The Relation of Banner Ads to Religion. Also Reading.

It's always interesting seeing what sort of ads show up at the top of people's blogs, since it's basically an indication of what some computer somewhere thinks any given blog is about. I've noticed that mine has been stuck for a while on things like being a "disciplined follower of Christ" and whatnot. So it seems like it's paying more attention to my reading list than anything else, since I haven't been posting about anything like that. Interesting. I wonder if it will pick up on the Judaism books I've been reading, as well. Something I've become really curious about from reading the Bible is the difference between the old and new testaments and, by extension, the difference between Judaism and Christianity, so I've added a bit of Judaism to my reading. I'm having a little trouble figuring out exactly what to read, though. Why Be Jewish? by David Wolpe was good, though kind of short. Judaism by Arther Hertzberg might be good, but it also looks like it might be kind of a slog. I can't tell yet. What I really want to find is sort of a Jewish version of C.S. Lewis. I'm not sure if there is such a thing, though, or who it would be. Back on the Christian side of things, St. Augustine's Confessions has actually been a lot more interesting than I expected. It's sort of like one huge, autobiographical prayer. Well, most of it. At the part I'm in now, he's sort of digressed and gotten bogged down in a lot of thick philosophizing about mind and memory and perception, and that's not the sort of stuff I take to as well. But for the most part it's been very good. I suppose that's why it's been a classic for the last 1500 years or so. :-)

In an entirely different vein, I've also started reading Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. It's one of those books that's always been on my enormous but vague list of things that I mean to read "eventually" though I never tend to think of them when I'm actually looking for books to read. But seeing an episode of Michael Palin's show where he recreates Phileas Fogg's journey made me start thinking about it. It'll be some nice armchair travelling, too.