Monday, October 30, 2006

Two More Books

Two books that I read from the local library were not bad.

Thy Kingdon Come
An evangelical's lament. How the religious right distort the faith and threatens America.
Randall Balmer

This was a great book to begin to understand how the religious right operates and their agenda and strategy. The author is an historian that was raised by a minister. He argues strongly from a position of a compassionate christian belief that is nearly the opposite track that the religious right is taking this country. As an interesting side note, Balmer was partly raised in Bay City, MI and fell for Tiger's fever in 1968. The author points at the different organizations used to fund the movement. He examines the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition among the many as well as important players such as Jerry Farwell, Pat Robertson, and Dobson. He pokes plenty of holes into religious right ideology that includes Revelationists who believe Biblical prophecy of end of the world. A good book to own.

Twilight in the Desert
The coming Saudi oil shock to the world economy.
Matthew R. Simmons

This book is great for a reader with oil geology expertise, but only good to me. I understand the theory, that the Saudi oil is much closer to running out than believed, but the writing is jammed with oil technology detail that overwelms the average reader. He is offering detailed assesment of the conditions of all the oil fields and what that might bring to the world in reaction.