One of the main things that McEwan wishes to explore is what happens if we create robots that have a higher sense of morality than we have. (Fiction)
All in Reading with Randy
“Do I Make Myself Clear?” by Harold Evans
Your congregation will rise up and call you blessed if you read this book. (Nonfiction)
“Tenth of December” by George Saunders
The ability to say a great deal in a very short time is a skill preachers can learn from great short story writers. (Fiction)
“Mama’s Last Hug” by Frans de Waal
I seriously doubt that you will get to the end of this book without believing that our non-human co-creatures have rich and nuanced emotional lives. (Nonfiction)
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon
Preachers are given to telling stories, and sometimes you want to tell a story (perhaps a biblical one) with someone’s voice other than your own. (Fiction)
“The Unlikely Disciple” by Kevin Roose
Roose decides to go to Liberty University for a year and let everyone believe that he is an evangelical just like they are. This is very much like going to a foreign country. (Nonfiction)
“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro
This book is not about the issue of cloning. It is about clones we get to know personally as human beings. (Fiction)
“Whistling Vivaldi” by Claude M. Steele
What cues for a negative stereotype are we sending out often without even knowing it? And how can we create a culture that will maximize learning for all kinds of people? (Nonfiction)
“11/22/63” by Stephen King
Our intrepid hero goes back in time in an attempt to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK. Will he succeed, and would it be a good thing if he did? (Fiction)
“Wave” by Sonali Deraniyagala
What do you do when life hits you with grief and pain that is so overwhelming that there are no words for it? If you are a writer with Sonali Deraniyagala’s skill, you write the unspeakable. (Nonfiction)
“Ignorance” by Milan Kundera
Why should a preacher read Kundera? There’s no one else who faces more squarely the conundrum of living in a post-Nietzsche world. (Fiction)
“Moonwalking with Einstein” by Joshua Foer
Let’s begin this review with a little quiz. I will give you the title of the book, and you try to guess what the book is about. Ready? (Nonfiction)
“Snow” by Orhan Pamuk
It has much to say about the ongoing conflict of the secular world with the world of religious conviction. And it certainly might cause you to rethink how you have viewed that conflict and what its future might be. (Fiction)
“The Lifespan of a Fact” by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal
If you ever wonder whether one can change the facts in order to more clearly present the truth, do I have a book for you! (Nonfiction)
“The Messiah of Morris Avenue” by Tony Hendra
The basic idea of the novel is simple and straightforward. Jesus has come back to modern America as the Hispanic street preacher, Jay. (Fiction)
“Man Seeks God” by Eric Weiner
Weiner begins the book as an agnostic with a Jewish background. A health scare sets him on a journey to answer a question from a nurse: “Have you found God yet?” (Nonfiction)
“The Master” by Colm Toibin
One of the most underrated skills of truly great preaching is attentiveness. (Fiction)
“Open” by Andre Agassi
If ever there was a book about the meaning of life, this is it. (Nonfiction)
“The Devil Aspect” by Craig Russell
There are plenty of twists and turns, and the book is a detective yarn as well as a Gothic horror novel. (Fiction)
“March” by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
In these three graphic volumes you have the very personal recounting of the civil rights movement. (Nonfiction)