The Nomad and the Olive Branch

Reza Aslan is one of those intellectuals notorious for their uncompromising stance, bluntness, and, to a certain degree, political incorrectness. It comes to no surprise, then, that his latest publication, God: A Human History , reflects his headstrong approach in the sphere of all things religion and spirituality. However, despite Aslan's misgivings, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read and indeed a most enlightening one. While his previous book, Beyond Fundamentalism , explored the notion of a "cosmic war" of ideologies against a backdrop of globalization, God: A Human History instead looks at how religion came to be from a more scientific standpoint, coming to a conclusion based on his own personal experiences with faith and belief. The book starts with Aslan's recounting of his conversion to Christianity and subsequent reversion to Islam, followed by a revelation of his newly adopted pantheistic approach to which he returns to near the end of the book...

I have a confession to make: I love Jordan Weisman's BattleTech series. To make a long story short, it's like Game of Thrones but deeper, in space, and filled with giant walking machines of destruction. My first exposure was in 1995. I was 9 years old when we got our first home personal computer, a Toshiba model that came with the video game MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat. The game enthralled me and my then 7-year-old brother at the time with its deep lore and fast-paced strategic combat, and the soundtrack wasn't bad to boot (here's a  sample ). Since then, I bought almost every game in the series, up to and including the recent BattleTech game by Hairbrained Schemes. It wasn't until my university years, interestingly enough, that I heard about the BattleTech novels, specifically the Twilight of the Clans series. With the "infinite" resources of the internet at my disposal (thank you, Amazon and eBay, though I have some stern words for you, A...