God and Galileo [a review]Faith vs. Science: from nearly every vantage point, there is some degree of tension between the two. Like oil and water, they just don't mix. To some, the answer to this "tension" is obvious: faith is a weird hobby you do in private like designing…Tags: david blockfaithgalileogodkenneth freemanreviewscienceMay 28, 2019
ESV Illuminated Art Journaling Bible [a review]What is the purpose of owning a personal Bible? While for some a Bible might satisfy the need to be connected to something transcendent, I'd imagine many people would purchase a Bible so as to read it. Unfortunately, a majority of English Bibles in…Tags: art journalingbiblecrosswayesvreviewFebruary 26, 2019
Stereotypical End-of-year 'Best Books' Blog Post TitleWhat makes a book good? I read a decent number of books per year, and I am always quite hesitant to rate a book higher than 4 stars, mostly because I want 5 stars to mean something beyond "I enjoyed this book." To that end, my top books of the year…Tags: amishbookschristmasevery good endeavorreadingreviewtechnologywheel of timewingfeather sagaDecember 30, 2018
ESV Archaeology Study Bible [A Review]I have a love-hate relationship with study Bibles. On the one hand, the Bible is thousands of years old, and you'd be a fool to solely rely upon your own intuition about what it all means. That's not to say there's some mystical secret da Vinci code…Tags: archaeologybible studycrosswayesvJune 23, 2018
Ready Player One [A Review]A fun adventure, but depressing in its view of the world.Tags: adventurebook reviewernest clineready player onesci fiMarch 19, 2018
Static Typing: a Personal JourneyLast February my company sent me to the Colorado School of Mines, my alma mater, to recruit computer science grads. Many of my former classmates were there as well, and I started chatting with a guy who was telling me about his job where he wrote…Tags: elmjavascriptreasonmlstatic typingtypescriptDecember 22, 2017
Long Before Luther [A Review]"Was the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone an invention or a recovery?" Though Protestants might easily dismiss that question, it would be foolish to do so. The Roman Church asserts that this doctrine that is so central to…Tags: busenitzluthermasters seminarymedieval theologymoody presspatristicsreviewNovember 22, 2017
Humble Roots [A review]There have been (at least) two trends in my life over the past few years: first, I have grown rather weary of the endless parade of devotional books marching forth from evangelical printing presses, and second I have felt more and more of a desire to…Tags: booksdevotional literaturegardeninghannah andersonhumble rootsmoody pressreviewvine ripenedNovember 21, 2016
Pursuing Health in an Anxious Age [A Review]Why do greater certainty and more control only heighten our fear for what remains outside our control-especially if the possibilities are so improbable? -Bob Cutillo, MD It is a curious thing that health care, whose very existence was once solely…Tags: bob cutillohealthlifemedical establishmentpursuing health in an anxious ageOctober 11, 2016
Punderdome [A Review]I consider myself something of a connoisseur of puns. A pundit, you might say. A pun at its essence is simply a play on words, but a good pun exhibits draws an intersection between two otherwise unrelated conceptual fields in one word or phrase. A…Tags: card gamegamejo and fred firestonepunpunderdomereviewAugust 5, 2016