Niven RINGWORLD

RINGWORLD by Larry Niven. I count four readings of this classic. The sense-of-wonder may have dimmed a little with each pass but the sense-of-awe at Niven's creation is still as actinic as it was on the first pass. The venue of the Ringworld is the most jaw-dropping and daydream-inspiring place in all of science fiction. I am glad there are three more novels in the Ringworld sequence. Now that I have been back, I want to revisit the great arc. Niven has great characters and a firm grasp of plot, but his forte is letting his readers into his Playground of the Mind. Send your mind out to recess. Play in the Ringworld for a bit.

NOT BY CHANCE by Lee Spetner

I read NOT BY CHANCE by Dr. Lee Spetner. He ably demonstrates the impossibility of neo-Darwinian evolution producing macro-evolutionary changes in organisms. While I learned a lot from this book, I think there are more important books out there that cover this same material.

Recommended.

THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION by Micheal Behe

While I am at it I may as well record that I have recently read THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION by Michael Behe. This is Behe's follow-up book to the instrumental DARWIN'S BLACK BOX. In this new book Behe demonstrates, chiefly from studying Malaria, how far we can expect evolution to operate. The many thousands of generations of Malaria witnessed over the course of human history is proof that darwinian evolution is incapable of producing large changes. For example, Malaria has not been able to overcome the Sickle-Cell variant in humans, nor has it been able to adapt itself to cold climates.

He gives the example of the bacterial flagellum to demonstrate an organic system that is clearly beyond the edge of evolution. Go to the Protonic Nanomachine Project site for more information.

Very well written, replete with lucid examples. Highly recommended.

THE ELECT AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION by Charles Cooper

I have completed THE ELECT AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION by Charles Cooper. This is a book of theology defending the Pre-Wrath Rapture view. In it he puts forth two ideas that merit further study:

(1) Jerusalem is the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18.

(2) The conventional wisdom on the ancient Babylonian calendar is wrong; it incorporates kings of Chaldea and Babylon that reigned concurrently. The Bible correctly lists all the kings that should be included in the chronology. Using the Biblical list of Babylonian kings allows us to: (a) determine the start of Daniel's 70 weeks with the decree of Cyrus as the Biblical text naturally states; (b) include the crucifixion in the 69th week while the clock is still ticking. (c) date all prophecies not from some arbitrarily conceived modern calendar projected into the ancient past, but from the Biblical account commencing with the date of creation.

Facinating book. I will be re-reading it soon to glean more out of it.

THE YELLOW JERSEY by Ralph Hurne

Today I finished reading THE YELLOW JERSEY by Ralph Hurne. It had crossed my path long ago, and I had wanted to read it because I am fond of The Tour de France. It is also billed as, "The greatest cycling novel ever written." As a cycling story it ends with a rousing sequence of events on the Tour. But as a novel, I found it to be preoccupied with one man's love life, or rather, his inability to find love despite rolling in the hay with hundereds of "birds." I am a little worse for wear after completing this book. I do not recommend it. OPTCS 45334