Luckily for Krakauer readers, he's all about full disclosure. He includes Turley's response in its entirety at the end of the book's latest edition, followed by corrections and defenses of his own.
As Frank points out, there is bias on both sides, each trying to support an argument. However, I highly doubt that most of Krakauer's conclusions are as "hasty" as Turley claims. Would love to hear any comments on his rebuttal.
cc
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Mormon Apologies
I meant to put this as a comment on Cameron's post soliciting an opinion on Under the Banner of Heaven, but I couldn't figure out how to do a hyperlink in the comment section and I wanted to make this look cool.
There is an article that gives a rebuttal to the book and much of the history that the author uses to support his theories. Obviously there are always two sides to every story and if the author's is one side, this represents the other side. Since the article is lengthy and you probably won't read it all (although you should, I did and it helped me understand the story better), suffice it to say that there is an army of people that have become more than experts on Mormon history. These people prey on authors like Krakauer because they obviously haven't spent their entire lives researching the history of the Church and often times come to hasty conclusions. These experts are pretty knowledgeable and believe it or not, do delve into some of the less glamorous facets of the Church's history. They, like Krakauer, do have an agenda in what they write. Reading what they have to say as well as other accounts from historians outside the Church gives the whole picture and you are left to draw whatever conclusions you'd like. Fairlds.org has some of the most compelling information available on Mormon history, doctrine, and beliefs and the fact that they confront some of the issues that most members of the Church and even the leadership of the Church would rather avoid gives them an added measure of validity in my opinion. Anytime you see something that stabs at Mormonism, they have something to say about it - like it or not!
There is an article that gives a rebuttal to the book and much of the history that the author uses to support his theories. Obviously there are always two sides to every story and if the author's is one side, this represents the other side. Since the article is lengthy and you probably won't read it all (although you should, I did and it helped me understand the story better), suffice it to say that there is an army of people that have become more than experts on Mormon history. These people prey on authors like Krakauer because they obviously haven't spent their entire lives researching the history of the Church and often times come to hasty conclusions. These experts are pretty knowledgeable and believe it or not, do delve into some of the less glamorous facets of the Church's history. They, like Krakauer, do have an agenda in what they write. Reading what they have to say as well as other accounts from historians outside the Church gives the whole picture and you are left to draw whatever conclusions you'd like. Fairlds.org has some of the most compelling information available on Mormon history, doctrine, and beliefs and the fact that they confront some of the issues that most members of the Church and even the leadership of the Church would rather avoid gives them an added measure of validity in my opinion. Anytime you see something that stabs at Mormonism, they have something to say about it - like it or not!
Prophecy, Murder and Southwest Airlines (aka Cameron's return to the blog)
4th Avenue Crossing (brooklyn, ny)Admission: I did pick up the book and leaf through it. To be honest, I never got past the book jacket. Admittedly that was narrow of me and I will use work obligations to hide my shame. But all in all, strict interpretations of the Bible (or any religious work for that matter) scare me and I'd rather lend them any more credibility by buying or reading them. These interpretations are usually just flimsy masks to justify to unjustifiable. On a related note, strict interpretations of the Constitution also scare me. Read Jeffrey Toobin's "The Nine," if you want a background on the contemporary Supreme Court and to be frightened about the future of our judicial system and its impact on civil liberties. I digress.
While a well intentioned choice by Smurf to enlighten us on the impact of world religion on politics, economics, etc (thank you kind sir and well needed), using the lens of extreme evangelical prophecy does not sit well with me. Pulling the bizarre Nostradamus card will always make me shun you. Consider yourself shunned Epicenter. But I am content to leave the more concrete and extended commentary to those who actually read it.
On yet another related note, I decided to read "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer instead of Epicenter (same section of the bookstore). I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on this book. If you're unfamiliar, it's basically a deep dive into Mormon history and more specifically Mormon fundamentalism, to try and explain/understand the murders committed by Ron and Dan Lafferty in 1984. I know it has been openly criticized by LDS leadership for casting a negative light on the church, but I was hoping for a less political stance on the subject matter. This book similarly highlights what can come from close readings of religious text and antiquated doctrine.
Book the next, The World Is Flat. I read roughly 150 pages of this book about a year ago. I did not leave the book for want of interest, but for lack of time. To be sure, this is a dense book. It is jammed packed with all the tidbits you can handle about the booming next phase of globalization. However, it's also loaded with mostly inane anecdotes about Friedman himself. Concrete examples are great. 6 pages about your inability to wrap your head around Southwest's online check-in is not okay. Luckily, these "everyman" insults are innocuous and only mildly patronizing.
What strikes me most about my reread is how much the landscape has already changed. It must be a tiresome job to write about technology. Several of Google's latest products (Google Docs and Google Sites specifically) would probably feature prominently in a revision, not to mention the horizontal connections of the iPhone (Apple Hardware, AT&T Network, Google Apps).
More to come. I grow weary. Glad to be back.
Outsourcing
I liked Frank's idea of posting videos to this. So hopefully it works because I am just under the retarded level when it comes to computers...
Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas
...I am enjoying the book so far, though I'm only about 40 pages into it. It's interesting that Friedman uses the example of the radiologists outsourcing CAT scans. I believe that example was used in the first edition (I'm reading the 3rd) which was published in 2005. Radiology outsourcing is much more prevalent now, as is outsourcing in other areas of healthcare. There have been some radiologists that have been forced to change positions or get better, but the overall effect has been that echoed by Friedman--the radiologists have more time to focus their energies on more important aspects of their field. This has created a HUGE expansion in the specialties and sub-specialties of radiology. New advances include one particular field, interventional radiology, which is allowing radiologists to perform image-guided vascular and neurosurgery. This has been an incredible help in fighting certain kinds of disease, most notably stroke and cancer.
So, it's a good pick so far. This guy is an absolute genius. I think just about all of my business professors at the University of Utah worshipped him. Hopefully the video works, and if it doesn't, go check out The Onion and search "outsourcing".
Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas
...I am enjoying the book so far, though I'm only about 40 pages into it. It's interesting that Friedman uses the example of the radiologists outsourcing CAT scans. I believe that example was used in the first edition (I'm reading the 3rd) which was published in 2005. Radiology outsourcing is much more prevalent now, as is outsourcing in other areas of healthcare. There have been some radiologists that have been forced to change positions or get better, but the overall effect has been that echoed by Friedman--the radiologists have more time to focus their energies on more important aspects of their field. This has created a HUGE expansion in the specialties and sub-specialties of radiology. New advances include one particular field, interventional radiology, which is allowing radiologists to perform image-guided vascular and neurosurgery. This has been an incredible help in fighting certain kinds of disease, most notably stroke and cancer.
So, it's a good pick so far. This guy is an absolute genius. I think just about all of my business professors at the University of Utah worshipped him. Hopefully the video works, and if it doesn't, go check out The Onion and search "outsourcing".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)