Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Faith & Religion, Science & Technology, Science Fiction

Books from blogs

A couple of books on the go at the moment that I borrowed from the library after seeing them on a couple of blogs.

SmcclgFirstly, A Case Of Conscience by James Blish, which is centred around a Jesuit biologists struggle with finding the perfect, moral alien society that doesn’t have any understanding of God. In a similar vein to later books like Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow and Children of God, and to a certain extent Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead.

The book is part of the excellent SF Masterworks for Gollancz, a series of reprinted classic or significant science fiction works.

Other related links:

I’ve read some other of Blish’s work before but had never come across this one until I say it mentioned on The Sci Fi Catholic: The Sacred & the Profane (with the follow article The Sci Fi Catholic: The Sacred & the Profane Part 2, Christian Tragedy?)

Asfarasweknow

The second book is As Far As We Know: Conversations about Science, Life and the Universe by Paul Callaghan and Kim Hill, with excellent complementary illustrations by Dylan Horrocks. It’s a collection of edited transcripts of the conversations about science between physicist Paul Callaghan and Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand National: Saturday Morning with Kim Hill.

Found via Physics illustrations published – Dylan’s blog

I’m enjoying both books, and the ‘As Far As We Know“ book is good for dipping into for a quick chapter or two.