4/27/13
Total Truth by Nancy PearceyMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I'm trying to establish a bookshelf entitled "highly recommended books that have infuriated me." This book would go on it.
I know that I cannot give this book a fair review because Nancy Pearcey pushed all the wrong buttons as far as I'm concerned. I try to read, even books I don't like, on their own merits, but it was impossible for me to do so with this one. I kept getting the feeling that the author's alternative vision, which she had only hinted at up to that point, was one I would eventually be unable to sign onto, and by the time I reached Part II I had to give up, because my husband was tired of hearing me complain about it.
Even thinking back on it now I have that hot, uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, all of which is to say that my review should certainly not be trusted.
Let me tell you who I think does the philosophical part of this thing better. I am unable to review the scientific apologetic, because I couldn't muster up enough interest to read it, and therefore know nothing about it. Eugene Peterson's book, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, is great on how faith permeates our lives. I haven't been able to finish it either, only because it is too rich, and I haven't recently been able to give it the attention it deserves. I also think that James K.A. Smith's book, Introduction to Radical Orthodoxy, while technical, offers a much better understanding of what has actually been going on philosophically throughout modernity and post-modernity. When it comes to those things I think Pearcey is far too unsympathetic to address them properly.
Man, I hate to be so mad at a book, and I really do hope to be able to give it another chance at some moment in the future when I can evaluate it more calmly.
I hear her Saving Leonardo is terrific, but I admit that based on this first experience I am too suspicious to be willing to give it a chance yet.
Additional note: I read this book about a year ago, and thought I might finally be ready to revisit it, but I was wrong.
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4 comments:
I really like the idea of a "highly recommended books that have infuriated me" shelf! I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to disagreeable books, and I think it's admirable that you put forth such an effort and recognize your biases.
On the other hand, there's only so much time, and there are plenty of non-infuriating books, which can still expose us to new (even sometimes disagreeable) ideas without being off-putting in and of themselves. Maybe that's just my way of rationalizing my own wimpiness, but I'm curious of your thoughts....at what point does the effort to give a book/author one more shot at a fair reading become masochistic?
Or is that even the right question to ask?
Hey, Steven. I do have thoughts on this, and I like how you sort of re-frame the discussion from what I typically have with my husband. It helps me think about it a little differently. That's what friends are for, right? Pretend there is a status meter at the top of the page that seems to be hung up on "Gathering my thoughts." I'm thinking it through and will get back to you. Michael tends to think that reading things that frustrate me are a waste of energy, even though he is constantly responding to the same kinds of material himself.
Thanks for some interesting food for thought.
Steven, are you still there? When google did away with their reader I pretty much stopped reading blogs, so I don't know if you've been posting recently. So why do I read books I don't like. 1) I'm one of those strange creatures who doesn't think they've read a book unless they've read the whole thing, and I feel obligated, obligated, I tell you, to give any author the opportunity to win my affection. 2) My Dad often says that most books have one good chapter, so often I will keep reading hoping to make it to that one good chapter. Occasionally that one good chapter is worth all the rest of the slop. 3) I cannot treat an author fairly without giving them a complete reading, and similar to my second point, I expect to find a jewel in there somewhere, even if it results from my own thoughts on what I've read. 4) The main reason I read books is to try to understand the world a little better, and to understand people a little better. Even a poorly skilled author reveals something about himself in what he writes. My whole life seems to be about how much I want to understand. 5) There may be a little bit of golden rule going on here: treat others as you would want them to treat you? And then another maxim I'm not very good at, "Seek first to understand, and then to be understood."
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