Matthew Distefano - Authored Titles

Matthew is a FB friend of mine whom I've known since 2011. He's been busy over the years dissenting over Christianity's hypocrisies and upbraiding Christians for not taking Jesus for who he is rather than as some idolatrous monstrosity of who they think Jesus is. So, fair warning, Matthew will be blunt in his assessments but respectful and kind to those who can no longer tolerate the racist paths of a gun-bearing, women-hating, black-hating, white gospel of Christian nationalism. He'll tell it like it is. And I, for one, have enjoyed his commentary and assessments while also looking at my own outlooks, beliefs, and biases into which Jesus needs to move into those rooms of my mind and heart and soul.

Enjoy,

R.E. Slater

July 18, 2022

Learning to Float: Deconstructing Doctrinal Certainty to Embrace the Mystery of Faith

by Matthew J DiStefano and Michelle Collins | Jul 5, 2022

Heretic!: An LGBTQ-Affirming, Divine Violence-Denying, Christian Universalist's Responses to Some of Evangelical Christianity's Most Pressing Concerns
by Matthew J DiStefano and Michelle Collins | Mar 12, 2018

Don't Be a Dick and Other Sound Advice: 69 Practical Ways of Making the World a Kinder, More Loving Place
by Matthew J DiStefano | Mar 15, 2022

Devoted As F*ck: A Christocentric Devotional from the Mind of an Iconoclastic Asshole
by Matthew J DiStefano | Sep 6, 2019

Into the Gray: The Mental and Emotional Aftermath of Spiritual Deconstruction
by Michelle Collins and Matthew J DiStefano | Apr 27, 2021

From the Blood of Abel: Humanity's Root Causes of Violence and the Bible's Theological-Anthropological Solution
by Distefano, Matthew J, and Turner, Jeff, | Nov 7, 2016

The Bonfire Sessions: Second Spring (Vol Book 2)
by Distefano, Matthew J, and Michael Machuga | Apr 20, 2022

The Bonfire Sessions: A Year of Shadow and Flame
by Matthew J DiStefano, Michael Machuga, et al. | Apr 20, 2021

The Bonfire Sessions: Spring (Vol Book 1)
Book 1 of 4: The Bonfire Sessions | by Matthew J. Distefano and Michael Machuga | Apr 20, 2020

The Bonfire Sessions: Summer (Vol Book 2)

Book 2 of 4: The Bonfire Sessions | by Matthew J Distefano and Michael Machuga | Jul 20, 2020

The Bonfire Sessions: Autumn (Vol Book 3)
Book 3 of 4: The Bonfire Sessions | by Matthew J Distefano and Michael Machuga | Oct 20, 2020

The Bonfire Sessions: Winter (Vol Book 4)
Book 4 of 4: The Bonfire Sessions | by Distefano, Matthew J, and Michael Machuga | Jan 20, 2021

The Genesis of Violence
by Matthew J DiStefano and Zak D Parsons | Nov 9, 2021

All Set Free: How God is Revealed in Jesus and Why That is Really Good News
by Matthew J. Distefano and Michael Machuga | Oct 23, 2015

A Journey with Two Mystics: Conversations between a Girardian and a Wattsian
by Matthew J. Distefano , Michael Machuga, et al. | Apr 5, 2017

Bill Gates' Summer Reading List, 2022

5 great books for the summer

By Bill Gates|

June 06, 2022 3 minute read

I loved all of them and hope you’ll find something you enjoy too.

As I was putting together my list of suggested reading for the summer, I realized that the topics they cover sound pretty heavy for vacation reading. There are books here about gender equality, political polarization, climate change, and the hard truth that life never goes the way young people think it will. It does not exactly sound like the stuff of beach reads.

But none of the five books below feel heavy (even though, at nearly 600 pages, The Lincoln Highway is literally weighty). Each of the writers—three novelists, a journalist, and a scientist—was able to take a meaty subject and make it compelling without sacrificing any complexity.

I loved all five of these books and hope you find something here you’ll enjoy too. And feel free to share some of your favorite recent reads in the comments section below.

The Power, by Naomi Alderman. I’m glad that I followed my older daughter’s recommendation and read this novel. It cleverly uses a single idea—what if all the women in the world suddenly gained the power to produce deadly electric shocks from their bodies?—to explore gender roles and gender equality. Reading The Power, I gained a stronger and more visceral sense of the abuse and injustice many women experience today. And I expanded my appreciation for the people who work on these issues in the U.S. and around the world.

Why We’re Polarized, by Ezra Klein. I’m generally optimistic about the future, but one thing that dampens my outlook a bit is the increasing polarization in America, especially when it comes to politics. In this insightful book, Klein argues persuasively that the cause of this split is identity—the human instinct to let our group identities guide our decision making. The book is fundamentally about American politics, but it’s also a fascinating look at human psychology.

The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. I put Towles’s A Gentleman in Moscow on my summer books list back in 2019, but I liked this follow-up novel even more. Set in 1954, it’s about two brothers who are trying to drive from Nebraska to California to find their mother; their trip is thrown way off-course by a volatile teenager from the older brother’s past. Towles takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys and seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.

The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson. When I was promoting my book on climate change last year, a number of people told me I should read this novel, because it dramatized many of the issues I had written about. I’m glad I picked it up, because it’s terrific. It’s so complex that it’s hard to summarize, but Robinson presents a stimulating and engaging story, spanning decades and continents, packed with fascinating ideas and people.

How the World Really Works, by Vaclav Smil. Another masterpiece from one of my favorite authors. Unlike most of Vaclav’s books, which read like textbooks and go super-deep on one topic, this one is written for a general audience and gives an overview of the main areas of his expertise. If you want a brief but thorough education in numeric thinking about many of the fundamental forces that shape human life, this is the book to read. It’s a tour de force. Bonus: You can download a free chapter from How the World Really Works on the full review page.

Bill Gates - 5 books I loved reading this year

5 books I loved reading this year

article link

by Bill Gates

November 22, 2021

Lately, I’ve found myself drawn to the kinds

of books I would’ve liked as a kid.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with science fiction. Paul Allen and I would spend countless hours discussing Isaac Asimov’s original Foundation trilogy. I read every book by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert Heinlein. (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress was a particular favorite.) There was something so thrilling to me about these stories that pushed the limits of what was possible.

As I got older, I started reading a lot more non-fiction. I was still interested in books that explored the implications of innovation, but it felt more important to learn something about our real world along the way. Lately, though, I’ve found myself drawn back to the kinds of books I would’ve loved as a kid.

My holiday reading list this year includes two terrific science fiction stories. One takes place nearly 12 light-years away from our sun, and the other is set right here in the United States—but both made me think about how people can use technology to respond to challenges. I’ve also included a pair of non-fiction books about cutting-edge science and a novel that made me look at one of history’s most famous figures in a new light.

I read a lot of great books this year—including John Doerr’s latest about climate change—but these were some of my favorites.

• A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins. Few subjects have captured the imaginations of science fiction writers like artificial intelligence. If you’re interested in learning more about what it might take to create a true AI, this book offers a fascinating theory. Hawkins may be best known as the co-inventor of the PalmPilot, but he’s spent decades thinking about the connections between neuroscience and machine learning, and there’s no better introduction to his thinking than this book.

• The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson. The CRISPR gene editing system is one of the coolest and perhaps most consequential scientific breakthroughs of the last decade. I’m familiar with it because of my work at the foundation—we’re funding a number of projects that use the technology—but I still learned a lot from this comprehensive and accessible book about its discovery by Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues. Isaacson does a good job highlighting the most important ethical questions around gene editing.

• Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro. I love a good robot story, and Ishiguro’s novel about an “artificial friend” to a sick young girl is no exception. Although it takes place in a dystopian future, the robots aren’t a force for evil. Instead, they serve as companions to keep people company. This book made me think about what life with super intelligent robots might look like—and whether we’ll treat these kinds of machines as pieces of technology or as something more.

• Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. If you’re a Shakespeare fan, you’ll love this moving novel about how his personal life might’ve influenced the writing of one of his most famous plays. O’Farrell has built her story on two facts we know to be true about “The Bard”: his son Hamnet died at the age of 11, and a couple years later, Shakespeare wrote a tragedy called Hamlet. I especially enjoyed reading about his wife, Anne, who is imagined here as an almost supernatural figure.

• Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir. Like most people, I was first introduced to Weir’s writing through The Martian. His latest novel is a wild tale about a high school science teacher who wakes up in a different star system with no memory of how he got there. The rest of the story is all about how he uses science and engineering to save the day. It’s a fun read, and I finished the whole thing in one weekend.

5 books I loved reading this year

Nov 22, 2021

President Barack Obama - Summer Reads 2021

 

Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally On October 31, 2020, at Northwestern High School in Flint, Michigan.

The 11 books former President Barack

Obama recommends you read this summer

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/10/politics/obama-summer-reading-list-2021/index.html

by Rachel Janfaza

July 10, 2021

"While we were still in the White House, I began sharing my summer favorites -- and now, it's become a little tradition that I look forward to sharing with you all. So here's this year's offering. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did," Obama said on multiple social platforms.

Here are the 11 books Obama recommends people read this summer:

"At Night All Blood Is Black" by David Diop

The historic fiction novel details the dark tale of a Senegalese soldier's experience fighting for the French during World War I. The story -- originally written in French -- was translated to English by Anna Moschovakis and won the 2021 International Booker Prize.

"Land of Big Numbers"

by Te-Ping Chen

"Land of Big Numbers" is a 10-part short story series -- set in and out of China -- about the diverse lives of a set of Chinese people. The collection is the debut series of Wall Street Journal reporter Te-Ping Chen, who was formerly a correspondent in Beijing.

"Empire Of Pain"

by Patrick Radden Keefe

The New York Times bestseller details the lives of three generations of the Sackler family, the American family whose members founded pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma.

"Project Hail Mary"

by Andy Weir

"Project Hail Mary" takes readers along the survival mission of a biologist turned middle school science teacher who -- from a ship in outer space -- is tasked with saving Earth from destruction. The science fiction novel is the latest from Weir, who also wrote "The Martian."

"When We Cease to Understand the World"

by Benjamín Labatut

The fictional tale "When We Cease To Understand The World" tells stories of scientists and mathematicians throughout history -- such as Albert Einstein, Fritz Haber and Alexander Grothendieck -- who shaped the world through their findings.

"Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future"

by Elizabeth Kolbert

In "Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future," Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kolbert examines the way humankind has impacted Earth and raises questions about how and if nature can be saved.

"Things We Lost to the Water"

by Eric Nguyen

Nguyen's debut novel, "Things We Lost to the Water," tells the story of an Vietnamese immigrant who moves to New Orleans with her two sons while her husband stays in Vietnam.

"Leave the World Behind"

by Rumaan Alam

"Leave the World Behind" is a story about two families -- one Black and one White -- who meet in the context of looming disaster. The novel explores race, class and familial dynamics.

"Klara and the Sun"
by Kazuo Ishiguro

"Klara and the Sun" explores the world of artificial intelligence through the eyes of the main character -- an Artificial Friend -- who sits in a store window anticipating that one day she will be chosen by a customer. In 2017, Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

"The Sweetness of Water"
by Nathan Harris

The historical fiction novel details life in America at the end of the Civil War for two distinct pairs of characters -- the first, two emancipated brothers, and the other, a couple of Confederate soldiers deeply in love. "The Sweetness of Water" was an Oprah Book Club selection.

"Intimacies"
by Katie Kitamura

"Intimacies" tells the story of woman who, looking to chart a new path, travels to The Hague and starts work as an interpreter at the International Court. Through her role as an interpreter, the woman becomes immersed in the international lives and complex sagas of those who share their stories with her.

---

Obama's 2021 summer reading list comes just months after he shared his favorite books from 2020, which in December highlighted 17 titles -- including Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste," Brit Bennett's "The Vanishing Half" and C Pam Zhang's "How Much of These Hills is Gold."

Bill Gates - Good Reads 2021

 

 GOOD READS

5 ideas for summer reading

These books gave me something to think about. I hope they do the same for you.

By Bill Gates

| 

June 14, 2021  3 minute read

When I finish one book and am deciding what to read next, there usually isn’t always rhyme or reason to what I pick. Sometimes I’ll read one great book and get inspired to read several more about the same subject. Other times I am eager to follow a recommendation from someone I respect.

Lately, though, I find myself reaching for books about the complicated relationship between humanity and nature. Maybe it’s because everyone’s lives have been upended by a virus. Or maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time this year talking about what we need to do to avoid a climate disaster.

5 Ideas for Summer Reading

Whatever the reason, most of the books on my summer reading list this year touch on what happens when people come into conflict with the world around them. I’ve included a look at how researchers are trying to undo damage done to the planet by humans, a deep dive about how your body keeps you safe from microscopic invaders, a president’s memoir that addresses the fallout from an oil spill, and a novel about a group of ordinary people fighting to save the trees. (There’s also a fascinating look at the downfall of one of America’s greatest companies.)

I hope at least one of these books sparks your interest this summer.

Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric, by Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann. How could a company as big and successful as GE fail? I’ve been thinking about that question for several years, and Lights Out finally gave me many of the answers I was seeking. The authors give you an unflinching look at the mistakes and missteps made by GE’s leadership. If you’re in any kind of leadership role—whether at a company, a non-profit, or somewhere else—there’s a lot you can learn here.

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, by Elizabeth Kolbert. Kolbert’s latest is the most straightforward examination of “humanity versus nature” on this list. She describes it as “a book about people trying to solve problems caused by people trying to solve problems.” She writes about a number of the ways that people are intervening with nature, including gene drive and geoengineering—two topics that I’m particularly interested in. Like all of her books, it’s an enjoyable read.

A Promised Land, by Barack Obama. I am almost always interested in books about American presidents, and I especially loved A Promised Land. The memoir covers his early career up through the mission that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. President Obama is unusually honest about his experience in the White House, including how isolating it is to be the person who ultimately calls the shots. It’s a fascinating look at what it’s like to steer a country through challenging times.

The Overstory, by Richard Powers. This is one of the most unusual novels I’ve read in years. The Overstory follows the lives of nine people and examines their connection with trees. Some of the characters come together over the course of the book, while others stay on their own. Even though the book takes a pretty extreme view towards the need to protect forests, I was moved by each character’s passion for their cause and finished the book eager to learn more about trees.

An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives, by Matt Richtel. Richtel wrote his book before the pandemic, but this exploration of the human immune system is nevertheless a valuable read that will help you understand what it takes to stop COVID-19. He keeps the subject accessible by focusing on four patients, each of whom is forced to manage their immune system in one way or another. Their stories make for a super interesting look at the science of immunity.

READ THIS NEXT

5 good books for a lousy year

In a year like this, sometimes you want to go deep on a tough issue. Other times you need a break.

5 summer books and other things to do at home

Whether you’re looking for a distraction or just spending a lot more time at home, you can’t beat reading a book.

5 books to enjoy this winter

The five books on my end-of-year list will help you start 2020 on a good note.