I know that I have done book reviews off and on throughout this first year, but this one will mark something different. The plan is, God willing and the creek don’t rise, to have now a monthly book review, probably in the middle of the month. That way you will know when a new book review will appear, and it will also keep me on track to continue reading these new books. As I mentioned in a previous blog, these will be mainly religious books unless I read something incredible that I think everybody should read.?
So, without further ado, here is the new Salzmann Selection monthly book review.
The book this month, “Common Nonsense: 25 fallacies about life…refuted,” is written by Fr. Cliff Ermatinger, pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Milwaukee and a local author whom I wrote about in my Feb. 24th blog. In the book, published in 2005 by Circle Press, Fr. Cliff tries to bring a common sense approach to “…trite sound bites that you are know are wrong but can’t say why.”?
Although it is a philosophical book, Fr. Cliff does not delve so deeply into philosophy that somebody with little interest in philosophy, like myself, will go cross-eyed and fall into a trance while reading. He starts each section with the fallacy, then goes a little more in-depth on the fallacy, gives his answer to the fallacy and then articulates the reasoning against it.?
Although some of the topics could be dry, Fr. Cliff does a great job throwing humor in when he can, whether it is just a funny analogy or a simple story about his former experiences. He makes his arguments clearly and concisely, never straying from the topic but making points flow into a logical conclusion. He also does not delve deeply into major theological points, although definitely referring to God and religion throughout, preferring to answer many of these points with common sense and logical thinking. However, at the end of fallacy #25 he does give his recommendation where to go for further information.
If you like having information at your disposal for debates with friends, or just want to feel more informed, I recommend this book.
As always, if you have any ideas and comments for things I could change, please let me know. If you have any books that you have read or have read the books I mention, please leave a comment. We here at Salzmann also want to know what people are reading. Comments are always appreciated – anything I can do to make this better I will strive my best to accomplish.
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