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Unlike some, I don’t think “blind faith” is redundant (although it was one hell of a short-lived “supergroup”). Granted, faith necessarily implies belief without the need for evidence. But “blind” suggests the faith exists without contemplation or introspection and perhaps even through willful ignorance. If the blindness is exposed to questioning, thought or analysis, it seems there are only three possible results. One is the faith remains blind. Another is a somewhat modified faith seemingly resting on a more enriched and personal foundation. The last is unbelief.
 Examining blind faith in religious principles is a main theme of GOOD GOD, JOHNNY: A Christian Journey to the Third Millennium, a self-published e-book by current South Dakotan J.J. Spankston currently available only on Amazon. (I’m not sure why the first three words are capitalized and given that J.J. stands for Joyful Jamie, odds are good the name is a pseudonym). In it, two deaths that bookend the novel and the exposure to ideas at a secular university lead the title character, Johnny Daniels, to examine what he believes and was taught at the private school he always attended, Almighty Wonders Christian School.
The story follows Johnny and his best friend, Matt Ryan, from near the end of their senior year of high school through their first year at a medium-sized university in their hometown. Johnny is senior class president, valedictorian and popular with both teachers and students. Matt’s approach to life is a bit more relaxed and happy-go-lucky approach but he and Johnny always have each other’s back. The educational environment isn’t far-fetched, predicated on a Christian tradition of belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. Although science fascinates Johnny, in the school’s science classes, he and his classmates are taught that Noah’s Ark contained the ancestors of the life forms on the planet today. Evolution is treated with such contempt and disdain that Charles Darwin is not considered a scientist but “a veritable demon out to tear down the truth of Scripture.” The curriculum also instructs that anyone who does not believe Jesus Christ is God is doomed to hell and those who transgress certain Biblical standards, such as homosexuals, likewise are damned.
The death of a friend and Johnny’s enrollment as a biology and chemistry mayor in college, together with the people he meets there, cause him to start wondering if he’s viewing the world with blinders. His evaluation of seeming contradictions between what he believes and what he has learned and seen outlines an argument against fundamentalism and, undoubtedly, blind faith. It as if he personifies the clash between many on the Christian right and those with other religious or more liberal views. Johnny’s personal evolution leads him to consider not only Christian right doctrines but their occasional relation to the so-called Tea Party.
The concept, approach and writing style are fine but they often can stumble. Even setting aside that Johnny’s name seems a bit obvious, the retelling of how he and Matt met on the first day of kindergarten uses circumstances and language incongruent with the setting. While Spankston uses detail to great effect with a death early in the book, too much detail weakens a later scene between Johnny and and his classmate, Laura. At the same time, the growing contrast between them as Laura pursues her post-secondary education at a Christian college is told in brief sketches. Johnny’s and Matt’s language strives a bit too hard to set them as residents of a state in the southern half of the country. And while references to Johnny’s love for South Dakota, where he was born, flushes him out a bit, they seem a tad gratuitous.
Johnny fully details the development of his internal debate and how it affects his belief and faith near the book’s conclusion. Unfortunately, the finale seems a bit long. It may have been more robust and persuasive with keener editing. Still, it is a cogent response to a number of the doctrines inculcated during his primary and secondary education and by his church.
GOOD GOD, JOHNNY won’t illuminate any blinders of true believers. Such people are likelyl to pick up a book like this only to derogate it. Of course, with blind faith you don’t need evidence to censure works that may critically analyze the basis of your beliefs. For anyone willing to genuinely consider and evaluate the evolution of Johnny’s beliefs, it serves as decent summary of a debate that seems all too polarized.
When denial can endure in the presence of overwhelming evidence, it becomes obvious that, for some, answers are more valuable than truth.
JJ Spankston, GOOD GOD, JOHNNY
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
- Seeing and believing (“A large element of rationalist doubt certainly accompanies the decline of interest in the paranormal, driven primarily by … cultural and, latterly, technological factors. Yet underlying that doubt itself is the growing incredulity with which people evaluate anything.”)
Blog Headline of the Week
Bookish Linkage
I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
David Bowie, “Changes”
I am a bit disappointed in myself with this month’s misstep. Enough so that I feel some need to make amends. Therefore, rather than simply identify the books that fail me in a month, I will add those that surprise me or are better than anticipated.
Why am I disappointed about the one book I gave up on this month? That’s because just before I started it, László Krasznahorkai’s novel Satantango made the longlists for both the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the 2013 Best Translated Book Award. But it perhaps shows how being an illiterati can sometimes outweigh one’s interest in certain types of fiction. Put simply, despite Satantango being considered a classic of Hungarian literature, it was too modernist for my tastes.
Here’s how it’s been described in two highly favorable reviews (neither of which I read prior to starting the book):
I was disoriented and befuddled enough that I abandoned ship after only two chapters.
A pleasant surprise, though, was Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea. Although written by Mark Kurlanksy, I still anticipated a dry tone, perhaps akin to that which tends to occur in “A Very Short Introduction” series by Oxford University Press. Yet Kurlansky brings to the book the talents he used in making Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World and Salt: A World History bestsellers.
Nonviolence is a wonderful combination of being highly readable and entertaining while educating. Kurlansky blends history and theory to illuminate an idea many of us tend to think started with Gandhi. He traces the concept and treatment of nonviolence in religion and western civilization, showing how it truly can be and has been considered a dangerous idea. There are a few flaws (such as chronologies seeming a bit odd at times) but the book was undoubtedly an enjoyable revelation.
War is always more popular with those who don’t experience it.
Mark Kurlansky, Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
Blog Headline of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are not above the monkey’s.
Mark, Twain, Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events
What if?
To me, those two words are one of the keys to good science fiction. The writer looks at a current state of affairs in politics, society or science (or all three), asks “What if?” and their imagination creates the foundation for a story. It certainly seems like that’s the method Ted Kosmatka used with Prophet of Bones.
 What if carbon-dating established that life the Earth was 5,800 years old? What if evolution is not only in the the scientific junk heap but considered fringe pseudoscience? What if intelligent design is the gold standard for the history of life on Earth?
Those are among the questions contributing to what Kosmatka calls “lab-opera,” works involving scientists in trouble. Although Prophet of Bones takes the protagonist, Paul Carlsson, to an archaeological dig on an Indonesian island, much of the plot development occurs after he leaves the island and returns to his laboratory job analyzing fossils. Lab-opera, though, might be a bit too narrow. The book actually has elements of both hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi and easily can be slotted into the techno-thriller genre. The combination may not be surprising given that Kosmatka works as a writer for company that has made highly popular game software.
Prophet of Bones is hard sci-fi in the sense that Kosmatka not only explores the science of genetics but discusses various principles in the field. Given the terminology of modern genetics, he might have explained some of the terms a bit more for science-impaired readers like me. Of course, understanding the science isn’t necessarily essential to the key sci-fi and techno-thriller readers.
The book is soft sci-fi to the extent that an underlying theme is the potential societal impact of DNA Carlsson extracted from fossils found on the dig. What kind of society would arise exist It is clear that the DNA is perceived as a potential threat to the scientific canon, leading to its theft and resolute efforts to keep it from Carlsson and others. Personally, I would have preferred a bit more on the ramifications of what Carlsson suspects but that could be another book in and of itself.
The techno-thriller aspect is almost a no-brainer. We have murky antagonists with inordinate interest in getting their hands on the DNA for some mysterious scheme. They take extreme measures to get the DNA and keep Carlsson from investigating it. Of course, these efforts put Carlsson in several life-threatening situations. Against all odds, the mild-mannered lab rat escapes death, often by physical confrontation with his adversaries. While this requires perhaps more suspension of belief than the balance of the tale, we all know the hero isn’t going to die — or if he does, it will only be once the answers are revealed.
There are also two characters who loom over the book, one more meaningful than the other. The book begins with the Prophet, although he seems more to be a mechanism of sorts and doesn’t’ really reappear in the tale. More often invoked is Carlsson’s deceased father. A brilliant scientist, he had an explosive temper and no qualms about beating his wife. We suspect he has some relationship to a broad conspiracy but the denouement seems a bit too contrived, perhaps because his professional life and pursuits are left underdeveloped.
All in all, though, Prophet of Bones is a workmanlike blend of the various genres it invokes. It certainly is an engaging introduction to and explication of “lab-opera.”
Most people who are depressed are depressed because their lives suck.
Ted Kosmatka, Prophet of Bones.
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
- The Last Letter (” I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.”) (via)
- Voices from Solitary: A Sentence Worse Than Death (“What nobody knew or suspected back then, not even I, [is that] I would begin suffering a punishment that I am convinced beyond all doubt is far worse than any death sentence could possibly have been.”) (via)
Blog Headline of the Week
Blog Line of the Week
Legal Craziness of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.
Woodrow Wilson
Here’s an interesting question. If you had 300 books sitting in your “to read” stack would you be out buying more? As something I read last week observed, most sane people would say no — but that seems to go out the window with e-readers. I’m a case in point.
I have nearly 350 books on my Nook and more than 100 on my Kindle Fire (although there are some duplicates because they use different formats and a guy never knows which one is going to be nearest at hand). Do I really think I’m going to get those books read? Of course not. So, that raises a couple core questions: why are there so many and why does the number keep increasing? The answers are relatively simple.
Barnes & Noble, for one, has what it calls “Free Friday.” Every Friday it offers an e-book for free. Now I’m not too interested in most of them but, for example, two weeks ago it offered a book that sounded interesting enough that I couldn’t pass it up for free. Moreover, when I first got my Nook, each Friday offered a free classic book. Thus, I have books like Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Leaves of Grass and Pride and Prejudice on it. I’m guessing if I haven’t read them in the last 50 years, I’m not likely to in the next 50. But what is the harm in having them on an e-reader “just in case.”
Meanwhile, there are blogs and RSS feeds devoted to free or very low-priced e-books on Amazon. Amazon itself not only sends out a daily email of e-books priced at around $1.99, each month it offers 100 books in a variety of genres for $3.99 or less. To top it off, you can subscribe to services that send you a daily email of one-day deals at both Amazon and B&N. And I’m not even discussing Project Gutenberg or Google Books.
Yet it isn’t just handy availability and price. It’s also the technology. If I had physical copies of those 450 books, I would need another bookshelf in our house or the “to read” stacks would go to the bedroom ceiling. But I can take all of these with me simply by carrying the e-reader or sliding it into a backpack or carry on bag. The weight is almost unnoticeable.
So as much as I love physical books, the ease of storage and use of e-books has got me addicted. Besides, at least I know that only 0s and 1s will be disappearing at the end of my e-readers’ lives. I don’t have to worry about a physical object being discarded or destroyed.
Yes, the human capacity for rationalization is huge.
Consider the millions who are buying those modern Aladdin’s lamps called e-readers. These magical devices, ever more beautiful and nimble in design, have only to be lightly rubbed for the genie of literature to be summoned.
Steve Wasserman, “The Amazon Effect”
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
Blog Headlines of the Week
Blog Line of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
I have as much authority as the pope, I just don’t have as many people who believe it.
George Carlin, Brain Droppings
Bulletin Board
- Bestselling author (and Sioux Falls native) Sam Kean will discuss his latest book, The Violinist’s Thumb at the Main Branch of Siouxland Libraries from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
- Bibliocide (“Although they went through various editions, encyclopædias belong to a time when knowledge was owned by a handful of established authorities, who decided not only what was true but what deserved to be ennobled by its inclusion.”)
- Invest in readers, not MFAs (“What’s the point of helping a first-time author to finish that novel, if you’re just going to usher them into a world where they can’t get anyone to read it, let alone buy it?”)
- Mission Accomplished: Iraq as America’s biggest Blunder (“The harm was this: we wanted to leave Iraq (and Afghanistan) stable to advance American goals. We did so by spending our time and money on obviously pointless things, while most Iraqis lacked access to clean water, regular electricity, and medical or hospital care.” (via)
Blog Headline of the Week
Blog Line of the Week
- “Shortly after arriving in hell yesterday afternoon, the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was unamused to discover that former American president George Bush really is the devil, just as Chavez had referred to him in his famous United Nations speech in 2006.”
Batshit Craziness of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
Being charming takes time and effort, and I am busy.
Mason Cooley, City Aphorisms, Seventh Selection
I’m not a huge fan of blues music. Although I recognize its influence, it tends to strike me as somewhat formulaic and predictable. There are exceptions, though, and fairly close to the top of that list would be Cricklewood Green, a 1970 release by Ten Years After. While I don’t remember how it ended up in my collection, I listened to it frequently throughout high school and have since.
What does that have to do with his post or its title? Well, every song on the LP was written by Alvin Lee, the group’s founder, lead guitarist and singer, including my favorite, “50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain.” Lee died Wednesday at age 68 of “unforeseen complications of a routine surgical procedure.” Given the album’s association with my youth, I was quite saddened when I heard the news on the radio on my way home that night. And what did I do before the night was over? Listen to the album.
 Ten Years After probably became best known in the U.S. after its performance of “I’m Going Home” during its encore at Woodstock. The song, which made it to both the album and the film, is a taste of what I liked about Alvin Lee and the band. It is an outright blues piece that serves as the basis of an extended guitar jam by Lee. That’s why I think “50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain” is my favorite song on Cricklewood Green. With a little bit of studio contrivance at the beginning, the song simply builds into a tremendous jam. The same is true of “Love Like A Man” on (what was then) the album’s flip side. Most of the balance of the album is 12-bar blues rock, where the blues is a foundation for the superstructure Lee creates with his guitar.
 I don’t think any of the individual tunes from Cricklewood Green hit the charts in the U.S. The album, though, hit number 14 on the Billboard charts, the highest charting album the band had. The next year “I’d Love To Change The World” (also written by Lee and perhaps my single favorite of the band’s work) reached the Top 40 and the album, A Space in Time hit number 17.
Ten Years After split up in 1974. Lee released a couple albums in the late 1970s with a band he called “Ten Years Later” but he’s spent most of his time as a solo artist. Some of that work is quite good; other parts, not so much. Ten Years After reunited for a while in 1988-89. Lee hasn’t played with the band since so the Ten Years After that has been on the road and recording over the last decade or so is sans Lee. Personally, I think anything called Ten Years After without Lee lacks its heart and soul.
So as someone who isn’t a big blues fan, I realize we’re lucky to have had Alvin Lee. And it’s a shame we’ve lost him.
Can you pull me up to Jupiter
When I’m all hung up on Mars?
Ten Years After, “50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain,” Cricklewood Green
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Disclaimer The views expressed here are mine and mine alone. I do not speak for my law partners, our associates, staff and clients or my family and friends. Not only should any opinions here not be attributed to them, chances are they probably don't agree with me.
 Contact me You can e-mail me at prairieprogressive at gmaildotcom.
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