This month we are reviewing the four books below:

  1. “Fourfold Kingdom of God” (239 pages, paperback, 2020) by Gerald Paul Paul Kooyers: I bought this book after reading “The Holy Longing” based on a recommendation from the Stanford Magazine. The book looks at God’s kingdom from a mathematical and physics perspective. Lots of speculation; on scripture and on physics but soundly based. That said, it is speculation. Remember Jesus’ caution in Matthew 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” I did finish it and am now somewhat disappointed. I knew it was ‘speculation’, but I expected more informed speculation.

Here is the XKCD comic I mentioned in the video on the correct age for a woman marrying a man: half the man’s age plus 7 years. It worked for Michelle and me when we met at ages 23 and 32 respectively; 32 divided by 2 is 16; plus 7 equals 23!

Yes, according to the Amazon page, there is a double Paul in his name. Not sure why.

Here’s an advertisement video for another Kooyers book, “Jesus’ Mysterious Space-Time Universe”:

And I did buy it. I’ll take another chance and see if he has some interesting speculation on the intersection of Christian theology and physics. It’s only 70-some pages.

Here’s the notes to the review of “The Fourfold Kingdom of God”:

  1. “Friday” (362 pages, paperback, 1982) by Robert Heinlein: From an Instapundit entry on February 13th, 2022:

“TAMARA KEEL: “The other weekend I read of a dystopian cyberpunk future full of powerful tech companies that were effectively states unto themselves, balkanizing nations facing crises of governmental legitimacy, wars carried out by mercenaries and contractors serving as cutouts to hide the origins of their paymasters, all set in a world menaced by global plague. I also reread Robert Heinlein’s 1982 novel Friday.

Published two years before the seminal Neuromancer, Heinlein’s novel can be viewed as a sort of ur-cyberpunk, with a protagonist who’s an “Artificial Person” and who works as a specialized courier in a world full of megacorporations, prototypical street samurai, hypersonic air travel, and earth-to-orbit beanstalks.

…The most controversial part of the book happens very early on, still in the opening setup part of the book, when our heroine is captured by a gang of baddies and tortured… which torture includes rape.”

An underrated work. I agree that it basically invented cyberpunk. I don’t think it got the attention it deserved because it came after the justly-panned Number of the Beast, written while Heinlein had a clogged carotid artery and had a brain that was basically oxygen starved. Post surgery he wrote Friday, which is much better. And yeah, it fits the present better than I’d like, except that we don’t have suborbital flights and beanstalks.”

Previously we favorably reviewed Heinlein’s “Tunnel in the Sky”.

I did not finish this book. I read the first 100 or so pages. My issue with the book, which is also present in “Tunnel in The Sky”, is that everyone talks like a wise cracking, 70 year old libertarian no matter what the circumstances. Whether it’s a love scene, a scientific discussion, a torture/rape, or anything; everyone is wise cracking. It’s gets old after a while. Not for me.

  1. “Honour Bound” (412 pages, paperback, 2017) by Alaric Bond: I read and reviewed the first nine books in this British Naval Fiction series; “His Majesty’s Ship”, “The Jackass Frigate”, “True Colors”, “Cut and Run”, “The Patriot’s Fate” and “The Torrid Zone”, “The Scent of Corruption” and “HMS Prometheus”, and “The Blackstrap Station”. I give them high marks. Now that I read the first nine stories in the series, I like it even more. And these last four; ‘Scent’, ‘Prometheus’, “Blackstrap” and now “Honour Bound” show a new levels of plot complexity and character development. SPOILER: The key part of the plot includes Lt King, his officers and two interesting ‘enlisted men’ being held at Verdun and meeting some ‘old friends’:

“The French did take prisoners back to France. The British prisoners numbered about 14.000 and were primarily housed in Verdun, in which the officers had considerable liberties. They had their own shops, gambling houses (which Napoleon eventually closed down in 1806) and other everyday institutions. Verdun became sort of a ”Little London”. The life depended on rank and status with officers able to be on parole, some acquired passports and left Verdun. Only 23 actually escaped, one escapee returned to Britain and was shunned by his community, 3 escapees were sent back to France when it was found out that they broke parole. In Verdun, the British also had their own theatres which only they could enter, life was not actually that bad.”

  1. “Bad Moon Rising: The Unofficial History of Creedence Clearwater Revival” (358 pages, paperback, 2001) by Hank Bordowitz: Our dog Danna was investigating a hoodoo in a potted plant. Michelle wondered what she was doing. I explained via the Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR) song, “Born On The Bayou”.

“And I can remember the fourth of July,

Runnin’ through the backwood, bare.

And I can still hear my old hound dog barkin’,

Chasin’ down a hoodoo there.

Chasin’ down a hoodoo there.”

I was a big CCR fan in the late 1960s given that I grew up in Northern California and CCR was a “local” band. John Fogerty has always fascinated me. Immensely talented, learned by ‘copying’ and an epic antisocial streak. I found this book exploring for CCR material.

And a little-known fact, I was the original author of one of CCR’s hits!

You know it as “I Put a Spell On You”. I originally wrote it as “I Put a Snout Lock on You”. It was written about our family dog, Ror. He was a rare, barking Basenji from Australia. Basenji’s are famous for not barking. Our Ror barked. More, later.