Short Studies

In a world where not everyone believes in God, "blasphemy" is surely a concept that has passed its use-by-date. And yet blasphemy (like God and religion) seems to be on the rise. In this Very Short Introduction Yvonne Sherwood asks why this should be the case, looking at factors such as the increased visibility of religious and racial minorities, new media, and engines of surveillance (which are far more omniscient than the old gods could ever be), and the legacies of colonial blasphemy laws.

The Fulani herdsmen’s invasion into peaceful communities of Nigeria has created a disturbing pattern of death and desecration; to this day none of the culprits have been brought to justice. Under the guise of an ancient livestock herding tradition, this group of people wage a war against the Christian population of the entire country. To protect their livestock, cattle farmers have graduated from using sticks, daggers, and clubs to using sophisticated, brutal weapons like double-barrel shotguns and AK-47s.

Unique among books that examine the bible as literature, this brilliantly compact introduction offers an intriguing double-edged look at this universal text - a religiously informed literary analysis. The book first explores the major sections of the New Testament - the gospels, Paul's letters, and Revelation - as individual literary documents. Keefer shows how, in such familiar stories as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a literary analysis can uncover an unexpected complexity to what seems a simple, straightforward tale.

Michael Carrithers guides us through the complex and sometimes conflicting information that Buddhist texts give about the life and teaching of the Buddha. He discusses the social and political background of India in the Buddha's time, and traces the development of his thought. He also assesses the rapid and widespread assimilation of Buddhism and its contemporary relevance. Well-paced and informative, this introduction will enlighten not only those who study Buddhism and comparative religion but anyone intrigued by the remarkable philosophy of one of the greatest religious thinkers.

Durch dieses Buch werden sich deine Sprachkenntnisse ohne stundenlanges Büffeln schnell und einfach verbessern. Es gibt viele Möglichkeiten, ins Englische einzutauchen: Englisch-Unterricht, Filme oder Fernsehserien mit Englischen Untertiteln ansehen, Online-Kurse belegen, einem Englisch-Club beitreten, in ein Land reisen, in dem Englisch gesprochen wird oder Bücher lesen....

Despite Brazil being part of the BRIC nations, those with the most potential for growth in the global economy, Brazil is considered economically backwards in many ways. You get an idea of this when you look deeper into its politics and economic policies. In this edition of Summary Shorts, we will analyze and summarize the ideas put forth in Brazillionaires, a book that truly exposes the dark side of Brazil's rise and arguably its inexorable fall.

Leonardo da Vinci was one of those geniuses that could do anything: he was an architect, a sculptor, a painter, amongst other things. He didn't really specialize in one particular field. Back in his day that was not an issue; it was encouraged to have your hand in a little bit of everything. Today, we have become increasingly more specialized. In his book, The Da Vinci Curse, Leonardo Lospennato gives clues and tips as to how a person with multiple talents can live in an increasingly specialized world. We will review and summarize these points here.

For the most part, most of us are of average health and fitness. We may not run marathons that often, but we are pretty healthy and that might be just fine. But what if you could make your body into a super-fit machine? In Ben Greenfield's book 30 Ways to Reboot Your Body, he goes into some detail as to how to get you from just average to super fit, super strong, and having staggeringly great health. In this summary, we will discuss the core concepts in his book. You will learn what needs to be done to be super healthy and fit.

We all know that the mind is an incredible place. Despite this, the mind itself is not programmed to maximize our happiness. It is a repetition-loving mechanism and will often keep us stuck in old outdated patterns that may not serve us. These patterns often pass on from generation to generation. In the Code of the Extraordinary Mind, Vishen Lakhiani teaches us how to break through this outdated and generationally acquired programming to achieve the life we have always wanted. We will review and analyze Lakhiani's book.

There is no doubt about it, 9/11/2001 changed the world. What is really fueling this hate for Americans and the West is radical Islam and certain Islamic principles in general. The only way we can address these issues is by helping Islam evolve some of its core principles to fit into the modern world. In Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Heretic, she addresses the problems within Islam that inspire terror and how to remedy them. This review and analysis sums up the main points of her book.

When one thinks about Berkshire Hathaway, the business giant, we often tend to think of Warren Buffet. We know that Buffet is known to be a legendary investor, of that we cannot deny. Little do people know that the vice-president of Berkshire Hathaway is also a legendary investor in his own right. In this book we will summarize and discuss Tren Griffin's book Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor and learn more about Charlie himself. We will also discuss the concepts of value investing and other investment ideas from this icon of investing.

In today's diet-crazed society, we are on a seemingly endless search for the perfect diet. In Dave Asprey's The Bulletproof Diet he explains what the perfect diet should look like: one that can help achieve peak health. In this edition of Summary Shorts, we will analyze and summarize the principles in The Bulletproof Diet and see how we can apply them into our daily diet and overall nutrition regimen. Enjoy!

When we think about viruses, we think about diseases such as the flu. For the most part, the flu comes and goes—the body is able to fight it. For some, it can be deadly. There are of course more dangerous viruses out there such as Ebola that in some cases kills 90 percent of those infected. In today's world, viruses can spread very quickly and it's for this reason we must be vigilant. Carl Zimmer in his book A Planet of Viruses discusses what viruses are and why they are so hard to eradicate. He also explains how not all viruses are bad and are, in fact, vital to our survival. Enjoy!

Desires are the fuel that runs our life, for good and for ill. In fact, if desire ceased, so would the human race. In Danielle Laporte's book The Desire Map, she uncovers ways to tap into our desires so we can live a more fulfilling and authentic life. In this edition of Summary Shorts, we will analyze and summarize the principles in her book and see how we can apply them into our daily lives so we can live more authentically.

Marcus Aurelius is most known for his philosophical musings, especially one brand of philosophical thought called stoicism. This philosophy has as much application in today's world as it did in his age. Marcus put his philosophical musings to paper; this work is now famously known as the Meditations. This is an analysis and review of Meditations.

Robert Greene, in his book Mastery, lays out exactly what we all need to do to gain mastery in any given field. In this book, we will analyze, discuss, and summarize Robert Greene's Mastery and see if we too can become masters in whatever endeavor we want to embark upon.

Sonia Shah, in her wonderful book Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, goes into some depth as to how we need to prepare for a future pandemic. In this review, we will analyze, discuss, and summarize the key points in Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond. Enjoy!

The Internet changed everything. Alec Ross, in his book The Industries of the Future, discusses how technology has completely changed several industries both for the better and for the worse. In this volume of Summary Shorts, we will analyze, discuss, and summarize the core concepts of The Industries of the Future by Alec Ross.

In this summary, we will analyze, discuss, and summarize the key points in The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan. Most people would agree that democracy is broken yet we all know that it is the best governmental system we have. Despite it being the best system, we are facing an unprecedented crisis.

We may not think of our brain as being a computer, but in many ways it very much is like a computer. It is just far more complex than even the most advanced computer out there that we know of. In light of this fact, it is possible to program our minds to change how we react and behave. One effective program we can use is called neuro-linguistic programming or NLP as we will call it going forward. Millions of people around the world have used NLP to change their lives.