Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God by Jack Miles
The sequel to God: A Biography. In the latter book Miles analyzed God as a character in the Tanakh. In this book he continues the analysis for God/Jesus in the New Testament.
Of his interpretive strategy, Miles writes:
The interpretive strategy in God: A Biography had to two simple rules, based on two premises:
The first rule was that conflict in the divine chracter as it is found on the pages of the Tanakh should be regarded as real for the purposes of literary discussion rather than, after the manner of historical criticism, explained away by reference to the various human authors of the Tanakh and their historically differing views. The premise behind this rule was a literary appropriation...of the age-old Jewish belief that "the Lord is our God, theLord alone" (Deut 6:4). The effect that God produces on the page owes much to tension among his mutually contradictory character traits, but the condition for this tension is that the character be always the same character.
The second rule was that conflict in the divine character, rather than being described or analyzed systematically, as in theology, should emerge in the course of the narrative. The premise behind this procedure was that internal complexity in the character of God could be shown to develop over time in response to vicissitudes in God's long-running relationshp with mankind and, in particular, with the nation of Israel. In this way, though there would be no birth or death, there could be a coherent passage from God's first words and deeds on the page to his last. there could be character development and, in a word, biography.
Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg, William Broad
The authors are journalists for the New York Times. They detail the history of germ warfare from the 60s through the 90s. Details the American and Soviet, and post-Soveit germ weapons programs. Discusses our susceptibility to germ attack, e.g., the germ attack launched by the followers of Rajneesh in Oregon. Discusses the Iraq germ program, and UN weapons inspections. An interesting if somewhat slow read.
From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman
An explanation of the Middle East in the 1980s. Friedman starts with an explanation of the Christian-Muslim conflict in Beirut, and then goes on to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is very well written and quite compelling. In the "new" chapter he provides a preface for what will become his next book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden
Book that led to the movie. The book is a frank and detailed account of the battle of Mogandishu in October 1993 between the US Special Forces and the militia of the warlord Mohamed Aidid. The author's sources were the troops in the battle on both sides as well as transcripts of military radio traffic. The book is significant in that it has been highly praised by the men who were involved in the battle, the military community, and former Prez Clinton. The author comments that after writing the book military people often ask his opinon on military questions even though he has no military expertise. The book is used as a textbook in the several US war collages.
A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality by Ken Wilbur
A discussion of integral thinking. Intesting dicussion of memes, an organization of the developmental stages of societal consciousness developed by Beck and Cowan in Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change. The integral approach divides the world into quadrants made from two dualities: subjective and objective, and individual and societal. The author believes society at large is ready to move on from what he describes as the cultural relativism of the "green" meme. Meditation is essential to achieving the integral meme. Many interesting ideas although the author often brings up a topic only to point the reader to his other books.
The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman
An explanation of globalization from the point of view of a New York Times political correspondent. Globalization is what happens after the Cold War ended. It has great promise for empowering people, but also many pitfalls for those who are unprepared.
Migrations and The Majority World by Sebastião Salgado
Brazilian photo-journalist Salgado represents an anti-globalizationist point-of-view in his images. Salgado is having an exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum until 24 March.