Danny ChaiI sprained my ankle a few weeks ago, in kind of an embarrassing way – I fell off a Ripstik. I needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store, and decided to Ripstik there, because, why not. Jieun was against it, saying something to the effect of, a 32-year-old man should not be Ripstiking to the grocery store in the middle of the night. Psh, I said. I’m younger than my years, and fairly good on the ‘stik. What could go wrong? When I returned, hobbling through the door, it was humbling. And in retrospect, predictable. Jieun didn’t even offer much sympathy, which I suppose is her right, since she told me so.
Abby’s sick yet again. 103 fever yesterday. She woke up in the middle of the night feeling really hot, and she was doing this scary thing where she’d quiver and get freaked out by it. Honestly, it freaked me out also. I pulled out our child health books, the Blue Fish Pediatrics manual, and did some web searches and it just freaked me out more, with me thinking she’s having seizures and imagining worst-case scenarios of meningitis and such. The Kaiser advice nurse then informed me that they’re not convulsions, which involve loss of consciousness, but chills, which was somewhat reassuring. But still, those involuntary twitches are really scary. Abby seems to get sick a lot, and if it were just runny noses, it would be OK, but she gets these crazy high fevers and associated symptoms that are just worrisome. Sucks.
Some book reviews.
At Ch@rles and Yoona’s wedding they distributed as gifts to all guests copies of Tim Keller’s The Reason For God. I was surprised at how good it was. Surprised only because Newsweek gave it a tepid review. But it’s fantastic, although it flags a bit in the last third. Overall, 4.5 stars.
The first half is especially compelling; it’s his responses to common objections to Christianity. His arguments fall largely along 2 lines. One, that when people object to Christianity’s exclusivity and claims to be the absolute truth, those arguments can’t stand against themselves. Meaning, the argument that Christianity cannot be the absolute truth is exclusive and, in itself, an absolute claim, and there’s no way for them to defend their own arguments as valid or true. This is the standard Christian response to arguments like these. An interesting twist he adds is pointing out that there’s also no way to explain why they care so much. Why do relativists care so much about correcting absolutists? Why do atheists care so much about correcting religious people? Even if they think religion causes harm or is wrong, why does that matter to them? It’s an interesting point.
The second broad argument was also really interesting, and I think it’s really true: when you look at a lot of criticisms of Christianity, the tools for those criticisms actually come from Christianity itself. For example, when people object that the God of the Bible isn’t a God of love, the whole concept that God could be loving, or even the standards of what love should be, come from Christianity itself. For example, if one were to criticize that God is not loving because not everyone goes to heaven, the whole idea of unconditional love or justice that this argument is based on comes from Christianity itself. It’s doesn’t necessarily negate it, but the basis for their criticism stands on Christianity. It’s a really interesting idea.
He’s also incredibly well-read. So much so that I wonder if the weight of the people he’s quoting will go over readers’ heads. Like, when he quotes Nagel or Stephen Jay Gould or other figures, many of whom are atheist, will people realize how weighty that is? A point he seems to be making by quoting really intelligent atheist philosophers and scientists is that many (not all) atheists don’t fully grasp the troubling implications of atheism that these super-intelligent atheists do. It would be easy to dismiss if one didn’t recognize how weighty their opinions are. Minho will also like how he starts the book with a Darth Vader quote. He also uses the exact language we’ve been using at church a lot, for example describing the kingdom of God as more than just personal salvation, but bringing shalom to the world. All in all, a really great read.
Seven Seconds or Less. 3.5 stars. Pretty entertaining read. I love sports books, and this book about the Phoenix Suns’ 06-07 season is fascinating for it’s description of all that happens behind the scenes. Superficially, it doesn’t really seem like basketball coaches do all that much, but after reading this and Phil Jackson’s The Last Season, I realize it’s insane how much they actually do. I’d rank this slightly below Jackson’s book, which was more insightful both about strategy and the personality of the team, but it was pretty good.
Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas. So I read his essays in Esquire each month, and they fall equally into 2 groups. Half of his essays I find incredibly insightful and interesting. Half I find completely wrong and bone-headed. There’s nothing in between.
Thankfully, this collection culls most of the essays I dislike. His interviews are uniformly fascinating. Like his profile of Val Kilmer. Utterly bizarre and engrossing read. And the opinion essays are mostly good; in particular I loved one where he talks about underrated and overrated bands before presenting a list of the most rated (that is, accurately rated) bands of all time. And I agreed with it.
It ends with a novella he wrote that’s terrible. But most of the stuff before is great. 4 stars.