Galileo - by Mitch Stokes

Galileo, by Mitch Stokes, a book from the Christian Encounters series printed by Thomas Nelson that I received to review from Booksneeze. The book is written as a biography of the philosopher and mathematician Galileo and his life discoveries and how they impacted his life and the society he lived in. Using scholarly references, the book allows a look at Galileo’s personal and academic life and tells how one affects the other. The book also gives us a glimpse at how Galileo’s religion, Catholicism, influenced his works to an extent and how finally the religion that he practised condemned him and his works as heretics.

As I was reading this book I found myself having to reread sections because of them being hard to understand. Without some background in science I feel that this book would be extremely hard for a reader to understand. Also, the book tends to repeat itself a number of times elaborating on the same hard to understand ideas a number of times making the story more difficult to read. Enough is gathered from the book about Galileo himself, as well as his discoveries to make it an enjoyable read.

Max Lucado - Max On Life

“Max on Life” This is a book that I received for review from Booksneeze. The book is exactly what the title says, Max’s (Max Lucado) answers from scriptural reference to questions about everyday life. He uses scripture to answer questions from every aspect of life, from family issues, to parenting issues, to work issues, religion issues and issues with death. He provides all insight in the form of answering questions posted to him by different people over a number of years. Reading this book can have you finding answers to questions you hadn’t even realized you wanted to ask. As I was reading this book I found myself reflecting on my own life and experiences and reading as if I was the one asking the question. While some questions may not pertain to my lifestyle and work, the answers still provide insight that I found myself thinking about. After reading the book, whenever a problem arises throughout the day I find myself thinking about the way Max answered a question about a similar circumstance. The biblical references provide the insight that a person can take and further learn to deal with the issues. While the book gives the subtitle “Answers and Inspirations to Today’s Questions” I find that the Inspirations is more what the book is about, it will not solve the problems that lead to the questions, but it will give you inspiration on how to approach the problem and solve it with spiritual insight.