I recently decided to re-read C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian (Narnia)
Then, my wife got me hooked on The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
Also, my son, Taylor gave me Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
Since the last book I read by this author was so good, I decided to try another. This one my wife picked up at the library, entitled “Odd Thomas.” Odd Thomas is the name of the main character. He’s a young guy who works as a short order cook in a diner, in a small town in USA. He has a girlfriend, an apartment, and some buddies around town. He has no car, but rides a bicycle when he needs to. He’s pretty much an unremarkable, regular guy. What makes him remarkable is that he can see “dead people.” By that I mean the “spirits” of people who have died, and are still “hanging around” and not moving on to their final “place.” One of the dead people who happens to be hanging around this small town is Elvis.
Anyway, Odd seems to have a knack for solving murder mysteries because of his gift. He has somewhat of a reputation with the local police chief as a “helper.” Another buddy who lives in town is a published author, who wants Odd to get a gun. But, Odd says, “guns bother me.”
An interesting read so far…
As some of you know, I enjoy reading, especially good fiction. One author that I particularly like is Michael Crichton, of “Jurassic Park” fame. I think his book “State of Fear” is the best book I have read on the whole “global warming” – “climate change” controversy.
I am now reading his latest book called “Next” dealing with the whole bio-engineering, genetics and medical research ethics topic. Its fascinating how he weaves actual news and media reports into the plot and storyline. It makes his books even more interesting and educational.
He weaves a number of story-lines together throughout the book, jumping back and forth between them. It is hard to pick them up each time, but after you get used to it, it seems to be okay. The situations that characters get involved in seem very realistic and believable, which is part of Crichton’s point – this stuff is already happening and it isn’t some science fiction in the future. The fact that these issues are believable kinda scares you because you realize the incredible risks and chances we are taking as a society by not carefully facing into these issues as a matter of public policy. This is on top of the human greed and selfishness that complicates things further. Researchers motivated by the dollar, fame, power – just like the “bad “corporations, and “bad” politicians everybody likes to chastise. Well, the medical research community is no different. We’d better wake up!
I’d recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in this important topic.