Tag Archives: progress

From My Armchair: 28 July 2012

by

I am doing a little experimenting here, just trying to get a good format together for a new post I’ll be doing here on a regular basis (I hope). I thought I might start to do a regular reading progress type post, or something like that. It will probably be a weekly summary of what I’m reading and other book news ‘From My Armchair.’ There you go, that can be the title of the regular post. That is, book news from my own reading experience and exposure to books on a personal level, including updates from my personal library – that sort of thing.

Now to work out just what I’ll include in the post – it could be something like a newsletter I suppose. So straight up, there can be this sort of preamble blurb thing going on. Just a bit of a ramble about book stuff from a personal perspective. Then I can put down a few sub-headings with some structured content, relevant information and comments. Sounds like a plan I think. It will probably take a couple of weeks to come together and look presentable, at least to me anyhow. So it will be a work in progress for a while.

Something else I’m going to do is clear my reading list at Goodreads and have a new start there also. That way I can tie everything together and have a continuous and consistent story as far as my experience with books is concerned. That way, when I do this weekly post, ‘From My Armchair,’ I’ll be able to pass on a summary of my reading activity as recorded at Goodreads.

 

Social Networks, Web Applications & Other Tools

Under this head I think I can provide a summary of what I’m involved in as far as social networks and web applications are concerned. I use quite a number of social networks, web applications and tools in the area of books and reading, with a variety of applications and functions. All useful in their own way I believe. I think they provide a good means to not only glean useful information, but to also maximise the benefits of my books and reading for a whole range of activities that I am involved in. I like to see my books not only as entertainment and an escape from the world for a while, but also as tools for accomplishing many things within the world.

I currently use Goodreads as my social network for books/ebooks. I once also used Shelfari, being torn between the two, but now that Shelfari has closed the better of the two networks has continued as far as I am concerned. I am trying to use Goodreads as my online catalogue for books, so slowly I am adding them all to it. I also use a database on my own PC, which I am trying to sync with Goodreads, though I enter the information to both manually. It will take some time to get all of that done as I do have a large number of books.

 

Currently Reading:

I like to read and prefer reading to television viewing. I don’t like to waste my time and prefer to use my time in worthwhile pursuits. I do watch a small amount of television, but that is usually to further my intellectual development, so I watch documentaries, news programs and the like. I do watch the occasional program to wind down from time to time, but prefer to watch a DVD for that purpose as most of the stuff on the Idiot Box is just a lot of rubbish lol.

I usually have several books on the go at one time, but have found in recent years that I tend to not finish a lot of books also. That hasn’t always been the case, but it seems increasingly so now. I’ll be cutting down on the number of books I’m reading at any one time in the future, to try and ensure I finish what I start more often than not.

Currently, I am reading two books – well one actually, but about to start another. These are listed below:

– The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum
– Killing Calvinism: How to Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology from the Inside, by Greg Dutcher

 

Finished Reading:

The Hunt for Red October, by Tom ClancyI did have a few books underway and these were all listed at Goodreads, but I cleared these a little while ago and gave myself a fresh start. One book I completed recently was ‘The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy. I read the Jack Ryan series of books by Clancy some time ago and recently decided I’d read them again. I also watched the film again to see how close to each other they were – there was quite a difference between the book and the film. I have a post about this which I’ll link to below.

For more visit:
https://atthebookshelf.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/1614/

 

Purchased & Added to Library:

I have recently acquired a large number of ebooks, many for free from Amazon, including the following books:

– Killing Calvinism: How to Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology from the Inside, by Greg Dutcher
– The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges
– Beyond Belief – The Real Life of Daniel Defoe, by John Martin

 

Currently Reading: Progress Update – 03 June 2011

by

I have decided post a weekly update of my reading progress. I did post an update of what I was reading back in April, so this won’t be the first post of this kind. This will however be the first of regular weekly updates on my reading progress.

Some of the books below have been on the list since April, with very little progress due to a holiday break and a general break in reading activity over the last month or so. This is all set to change as I again get my head into a book or two.

My Current Reading List:

  • History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent – Volume 1, by George Bancroft

  • Life of George Washington – Volume 3, by Washington Irving

  • The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, and Constant Martyr of Jesus Christ, Hugh Latimer, Some Time Bishop of Worcester – Volume 2

  • History of the English Baptists, from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King George I – Volume 1, by Thomas Crosby

  • Memoirs of the Life, Times, and Writings of Thomas Boston, of Ettrick

  • Bible and Bible Study

  • The Joy of Reading, by Charles Van Doren

  • Terrorism and the Illuminati – A Thousand Year History, by David Livingstone

  • Post War – A History of Europe Since 1945, by Tony Judt

 

Currently Reading: Progress Update – 22nd April 2011

by

What am I currently reading? Generally I have quite a few books and things under way, including the following:

    History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent – Volume 1, by George Bancroft. It’s very early days with this one and I am still in chapter 1. However, it is also a book I’m seeking to add to my Scribd collection and my History website, so it will be a slow read.

    Life of George Washington – Volume 2, by Washington Irving. I’m getting very close to the end of this volume and will soon begin volume 3. It’s a great read and a good tratement of this periof of US history.

    The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, and Constant Martyr of Jesus Christ, Hugh Latimer, Some Time Bishop of Worcester – Volume 2. I haven’t read any new material from this book for a while, but that will change soon. I have been getting the book ready for Scribd and the particularbaptist.com site. I am now up to where I have read, so will be moving along again soon.

    History of the English Baptists, from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of king George I – Volume 1, by Thomas Crosby. I am getting close to the end of the this first volume and will be placing it in my Scribd collection and on the particularbaptist.com site.

    Memoirs of the Life, Times, and Writings of Thomas Boston, of Ettrick. I am currently in chapter 7 of this work, reading it and putting it in my Scribd collection and on the particularbaptist.com site.

    Bible and Bible Study. I am following the Robert Murray McCheyne Bible reading Calendar, as well as studying the Book of Genesis in more detail, with various works on Genesis as well.

    The Joy of Reading, by Charles Van Doren. This book is a treatment of various important works over the centuries and I guess it’s an introduction to reading important books. I’m slowly working my way through this from time to time – a good introduction to the books and works treated.

So that’s about it for the time being. Another update in a week or so.

 

History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, by George Bancroft – Volume 1

by

Some time ago I began to place on my website – ‘Kevin’s Family – Online History Site’ – a work by George Bancroft entitled ‘History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.’ Progress on this project has been painfully slow and I am only now returning to it. What small progress has been made and what progress will be made as time progresses can be monitored at:

http://particularbaptist.com/matthewshistory/library/UnitedStatesHistory_Bancroft_Contents.html

‘Reformers and Their Stepchildren,’ by Leonard Verduin – An Update

by

 

As visitors to ‘At the BookShelf’ would know, I have been reading ‘Reformers and Their Stepchildren,’ by Leonard Verduin. I have now started chapter four and progress through the book may appear slow and you may think this is a reflection on the quality of the book. That would be a mistaken assumption however.

In reality I am finding the book a brilliant treatment of the differences between the ‘partial reformers’ (such as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc) and the more ‘radical reformer’ who sought a complete transformation of the church to that which more accurately reflected the New Testament model.

The ‘slowness’ of my reading is more a reflection of my reading half a dozen or so books at the same time. Reading so many books at any given time is fairly normal for me – in fact, I would call normal (for me) reading far more books at any given time, but I am trying to reign myself in a little here. I just love reading – I am a bibliophile and bookworm remember 🙂

The third chapter of Verduin’s work has to do with the lack of true church discipline in the churches of the Reformers and their indifference (generally speaking) to ungodliness in the church (remembering that their churches basically included all in a given location or region).

The third chapter presents a very clear case of the real time contradiction of the Reformers and the reform they were bringing to bear on such places as Geneva, Zurich, etc. To a large extent their work of reform didn’t go anywhere near far enough to satisfy their ‘stepchildren,’ who when they tried to go further were branded as heretics, with their efforts at a more thorough reform being identified by the reformers as evidence of their heresy.

It is a very engaging chapter I believe and one that is helpful for shedding light on Christianity even to this day.

The History of the English Baptists

by

 

from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King George I, by Thomas Crosby.

I have just started to read the above titled book – well, at least the first volume anyway. This title is made up of four volumes, all of which are over 500 pages in length. I have also started to add the work to my web site at:

 http://particularbaptist.com 

The original work (Volume 1) was first published in 1738 and includes some old English, which in the version I am placing on my web site, I have tried to update without changing the overall sense and flow of the text.

It is generally understood that Crosby deals with a mix of both the Particular Baptists and General Baptists, or if you prefer, the Calvinistic Baptists and the Arminian Baptists.

To follow my progress and to read the book, visit:

http://particularbaptist.com/library/Crossby-Thomas_Vol1_HistoryEnglishBaptists_contents.html