Reading & Watching & Listening & Playing: August 3, 2023

I have loved reading Ben Crowder’s Booknotes and Links posts for a long time. I thought I’d give it a go.

Book Research

• The Shining Path, by Orin Starn and Miguel La Serna.¹ Good intro to the time period and overview of the major personalities and events.
• Shining and Other Paths, edited by Steve J. Stern. Academic articles, essential for diving deeper and understanding societal dynamics.
• Archival materials

Gospel Stuff

I’m reading quite a bit on Sundays in order to feel more prepared for when seminary starts again.

• The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints, by Thomas Wayment. It’s very readable and is what it says on the tin. I wouldn’t say it’s a pleasure to read like Robert Alter’s Hebrew Bible, but it is a much better first pass for comprehension than the King James Bible. I will typically read the Come Follow Me material or prep for a seminary lesson by reading the Wayment New Testament. Then I’ll return to the KJV to be able to speak in the common LDS vernacular in a class or in family scripture reading.
• The New Testament in its World, by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, and An Introduction to the New Testament, by Raymond E. Brown. Both of these are really reference books and longer than the New Testament itself. Good for looking up specific things and learning more, especially around historical and cultural context. The former from a Protestant context and the latter from a Catholic.
• Understanding Paul, by Richard Lloyd Anderson. I’ve just started this one, not sure how I’ll like it. It seems much more about explicating Latter-day Saint doctrine via Paul than the stuff I’m used to seeking out, but I’m sure I’ll get something out of it. My standby for Paul is N.T. Wright’s biography.
• Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints, edited by Jason R. Combs, Mark D. Ellison, Catherine Gines Taylor, Kristian S. Heal. I’m cheating, because I finished this one months ago, but it’s really good. Your mileage may vary with the more editorialized statements about the great apostasy, but the articles themselves are fantastic introductions to early Christian faith. I especially loved Kristian Heal’s chapter on early preaching, containing some absolutely beautiful passages. This book led me to read the Apostolic Fathers, translated by Rick Brannan, which I loved.
• Relational Faith, by Brent J. Schmidt. This is dry, but I like it. Contrasts the faith vs works debates with the 1st century understanding of faith. Faith is more action oriented, because it’s about building a relationship of trust than a synonym for belief.
• El Libro de Mormón. I’m reading the B.o.M. in Spanish this time through. It‘s helpful to work those linguistic muscles and see things through a new lens.

For Fun

• Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert. Can’t tell how I feel about this one yet. Finally read the first one in anticipation of the first Denis Villenueve movie and really dug it. Dune Messiah was different and this one is more-so.
• Ghosts, the British TV series (I found it on HBO Max). I love everything about it. Avoid the (much) lesser American version.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle Mayhem Soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. This movie has come out of nowhere for me and I really want to see it. The trailer does not clue you in to what the soundtrack will be like, and the soundtrack leads me to believe the movie will be something special. Good working music.
• Hogwarts Legacy on Steam Deck. Not very far into it. I just learned Expelliarmus, but it’s fun!

Links

• These write ups of the design process behind Archer, Surveyor, and Whitney from interviews with Tobias Frere-Jones are just great!
• Laws and Manners, a transcribed speech by Lord Moulton. It’s good and seems pretty timeless to me.
• Transcript of meeting between Chairman Mao and Henry Kissinger. Don’t know what to say about this, other than nobody comes out of this exchange looking great. At the same time, it’s fascinating to find an artifact like this. How much of today’s geopolitical fault lines were reinforced or built in this moment?