Matthew Green > Recent Status Updates

Pinning income inequality on modern acceleration is a tough sell, what with the existence of medieval feudalism.
Finally reached his chapter on slow church where he argues that the problem is acceleration, but the solution is not deceleration. Then I'd say the problem has never been acceleration.
The solution is connection to transcendence. Viktor Frankl's book made that point better long ago and with fewer words.

The more I read this book, the more I'm convinced that his thesis is fundamentally flawed. He attributes so many cultural ills to acceleration where they could be more easily explained by the general adoption of consumption as the promise of satisfaction (i.e., the good life). He argues repeatedly that we have a wrong concept of the good life, so why doesn't he stick with that as his thesis?

So far, this is a collection of assumptions that I believe are wrong with conceptual connections that I believe are inaccurate leading to a giant tangle of ideas that I don't think go together. I feel like I'm reading the equivalent of a schizophrenic's bulletin board covered in string.
He does have some good insights, but they're shoehorned into his patchwork chaos.

This just didn't hook me the way I hoped it would. Not sure why.

Interesting world. Fairly well written. So why am I so bored?

This is increasingly difficult to stick with. Do I really want to devote this much time to reading about a self-centered, entitled, manipulative, greedy, hollow figure? The broad strokes are already obvious; do I need the fine details? The author's depiction of the evolution of television is interesting, but it's only for the purpose of providing a cultural backdrop against which to set Trump. Do I just drop it?

I mostly have trouble with this because it feels like Pinker has a terrible time getting to the point. It feels to me like he needs to explain so much material before he gets to his thesis or any piece of it that it drags. After flipping forward to see if this changes, it doesn't seem to, so I'm calling it quits. It may be a worthwhile read, but it's not an enjoyable one, and since I'm not required to read it...

Seriously debating whether it's worth finishing this book. Fairly disgruntled so far.

Maybe it's the cross-cultural issues, but this just isn't working for me. The humor is usually not that funny, his drinking and smoking seem constant and his lack of concern about them is disquieting, and his essays often just... stop. I was hoping for some kind of insight into Israeli/Palestinian life, but I'm not getting any.

Reading this on your phone is right up there with sorting coins while looking the wrong way through a telescope, but maybe somehow I'll get through it eventually.

It's rather apparent this was Black's dissertation. Lots of groundwork to cover before we reach the meat... But we are starting to get there!

A very nice analysis of the history of evangelicalism in America so far, but not much actual Willard yet.

Someday I need to get back to this thing... But part of my wonders... Why?

Someday I need to get back to this thing... But part of my wonders... Why?

There is some good material here, but it's probably redundant if you already have a teaching credential and does not provide detail or example to flesh out the rapid-fire information flow.
In addition, it suffers from severe black-and-white thinking. The authors keep reducing complex issues such as the nature of the human person to the overly simplistic categories of biblical and not-biblical.

So far, some good ideas (or at least the beginnings of good ideas) and some empty and dogmatic rhetoric.

The Onion's entry on Hell alone makes this book worth purchasing.

OH MY GOD THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!
Oh, wait. It's just contained in a fireplace. Never mind. It's fine.

What was a readably tolerable novel just vaulted the line between tolerable and ugly.

Bonsai - so what do you get for mauling fauna?

Where the blankety-blank is this going?

Not 100% sure the neuroscience part is entirely necessary, actually, but it's a decent introduction to living an emotionally attentive life.

Baby Boomer article obviously written by Gen-Xer

I really must try Chef Arby's jus du cheval someday.

The frightening part is that the entry on the American Civil War is probably relatively accurate. Don't Tread On Fox News.

Less scholarly than I would have hoped, but he begins by stating it's not intended to be. Hoping a little more substance appears in time. He occasionally states some things that make me anxious about his theology of the nature of God, but it hasn't so far been particularly problematic.

Beware the aapanthers.

Hey, I finally reached chapters that didn't make me sputter with frustration! This is a great relief after chapter 7 made me decide the book wasn't worth the paper it was written on. (Have to read it anyway for a certification I'm working on.)