On Thursday we survey reviews that have been posted around the web over the past week (though since we didn't post an article last week we're reading into the past and looking at a couple of week's worth of reviews).
Dr. Mohler writes about The Dangerous Book for Boys. "The book instantly recalls the great Victorian era of books for boys -- books about boy heroes, adventurers, soldiers, and naturalists. Those books, often recognizable in their ornate cloth covers, were read and read again by boys as they grew older. The Dangerous Book for Boys is a worthy successor to that tradition. This book will tell a boy how to read cloud formations, make a battery, make a periscope, and construct 'the greatest paper airplane in the world.' Boys are told of the essential gear of boyhood -- including Band-aids. Young adventurers will also learn of famous battles, the history of artillery, and how to understand girls." (link)
Christianity Today writes about the strange new bestselling novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union. The book supposes that the attempt to give Jews a homeland in Israel failed in in 1948 and millions of Jews settled in Alaska. CT says, "The Yiddish Policemen's Union is the best new novel I've read so far this year, and I won't be surprised if it wins another Pulitzer or some comparable recognition. It is also a deeply frustrating book--at least I found it so, for reasons elaborated below. If you think you might read it, turn the page right now and come back to this column only after you've finished the book." (link)
The Times writes a review of the Pope's new book Jesus of Nazareth. "Jesus was the genius. That is Ratzinger's message, and the luminous intelligence of the exegesis will prompt many to respond with an Alleluia. Wordy as the old German can be, this reader at least felt that he had repeatedly identified what was haunting, indeed frightening about the Gospels. No amount of reasonable liberal 'explanation' can evade the voice that comes through them--calling the reader not to a set of propositions, nor to a theory, but to a Person, who is at one with God." (link)
The Times also reviews Chris Anderson's The Long Tail which we've reviewed here. Their review says "Anderson's analysis of the humble supermarket shelf is fascinating. It's not a shelf. It's a science." (link)
Christianbookpreviews has a review of John MacArthur's The Truth War. Reviewer Ray Hammond says "The Truth War is must-reading for all Christians. It reminds us of the essential fact that Christianity is a matter of truth. And truth is always worth fighting for." (link)
The New York Sun has a scatching review of Attendant Cruelties, Patrice Higonnet's survey of Nation and Nationalism in American History. "It was not any great expertise in the subject; the bulk of the book is a sketchy and conventional chronicle, assembled from secondary sources, and containing no facts or interpretations that will surprise any reader who paid attention in his or her 11th-grade U.S. History class. It was not any deep historical insight; for Mr. Higonnet's method is not to explain our history so much as to assign grades to its leading actors, depending on how well they suit his present-minded criteria of "inclusion" and "exclusion," enlightened "patriotism" and iniquitous "nationalism." No, the reason why "Attendant Cruelties" got written is much simpler: It is Mr. Higonnet's overpowering hatred of President Bush." (link)
Sam Storms has a review of Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution, saying "I immediately immersed myself in it, by-passed the in-flight movie on the way home, and concluded it about the time I landed in Chicago. Trust me, it was time (and money) well spent." (link)
Slate posts a review of Mark Regenerus' Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers. "Regnerus' ultimate conclusion is not all that surprising. What really matters is not which religion teenagers identify with but how strongly they identify. After controlling for all factors (family satisfaction, popularity, income), religion matters much less than religiosity." (link)
