Open Mike: Books and Articles (And a Few Life Notes)

Have you ever read a book about Jesus? This might have been more apropos yesterday. I'm partial to A.N. Wilson's, which is my kind of nonfiction, and (during my rationalist-materialist period) to the harsh Ecce Homo! [behold the man] of the early hard atheist Baron d'Holbach (Paul-Henri Thiry, 1723–89), who pulls no punches. Also—warning—d'Holbach is definintely not politically correct today. But he pretty much builds the whole case that any atheist today will be satisfied to pound his or her fist to. Anyway, if you do read books about Jesus, pro or con, you might enjoy the great essayist Adam Gopnik's famous 2010 essay "What Did Jesus Do?" at The New Yorker. Gopnik, if you've never read him, is great. He's great on this subject as well. There are so many insights in that little article that if you could fit them all into a bucket, you could not lift it.

A reader (I can't find the comment—does anyone remember, or can that reader identify him- or herself?) recommended the book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, by Oliver Burkeman, which I hereby dub "best self-help book ever" and an ideal philosophy page-turner for nonfiction fans. I just finished it, and loved it. That's possibly because it covers a lot of my touchstone authors and philosophers and reinforces of lot of my pre-existing decisions about the truth of life and human beliefs, but whatevs. It's really good. Thanks to the person who recommended it. I hereby recommend it in turn. As sometimes happens with my favorite nonfiction books, there's a little section of it that is worth reading the whole book for, like the boar hunt in The Omnivore's Dilemma or Jon Krakauer's perilous ascent of the Devil's Thumb in Into the Wild. In this case it's the account of the author's experimental week at a silent meditation retreat, which almost (almost) makes you want to try it yourself. Fascinating.

DPReview
In photo news, this is the day that supposedly DPReview was going to be cast upon the ash heap of history (the phrase is Petrarch's). However, they now say that "we hear your concerns about losing the content that has been carefully curated over the years, and want to assure you that the content will remain available as an archive," and that they are "going to keep publishing some more stories" while they work on archiving. So it appears now that the historical content will not be tossed cavalierly into the dustbin. I'm very glad of that. But just consider: if a Pentax monochrome camera appears on Wednesday (and I'm not saying it will—remember what I said about believing it only when I hold it in my hot little hands), there will be no DPReview review of it to read. That will be strange and sad. I was forty the last time there was no DPReview. More than a third of my life ago.

I'm feeling great these days. I just got a new CPAP machine—the old one was making such a racket that it was hard to sleep through when it was on, which made it a Catch-22. My new, sleek, quiet, beautiful Res Med AirSense 11 is da bomb. Knock on wood—really, knock on wood—but I've slept through the night five times in a row, which is almost a miracle.

I am hopelessly behind on comments, but I will work hard on that starting tomorrow. Mondays are full to the scuppers for me, what with one thing and another. I'm really looking forward to Wednesday to see what happens with Pentax.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Comments

[David Aiken]

The DP Review team, the video team at least, have moved to PetaPixel and will be continuing with their reviews on that site. If there is a B&W Pentax camera you may want to watch for a review on PetaPixel instead of on the DP Review site.

If they don't do a review you can bet that there will be others that do. The only question is whether the reviews will be solid reviews or whether they're simply coming from "influencers".

[Jay Salisbury]

Deepak Chopra wrote an interesting book called The Third Jesus where he posits that Jesus' teachings can be interpreted as a path to enlightenment along the lines of Buddhism, Hinduism and other eastern religions.

[Jay Salisbury]

The link to the book the Antidote is actually linked to the New Yorker article. Looks like an interesting read, thank you.

[Sroyon]

I recommended it, but others may have done so too :-)

[Thanks very much Sroyon! I appreciate the tip. --Mike]

[Merle]

A search of TOP says Sroyon - https://sroyon.wixsite.com/photography - suggested "The Antidote".

Thought it might have been me, so had to look. ;)

[Jim R]

They had a couple of years to work on the K3.iii review, so the full K-mono review will come just a few years after that one is posted.

[Roger Bradbury]

Mike,
I don't know which mask you have with your ResMed CPAP machine, but I have the ResMed AirFit F20 mask. It's great, but the soft silicone seal, while effective, isn't as strong as on previous masks.

I used to remove the mask with thumb and forefinger, the thumb gripping the bottom of the mask and the bottom of the seal. This eventually tears the seal, which didn't happen with the previous mask.

I've now found a different way to hold the mask on removal; I have had no problems with the mask since.

[Kye Wood]

Two things.

Thing 1. Jesus books.
"The lifetimes when Jesus and Buddha knew each other" and (a very short work) "Pursah's Gospel of Thomas". Both by Gary Renard.

Thing 2. I'll buy that Pentax camera if it is real and not internet pixie dust. And I'll buy a nice 30mm (effective FOV) lens as well. But that's only if they don't do a Ricoh GR BW - which would make much more sense to my sensibilities.

[Kye Wood]

Oops. Forgot. The RAV-4 Hybrid is the go. Total cost of ownership/annual running costs/longevity/engineering rigour - all trump the other option.

So glad you've found your sleep mojo. Life without proper sleep is a chore and not a joy.

And random observation - your articles are much improved of late. Either, you're making it look easy. Or your writing mojo is back.

[Jim K]

I started with the Airsense 11 at the end of February. It is quiet (except that I can hear the air whooshing through it). I'm doing the full mask bit--which I'm not loving, but I do make it through the night. My partner loves it--she doesn't hear snoring, and apparently the machine is quiet if it's not on you. I will say that I don't notice a big difference regarding my sleep quality--but that's OK. It is clearly working, and the app tells me that my events/hour have come way down since I started.

Ahhh, the gamification of sleep... :)

[robert e]

Thanks for the terrific reading recommendations, Mike (even the ones you've recommended before, like Pollan). So glad you're feeling better! And somehow, I also ended up reading your post from when you quit sugar. It's cliche to talk about the importance of health, but it's an inescapable fact that the line between good health and chronic illness is a fine one, especially as one ages, and in modern America it requires no small amount of vigilance and discipline to stay on the good side.

I had my own recent issues with getting a good night's sleep, but melatonin seems to be doing the trick, as long as I remember to take it.

[Robert Stahl]

A beautifully written book about the sayings of Jesus is William G. Duffy's The Hidden Gospel of Thomas (Commentaries on the Non-Dual
Sayings of Jesus). Some have called the Thomas Gospel the 'fifth
gospel'. The book was discovered in 1945 in a buried jar in Egypt. In
his poetically written commentary Mr Duffy provides compelling
insights into the aphorisms, dialogues, and parables of Jesus.

[Mark Sampson]

Let me also recommend the short, but concentrated "What Jesus Meant" by Garry Wills. A fine writer and great thinker, whom I often struggle to understand. (That's a good thing btw, it's important to stretch.)
Glad to hear that your health is better, too. Got to be ready to photograph the coming of Spring... and yes, it's coming.

[Mike Plews]

About a decade ago Reza Aslan wrote an interesting book on Jesus titled Zealot.
Aslan is a Muslim of Iranian descent. His book kind of lit up the evangelicals but the Earth still appears to be spinning as normal.
Another from about the same time is Tillich by Dan Petersen. It is a nice survey of Tillich's theology including his thoughts on Jesus.
Both are worth a read.

[s.wolters]

And is it true that the Res Med AirSense 11 CPAP makes you dream in monochrome?

[No, but it sure helps me to sleep through the night, and I'll take that. --Mike]

[Bandbox]

I've been using CPAPs for 23 years, now on the AirSense 11, my 4th or 5th machine. It's by far the best. Quiet as a mouse compared to the others.

[Wayne Jeschke]

Please allow me to suggest an alternative read on Jesus by Lee Strobel, entitled "The Case for Christ". Strobel was an award winning investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune when he did the research for the book. A compelling read for those interested in an honest examination of the evidence.

[KeithB]

I am not sure if my comment got lost or I did not post it, so here it is again.

Another good book about Jesus is Sarah Ruden's _The Gospel_. It is a refreshing new translation from someone coming from the classical tradition. The introduction alone is worth reading by itself.

https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/what-we-can-and-cant-learn-from-a-new-translation-of-the-gospels

[Malcolm E. Leader]

Just incidentally, I designed the bearings in the resmed cpap. I even have a patent. Thus, the low noise.

[Seriously? --Mike]