What I'm Reading

This is the pile that lives beside my bed/on my desk! I move it from place to place, though I'm not sure if it's because I'm trying to make it visible to myself at all times to remind myself to keep reading, or what that's all about. I'm about half-way through both Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The Second Machine Age, which are both proving to be highly interesting and are keeping me on my toes. I want to write reviews or summaries or something after I finish each book over the next little while. Though right now, I have a horrible habit of starting too many books at once (and this is how the pile grew to its current height).

I know that there seems to be a theme, but I promise I'm not an aggressive atheist. I'm just reading a few things at the recommendation of others, and we'll see how I feel in the end. That's the point of reading and reviewing material, right? I read Why I Am Not A Christian by Bertrand Russell in the winter and it was the most helpful thing in the world to me at the time. It was not because I needed convincing or even that I necessarily wanted to be validated in my feelings, only that it seemed to put into words the very problems I had with religion and the church, but had never taken the time to write it down myself.

This may be a slightly unpopular opinion, but I think even those of us who are Christians or of other faiths should be reading philosophies and world views that are not our own. Even a decent book on apologetics is a good start if you want to evaluate your belief system (read: you probably should be constantly doing some serious self-reflection and evaluating). Many will say that is too dangerous and will frown upon such a suggestion, but I think it's important to be a well-rounded person and learn as much as you can. Examine why you believe what you believe. Allow yourself to face those who are different than yourself. So often the general rule seems to be that anyone who is different is going to try and take you away from what you believe, but I can't seem to figure out why hearing new information will have the potential to ruin your life. If what you believe is important to you and you don't have any solid basis or reason to question it, simply knowing more about the world around you should not have a negative effect. I feel like a lot of people are ruled by fear and are overprotected, and I don't know how anyone can experience a life where everything is a danger to them. Knowledge is great! The world is a vast and mysterious place!

So...what are you reading? And what's the verdict on fiction vs. non-fiction for you? (I challenge all you story-readers to pick up some non-fiction for your next read!)