Ryan, Debi, and Toren Cragun's Blog

Lauber, Leah. 2003. Soccer Dreams: My True Adventure Following the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, as a Fan and 12-Year Old Junior Reporter for the St. Petersburg Times … History-Making 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup! WCI Press.

Rating:
6

Summary:
Very impressive for a 12-year old

The book begins with a very brief history of the author’s personal soccer experience (it’s only about 2 pages; she starts playing at 7 and is only 12 when writing the history). The rest of the book then follows the author, Leah Lauber, on her assignments covering the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team for the X-Press Team, a group of children the St. Petersburg Times newspaper employed to write for the children’s section of the newspaper. Leah’s assignments included a visit to the women soccer team’s practice facility in Orlando, attending games in Florida, the gold medal game in the Atlanta Olympics, a game in Washington D.C., and the Women’s World Cup final in Los Angeles. Along with interviewing some of the players at each event, she, her father, or her grandfather took pictures, which were later used to illustrate her news stories and the book.

Included in the book are the newspaper articles Leah wrote for the Times based on her assignments as well as the full interviews with the players, which are included in the index.

Review:
I should note that I was contacted by Leah’s father to review the book after he saw some of my reviews on Amazon.com. After his description of the book and perusing the book’s website, I approached the book keeping in mind that it had been written by a 12 year-old.

First off, this is a remarkable piece of work for a 12 year-old. I wish someone had encouraged me to develop my abilities at such a young age. I hope she continues to hone her skill, as she definitely is talented.

As far as the writing goes, Leah’s writing at 12 was better than about half of the college freshmen I had in my introductory sociology course last summer. Of course, any professor that teaches college freshmen would immediately retort that there are practically illiterate students in those classes, but I think my class was particularly bright (no illiterates), and still, Leah’s writing ability was better than most of theirs. It wasn’t perfect and definitely could have used a pass over or two from the same editors that reviewed her newspaper articles (they were clearer and more well written), but it was surprisingly good, if not very complex; definitely beyond what I would expect from a 12 year-old.

Two very good decisions were made as regards to the organization of the book. First, there are a lot of pictures. Even though Leah’s writing is great considering her age, it isn’t strong enough to carry a 90 page book. Including the pictures fills up the space while keeping the book a quick read. Also, the full interviews with the players are included as appendices rather than in the book’s text. As Leah had a tendency to ask the same questions to everyone she interviewed at any particular event, the interviews can be a little redundant. The way they are presented in the text puts them to good use.

Though the intent of the book is not to provide a step-by-step account of the U.S. Women’s team, it does give enough information to explain what happened. It also provides an interesting look at some of the behind-the-scenes training for the team, a unique perspective of an uber-fan’s fixation with women’s soccer, and it drops the fact that the women’s team carried markers with them to sign autographs, which I think is pretty cool. Though I feel bad saying this because I am both a soccer player and fan, I have to admit I didn’t follow the U.S. Women’s Team very closely in the mid to late 1990s. I do, however, have an excuse – I was in a different country from 96-98. But even after that, I didn’t pay too close attention to the Women’s World Cup, in large part because I’m too cheap to pay for ESPN and ESPN2. All the games that were on the basic channels I watched, but not the others. So, for me, Leah’s outline of what happened was informative.

There were a couple of problems with the book, the biggest I’ve already mentioned – it could have used a good editor. There are some very simple grammatical mistakes, including incomplete sentences, subject/verb disagreements, and mismatched tenses. Also, at times Leah’s comments seemed like a plug for attending women’s soccer games. I’m sure it’s cool to actually be there, and if I had unlimited funds and lived closer to where they played, I’d probably go. But I am, after all, a poor graduate student; even with her encouragement, I don’t think I’m going to make it to many games any time soon.

Finally, I had a hard time appreciating some of the statements Leah made that I believe were intended to present some sort of theme or underlying take home message. Perhaps the best representation of this are the last two sentences, “And it all started with a love of reading, which led to a love of writing, combined with a love of soccer, which led to a love of the players on the U.S. National Team. Isn’t it funny how things work out sometimes?” (p. 60). I have to admit I was a bit let down by this anti-climactic finale; it isn’t original or profound. What’s more, I have no idea how it ties in to the beginning of the book as Leah begins by relating her history and there is no mention of her interest in reading. I probably shouldn’t expect too much from a 12 year-old, but still, it was a little disappointing. It did, however, illustrate to me why adults generally write children’s books – they have a clearer sense of how to incorporate deeper themes into their writing.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book, but not tremendously. I think it is better suited for a younger audience as I found many of the ideas and much of the commentary a bit superficial (I know, I know, she was only 12). The book does offer a unique perspective on the events surrounding the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team’s participation in the 1996 Olympics and the Women’s World Cup, and the pictures are nice. It could prove as an inspiration to aspiring young writers, who would be the audience for which I would recommend Soccer Dreams.

King, Stephen. 2003. From a Buick 8. Reprint. Pocket.

Rating:
8

Summary:
Stephen King is amazing; the story isn’t quite

Ned Wilcox is the son of a former trooper of Pennsylvania State Patrol Troop D, Curt Wilcox, who was killed in the line of duty by a drunk driver in 2001. In an effort to come to grips with his father’s passing, Ned begins spending a lot of time around the barracks. As he spends more and more time there he begins to become like a member of the force and eventually is accepted into their ranks as a telephone operator for the summer before he is to go to college.

The present story (a large part of the book is told as backflashes to the past) takes place during the summer when Ned is working at the barracks. Sandy Dearborn, who is now the commanding sergeant, decides one day to tell Ned about the mystery of Troop D, which also happened to be the pet project of Ned’s father Curt – The Buick 8 Roadmaster kept behind the barracks in Shed B.

The Buick showed up at a gas station one day in 1979 but isn’t a normal Buick. The engine is fake, the exhaust system is made of glass, the wheels don’t turn, etc. What’s more, the car cannot get dirty, can’t be scratched, you can’t really do anything to it, but it can do things to you. Every now and then, without any explanation as to why, the Buick will seemingly come alive, shooting lightning bright bolts through the air (though they are for the most part harmless) and act as some sort of a portal between Earth and some other planet or dimension where things are very different. Occasionally it sucks something from Earth through the portal (it sucked Curt Wilcox’s partner Ennis Rafferty through just after they found the car and later sucked a criminal through, Brian Lippy, among other things, including a number of other animals) and at other times it delivers things from the other side, including animals, plants, and even alien ‘monsters’.

Over the years, Curt, Sandy, and the former commander, Tony Schoondist, performed a number of experiments on the car and even dissected a number of the creatures that came through from the other side. The problem is that despite their investigations they were never really able to figure anything out other than the fact that when the temperature drops in Shed B, where the car is stored, it is likely that the car is going to do something.

As the recounting of the events surrounding the Buick comes to a close, Ned seems disturbed. He claims that he is going to go home, but ends up doubling back and dousing the Buick with gasoline. He is going to try to destroy the car because he believes it is what killed his father. Sandy eventually gets him out of the car, but only barely in time to save him from falling through to certain death on the other side of the portal when the car becomes active.

Eventually Ned seems to accept his father’s death, but college isn’t right for him and he returns to work at Troop D, in essence taking his father’s place. The book ends with one of the troopers committing suicide and the Buick beginning to show signs of wear as though its magical powers are finally wearing off.

Review:
In retrospect the story is good, but not a stand out. There is no amazing ending, though there is kind of climax when Ned tries to destroy the car. But what the story does have going for it is Stephen King’s writing style. He really is a brilliant writer. I was enthralled just to listen to the book.

There are a couple of problems, the biggest being the transitions between characters. I thought it was an interesting method of telling the story, periodically switching from Sandy’s perspective and voice to that of one of the other troopers or participants in the history of the Buick, but sometimes it got a little confusing. Also, because I was listening to this on CD as I was driving I was generally annoyed by the different voices. The actors on the CD did a decent job of portraying different voices, but it was still a little distracting. I think the book would have flowed better had the author stuck to just one voice.

Also, as I mentioned above, the ending is a bit anti-climactic. But I think that is actually for a reason – sometimes you just don’t understand things and, well, that’s it. I think that is really the point with this story (it isn’t always subtle as Sandy tries to get Ned to understand this point numerous times). Of course, this introduces another problem, which really did kind of bother me about the book: Why didn’t the members of Troop B ever turn this over to a university for real study? Just because we don’t understand something doesn’t mean we can’t ever understand it. I understand that this wouldn’t have worked as well as a story if upon seizing the vehicle and discovering its mysterious powers they had immediately handed it over to someone that had a clue, but it’s what I would have done.

Overall, the book is engaging because it doesn’t really reveal everything about the Buick until the very end. But, I have to admit that by half way through the novel you have been exposed to just about everything. I think I kept waiting for something even bigger to happen, but it never did. The book is remarkably well-written (other than the character changes) and has a pretty good plot idea, but it kind of fizzles in the end. I would still recommend this book for any Stephen King fan or for anyone that would like to read a Stephen King novel that doesn’t have the sex that he often throws into the mix. I really liked the book but believe it could have been better.

Wald, Kenneth D. 2003. Religion and Politics in the United States. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Rating:
10

Review:
I read this book as a text for a class on religion and politics. One of the assignments in the course was to write thought papers on each chapter of the text. Overall, the book is excellent and I would highly recommend it for a class on religion and politics. It is well-written, comprehensive and very informative. What follows are the thought papers on the chapters.

Chapter 1

Wald begins by presenting a case that the U.S. remains a highly religious society. His argument seemed to culminate in a quote I found disturbing. Wald says, “To the extent that such things can be measured, religious feeling, like religious institutions and practices, has survived intact in probably the most “modern” society known in history” (p. 12). Claiming religion, with its accompanying feelings, has remained intact, is really going too far. Yes, religion has survived, but I believe religion has changed dramatically since the founding of America.

Where these claims get interesting is in the admittance by Wald (p. 13) that he is purposefully exaggerating levels of religiosity in the U.S. to make the point that it is important to understand religion in order to understand U.S politics. This is a valid point. Nevertheless, as the case against secularization is still a raging debate in the sociological literature on religion, I was convinced by the evidence Wald had mustered that he fell down on the side of the anti-secularizationists (e.g. Hadden 1987).

Even though Wald admits he is exaggerating the case for a religious America, by the end of the chapter I was still under the impression that Wald is a skeptic of traditional notions of secularization. This impression stems from the fact that Wald does not qualify statements like the following, “Religion has certainly been touched and influenced by the modern world, but it is more accurate to speak of secularization as adjustment and adaptation than to employ the image of decline and fall” (p. 14). Without qualifying this statement to the U.S., Wald gives the impression that he does not support traditional secularization theory at all when, in fact, traditional secularization theory seems to have accurately predicted the decline of religion in every modernized country in the world except the U.S.

Chapter 2

I found two points interesting in Chapter 2. The first was Wald’s definition of religion (p. 25). The definition claimed that religion was a sense of wonderment or awe at the world and/or humanity’s connection with nature and its place in the world. I disagree with this definition. This definition makes it so that almost everything relating to humans and human culture is also religion. If everything is religion, then it follows as a logical conclusion that nothing is religion. It is generally accepted that in order to study a phenomenon you first have to define it or at least have a general understanding of what is included. If you include everything, it is impossible to develop any level of expertise. I’m much more inclined to use traditional definitions of religion that include some element of supernature (a Durkheimian derived definition).

The second point I found interesting in Chapter 2 was Wald’s use of social movements components (p. 27) in explaining religions’ involvement with politics (i.e., the Political Processes model of Sydney Tarrow, Power in Movement, 1999). Though the elements (incentives, resources, and opportunities) seem two work, there are two points to be made here. First, Wald should explain from where he is taking this idea. Second, I’m not certain categorizing religions as ‘social movements’ is accurate. In some scenarios religions may very well act in such a fashion, (e.g., political changes today). But at the same time, religion has been influential in politics and the structure of American society since its founding; America is a Judeo-Christian based society. A social movements framework doesn’t work all that well for explaining the early connection of religion with government and Wald fails to mention this.

Chapter 3

In light of my comments on Chapter 2 (that a social movements framework doesn’t adequately address all of the ways in which religion has influenced American society), I’m glad Wald included chapter 3. I have to admit I’m a little surprised by the order, though in a certain way it makes sense. I would think it would make more sense to go chronologically, illustrating how religion influenced our society from the beginning, then showing how religion continues to influence American society.

As for the contents of chapter 3, it is clearly presented and provides an important framework for understanding the foundations of the country. I also found chapter 3 particularly insightful when it commented on the specific content of early American documents (The Constitution and The Declaration of Independence). I have not read them for a long time and illustrating the connections between Puritan theology and the make up of these documents was fascinating.

I also found Wald’s discussion of the negative view of politics rooted in Puritan thought (a necessary evil) insightful. For a long time (I was raised Mormon), I considered government to be that same ‘necessary evil.’ As a secular agnostic, I see government as necessary, but in no means evil. Are politicians corrupt? Why, certainly some are, but they provide a necessary service. And considering they do it in light of the negative view of politics in America, I think they should be appreciated rather than denigrated. Of course that appreciation does not equate with ‘worship’ (and even ‘admired’ might go a bit far at times), but they do deserve to be respected.

Chapter 4

I enjoyed this chapter, though I found part of it disturbing. The reason I enjoyed the chapter was because of the detailed historical discussion of what was meant by the ‘separation of church and state.’ It seems there are a lot of claims from the pro-religious and the anti-religious that the founders had one or the other aim in mind. Perhaps Wald belongs to one or the other of these camps, but I believe his treatment of the intentions of the founders was primarily objective, based upon the scholarship that went into his discussion. As a result, I came away with a clearer understanding of what was meant by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights, though there is obviously still room for debate.

The continued debate is what I found disturbing. It seems that the Supreme Court, for quite a while, approached the relationship between church and state from a separationist stance. However, according to Wald, the Supreme Court now seems to be dominated by a more accommodationist stance, resulting in, as Wald puts it, “religious minorities [having] even narrower grounds to challenge policies in the name of free exercise” (p. 110). As a religious minority, I can’t help but personalize this issue and wonder just how much the accommodationist stance will affect my religious/a-religious rights.

Chapter 5

This chapter was very informative. Wald discussed a number of things with which I am not familiar. For instance, on p. 136 he says, “As expected, the greater the concentration of theologically conservative religious groups, the more conservative the voting habits of the district’s representative in Congress. This research suggests a significant impact on the legislative process.” Though I wasn’t particularly surprised by this finding, as it makes sense, I did find it interesting. I had never really put the two ideas together (representative voting behavior and religiosity of the constituents). But even this finding is complicated by another point discussed later in the chapter, namely the fact that a politician’s denominational affiliation did not necessarily mandate his/her political party affiliation. In order to predict this, you need more information, namely, whether the politician interprets his/her religious views from a socially progressive perspective, which equals a Democrat, or from a pro-individual perspective (or individualistic perspective, as argued by Emerson and Smith in Divided by Faith), which equals a Republican. This is another point I had not previously considered.

In addition to being surprised by some of the findings of current research, I was also shocked by the actions of our current President in his position as Governor of Texas. On p. 148, Wald describes how George W. Bush reduced the requirements for faith-based charitable organizations to qualify for public funds. The reduced restrictions included: no longer having to follow state health and safety regulations, no extensive training, and no criminal background checks. I find that scary. It seems, also, that attempts have been made to enact similar legislation at the national level, which is even more disturbing.

Chapter 6

I found two things interesting in this chapter. First, Wald argues against the idea of a ‘culture war,’ or a battle between religious groups, “My reading of the statistical material in this chapter raises substantial doubts about the value of the “culture war” hypothesis in terms of mass attitudes” (p. 174). He provides substantial evidence that indicates the positions of adherents of religious denominations varies within the denominations and also varies depending on the issues (e.g., Catholic leadership is socially progressive on most issues but is conservative on abortion and euthanasia). I think Wald is right; there is now more variation within denominations than between most denominations (there are exceptions, of course, but as a general rule…).

The second point I found interesting was an assertion made by Wald that I am sure a number of prominent scholars of Mormonism (who also happen to be Mormons) would consider inaccurate. Wald says, “In excommunicating a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for disobedience, the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) surpassed other groups in enforcing compliance with political doctrine as a condition for church membership” (p. 182). Though I would agree with Wald’s assertion, individuals like Armand Mauss would argue that Sonia Johnson (the person to whom Wald is referring), was excommunicated for reasons other than her particular view on the ERA. And, in fact, there were other issues involved, like her direct criticism of the Church’s involvement in defeating the ERA (not just the fact that she was supportive of the ERA). I point this out because a paper of mine was corrected for a similar assertion. I had claimed that the LDS Church reprimanded scholars. Mauss, the person correcting my assertion, pointed out that the LDS Church doesn’t reprimand scholars just for doing research but for what they do with that research (e.g., criticize). It’s a subtle distinction, but for him (a devoted, though questioning, believer), it is an important one nonetheless.

Chapter 7

I think the thing I found most interesting about the chapter was the fact that, despite all of the hype and attention evangelical Protestants have received since about 1980, they have not been particularly successful at achieving their aims. According to Aikman, “After 18 years of intense political activity, the Religious Right has failed in many of its cherished political and cultural objectives – from banning abortion to combating the widespread acceptance of homosexuality” (p. 240). I found this surprising due to the attention they continue to receive, which seems to indicate they have been successful. Of course, I’m sure they have been to some degree (perhaps more at the local level; as Wald indicates they have changed their focus from the national level to the local level), but I would have thought their influence would have been more profound considering how often they are mentioned both in the media and the social scientific literature on religion and religion and politics.

The other component of chapter seven I found particularly interesting was the historical treatment of evangelical Protestants. I was not aware that evangelical Protestants had been heavily involved with politics in the early 1920s and 1930s. I did find Wald’s discussion of their involvement informative especially considering they dropped out of the political arena for a number of years. Overall, the chapter was very informative and was also a thorough treatment of the involvement of evangelical Protestants in politics in the U.S.

Chapter 8

The first thing I found interesting about Chapter 8 was what Wald included in the chapter. Whereas Chapter 7 focused exclusively on evangelical Protestants, Chapter 8 talked about all of the remaining broad religious groupings involved in U.S. politics – Catholics, mainline Protestants, African-American religions, and Jews. Does Wald’s relegation of these four groups represent the respective influences of the groups on politics or does it represent the focus of political science research? Of course, by raising this point I don’t mean to indicate that I believe the groups discussed in Chapter 8 were short-shrifted. In fact, I thought the treatment of all of the groups was informative (though by no means as detailed as that of evangelical Protestants).

The second element of Chapter 8 I found interesting was the discussion of mainline Protestants. I think my interest in mainline Protestants is because this group seems to receive the least amount of attention in the social science of religion literature these days. Most of the research seems to focus on evangelicals, New Religious Movements, African-Americans, or Catholics. Perhaps mainline Protestants did receive the majority of attention 30+ years ago, but if that is the case, I am much less likely to come into contact with that literature and research. This, in turn, means I am less likely to be familiar with the religions in that category as well as their involvement in politics. Additionally, because Wald’s treatment is so short, he glosses over their involvement in politics prior to the 1960s, alleging only that it was substantial. Admittedly, current political involvement is of optimum relevance to the majority of the students/people that will read this text, but for historians/researchers of religion, a treatment of mainline Protestantism’s history and involvement with politics would have been nice.

On this topic, I think Wald’s conclusion concerning mainline Protestants was particularly insightful, “The mainline clergy seem to have ended up with the worst of both worlds: too action-oriented to suit the preferences of many congregants, and too conventional to maintain the faith of their young, affluent, well-educated constituents” (p. 275). There is definitely some merit to this conclusion, especially considering the exodus of adherents out of these religions and into either more conservative religions or into the ‘no religion’ category.

Chapter 9

The initial part of Chapter 9 really lays into religion. Wald doesn’t beat around the bush much as he points out how religion can be detrimental to politics, specifically a democratic system. Of course he limits his discussion (or at the very least, narrows the scope somewhat) to fundamentalists (of any type – Muslim, Protestant, etc.) and goes into a lot of depth to illustrate that their approach to politics can hurt a democratic system because of they’re unwillingness to compromise. For them, ‘God said it, so that’s the way it’s going to have to be;’ there doesn’t seem to be any middle ground; any thing short of God’s will is unacceptable. I don’t think I had made the explicit connections between the inability of fundamentalists to compromise and the negative influence it would have on democracy, so, this part was insightful.

But the second part of the chapter was both unconvincing and disappointing. While the first part of the chapter had numerous references and seemed to be justified by previous research, Wald’s assertions that certain forms of religious adherence can actually be beneficial for a political system seemed to be a combination of two things: (1) Wald’s opinion with very few references to back it up. (2) An attempt to appease the publisher of his book who knows that if he only discusses the detrimental influences of religion that the book will never sell in the U.S. Sure, I can see Wald’s point – for some people and in some situations, religion can actually help people against an oppressive state (Poland comes to mind here). But in a pluralist, representative democracy, I’m not sure I can see the relevance. I wonder what Wald really thinks about religion…

Spilka, Bernard, R. W. Jr. Hood, Bruce Hunsberger, and Richard Gorsuch. 2003. The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press.

Rating:
10

Summary:
Remarkably Comprehensive

This is a textbook on the psychology of religion. As such, it covers intricately most, if not all, of the ways that psychology, as a science, has attempted to study religion: humanity’s apparent need for religion, religious experience, religious belief, etc.

In addition to the psychological approaches, the text also covers many related sociological and anthropological approaches, but they are scattered somewhat randomly throughout the text. The text also includes one of the most extensive bibliographies for the psychology of religion that one is likely to find anywhere.

Review:
First, let me say that this is an absolutely wonderful text on the psychology of religion. As a sociology graduate student studying religion, I found the text to be perfectly suited for my level of understanding. When I did want to examine a concept discussed in the text in more detail, the authors almost always used the APA style of referencing so I knew where to turn for more in-depth analysis.

This said, this may not be the ideal book for first-year undergraduates. It is so remarkably comprehensive and, at times, so detailed, that many first-year undergraduates (and there were a few in my class…) may not understand it. Additionally, in this vein, the instructor who uses this as a course text is vital to a clear understanding of some of the concepts. In my case, I believe the instructor short-changed the students by doing very little to explain the concepts in the text and instead having the students summarize the chapters. I have to admit that observing this process taught me a valuable lesson as a college instructor: Unless you have worked closely with students in the preparation of course presentations, it is in the best interests of the students if the expert on the subject (the instructor) presents the material; otherwise, you are not likely to get accurate information (even though it is just a summary). Several students, in their class presentations, completely misconstrued the text and one seemed to have not read the text at all.

Another small criticism I have of the text is that it minimizes the dialectic nature of science and religion. As the quote from page 3 below illustrates, the authors try hard not to criticize religion nor to even comment on how science can be seen to undermine religious belief. At times, however, it is impossible not to tread these waters, especially when examining things like the origin of belief (e.g., attributing belief to supernature just doesn’t cut it as a scientific perspective). Thus, to argue that religion and science are not dialectic – that they do not compete as sources of knowledge – is to misconstrue their relationship. I can understand why this approach is taken at times (so college textbooks are more likely to sell in the religious U.S.), especially for academics who are personally religious, but I find it misleading, especially in light of some of the topics covered in the text where the very nature of religious belief is called into question.

Despite my small criticisms, I would consider this text an invaluable resource for any serious student of religion. The author’s explanations of psychological theories of religion as well as the integration of psychological, sociological, and anthropological research on the topic of religion into a coherent discussion is well worth the ~$70.00 price.

Pullman, Philip. 2003. The Subtle Knife. Laurel Leaf.

Rating:
10

Summary:
Another excellent book in an excellent series

This is the second book in the ‘His Dark Materials’ series. The book picks up, to some degree, where the first one left off – Lord Asriel has just opened a gateway into a different, parallel dimension. Lyra, in her rage at what her father has done (killing her friend Roger), has chosen to follow him through.

But the book actually begins with the introduction of an additional major character – Will. Will is the son of a famous explorer that died in the arctic while he was still a boy. His mother is suffering from periodic mental breakdowns and he is actually doing more to care for her than she is to care for him. When government agents begin paying frequent visits to his home looking for some documents his father sent to his mother, Will finally decides he has to get her away from the house. He leaves her with his former piano teacher, grabs the documents, and runs.

As he is making his getaway, he happens to see a cat disappear through a one of the inter-dimensional portals. Realizing this will help him hide from the agents searching for the documents, he goes through the portal and finds himself in another world. Exhausted by his adventures and burdened with the weight of what he has done, he eventually meets up with Lyra, who has taken up a brief residence in one of the abandoned houses in the town near the portal, and after a brief encounter, they begin a friendship that eventually grows to remarkable proportions (in book 3).

Lyra, who is still using her alethiometer, decides she needs to go to Will’s world to learn more about dust, the sub-atomic particles that make intelligent life possible. Making her way back to Oxford, Lyra makes the acquaintance of Mary Malone who is doing research on dark matter (dust). Lyra reveals a bit too much about herself and starts Mary on the path towards discovering what the matter really is. But Lyra also sets in motion trouble for both her and Will when she meets a man named Charles who turns out to be from her own world.

Charles eventually steals the alethiometer and demands the children, Will and Lyra, find The Subtle Knife, which is in the world in which they now reside, and bring it to him in exchange for the alethiometer. They do find it, but in the process Will becomes the wielder of the knife. As the knife chooses its wielder and the children realize what it can do – cut portals between the different parallel dimensions – they realize they don’t want this to fall into the wrong hands. They use it to get back Lyra’s alethiometer, then decide they want to find Will’s father.

Lyra uses the alethiometer to point them in the right direction. As it turns out, Will’s father is Grumman, an explorer/shaman/scientist mentioned in the first book. When he vanished, he actually vanished through an open portal into a different world and ultimately ended up in Lyra’s world. Now he realizes he has a mission to accomplish and he needs to find his son to do so. Enlisting the aid of Lee Scoresby, the aviator from the first book, Grumman eventually makes his way to Lyra and Will where he imparts to Will some knowledge and encourages them both to join Lord Asriel’s side in the pending battle before he is killed.

Review:
I couldn’t put this book down. The forethought that went into this series is truly remarkable. Characters are fluidly mentioned in one book then become important in the next. It’s convincing and almost flawlessly executed and is just one hint of how well-written this series is.

There are several plot points that are clarified in this second book that I didn’t mention in the summary. The biggest, of course, is that Lyra’s father intends to dethrone and ultimately destroy God. This becomes clearer in this book as Lyra and Will interact with the other characters, who all seem to know more than Lyra and Will do about their involvement in this battle. But since the majority of the story is from Lyra and Will’s perspective, the reader seldom knows much more than they do. As this is marketed as a children’s book, potential readers should be aware that it deals with religion and is highly critical of it. Though Pullman’s critiques of religion are more prevalent in the third book, his criticism increases in this book beyond that found in the first. (I should note I find his perspective refreshing and agree with it, which may play a part in why I enjoyed the books so much).

The character development in this second book is more detailed and nuanced than the first book. Every important character receives substantial treatment and it quickly becomes apparent how complex the characters are. This is nowhere more apparent than in Will’s fixation on his mother, whom he feels continues to need him despite the fact that he is becoming a vital part of the battle against God.

The only problem with this book is that it ends rather abruptly. Of course, there is a sequel, but I would suggest you have the sequel on hand to begin reading immediately, otherwise you’ll have to wait far too long to see how the story finally ends. I should also note that this isn’t a series where you can pick up just any book in the series and understand what is going on. Though there is some effort to clarify the backstory, you really need to read these in order to understand them.

The pacing of the novel is also remarkable. Even though Pullman’s descriptions are clear and eloquent, he does not get lost in them to the point the story is forgotten. He is really interested in telling a story and keeping the reader’s attention and he stays on track throughout the series.

The third book is by far my favorite in the series (even though it has the biggest flaws), in large part because of the conclusion and the continued critique of religion, but this book sets the stage for the final confrontation and is therefore a must read in the series.