What I’m Reading: Fall Edition

Picking up on what I wrote previously, I find doing these pieces a good way to remind myself of what I learned. So without further ado…

Heroes

by Iain Murray

This book is a collection of short biographies of some well-known and not so well-known Christians in the past. Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon stand out as the most familiar figures while Robert Kalley, William Hewitson, and Charles and Mary Colcock Jones serve as some individuals I was unfamiliar with. There is no precise strand that connects all these disparate people other than a strong sense of Christ, a dependence on the scriptures, and a complete surrender to what the Spirit would have them do. This book certainly serves as a strong encouragement to Christians today.

Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

For whatever reason, I’ve found myself revisiting the sci-fi and fantasy classics. Fahrenheit 451 is one of the classic dystopian novels written in the 20th century. Bradbury’s style is very smooth, for lack of a better word, he also does a good job at communicating the mindset of other characters through the eyes of his main character. He does this by using observations of small physical behaviors that reveal the thoughts of the characters around his protagonist. As far as predictions about the future, Bradbury nails modernity’s need to be numbed by entertainment, while perhaps assuming television would be the only medium by which that entertainment is delivered.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

by Phillip K. Dick

This dystopian work famously serves as the source material for Blade Runner. The novel starts off strong by building a believable and depressing world filled with despondent humans and the androids built to serve them. The key struggle is figuring out who is actually human and who is not. Dick is being a bit obvious with his extended work on what actually makes one human, but the narrative is entertaining enough that this doesn’t become preachy. My only critique is the relatively unorganized ending. There’s no clear sense of where the characters are headed.