Modern Physics and Ancient Faith - Don’t Mess With the Strong Nuclear Force!
Release Date: 11/12/2025
The New Testament in Its World - A Brief, Thousand-Page Intro
We Are Not Saved
Everything you wanted to know about 1st Century Palestine, but were afraid to ask… The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians By: N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird Published: 2019 992 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? An deep dive on the New Testament covering (as the subtitle suggests) the history: Second Temple Judaism against a Greco-Roman background; the literature: the New Testament’s genesis, structure, authors and audience; and theology: the religious claims of the book, the doctrine, miracles, and...
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Superbloom - Volume 23 in the "Social Media is Awful" Series
We Are Not Saved
Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart By: Nicholas Carr Published: 2025 272 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? On its surface, this is a fairly typical anti-social media book, though Carr does have some interesting things to say about weaknesses inherent to the medium: content collapse, algorithmic engineering, and hostility generation. All things I’ll get to in a bit. What's the author's angle? Carr comes from the Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman school of media criticism. Media have inherent properties that lead to different sorts of communication, and different...
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We Belong to the Land - The Best Palestinian Making His Best Case
We Are Not Saved
A story of one Palestinian’s fight against brutality, bureaucracy, and bishops. We Belong to the Land: The Story of a Palestinian Israeli Who Lives for Peace and Reconciliation By: Elias Chacour and Mary E. Jensen Published: 1990 212 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? An autobiographical account of Chacour’s struggles as a Palestinian Christian working to build up his community in Galilee (Ibillin) while under continual pushback from Israeli bureaucracy and internal church politics. What's the author's angle? At the time the book was written Chacour was a Melkite Greek Catholic...
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Five Fictional Books In Search of a Common Thread
We Are Not Saved
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The Kid Stays in the Picture - A Story of Old "New Hollywood"
We Are Not Saved
The power of positive thinking and cocaine! The Kid Stays in the Picture By: Robert Evans Published: 1994 432 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? This is the autobiography of Robert Evans. It jumps around a lot, but it’s mostly built around his time as head of production for Paramount pictures from basically 1966-1974. Evans had basically zero experience, but by working himself nearly to death he produced such films as: The Godfather, Love Story, Chinatown, and Rosemary’s Baby. In the process he saved the studio and became one of the most iconic figures of “New Hollywood”. ...
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A Short History of England - What Gives a Country Its Soul?
We Are Not Saved
Chesterton mostly lost me after Arthur and Alfred, but I feel like I got his point in spite of that. A Short History of England By: G.K. Chesterton Published: 1917 107 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The book is titled the “History of England”, but it’s really a book about the soul of England. Chesterton examines this soul chronologically from the “Age of Legends” down to the time the book was written, which happened to be the middle of World War I. What's the author's angle? It’s Chesterton, so there’s obviously a religious angle, and a traditional cultural angle. Even...
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The Wager - A Real Life "Lord of the Flies"
We Are Not Saved
I actually never got around to discussing the Lord of the Flies element of this book. But trust me it’s in there! The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder By: David Grann Published: 2023 352 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? This book is about what happened to HMS Wager, a Royal Navy ship that was shipwrecked on the south coast of Chile in 1741. The journey before the shipwreck was brutal, and it only got worse from there. Out of an initial crew of roughly 250, only about 36 eventually made it back to England. What's the author's angle? Grann is a writer for the New...
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Daily Laws - Measured Microdoses of Machiavellian Manipulations
We Are Not Saved
Banned in most prisons! That feels like a point in the book’s favor, but I’m not entirely sure I can articulate why. The Daily Laws: 366 Meditations on Power, Seduction, Mastery, Strategy, and Human Nature By: Robert Greene Published: 2021 464 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A “page a day” book collecting bits of wisdom from Robert Greene’s other books (Laws of Power, Art of Seduction, Strategies of War, etc.) What's the author's angle? As a general matter Greene is something of a Machiavellian figure, he’s going to tell it like it is, and give you the tools you really...
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Saga of the Forgotten Warrior - Larry Correia Without Guns (Mostly)
We Are Not Saved
If John Wick and Judge Dredd loved each other very much… Saga of the Forgotten Warrior By: Larry Correia 1- Son of the Black Sword 2- House of Assassins 3- Destroyer of Worlds 4- Tower of Silence 5- Graveyard of Demons 6- Heart of the Mountain Briefly, what is this series about? The series is set on the continent of Lok, in a world inspired by feudal India and Southeast Asia, meaning that there are castes, and outside of that, the casteless, who are literal non-people. The story follows Ashok Vadal, a pitiless “Protector of the Law”. The Order of the Protectors is like a branch of...
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Romancing Opiates - Working With British Prisoners Makes One Grumpy
We Are Not Saved
When "stigmatizing" has become a bad word and a bad thing everywhere and for every one, one brave British curmudgeon dares to demand it's return! Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy By: Theodore Dalrymple Published: 2006 160 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? This book aims to shatter some of the myths around opioid addiction. The first part covers the myth that stopping opioids cold turkey is both painful and dangerous. The second part dissects the myths propagated by literature, primarily Coleridge and De Quincey. The final part ties it into an...
info_outlineIf you had been placing bets 150 years ago around what physics would have to say about the existence of God, you would have lost a lot of money.
Modern Physics and Ancient Faith
By: Stephen M. Barr
Published: 2003
312 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
Barr takes all the discoveries of 20th-century physics, stuff like the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, the various forces, and argues that all of these things are more compatible with belief in God, specifically a traditional Judeo-Christian God, than with a belief in pure materialism.
This is illustrated most succinctly in the underlying values for various background constants of the universe. For most of these if they varied even slightly then life would be impossible. This is known as the fine-tuning argument for the existence of God, and Barr lays it out in rigorous detail.
What's the author's angle?
Barr is a scientist, and a believing Catholic. So he definitely has a dog in the fight, but he also does a good job of steelmanning the other side of the argument. Also it’s important to clarify what the fight is. It’s not a fight between religion and science. Barr is both a believer and a scientist. It’s a fight between religion and materialism. Which is a different animal. This is not to say he’s dogmatic (perhaps I shouldn’t keep using the word “fight”) the tone is very reasonable. He’s mostly targeting a lazy “modern science shows that God is silly and unnecessary” crowd.
Who should read this book?
This was one of the books mentioned by Ross Douthat in his book Believe (see my review of Douthat’s book here, or check out the PSmith’s far superior one here). And I was glad I followed Douthat’s recommendation, the book did not disappoint. If you’re at all interested in the fine-tuning argument or related ideas I think you’ll love this book. But I can clearly see where it’s too niche for the majority of people.
What does the book have to say about the future?