It is an ugly rainy day here in Ohio. I am unmotivated and uninspired (hence the lack of posting). In the off chance that someone stops by looking for entertainment I thought I would offer you a taste of what I am listening to: John Prine’s The Missing Years. Specifically one of my favorite Prine songs All the Best. Click below for the lyrics.
The Question of God
Those of you interested in the question of the existence of God, the role of morality and religion in society, or the intellectual history of these questions will want to tune into PBS tonight. Running tonight from 9-11 PM (with the second part on the 22nd) on most stations will be The Question of God:
a four-hour series on PBS, explores in accessible and dramatic style issues that preoccupy all thinking people today: What is happiness? How do we find meaning and purpose in our lives? How do we reconcile conflicting claims of love and sexuality? How do we cope with the problem of suffering and the inevitability of death? Based on a popular Harvard course taught by Dr. Armand Nicholi, author of The Question of God, the series illustrates the lives and insights of Sigmund Freud, a life-long critic of religious belief, and C.S. Lewis, a celebrated Oxford don, literary critic, and perhaps this century’s most influential and popular proponent of faith based on reason.
The series, directed by Catherine Tatge, is outgrowth of Dr. Nicholi’s book The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life but the documentary program is a multimedia presentation:
Through dramatic storytelling and compelling visual re-creations, as well as interviews with biographers and historians, and lively discussion, Freud and Lewis are brought together in a great debate. The important moments and emotional turning points in the lives of Freud and Lewis — which gave rise to such starkly different ideas — fuel an intelligent and moving contemporary examination of the ultimate question of human existence: Does God really exist?
I haven’t read the book but have heard great things about it. The advance screening copy of the program I watched last night was thought provoking and entertaining. No matter what side of the debate you see yourself on, I think you will find the program stimulating and educational. I plan on tuning in tonight and next week.
The Question of God
Those of you interested in the question of the existence of God, the role of morality and religion in society, or the intellectual history of these questions will want to tune into PBS tonight. Running tonight from 9-11 PM (with the second part on the 22nd) on most stations will be The Question of God:
a four-hour series on PBS, explores in accessible and dramatic style issues that preoccupy all thinking people today: What is happiness? How do we find meaning and purpose in our lives? How do we reconcile conflicting claims of love and sexuality? How do we cope with the problem of suffering and the inevitability of death? Based on a popular Harvard course taught by Dr. Armand Nicholi, author of The Question of God, the series illustrates the lives and insights of Sigmund Freud, a life-long critic of religious belief, and C.S. Lewis, a celebrated Oxford don, literary critic, and perhaps this century’s most influential and popular proponent of faith based on reason.
The series, directed by Catherine Tatge, is outgrowth of Dr. Nicholi’s book The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life but the documentary program is a multimedia presentation:
Through dramatic storytelling and compelling visual re-creations, as well as interviews with biographers and historians, and lively discussion, Freud and Lewis are brought together in a great debate. The important moments and emotional turning points in the lives of Freud and Lewis — which gave rise to such starkly different ideas — fuel an intelligent and moving contemporary examination of the ultimate question of human existence: Does God really exist?
I haven’t read the book but have heard great things about it. The advance screening copy of the program I watched last night was thought provoking and entertaining. No matter what side of the debate you see yourself on, I think you will find the program stimulating and educational. I plan on tuning in tonight and next week.
Rebecca Pawel
I just finished DEATH OF A NATIONALIST, Rebecca Pawel’s debut novel. Set in Madrid in 1939, the story revolves around the murder of a Guardia Civil, who may or may not have been involved with the black market.
Spain in the 1930s was a chaotic place. The Second Republic replaced a failed monarchy in 1933. By 1936 the factions that constituted the Republican government faced a right wing coup by the National Front. Madrid was controlled by the Republicans; the Nationalists wanted control of the city.
During a three year siege Madrid was assaulted by German bombers, nationalist artillery and eventually, after the fall of Guadalajara, by Mussolini’s regular army. The Guardia Civil was a paramilitary force that operated outside the authority of the army. Once General Franco took power the Guardia operated with grim efficiency in search of enemies of the state.
The novel’s principal characters are Guardia Sergeant Tejada and Gonzalo Llorente. Tejada is investigating the murder of a fellow Guardia, the nationalist of the book’s title, while Gonzalo is struggling to survive. The discovery of a child’s notebook sets Tejada on a course that proves to be personally momentous for him and for Gonzalo and his family as well.
DEATH OF A NATIONALIST won an Edgar Award in 2003. Rebecca Pawel is nominated for the Macavity Award at Bouchercon next month. The only quarrel I have with that is that her work should be viewed in a broader context than mystery; she’s created a literary work that explores much more than most genre fiction could hope to do.
Pawel has also chosen to develop Carlos Tejada’s character over a series of novels. This is the best possible basis for a series, but it’s a risky approach, one that flies in the face of marketing wisdom regarding our collective attention spans. The risk-reward equation goes along the lines of the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Read her books, collect your reward.
Discovery: What's Left?
A year ago, maybe longer, I visited my brother in Houston (the brother who is now moving to the Outer Banks, who before Houston lived in Great Britain, and of whom my son says, “Is he trying to live on all seven continents before he dies?) and discovered a book that posits the question: “What Remains to be Discovered?” Authored by John Maddox, a physicist, a Knight, and aformer editor of Nature magazine, the blurb on the inside of the book cover says, “After five centures of remarkable discovery, science is still only at its beginning. What we already know is only a tiny fraction of what we have still to understand.”
Freedom Just Around the Corner by Walter A. McDougal
In today’s polarized landscape of 24-hour news cycles and a seemingly never ending culture war it is rare to find a work of history that has depth and balance. It is doubly hard to find a work worthy of recommendation to young people and adults alike that won’t immediately threaten to send them into a deep sleep. All too often the works of “history†touted by today’s publishers are either thin polemics posing as history or massive dry tomes that lack a compelling narrative. Walter McDougal’s recently released Freedom Just Around the Corner: A new American History 1585-1828 is an enjoyable exception to this trend. It is a well written, historically balanced, and intellectually stimulating overview of the people, places, and ideas of the first three hundred years of American history.