Islam By Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood

As you can tell from the title, Islam By Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood is about the religion of Islam. I said this once before, I'm a compulsive buyer. The book was interesting. It was really intense, not that I didn't expect that. It would have to be, like Christianity. To be able to talk about something and form an opinion, you need to know what your talking about. I'm agnostic. I have no religion but I want to be able to correct people who blatantly insult something they have no right to. Did you know that Muslims believe in Jesus? He is regarded as one of the greatest of all prophets, the miracle worker. They also believe in his virgin birth (sound REALLY familiar?). They do not, however believe that he was the Divine Son of God. This book is facinating, I haven't finished it. It covers many things in it like; worship, traditions, festivals and specail days, mosques, diet, sex, drugs, alcohol, friendship, birth, marriage, divorce, crimes, punishment, modernism and modern Islam. Pretty much everything that, I feel I as a westerner should know. Maybe if others knew it to we wouldn't have the conflict we see today in the middle east. If I could suggest anything to the military generals leading our armed forces today, it would be; educate your soldiers. Respect can resolve almost any problem. The leading cause of casualties, I believe are related to respect that was not properly given of this beautiful religion and culture.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

My last post was spent whining about Bill Bryson. Sorry! He frustrates me. To make up for that I'm going to write about why Bryson is such an impressive writer. First off, I think he might be the most knowledgeable man in the world. He seems like a genius, or man who strives to understand the world. I hold him in the utmost respect on account of that. Because he has the drive to find things out, understand them and write it down. People with such a work ethic are rare. Even rarer are the one who can take the knowledge they have and put it in a fashion that could be understood by the Joe-Six-Pack-Next-Door. That's what teachers do. Most of them, some teachers are a mystery... maybe they just like to socialize. Anyways, he really has a skill, in taking information and connecting it to a million other things he's so good he can pick a topic and create a novel. For example he spent about 500 pages talking about Australia. Nothing ever happens in Australia, he says so himself.. as he writes a bajillion pages on a country that doesn't have a life. He gives Australia a life. Not a surfer bum one but a history. He makes Australia seem real. He gives earth a history in 544 pages. Just 544. He crammed it in. That, my friends is skill.

Australia By Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything also by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, has received two chances; Australia published in May 2001, and A Short History of Nearly Everything published September 2004. I enjoyed the material but felt so overwhelmed... it was terrible. I am, a bit of a reading freak. I don't get overwhelmed at least, not until Bill Bryson Came along.. He crams so much information onto a page that I CAN'T TAKE IT ALL IN. I re-read countless pages trying to understand a few paragraphs. It wasn't extremely complicated, there was just too much! It took me weeks to finish both the books, that's shameful. I finished Kite Runner in one school day, it was amazing, by the way. However I cannot get through Anything by Bill Byrson. Maybe its nonfiction in general? Look at these sentences, "The first attempt at measurement that could be remotely scientific was made by the Frenchmen Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, in the 1770's. It had been long known that the Earth radiated appreciable amounts of heat-that was apparent to anyone who went down a coalmine-but there wasn't any way of estimating the rate of dissipation. Bryson includes so many dates and names it is almost impossible to keep track. You're doing well if you remember a first name at the end of the chapter. It possible he writes about so many that you can pick and choose you're favorites to remember. Maybe he intends for you to not remember them all? Does he? It would be hell to be his editor. Imagine checking all those facts.