A century ago, Jews were facing escalating persecution. A dedicated homeland seemed the ideal solution. There were still debates as to whether it should be a Jewish state, or a Jewish population in an existing state. The location was also up for grabs. Argentina and the historic Israel (which was part of the of the Ottoman empire) were the leaders. Theodor Herzl was an intellectual leader of Zionism.
Jewish immigration started to take place under the Ottomans and later the British mandates. However, even these groups were limited. Many immigrant ships were turned away during the rise of fascism in Europe. Jews fleeing persecution were turned away from both American and Middle Eastern locations. This further demonstrated the need for a Jewish homeland. (Israel would later adopt a policy that any Jew could freely settle in Israel - and they used the same "blood" test that the Nazi's used for identifying Jews.)
Israel had a diverse population of Jews from all over the world. The European Jews has thought of themselves as superior. However, Jews from everywhere were permitted. This policy encouraged many of the most persecuted or least well to do Jews to immigrate. Often, even the well-to-do immigrants would have difficulty coming in with their assets. This did result in some issues as some non-European Jews felt like they were second class citizens. The most significant Jewish group that is missing is American Jews - they tend to be most comfortable staying in the US.
Israel took some time to adopt an identity. Many initial immigrants were "back to the earth" communal farmers. Later immigrants changed the character. The boundaries, population and even religious character of the country were continually evolving. Politically, there are many parties and a degree of coalition building is required. The policies have changed as different leaders assumed the mantle. There was significant criticism when Israel accepted German reparations. (Though these reparations arrived at a time of great need for Isreal.)
Israel had conflicts from the get-go. The Arab community didn't like the idea of Israel's existence. There were divisions in Jewish leadership as to whether freedom should be gained on the battlefield or diplomacy. The battlefield hand was forced. Israel had some unexpected success in repelling the initial Arab attacks. This led to some cockiness that nearly led to the defeat in the Yom Kippur war.
Jews have a significant degree of self reflection. They analyze the mistakes and attempt to grown from them. The Palestinian situation is difficult. As a democracy, Israel wants to make sure there are not too many Arabs to outvote the Jewish population. The status of Arabs are accidents of the past. A family may be split between Israeli Arabs and Palestinian refugees. Many Arab countries in the region would like to have Israel out of the picture. However, they don't want to take responsibility for Palestine and the refugees. They find it more valuable to use Palestinians as propaganda tools than to actually try to improve the condition of the Palestinians. Anti-semitism can easily be disguised as "Palestinian rights".
The author notes that Israel is the one place where people speak the same language and practice the same location that they did 3000 years ago. It is a significant "restoration". Israel has grown and had a great success. However, there remains significant danger and volatility. This book is a good history of the the last century from a moderate pro-Israel perspective.
New deities come on to the scene in the 5th Pegasus book. Even after Emily promises to take her battle elsewhere, we still get a battle between Olympians and Titans right over Hawaii. (They manage to show up just at the "wrong" time.) This books gets a little more confusing and contrived. Pegasus is flying around the world to eventually get to Hawaii. There the fallen shard is protected by a Hawaiian god. However, there is another girl that shares the power with Emily and her "head-mate". This girl is a spoiled brat that wants everything. They eventually are able to defeat her and then join with her. The "super beings" also show up and banish the Olympians and Titans for misbehaving. Things get confusing, with some leaps in logic. But there are also some fun random moments with various gods exercising their personalities.
Paul Johnson's History of the Jews is hampered by a less-than ideal narration of the audiobook. It is a long history, covering the entire history of the Jews, from the biblical times to modern Israel. However, the coverage is more focussed on modern times (as more data is available.) The Jews have held together after significant times. Christianity sprung out of Judaism. Islam was also had Jewish ties. (The author proposes that there was an attempt to bring a monotheistic religion to the Arabs. The difference ended up being too great to be supported by the Jews, and thus a new religion was needed.) There have been additional modern variation of Judaism, yet they have not separated out into different religions.
Parfit is a well written biography that does a great job painting the life of Derek Parfit. He was somewhat of a child prodigy. Born in China of British parents engaging in missionary-related work, he had a somewhat privileged upbringing. He did well in school and had his share of youthful craziness. He went through some academic processes. (The details would have been clearer to those familiar with the British school system.) He was able to study in America and eventually switched to philosophy. He had characteristics of those on the autism spectrum (aspergers) He would be a perfectionist in his writing, even complaining about font spacing. He also took time to comment on others work. 
After going through many extreme stakes involving the destruction of worlds what's next? Time travel! On an architectural dig, a stone is found that causes Olympians to get sick and age. They need to go back in time to find it and restore peace. There is an CRU member that goes with them (and renounces the CRU.) Traveling on the solar stream also occurs. They need to prevent the Titans from destroying the Greek gods. They also need to make sure the gods are not youth, but. the proper age that they are remembered in history. Everything works out, but it is somewhat sad that the shared experiences are now missing from others. 
New conflict arises in the third Pegasus book. The CRU has cloned a bunch of the Olympians. When they see their clones, they just want to destroy them. The Olympians decide they want to destroy the earth. Emily is able to (too easily) talk them out of it. The most interesting part is the battle royale that takes place in Vegas, destroying a big chunk of downtown. Oops!
In the second Pegasus book, it is discovered that the bad guys from the previous book (Nirads) are not actually that bad. They are "goons for hire" who the Gogons are using to help conquer Olympus. And just to keep it fun, the other government agency bad guys are still in the way. Cupid is able to use his charm to help "defeat" the humans. However, the Gorgon's are a greater challenge that requires some alliances.
The I Survved books are a series of fictional stories of people that experience some calamatis events in history. In this one, they witness the planes crashing into the twin towers in New York City. The kid has family in the fire department and gets a front door view of the terrorist act as well as the response.
Israel is an interesting, misunderstood location. It is not a purely Jewish state, though it is overwhelmingly Jewish. There are people practicing different religions freely in the country. There are also Arabs and other ethnicities living there with full rights.
A brother and sister's parents have been dead. They have been living with various caretakers, but have been most close to one relative, Grace Cahill. After she dies, she promises her relatives either a million dollars or a chance to search for an answer through 39 clues. The children opt for the clues, even though it can lead to death. They enlist a babysitter to help them on the travels. Their "evil" relatives are also on the quest and manage to show up just as they discover something. There are many narrow escapes from death. They also discover that the are related to just about every important historical character. In this book, the focus is on Ben Franklin and a conclusion in the Paris catacombs. The book is nice and short and loaded with action.
I remember watching the movie review shows in the 1980s. It was interesting to watch clips and criticism of movies - even ones that I never intended to watch. While I typically read the Tribune newspaper, I most actively followed Ebert's reviews. I've read many reviews of movies that I have not seen. The quality of the prose made it worth reading even outside the actual movie. I also loved to see what he thought of the movies that I did enjoy.
A daughter of a police officer and a boy from foster care find a flying horse. There is also a teenager that managed to survive after seemingly being pushed off a tall building. An "evil" Central Research Unit is trying to interrogate all of these people to try to find out more. After testing, they think the teen must be an alien. However, the kids have found out the truth. They are all Greek deities from Olympus. There has been a big battle and things are dire. However, if they find the special girl that Vestus has invested with the fire of Olympus they should be able to defeat the demons that have invaded. The girl ends up discovering that she is the special girl. She willingly sacrifices herself, but then discovers that rather than being killed, she has been made whole. All seems to be doing well. The book contains various life or death scenarios with people killed - yet the stakes never feel very high. It is also fairly easy to guess what will happen, but this probably works well for the target audience.
Many of our chronic medical conditions are managed rather than cured. The treatment often involves consuming drugs to treat the symptoms, with the expectation that this will just need to be continued in perpetuity. This book advocates making the general changes to health to solve the chronic problems. This involves doing basic things like eating whole foods, exercising, having good relationships with others and the like. These are the things that cannot easily be sold or marketed and require work. The medical profession rarely suggests these long term fixes.
Under Ottoman rule, Islam had spread through the Middle East, but there was significant poverty. The Muslim Brotherhood arose as a social organization to benefit Arabs and help encourage improved religious experience. The British control and then the state of Israel significantly upended life in Palestine. Many people lived was refugees, hoping to some day return or be compensated for their land. Hamas grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood. It advocated a more conservative religious practice and grew to encourage violent resistance to Israel.
William James gave a series of lectures in Scotland about the various ways that people experienced religion. The focus is on the individual experience, rather than religious ritual. These experiences were further narrowed to those that more "novel" in nature. This often involves people that would go on to found religious movements. (George Fox and St Teresa seem to get the most coverage.) However, the experiences of regular people are also explored. These can often be as significant as the religious founders, though narrowed to an individual life.
This was an awful movie. It is some interesting subject matter, but the execution fell flat on it's face. The lead was supposed to be a "tough girl cop". However, she came across as a dumb blonde that was playing cop. She goes undercover within a Hasidic Jewish diamond cutting community to locate a missing man and missing diamonds. She discovers he has been killed and then sets up a sting for some Italian thugs. She ends up shooting one. This was the second time in the movie where some bad guy had got the best of her and she ended up killing him. Is this a real cop?
Ship wrecks tend to be very inaccessible, thus making them a rich store of archaeological information. While catastrophes on land are likely to be built over (or destroyed by elements), those at sea tend to stay there. They are much more difficult to access. Recent technology has enabled greater exploration of ship wrecks. It has enabled us to find out more about ancient civilizations and technology. (For instance, a Greek wreck had a millennias old computer.)
this is another Sanderson "secret project" with audiobook available at the library, but not Audible. In this one, two people from different worlds. They are shocked to experience the other's world. One is more technologically advanced, while the other is more conservative. The values differ in each world. Even the understanding of art and science differ. The two people come together and come to a greater understanding, experiencing worlds through a different experience. It does suffer from the "length" problem of fantasy books. I got lost at times, but was able to keep going.
The Ranger's Apprentice takes a turn towards fantasy in this sixth Royal Ranger book. Rangers are asked to go to Celtica to investigate the appearance of a mystical wolf. The rangers believe that 99% of things can be explained through standard means, but leave 1% for the supernatural. That comes in handy here. Somebody is trying to summon a demon to go together with the wolves and other creatures in order to dominate. Will and Maddie use their mortal talents as well as some knowledge they have learned about the supernatural to defeat the enemy. The local people are shown as being much more attached to the supernatural than the more "enlightened" rangers. It continues the series mix of "historical" settings with modern world views. 
It begins with a trigger warning of suicidal thoughts, PTSD and depression. However, the book also includes the almost all humans being turned to dust and the elimination of a few species. That didn't deserve a warning. Neither did language, drinking or sexual harassment. I guess it is just the mental that needs warning. In the book, aliens have come down to earth and wiped out almost all humanity. There are 8 people left and they have made it to Area 51. They discover that 6 of them are specially engineered "super-human" warriors and one is an alien. The one human had helped study the aliens when they first came. They aliens that had destroyed humanity were attempting to find a species of pacifist super-intelligent aliens. One of the remaining human girls is one of the pacifists. They manage to go and destroy the "hive" invaders through a suicide that gave the good alien special powers. Then they go off into space. I guess it is good for them. But with only one human and one good alien left, the chance of carrying on are next to nothing. Maybe the hybrid warriors (who have a little good alien and bad alien DNA mixed in) can reproduce? Or maybe humanity is just toast. 
A good audiobook narration can help bring you into the book. A bad narration can put you to sleep. Alas, The Sun and the Star fit into the latter. It also didn't help that the story was always breaking for the boys to express their love for each other. Did they forget that they were in the middle of a life and death battle? They do go down to the underworld and try to do something. Some monsters and a cat are with them. They are also in love. Maybe it should be billed as a romance rather than a fantasy adventure?
How does language work? Does the human brain always produce a real-world representation of what is being discussed? There are a few theories that have been used. They all seem to have their good and bad points. It is also interesting how our mind feels in details that are not present in the actual words. We are able to construct a more full understanding from a small number of words.
An attempt to rescue a prince has left Will and Maddie in jail. They have learned some more about the conniving going on in that kingdom. Maddie ends up challenging someone to combat - and winning. However, they are threatened with execution. Luckily, a knight and ranger decided to backstop them. They escape, and get the prince (who can often be dead weight.) They return him and uncover more palace intrigue in that land, and decide to get out of there as quick as they can. The book is a typical Ranger's Apprentice book with the Rangers eventually being rewarded for treating others well. 
