January 2025 Look to the Heavens!

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This month's theme can be interpreted in many ways, the choice is yours! When I envisioned this topic, I was thinking more about the physical: comets, asteroids, planets, space travel, galaxies, celestial objects, constellations, black holes, and extraterrestrial life, amongst other things. However, depending upon one’s perspective, other topics could also fit well: the concept of an afterlife or the nature of God or divine beings in relation to the heavens. As always, either fiction or non-fiction will suffice; but most of all: ENJOY! Please let us know what you will be reading and share any recommendations. The wiki is here (to come)

Possibilities:
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
The Sparrow by Doria Russell
Angels by Billy Graham
Off on a Comet by Jules Verne
Death by Black Hole by Neil de Grasse Tyson
The Secret Life of Stars by Lisa Harvey-Smith
Astronomical Mindfulness: Your Cosmic Guide to Reconnecting with the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets by Christopher de Pree
The Case for Heaven by Lee Stroebel
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander III MD
Flight to Heaven: A Plane Crash...A Lone Survivor...A Journey to Heaven--and Back by Dale Black
We Dream of Space by Erin Kelley (YA)
Antarctica and the Secret Space Program: From WWII to the Current Space Race by David Childress
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel

For my "book" read: Colleen McDannell, Heaven: A History. Or Dava Sobel, A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. I doubt I'll get to both for January, though, so it all may depend on which one is more physically accessible in my TBR boxing.

For my Great Courses viewing, maybe Alex Filippenko, Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition? There are a number of other GC vids on astronomy and the cosmos, but this is the king of them all, clocking in at 96 half-hour sessions for a total of 48 hours. Dunno if I'll be able to fit it all into a single month.

My plan is to read The Astronomer's Obsession by K. Lyn Smith, a historical romance.

I had to order a book for this. It's one I read part of years ago, and always meant to get back to it. Unfortunately, it is no longer available through the library, so.... I guess I want to read it enough to actually purchase it!
The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology

For fiction, I have noted a couple on my TBR, but it's doubtful I will get to them. Still you never know...
The Calculating Stars
Celestial Persuasion

I am planning on reading The Night of the Comet by George Bishop.

I have Death by Black Hole (Neil deGrasse Tyson) and The Stardust Revolution (Jacob Berkowitz) on my shelves and that may be a good time to actually read them. And just in case I get bored, there is also How Old Is the Universe? (David A. Weintraub) sitting next to them.

I'm wanting to read Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson. I do not have, will probably take a while to read, so would have to purchase. I have Lee Stroebel's The Case for Heaven on my shelf, so for sure I will read that one. I've read Stroebel's The Case for Easter and found it to be quite good.

Star dust revolution really does look good (would this go with the RG theme the renaissance?

>8 cindydavid4: I just typed in Star dust revolution in LT and nothing came up. I searched in Google and found The Stardust Revolution: The New Story of Our Origin in the Stars by Jacob Berkowitz. If that is the one, the blub is: book by award-winning science author Jacob Berkowitz that describes a scientific revolution that occurred in 1957. Goodreads has it as 20th century science. There might be something in there about the Renaissance, but I wouldn't think that is its focus, but I could be wrong!

I must have packed my copy of The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom but I found 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life by Don Piper.

I will probably read some sci fi or a book about astronomy for this month's theme. Plenty of choice for me here.

>9 Tess_W: oops thx I didnt see it was about 1957 (my birth year!) there was something that spoke ren to me but no idea what,,,,

>12 cindydavid4: Unless......that's the beginning and it goes backward in time......could have "started" in the Renaissance?

hee, probably not, just me not paying attention

I plan to take another look at Orbital, 2024 Booker Prize winner. I read about half of it last year and put it aside. After reading so many good reviews on LT from readers I get good suggestions from, and of course, the book winning the award, I’m feeling it deserves a second chance. Could have just been the wrong book for me at the time, and I know I was trying to read it too fast.

I read The Case for Heaven by Lee Strobel. It is a book that investigates the concept of heaven from a Christian perspective, using journalistic methods to explore its validity. Strobel, a former atheist, applies his background in law and journalism to examine scientific, theological, and historical evidence regarding the afterlife. In one chapter Strobel gets quite scientific interviewing a neuroscientist about her experiences with patients who have had near death experiences or out of body experiences. Much of the book is speculation and is more suited to believers than others. 93 pages 4 stars

Read 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper
This is an autobiography of Don Piper and his death, going to Heaven, and returning.
Don Piper is a Baptist parson who was in an accident when a semi- truck hit his car. He was declared dead at the accident scene.
At the end of the book, he writes " I don't have to defend my experience. I know what happened to me. For those whose faith is in the reality of heaven, no amount of evidence is necessary. I know what I experienced."
A very emotional read for me; I usually read one chapter at a time.
Before each chapter there is a scripture.
1-The Accident
2-My Time in Heaven
3-Heavenly Music
4-From Heaven to Earth
5-Earth to Hospital
6-The Recovery Begins
7-Decisions and Challenges
8-Pain and Adjustments
9-Endless Adjustments
10-More Miracles
11-Back to Church
12-Opening Up
13-The Clasping Hand
14-The New Normal
15-Touching Lives
16-Finding Purpose
17-Longing for Home
18-The Why Question
A 5 star rating. It is not the first book I have read of people returning.

Galileo's Daughter / Dava Sobel
2 stars

(One of) Galileo’s daughters wrote letters to her father, so this includes those letters. She was a nun (as were her other sisters, I think, though one not by choice, I think). Primarily, though, I think this followed Galileo himself more than his daughter.

This is nonfiction, and I listened to the audio (which may explain why I’m not too sure what all happened). It just didn’t hold my interest. I caught bits and pieces of things… Galileo was still religious despite the conflict his science brought to religion; somewhere along the way he was on trial and I think he went to jail? I haven’t read anything else about him, so I’m not sure, and either this book or the audio or both just didn’t interest me enough to pay attention. One word I heard far too many times was the odd pronunciation of Soeur (sounded like “sewer” or “sewar”), so I feel like I heard him say “Sewer” Maria (whatever the rest of her nun name was). That definitely bothered me! (And as I read the summary now, of course, it’s Italian, not French so the word is Suor… so I’m not sure how that should be pronounced.) Anyway, I might be willing to try a different book about Galileo, but this isn’t the one for me.

>18 LibraryCin: Oh man, I have that Audiobook in my library!

Last night I finished Orbital, this year’s Booker Award winner, written by Samantha Harvey, and am very glad I decided to give it a second chance. Once I surrendered to enjoying the beautifully written story of six astronauts’ day aboard an orbiting space station, I was totally drawn in and am still experiencing the feeling that I am part of the crew. Such an eerie novel! And the descriptions of the earth as seen from the orbiting spacecraft are gorgeous.

>19 Tess_W: Hopefully you'll like it better?