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Caleb Powers

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Caleb is Currently Reading

Caleb Powers is currently reading

The Years of Rice and Salt

by Kim Stanley Robinson

bookshelves: favorites, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in October, 2015

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Caleb Powers said: " This book is so incredibly close to getting five stars. Unfortunately, some last minute unnecessary vulgarity and mature content made the last half of the book have a bit of a sour taste for me. Now, usually, I don't have very in-depth reviews of the This book is so incredibly close to getting five stars. Unfortunately, some last minute unnecessary vulgarity and mature content made the last half of the book have a bit of a sour taste for me. Now, usually, I don't have very in-depth reviews of the books I read, due to busyness and the lack of things to criticize with many of the novels I find. But this book...it needs more of a review than that. Not because there are many things to criticize (I already told you the two problems I have with it), but because this book is so darn philosophically, sociologically, and speculatively deep.

This book attempts to do several different things at once, and surprisingly, it succeeds. First, the book is marketed primarily as an alternate history "what would happen if the Black Plague killed off all of Europe instead of 2/3 of it?" and even though that is not all this book is, that running thread provides so many interesting concepts and thought expirements to flourish. Technology develops differently and in different places, religion spreads differently, the conquest of the New World ends differently, and society as a whole is somehow very different from our modern era by the end of the novel, yet almost the same. It's an alternate history that doesn't attempt to send our world in a completely different direction, but shows us how we get to a similar modern era through the eyes of Asian and Middle Eastern civilizations that have no European influence.

The second thing this book attempts to do is educate us on philosophical concepts such as reincarnation, karma, dharma, and a few world religions and how they may have spread and evolved without Christianity being the monster influence that it is. Suffice it to say, this thought experiment was incredibly interesting, and though, as a Christian, I don't agree on the direction the world would have taken if Europe had died off RELIGION-wise, because I believe that Christianity would have found a new foothold and spread again and become the dominant religion, but that's because I'm a Christian and I believe that my faith is the one that's true. Obviously, if a faith was the actual truth, it would spread no matter what. But that is actually what this book does with the three religions of Islam, Confucianism, and Buddhism--they are all considered somewhat true by most of the characters in the book, and the ways that they seem to meld together are incredibly fascinating. This brings us to my next point.

This book tells the story of a small cast of characters destined to meet each other again and again and be intimate parts of each other's lives. This jati (family of souls) is the main focus of the entire novel, reincarnated again and again through ten different novellas that, woven together, create a beautifully intimate story of birth, death, and change through hundreds of years of time. This was my favorite part of this book. It made me want to do an RPG centered around reincarnation SO BADLY. The concept is fascinating, and though at first it was hard for me to figure who was which character, by the end I had figured out the scheme (each character has the same first letter of their name in each incarnation) and was SO sold on the story. Mainly, this book centers on two characters-- Ka and Ba. Ka is combative, imprudent and prone to getting himself (or herself) killed, striking blows against injustice that typically lead to more suffering, while Ba is more comfortable in the world, meliorist and optimistic. I found this interplay to be incredibly fascinating, and especially in the tenth book, where this final concept of the differences between these two souls is outlined in clarity and finality, it just worked for me so well.

This book, more than anything else, is about reincarnation. It's about what would happen if you used that philosophical concept as a storytelling tool, weaving a grand tapestry of life after life that you could look back on and see the journey, the struggle, the progress. It challenges the reader all throughout the story with what truth really is, with how history works, with which religion is the real one. The fact that the bardo (the place you go before being reincarnated again) exists colors your perception of the way the characters interact, and that leads you to lines of inquiry that some of the characters just don't go down. Overall, this book is just so incredibly thoughtful and worth your time.

I'll end with this: The Years of Rice and Salt is about reincarnation. It runs with this concept so beautifully that it strikes at your very heart sometimes. It blends philosophy, sociology, history, speculative fiction, and literary fiction in an incredibly poignant way that is worth anyone's time.

Read this book. But be aware that there's some harsh profanity every once in a while, and a few small scenes of mature content. Specifically in books seven, eight, and nine of the ten-book arc. ...more "

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"This book, though it makes me want to do an RPG based off of it, it also continues to convince me of the stark difference between the Christian view of the body/soul relationship and almost everyone else." — Feb 14, 2019 11:42AM

Jan 09, 2019 06:02PM · see review

Caleb Powers is currently reading

Reformation Study Bible, ESV

by Anonymous

bookshelves: currently-reading

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"This study Bible has some fantastic footnotes that have been incredibly helpful to me so far." — Feb 03, 2019 01:06PM

Jan 02, 2019 11:28AM

Caleb Powers is currently reading

John (St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary)

by R.C. Sproul

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"I have been highly enjoying R.C. Sproul's commentary on John--it has been incredibly helpful in navigating this often confusing book." — Jan 09, 2019 06:06PM

Oct 14, 2018 12:42PM

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Caleb’s Notes & Highlights

Book cover for Young and in Love: Challenging the Unnecessary Delay of Marriage

Young and in Love: Challenging the Unnecessary Delay of Marriage by Ted Cunningham

28 highlights

Contrary to what you may have been told, marriage is not the reason people divorce.

See Caleb Powers’s 46 books with notes and highlights…

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Caleb Powers wants to read From Paedobaptism to Credobaptism by W. Gary Crampton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 18, 2019 04:22PM · 1 like · like
Caleb Powers wants to read Exodus: Commentaries on the Pentateuch (Volume #2) by Rousas John Rushdoony	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb Powers wants to read Numbers: Commentaries on the Pentateuch (Volume #4) by Rousas John Rushdoony	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb Powers wants to read Genesis: Commentaries on the Pentateuch (Volume #1) by Rousas John Rushdoony	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb Powers wants to read Leviticus: Commentaries on the Pentateuch (Volume #3) by Rousas John Rushdoony	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb Powers wants to read Deuteronomy: Commentaries on the Pentateuch (Volume #5) by Rousas John Rushdoony	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb Powers wants to read Stop Bringing Them to Church - Who the Church Is, Isn't, and Why We Should Keep It That Way (Stop the Madness) by David Washington (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb Powers wants to read Expository Parenting by Josh Niemi	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb Powers wants to read Greater Than Aaron: The Supremacy of Christ's Limited Atonement by Josh Niemi	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Caleb’s Quotes

“There are two kinds of people in this world, son. Those who save lives, and those who take lives."
"And what of those who protect and defend? Those who save lives by taking lives?"
"That's like trying to stop a storm by blowing harder. Ridiculous. You can't protect by killing.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

tags: death, killing, protection, war

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