Sheila's Guests and Reviews

  A while ago I read and reviewed Sy Garte's The Works of His Hands :  https://www.amazon.com/Works-His-Hands-Scientists-Journey/dp/0825446074/  I loved it. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3155866467 Faith and science are both a big deal to me of course. Growing up Catholic in England, I was barely aware of any suggestion that they might not be in perfect harmony with each other. After all, weren't the first Western scientists Christians, believing the world consistent enough to be worth investigating because the God they believed in was consistent? Then I came to the US. Suddenly friends in church were asking how anyone could be Christian if they "believed in" evolution. What's to believe in? It's the world God made, revealed in the science that studies what God made. Luckily I was able (I know not how) to convince them that I am a Christian. Meanwhile I also have to convince scientist friends that I'm a scientist - math degree from Cambridge Univer...

It was Christmas, and I got lots of books to read. I was eager to enjoy them and share the good news of great reads. But I also had (still have) visitors, and Christmas to enjoy, and trips, and conversations, and cats (not mine) and dogs (also not mine), and family, and friends, and catching up on catching up... And time keeps slipping away. But today I shall start posting a few of those book reviews. Since Christmas is only just over for many celebrants, posting some reviews about "faith" books makes a kind of sense. And here are three about the intersection (no--not division) between faith-and-science. They're not enemies. Seriously, they're not enemies. (And one day maybe my own faith-and-science book will also come out, with the same point of view!) First is  Friend of Science Friend of Faith, listening to God in His works and word by Gregg Davidson , a pleasingly scientific, easily understood book that reveals, very convincingly, that faith and science are no...

When I was a kid it annoyed me that so few books mentioned characters who went to church. I went to church. Most of the people I knew went to church. Weren't we worth writing about? I suspect when I was a kid I simply wasn't drawn to, or introduced to, those sweet Sunday school books that would have filled that gap. Perhaps that's just as well. But now I read the Sunday-school-sweet books, all grown up, plus many others where characters do go to church but don't feel the need to tell the world--or is it where authors do go to church but don't feel the need to tell the world? I guess the question still remains, are people like me worth writing about--are we worth reading about? And the truth is, I really don't want to read about me; I want to read about someone interesting, or at least someone in a story that's interesting; I want a fiction to draw me in and make me think before it spits me out. There'll have to be facts in that fiction if it's go...

When I posted some pictures of my books on a website recently, someone immediately asked whether I'd done any research. I guess it's a pretty valid question —it’s a bit much to expect people just to trust me when I'm only self-published. But it would take forever to list all the books I've used. Remembering that ten's a really good Biblical number, I decided to make a list of the ten most readily available and pleasantly readable books that I've used. That way I can remember them, and maybe you might enjoy them too. Meanwhile, if you want to see what I made of my research, you can find my Bible books at http://stores.lulu.com/sdeeth . If you click on one you can even preview the first ten pages. My top ten books for researching Bible stories: 1. Various translations of the Bible, including deuterocanonical and apocryphal books, the Jewish Study Bible Tanakh Translation—invaluable for its insights into culture and interpretation—and a Chronological Study Bible, w...