Interesting one way conversation
590597
I am proud and grateful to call myself a new U. A. Citizen yet I also agree with the author's comment:  "... it makes sense to pay close attention to others and make a decision based on more data."
Grab a Yuengling and read this book!
4654818
Interesting to pick up for a few minutes here and there but not something to just get immersed in.  Maybe I think along other lines for the questions.
1101568
This book is subtitled "A Conversation", and conversation is right.  The book is broken into chapters, and then each chapter has short sections with bold headings and each author writes one to three paragraphs with a take on that topic.  The athors respond to one another.  Very much like sitting in on a conversation, and not at all an edited volume.  For each topic, you get everyone's take, but they've written it to where it flows together smoothly.

Writing style is conversational.  Sometimes there are citations, but it's more like these are people with lots of academic background in the field and they are referencing where  you can find more info or how they know something.  It's not to where they did research for this books on each focused topic.  Instead they've done research in this area for a long time, so know the background well.

The book is meant to be read straight through, or maybe a chapter at a time.  There is an index, so you can find where specific topics come up, and you could use this to get the background on those.  But, it's more really meant to be read straight through.

I think that if you are curious about this book, you would like it.  I've followed danah boyd's work since she was in grad school, so the book was interesting for me.
4142853
A fascinating discussion in which both participants try very hard to address each other's actual views, rather than knock down straw men; and in which each acknowledges the other's good points. A rather hopeful beginning to a long-procrastinated conversation of civilizational importance...
1733247
I liked the book. It seems like she is in the room talking to me. Just one thing maybe she could think more of non North American audience when she shares and gives a piece of advice. But practical and concise.
1228711
Interesting story, good dialog, but not enough weight
4178780
My daughter and I have fun talking about how relationships with teenagers are and how their relationships with each other are.  It helps to know that I am not the only one going through these times!
479713
It was a good start, else silly for communicating and learning each other. My relationship is at a level where these things are getting really good. Was hoping for a little more in depth. All in all it was good.
3715044
An entertaining read.  It would make a good gift for that one quirky friend who is always saying random things that don't quite fit into the discussion at hand.  It won't change your life, but you might nod your head in agreement with his thoughts or make you reminisce about good memories.
619718
This is a great conversation starter for the free thinkers, I keep it on my end table in the living room and have had many interesting conversations around it. I have a good library of books for freethinkers and I have loaned some of them out after people see this and start questioning the interpritations of storys they have been told their whole lives.
4938545
This book is a refreshing little dip for an author looking for some snap. About one in four are really good one way or the other. It's a neat little literary field trip and a great conversation starter. I am pleased to add  it to my library.
3141335
I enjoyed this story. I look forward to how it continues in the next installment.

The best part is the story, the second best part is having this conversation with people:
Me - "So, yeah. I just started reading a neat story."
Them - "Oh yeah? What's it about"
Me - "Well, its an Amish Sci-Fi"
Them - "Oh that sounds.. wait... what?"
4580182
This was a fun read. I think I am correct in saying that it reads like a lecture - there are some chatty moments. I enjoyed it and learned a great deal.
4912528
Questions are helpful to stir conversation but can be redundant. The leadership info in the back is helpful for small group discussions.
2753163
This book is a collection of conversations between booksellers and their customers, who ask, or say, the strangest things. Some are weird, some thought provoking but all are pretty funny. A quick read, but time spent reading this book is not wasted.
4305272
This is an interesting book that offers insights into Islam and the Quran based on the conversations between a secular American and a madrasa-trained sheikh.  It is a book of conversations between two friends about their world views rather than a complex examination of Islam but it works for me because of that conversational tone between friends.

The author Carla Power grew up in both the Midwest and the Middle East and covered the Middle East as journalist. A secular American she grew up the daughter of a lapsed Quaker father and a Jewish mother whose faith lay in bagels and dim memories of the dreidel song.  She notes later in chapter 2 of the book Ours was a secular household who churches were art galleries and parks and whose default setting was doubt.

Her friend  Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a professor of religion at Oxford is hard to describe. The author notes that he seems to be defined differently based on who is describing him. He laso is a bit of a paradox. She states that he is a champion of womens rights who accepts that Islam allows polygamy. His also is a champion of creative thought so long as it is based on proper Islamic scholarship and classical sources. She states Every time I thought Id found a term to describe him, the opposite seemed to apply. To try to characterize the Sheikh was to flail.

This is a book about these two friends discussing Islam and the West. I found the conversations interesting and I learned much about Islam because the dialogue was open to each person entertaining the others ideas even if they did not agree with them.

Importantly this is not a book that attempts to understand all aspects of Islam. It does not compare in detail Christian or Jewish beliefs with Islam. It is Carla Power talking with her friend Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi and both of them trying to understand each other better.

The book works because these two are friends. They are two people  who already have a commonality in their friendship who are trying to find more commonality.  Yet they also can disagree but because they are friends it  allows  them to disagree and at the same time still have their friendship in common.

Carla Power also writes well. That also helps make this book such a good read.
1171956
Interesting.  Liked interaction between three generation
Family