Irregular Books

If reading The Golden Compass really has the power to transform people into transform teenagers into atheists, then how come there hasn’t been a dramatic increase in the number of young atheists in the time since The Golden Compass has been published? It’s been ten years since The Golden Compass was published, and in that time, millions of people have read The Golden Compass. Are there that many more atheists on Earth now than there were before?

Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings goes only half the distance. Many publishers of children’s books focus on the illustrations - after all, it is illustration that sets kids’ books apart from those written by adults. Also, the illustrations are usually the first thing noticed by parents flipping through the piles of books for children for sale at their local book stores.

It turns out that God is actually a big fan of The Golden Compass, and has personally endorsed the book.

Here’s a video of God giving his endorsement of The Golden Compass, to prove

I’ve got to admit that my mother did a lot of taking care of me before I set out on my own. On the other hand, my mother was a lot more to me than just cooking, cleaning and first-aid medical care. I’d like to think that she knows she can’t be replaced with a book. This sort of of Leave It To Beaver gender-specific separation of tasks just doesn’t fit with the way that families live today. My experience is that whatever needs to get done gets done by whoever happens to be there to do it. Mothers can take over traditional fathering roles and besides giving birth and breastfeeding, fathers can do the reverse. I understand the need for catchy titles that sell books, but I hate to have parenthood of any sort reduced to a list of chores.

The Catholic League complains that The Golden Compass contains ideas that disagree with Catholic theology, as so ought not to be offered by Scholastic. It’s a bold reassertion of the idea that Catholics ought to be able to control what ideas even non-Catholics are exposed to. Fortunately, many Catholics are rejecting the Catholic League’s attempts to censor The Golden Compass. Honest thinkers don’t need censorship to protect them. Their minds are strong enough to distinguish worthwhile ideas from trash. The consensus seems to be that The Golden Compass contains a worthwhile presentation of ideas.

The new political encyclopedia covers history, economics, war and peace, freedom, community, and education, as well as the follies of the Democratic and Republican parties. Here’s just one of the 2,008 reasons they’ve assembled for this book, to be published in January of the coming year:

Don’t confuse Campbell’s guideposts to the personal quest for meaning as teachings that are important in themselves. Myth and meaning is everywhere, in the commercials on television as much in the old legends of traditional folklore. Don’t fall into Osbon’s trap of devoting yourself to any individual or system of thought as a replacement for truly independent questing. The answers are out there, but if you don’t find them on your own, you will never truly understand what they mean.

One concrete step that everyone can take to help themselves financially is to stop spending money on silly books that give advice on how to manage money. If you really think that you need help, read Money Harmony, but don’t buy it. Get yourself a library card and check it out for a free overnight skim instead. You’ll be glad that you can return it at no cost.

Hippos Go Beserk is best read to the youngest group of children: Those from a few months old to around two or three years of age. These kids are not exactly readers, but they’ll pay attention to the right kind of book — the kind with simple, dramatic illustrations that catch the eye and simple yet entertaining concepts that capture the young mind’s attention. Hippos Go Beserk is just that kind of book.

I already have access to magazines, newspapers, blogs and books with my laptop computer, which has wireless access and is portable, just like the Kindle. What is the Kindle bringing me that my computer can’t? Restrictions and limitations, that’s what. The Kindle is the Segway of the book world.