but alas, at the time, Albert was a youngster by my standards. As fate would have it, though, I did try out for the play and got the role of Schmendiman. What a great experience; a few photos are here.

Here’s the Wikipedia entry.

This book also contains three other Steve Martin scripts: Zig-Zag Woman, Patter for a Floating Lady, and Wasp. Don’t buy the book just for any of these, but as “extras” they can be fun, and they’re short.

A fascinating romp through history with “Rush Revere” and a time-traveling horse. Kids are eating it up, I understand, and I enjoyed them, too. Limbaugh received the “Author of the Year” award at the Children’s Choice Book Awards for these titles.

SLO Little Theatre (now SLOREP) is doing this play in the next few months, and I was intrigued by the father/mathematician character – so I bought the script to see what it was really like. A fascinating, quick read (couple hours max). This play explores many things: love, science/math, genius/insanity, family, and even has a mystery element to it. You will relate if you’re trying to decide whether to fear or hope that you become like your parent(s).

Update: I auditioned for the father/mathematician role. I told you it was intriguing to me. My first theater audition ever. It’s a little daunting to prepare and present “two contrasting monologues”. I thought about backing out at the last minute, but realized this would be my only opportunity to show off what I’d put hours into. So I auditioned. An audience of one, the director. Felt surprisingly good. Afterward, I mentioned to a friend that I couldn’t remember saying half the lines; he said that was a good sign. I didn’t get the part; nobody goes one for one. Except for Serafina.

I happen to think that the best overall approach to getting this country back on track, straightening out the mess in Washington, convincing people of the best environment to create for the most success by the greatest number of people, etc. is to get back to living by the U.S. Constitution. There are all kinds of versions available, from leather to paper, including free printings for which you pay modest shipping & handling.

My New Year’s resolution is to fully assimilate this material and focus any political discussions in which I might find myself on this content.