By "Thematic Reviews" I mean items that are not better described as part of a "Places" page or a "Thoughts" or "Book Review" page (see links for these items listed below). I had a difficult time sorting out some of my Thoughts pages (which usually involve reading a book or two, but are not simply reviews) and my Thematic Reviews pages which involved multiple books, typically.
Nevertheless, here goes an attempt at listing just the thematic reviews based on multiple book readings.
Courtly Love. Two of the novels I have read by Zoe Oldenbourg, a true master of Medieval history, embedded Courtly Love into their plot, with very different effect. This is a review of the Courtly Love subplots as played out in The Cornerstone and in Cities of the Flesh, with a historical introduction taken from Oldenbourg's Massacre at Montsegur.
Courtly Love in the lives of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland. (Link takes you to Part Two of a Three-Part look at these two highly creative lives, their expression of courtly love, and their teachings).
"New" Physics (a critical appraisal [using many other sources] of a Gary Zukav book called The Dancing Wu-Li Masters which I called "Naked Woolly Dancers," just for fun: it attracts MANY hits -- to the first page only!)
Earliest Christianity: a series of book reviews (a 2003 effort with a 2008 update of one book # 23's review, a book by Dan Kane, since then it was web-based, and now it is a published book)
PS: I have read and reviewed several additional books on this topic in 2009. They are listed in the Books Reviewed page and also in the 2009 Yearbook page.
Mary Magdalene and her role in early Christianity. Two books reviewed at one time, and one book reviewed summarily earlier on my "Divine Feminine" page, with photos.
The West and Islam. This thematic review begins here, and then branches to commentaries on a book by Ayaad Hirsi Ali called "The Caged Virgin," by Serge Trifkovic called "The Sword of the Prophet," and by Asra Nomani called "Standing Alone in Mecca." My favorite of the three was Nomani's, my second favorite was Hirsi Ali's, and Trifkovic does not get an honorable mention in this review (although his review is the longest of the three). At the very end of my readings I also ran into, and quoted just a little from, Iman Feisel Abdul Rauf's "What is Right with Islam."
A series of Book Reviews on reality, existence, consciousness, God, religion.
A review of 5 books on recent developments in physics, cosmology and the meaning of life Authors reviewed inlude Lisa Randall, Paul Davies, Michio Kaku, David Darling, and Joel Primack & Nancy Abrams. I really liked and recommend the Primack and Abrams book, # 3 in my list. (The book by Tipler in the Book Reviews listing ought to have been added to this series of readings but it came too late).
In 2010 I read yet another book on this topic: Frank Wilczek's The Lightness of Being; Mass, Ether and the Unification of Forces, a truly readable overview of progress in modern physics by a Nobel Laureate (published in 2008).
A discussion of our human experience being a result of historical developments involving a hierarchy of emergent properties. Reference is made to a book on primitive religion by the "father" of the science of sociology, Emile Durkheim.
A medley of thoughts from reading books by Mary Doria Russell, including her latest Dreamers of the Day and her foreword in a new edition of A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Mention is also made of Uranium by Tom Zoellner.
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