Book review: The Ultimate Triumph - The limited signed edition

"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind", the borderer said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. "Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph"
                    Beyond the Black River, 1935

  Empires rise, and empires fall. Throughout history, the earthly thrones of human regimes bud, and fade like leaves in the winter chills. Time and again, these empires and civilizations crumple and quake beneath the invasions from "barbarians". We have all heard of the phrase "barbarians at the gate". The somber reflection of history, seems to indicate a cyclic pattern: The demise of civilization in the waking inferno of red-handed barbarians.

 This is the enduring worldview of Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), the greatest pulp writer of all time; Corruptions and degeneracy manifest themselves as a civilization makes progress. Ultimately, when a civilization is rotten to its core, the "barbarians at the gate", a more primitive group, from outside the gateway, with hardiness and disciplines shaped by their struggle to survive the tough environs, rise up and overtake a civilization and rule in its stead. This seems to be a self repeating pattern, when one glimpses into the flowing river of history.

In Robert E. Howard's short career as an author between the 1920s to 1930s. He wrote more than 600 short stories and 700 poems, and he created some of the most enduring and iconic literary characters of all time, such as Solomon Kane, Conan the Cimmerian, Bran Mak Morn, Cormac Mac Art, Turlough O'brien, Francis Xavier Gordon... these tales impacted the world of fantasy fiction very deeply, and Robert E. Howard is widely regarded as the father of sword and sorcery sub-genre.

 Readers of Robert E. Howard's stories, are inevitably aware of Howard's disillusion with the notion of civilization. What could drive a man to despise civilization so much? Howard's did not arrive at his worldview by observing the history alone. To understand the elements that shaped Howard's worldview and writings. We need to understand something of Robert E. Howard's life. Howard grew up in a Texan town called "Cross Plain" in the 1920s. When his family first arrived at Cross Plain, it was a little town, peaceful and God-fearing. Sooner than later, the oil boom swept the town off its feet, and in the pace of a few years. The town was transformed from the inside out. The riches brought by the oil boom, also brought corruptions, violence and all sorts of negativity that impacted the community. As the Howard scholar Mark Finn correctly observed about Howard's experience growing up at a boom town:

"He saw the hypocrisies of the boom clearly, an ironic state of affairs that allowed for "progress" and "civilization" to come with their own predators and brigands. He watched as the quiet, God-fearing town suddenly became a wild and lawless place. He watched as the backdrop of his early childhood descended on an area of the country he had come to know, and he saw the effect it had on people his family knew very well".
                             Mark Finn, Blood and Thunder: The Art & Life of Robert E. Howard

No wonder so many of Howard's protagonists are barbarians. These characters are neither savages, nor are they men pampered by the spoils of civilization. While Howard despised civilization, nor does he revere the idea of "noble savage", Howard did not think human beings would be better off if we were in a status of complete savageness. Howard's barbarians are not just muscle-bound, fighting simpletons. Howard's barbarians are often portrayed as heroes contemplating with life, with naked honesty, stolid ferocity and iron determinations to uphold their principles, no matter what trials they face. Under Howard's pen, his barbarians contrast the hypocrisies of decadent men wearing the serpentine mask of civilized mannerism. It can be said that by creating these characters, Howard was stating his disillusion with the civilization, and the negative aspects that accompanies it".

Since Howard's death in 1936. Most of Howard's literary creations have been greatly diluted with  B-grade pastiches, comic books and Hollywood movies. Sadly, while the popular media has made many of Howard's creations famous, but they have also created stereotypes that Howard's literary inventions are cheap, cheesy, and second grade literature thriving on violence and sex appeal. Needless to say, none of these stereotypes are true. Recently, there has been a resurgence and increased demand for publishing Howard's original writings, unadulterated and unabridged. In 1999, the book publisher Wandering Star released a book called "The Ultimate Triumph". This is the second volume in their series of "Robert E. Howard Library of classics". The name is taken from Howard's famous quote from the story "Beyond the Black River" (the quote at the beginning of this review).

This book collects 7 of Howard's iconic stories on barbarism vs. civilization. The genre of the stories in this volume, range from sword and sorcery to historical fiction. The book is also illustrated by Frank Frazetta (1928-2005), the legendary fantasy artist who provided over 120 black and white drawings, and 4 color plates to illuminate the text. The limited edition of this book was restricted to 1500 copies, signed by Frank Frazetta, in hardcover format and encased with a beautiful slip case.

 The stories collected in this volume are:

Beyond the Black River - Arguably one of the best stories Howard ever wrote, an unique Conan story with the background of the frontier setting.

The House of Arabu - A horror/fantasy story featuring Pyrrhas the Argive, the Greek Barbarian

Spears of Clontarf - This is a historical fiction story based on the event of Battle of Clontarf in 1014, an epic battle between the Vikings and the Celts. This is a story containing all the classic Howardian elements.

The Night of the Wolf - The Irish reaver Cormac Mac Art is entangled in a conflict between the Vikings and the Picts.

Spear and Fang - The clash in a prehistorical age. A Cro Magnon man vs. a Neanderthal man, it doesn't get more barbaric than this.

The Valley of the worm - A Beowulf like pseudo-mythological tale from the dimming memory of mankind.

Lord of Samarcand - This is probably the darkest heroic fantasy story from Howard. A historical fiction based on the history of Timur (Tamerlane), who dreamed of restoring Genghis Khan's Mongolian empire. In the story, the protagonist is a Celtic outlaw called Donald MacDeesa who, through a twist of fate, served under Tamerlane's army of conquest.

In addition to the stories, this collection also contains five of Howard's poems.

The Ultimate triumph, showcased some of the most iconic barbarian stories written by Robert E. Howard. The theme of barbarism vs. civilization dominated recurs throughout all of them. Howard wrote these stories with poetic lyricism, together with his signature style of "blood and thunder". The stories are fast paced, furiously energetic and flamboyantly entertaining. Howard wrote with the intensity of a hunting wolf, at times, the text seems to be bursting into a raging fire from the sheer energy emanating from Howard's prose writings. The readers are transported to worlds and ages crafted by Howard's vivid imaginations; back to the field of Clontarf fighting alongside Turlough O'Brien, to the dark forest beyond the Thunder River and joining Conan in his struggle against the Picts, or as a witness to the death throne of Tamerlane, the last great conqueror of the world.

My take on Barbarism vs. civilization -  Part 1: The Ultimate Triumph

The theme predominating the selection of stories in this entire book, as its name suggests, is the ultimate triumph of barbarism over the decadent civilization. Does Howard's view have any credibility? Personally, I think his view is a very honest take on this known tension that has echoed throughout ages.

In our 21st century world, we often boast about our own achievements. We boast in our technological advancements, we boast in our culture that revere human rights, and we boast in our improved quality of life style in the western world, such as fine food, fine drinks, and top notch entertainment. But I often wonder, are our accumulative efforts really making the world a better place? New atheism movement wants us to believe that our collective efforts can drive our society to evolve to be a better place for all. The question is this, while the quality of life has improved in the first world countries, but if our 21th century civilization is really that great, than why isn't everyone happy? Can our own collective efforts bring us perfect happiness, or at a deeper level, perfect joy?

On the contrary, it seems that our "progress" and "advancement" came with some heavy prices. A few examples: Our rapidly improving technology has enabled us to make damning weapons that can wipe out an entire city in one blast in a matter of seconds. Our internet technology has allowed people to mass produce, store and view child pornography, and also enabled wholesale global human trafficking and sex slavery trade, all of these were not available before the birth of the internet. Our over reverence of human rights has gone haywire, producing a society where people are becoming more and more individualistic and apathetic. On the other hand, the improved quality of lifestyle has produced a materialistic, consumerism based society, where people's lives are dominated by the pursuit of personal pleasure, a facade jungle, a colorful disguise masking the invitation to unfathomable degeneracy. One only needs to stay sober for a while to ask a question, that despite our "progress", is our 21st century world is really better than the world where our ancestor fought, died, bled and inhibited?  Have we misplaced our faith on our own ability to make things better?

Please understand, that I am not undermining the value of our technology, reverence of human right and improvements over the quality of life. Nor am I against the pursuit of personal pleasure. These things are good. I am just trying to assert an honest statement, that it would be extremely arrogant of us to use our 21st century worldview and our 21st century morality (which are not perfect anyway), to step into history and pronouncing the superiority of our civilization over those who treaded before us. And perhaps, our faith in our own ability to make things better needs to be re-evaluated.


In this regard, we cannot be sure our civilization is "progressing" instead of "regressing". What if our society is, in reality gradually plunging into degeneracy, hidden underneath the illusion of our proud progress? What standard we should use to measure this? If history does repeat itself, that civilizations inevitably become decadent as it becomes drunk in its glory, then one day when our civilization is rotten to the core, what manner of barbarism, or barbarians will flood through the gateway of our civilization, bearing the black doom on their shoulders? Will such a day become a reality?

Perhaps, pondering on the question of barbarism and civilization is only scratching the surface of a deeper problem. Are humankind locked into the inescapable destiny of this seemingly eternal pattern? If barbarism is to ultimately triumph over civilization that grows degenerate, then we can say the cause of both barbarism and corruption of civilization lies within our own hearts. Perhaps, we need an alternative. Maybe, instead of trying to achieve the ultimate triumph with our own efforts, we need to let love triumph? If the central teaching of Christianity speaks the truth, that God loved us first, while we were still sinners. Then we can have faith that, in the face of barbarism and the failures of our civilization, love, will ultimately triumph. Had Howard realized this, I wonder if he could have made even more impact to the world of literature, by not putting a bullet into his head on that fateful day in 1936.

Disclaimer:

 I am including some illustrations entailed in this book (found below), for the purpose of this book review. I do not own the copyright to these artworks, the copyright of these artworks belong to Frank Frazetta Properties LLC.

 

 

Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

 Bane: "Gotham, take control... take control of your city. Behold, the instrument of your liberation! Identify yourself to the world!"

The Dark Knight Rises, is the third installment of Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy, and the director has promised a fitting conclusion to this well beloved movie series. Ever since the release of Batman Begins in 2005, the audiences have journeyed alongside one fictional character, Bruce Wayne. His titanic battles to wrench a city and its people that he cares so much about, from the dooming grasps of monstrous villains, such as the likes of the shadowy Ra's Al Ghul, and the anarchic Joker.

Batman Begins, received many positive praises. But its squeal The Dark Knight, due to the mesmerizing performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker, a well executed plot, impressive visuals and an all round excellent cast, set a new standard for movies of this genre almost impossible to surpass.

  The announcement and the release of the finale in this trilogy, has generated hypes and very high expectations. Some suspect, if The Dark Knight Rises would be able to match the standard set by its predecessor. After seeing this movie, personally, I think Dark Knight Rises is every bit as good as the Dark Knight. Whatever element that is missing from its predecessor, the Dark Knight Rises makes up with strengths of its own.

Synopsis:

  It has been 8 years since the event in The Dark Knight. The city of Gotham is enjoying a prospering peace. A peace secured by a lie, told by James Gordon and Bruce Wayne to hide the truth behind Harvey Dent's death and his actions. Under this lie, Harvey Dent is worshiped as a hero, and his legacy has kept the most dangerous criminals in Gotham to be locked up in the prison. Batman took the blame for Harvey Dent's actions, subsequently disappeared, and became a villain in public eyes of the Gotham city.

Bruce Wayne, after retiring from his former crime fighting career as the Batman, has retreated to a lifestyle of a hermit, a haunting ghost in his mansion. Completely withdrawn from the society and human contact, living under the shadow of grief, despaired over the tragic death of his former love interest, Rachel Dawes.

It is at the height of the peaceful time, a mysterious, masked figure known as "Bane" made an appearance into the theme. Bane is as intelligent as Batman, and physically stronger than Batman in his prime. A symbol of utilitarianism masked with a more dire undercurrent motivation.

Despite his physical deterioration and past injuries, with Gotham city threatened by the dooming villainy again, Bruce Wayne is forced to dome the cape and cowls once more, to overcome the physical obstacles, to triumph over the trauma that haunts his memories, to be the Dark Knight once more, the last bastion rising up against the incoming torrent of chaos, unleashed by the villainous Bane.

What I think about this movie:

The Dark Knight Rises, brings a fitting conclusion to the Dark Knight trilogy. A thought provoking, epic and satisfying end to a fantastic movie series. For the first time in this movie franchise. Batman has met a villain of his equal (and superior), a masked villain called Bane. Tom Hardy's portrayal as Bane is superb, bringing the audience with an overwhelming presence of menace, intelligence and brutality. For an actor performing with a mask covering half of his face. Tom Hardy still managed to successfully presented the essence of Bane to the audience, with the expression of his eyes and body language. As usual, Christian Bale's performance as Bruce Wayne is as good as in the previous Batman films, his portrayal of Bruce Wayne as a man haunted and struggling with his past memories, is exactly what is needed in a film such as The Dark Knight Rises. Anne Hathaway's portrayal as Selina Kyle/Catwoman brings many surprises to the previous speculation that the introduction of Catwoman might ruin the film. In the movie, Catwoman has an interesting relationship with Batman, and she brings many intrigues and twists of plot well knitted into the overall story. The introduction of the character James Blake, is an interesting addition, his character is a mixture between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent, a character that never looses hope. In general, the cast of The Dark Knight Rises did excellent jobs in bringing their characters to vivid liveness on the silver screen.

The director Chris Nolan also brought a grand visual spectable in The Dark Knight Rises. The action scenes are exciting, energetic and vibrant. The dark undertone of the movie pulsed and matched with the theme of Bruce Wayne story, under a brilliant blend of on-beat and off-beat rhythmic harmony.

The brilliancy of the grim story in this movie, shined through the exploration of some inter-related topics:

1) Barbarism vs. civilization: The story of The Dark Knight Rises reflects the descendancy of a civilized society into barbarism. In this movie, the society was not invaded by "barbarians at the gate". Rather, the society took a plunge into barbarism from the collapse within, the dismantling of a structure setup by human failures.

2) Utilitarianism: To destroy the city of Gotham, Bane did not use his physical might. He employed a tactic more powerful. Through his speech, Bane successfully embedded the idea that human rights can be considered as a guidance to morality. In a society where the chasm between the rich and poor is vast, Bane empowered the people manipulatively, making them believe that it is their right to take control, that their perception of ethics is the only thing that matters. The result is the people are fooled into starting a revolution under a dictator with ulterior motives.

3) The story of this movie attempted to demonstrate; even with the best of intentions. Concealing the truth can led to dire consequences.

The story of The Dark Knight Rises allures to the symbolism from Charles Dicken's novel, A tale of two cities. The drama unfolded in Gotham city is set in the theme of revolution, where Bane acts as the figurehead of a revotionary, an utilitarian and a dictator. The heroes in the movie who opposed Bane; such as Batman, James Gordon, Lucius Fox and John Blake, are characters equivalent to Sydney Carton, protecting that which they love with altruism and courage.

While some people might accuse The Dark Knight Rises being preachy, and packed with hidden agenda. But to me, I think the story illuminates a profound underlying reality: Even with our best intentions, our limited human abilities and sense of justice can sometimes do more harm than good. The civilization that we attempt to uphold with our perceptions of ethics can breed true injustice, and when it reaches a boiling point, and under circumstances. All you need, is a slight push guided by would-be dictator with a personal ambition, then a revolution will make a civilization descend back into barbarism. This is not a fantasy story, but as history tells us it can happen, through the bloody examples of the French revolution, the Russian revolution, and the cultural revolution in China.

Dark, grim and reflective. The Dark Knight Rises ended the mythology of Bruce Wayne story with many touches of realism. A good mythology is the one where the moral of the story makes us think. Through the florid speech of the villain Bane, we are challenged with an honest question of vast relevance, lying at the heart of many social debates in our contemporary culture is this: Should we let human rights be the guidance to our ethics?

Movie rating: 9/10

Movie review: The Amazing Spiderman (3D)

 Here is a classic story that many people can recognize: Once upon a time, a teenage boy was bitten by a genetically mutated spider, and he acquired the abilities of a spider! The boy domed a spandex suit of red and blue, so he started a life long career of busting criminals and genetically mutated super bad guys. He is.. Spiderman!


  Spiderman has come a long way. He is a comic book superhero created by Stan Lee, first appeared in 1962. If you do the maths, this year, Spiderman will turn 50 years old! The chances are that most people beneath the age of 60 would have heard, read or watched stuff based on Spiderman. 


  I watched Spiderman in 2002, and certainly remember the memorable theme when the tearful Peter Parker (starring Toby Maquire) was told by his dying uncle that, "with great power, comes great responsibility". What a memorable line! Following the success of the first Spiderman mvie in 2002, the movie maker produced two more sequels, both were blockbusters and commercial successes. In 2012, the movie maker has decided to reboot the Spiderman movie franchise. Initially, I wasn't too sure if I even want to watch this new movie. After all, it was only 10 years ago that the first Spiderman was made. Why are they making a reboot already? Is this a sign that Hollywood is desperately struggling for new ideas?


Two weeks after the movie's release, I decided to check this movie out during my time off work. It turned out that the movie is actually pretty good, and I am here to provide a review for those who might be interested.

Synopsis:

  Peter Parker's parents were scientists. On a dark night, when Peter was still a child, they sent him to live with his uncle and aunt. Peter's parents subsequently disappeared afterward. As Peter was growing up, the mysterious disappearance of Peter's parents have left plenty of questions to be answered in Peter's mind. 10 years later, as a teenage school boy, Peter was a bit distant from the rest of the kids at school, he is being bullied, but often step up against the bullies for those who are being bullied. He has a love interest, Gwen Stacy. Peter caught the eyes of his love interest, after he tried to protect a kid who was  being publicly humiliated by a school bully.

 One day, Peter was cleaning the basement of his uncle's house. He discovered a briefcase, where he found his father's research notes. These puzzling notes roused Peter's interest to investigate the nature of his father's works. After being informed by his uncle that, his father used to work for Osborne corp. Peter sneaked into the company building, where he met his father's co-worker, Dr. Curt Connors. He slipped into a "secret research lab", and was bitten by a curious, little spider. On the way home, he felt into a trance on the subway train. When he woke up, he found himself with some pretty bizarre abilities.

But that is only the beginning of a series of adventures to follow..

What I think about the movie:

I think the new Spiderman movie is pretty good. While there is nothing really new to this movie that can make a distinction between the 2012 version and the 2002 version, but it is still a fun, entertaining  movie based on a very good story. The main theme in this movie, is still the relationship between "power" and "responsibility". This time, the theme is told in a more subtle way. The audience get to see the journey and the transformation that Peter Parker undertook, to become a superhero known as Spiderman.

There are a few differences between the 2002 movie and the 2012 movie other than different casts, directors, and improved CGI/speical effects. In the new Spiderman movie, the story kind of explained why Peter Parker doesn't have parents, and the disappearance of his parents plays an essential role to the main story of this movie. Other minor differences, such as Peter's love interest at school is Gwen Stacy, and not Mary Jane Watson, which is a more accurate reflection to the original Spiderman comics. Also, the main villain is "The Lizard". The story of this super villain is very well knitted into the main plot, and I think the story writer of the new Spiderman movie really deserves a round of applause.

The biggest difference in the new Spiderman movie, is that this movie is a lot darker than the 2002 version. The protagonist, Peter Parker went through a lot of emotional toils in this "origin story". Also, Spiderman is portrayed more realistically, as Peter Parker is often shown to be wounded and bruised after a night of superhero action. Inevitably, the darker undertone of the new Spiderman movie also means this film is more violent than the 2002 version. In terms of CGI, the special effects are really good, but I did not really feel like I was watching a 3D movie. There are occasional scenes when things "popped out" of the screen, but other than that, I think it wasn't "3D" enough.

There are a few things, a few sentences and dialogues that really grabbed my attention, and I would like throw them at my readers, inviting you to think about them, and cross-examine the worldviews presented in this movie against the Christian worldview, and see if they hold any truth:

- Uncle Ben: "If you can do good things for other people, then you have the moral responsibility to do it".

Question: What does it mean by "good"? It seems the definition of "good" is not very clear here. Also, Uncle Ben seems to be indicating that we should only do "good things" to people who we think that deserve it. Is this what the Bible teaches us? Who is actually good?

- Uncle Ben: "You owe the world your gifts.. come on home Peter, you are my hero".

Question: Are we in debt to the "world" because of our talents, where does this idea of "in debt" coming from? Are we morally obligated to serve others because we "owe" it to the "world"? What does the Bible say on this topic? I would like to invite my readers to think about "who" actually gave us our gifts (did the world give us our gifts?), and what doe Bible say about the reason why should we serve others? I think reading God's words will reveal a very different view, when compared to what Uncle Ben is saying here.

- Peter Paker: "This is my responsibility, I have to fix it".

Question: Can we really solve our problems with our good intentions? Can we find justifications for our actions, with our good intentions?

I leave my readers to discover the answers to the questions I listed above.

Summary:

The new Spiderman movie doesn't really have a lot of new things, to distinguish it from the 2002 version. Despite this, I still enjoyed the movie immensely. I think the reason is because the story of Spiderman is good, it has always been good. The story of Peter Parker, and his struggles to do the right thing, to be responsible for his powers, at the cost of his own interests, is something we can all identify ourselves with; at work, in our families, in our every day lives.

The Amazing Spiderman is a good movie, if you don't have a chance to see it in the cinema now, it might still be worth your time to hire it from a video store, when it is released for home media. It has a compact, emotional story, good special effects and lots of action scenes at neck-breaking pace. It is also worthwhile to reflect on the worldviews presented in this movie, and compare it against the Christian worldview, and next time, you will have a conversation starter.

Rating: 8/10

Book Review: The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland

We are fascinated with tales of the mythical and the strange. From age to age, continent to continent, every culture has its own mythological tales. Some mythologies, are more influential than the others. Do you know, that Norse mythology is present in our everyday life? From the naming of weekdays, to books and movies. Just in case if you don't know already. Tuesday, is derived from Tyr, the god who sacrificed one of his hands to bind the giant wolf Fenrir. Wednesday (Woden's day), is derived from Odin, the Norse god of war, and also known as the "all father". Thursday, is derived from Thor, the Norse god generally associated with thunder, lightning, strength and protection. Friday, is derived from Frigg, the goddess who was Odin's wife.

Culturally, Norse mythology has inspired and shaped the stories of many movies and books. The recent blockbuster, Marvel's Avengers, is inspired and based on characters in Norse mythology. Authors of fantasy fiction, such as J.R.R Tolkien, C.S Lewis, Robert E. Howard, Neil Gaimen, Poul Anderson, J.K Rowling, R.A Salvatore (so on and so forth..) write books contain and inspired by elements of Norse mythology 

Such a profound influence! I wonder if we can go as far as saying that Norse mythology, is the "mother of all" stories. Personally, my interest in Norse mythology originated from reading fantasy fictions by Robert E. Howard and J.R.R Tolkien. Following this, I became fascinated with Beowulf, and it wasn't long before I started reading the Norse epic saga such as the saga of Volsung, and the saga of king Hrolf Kraki. Eventually, I attempted to read the Prose Edda and poetic Edda, the source of all this mythological and fantasy "stuff" that I am passionate about. Similar to Norse epic saga, the poetic Edda and Skaldic poetry were written, as the names suggest, in the format of poems. In the 1200s, a Christian historian and poet called Snorri Sturluson compiled a collection of Norse mythological stories based on the poetic Edda and the Skaldic poetry. It is interesting to note, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda added Christian elements to these Norse mythological tales, by describing the origins of the Norse gods as warriors who settled in Northern Europe after the Trojan War. These warriors became highly regarded in that region, because of their superior culture and technology, and in the ages after their death, the remembrance ceremonies and circulating stories on these heroes gradually turn them into gods.

Both poetic Edda and Prose Edda possess enormous cultural, artistic and historical values. Nevertheless, it is a daunting task for modern readers to go through all these literature to appreciate Norse mythology, mostly because of the language it was written in. British author and poet, Kevin Crossley-Holland, put together a collection of 32 Norse mythological tales, retelling these stories in a very attractive prose form. 

The book started with a 25 page introduction, this is a brief summary on the writing and the development of Norse mythology throughout history. The 32 stories in this book, starting from the Norse creation story, ending at the event of Ragnarok, tells the beautiful stories of Norse mythology in chronological order. Although the stories here are not written in the poetic format of the original materials, but Kevin Crossley-Holland's prose is just as vivid and descriptive, and this book is very easy to read. I think this is a great introduction to Norse mythology, for anyone who is interested to know more about Norse mythology.

My thoughts:

One of my many interests, is to compare the gods in other mythologies (Norse, Greek, Sumerian, and Chinese) against the Christian God. When I was reading this book, I couldn't help but to compare the stories of these Norse gods against the story of the Christian god, and Jesus Christ. What I realized was that the gods of Norse mythology (and many gods from other mythology) were essentially entities with superhuman abilities with a certain limit. Character wise, the Norse gods are just equally as noble as they are flawed. For example, I found it very interesting that in one of the stories, Odin, the god of all gods in Norse mythology, sacrificed himself to be hung on the world tree ,Yggdrasil, for 9 days and 9 nights. In exchange to gain wisdom of the nine worlds, so he harness more power. The story of a god/God hung on a tree, reminds me of another story. Jesus was hung on a cross (made of wood) too as a sacrifice. But here is the difference: In Norse mythology, Odin's sacrifice is so that he can gain wisdom of the nine worlds, making himself more powerful. Inherently, Odin's self sacrifice is for his own gain. But when Jesus was hung on the cross and died, it was not in exchange to gain benefits for himself. The reason why Jesus hung on the cross was because he died for the sin of mankind, to offer the gift of salvation to those who believes in him, while showing God's love for us. Needless to say, in this case, the difference between Jesus and Odin is distinctive.

Fatalism, is another theme in Norse mythology. The Norse gods were destined to doom at Ragnarok, with all their powers, they could not prevent themselves from perishing at the hands of their enemies. The Norse gods, are simply flowing in the stream of destiny, in which they cannot control. Despite their "divine" status, they have no power to forge plans in the chasm of space and time. One has to ask this question: Can such gods be real "God"? If one looks carefully, when comparing the Norse gods against the Christian God. The first notable difference is, the God of Christianity is NOT a God who is destined by a fatalistic plan where He has no control. Actually, in contrast to the Norse gods, the Christian God is the ONE who HAS the plan. This is a plan that supposedly transcends space and time, because He is the author of space and time. Secondly, unlike the Norse gods, the Christian God cannot be defeated by his opponents (see the story of Pharaoh vs. God in Exodus). The God of Christianity, is a God who is sovereign over everything, including those attempting to work against Him. While the Norse gods eventually bowed down to the creeping sickle of death, the God of Christianity defeated death! (This was shown in the account of the bodily resurrection of Jesus). 

Some people ask me, why do I put faith in the God of Christianity, and reject the gods of mythology. My answer is this: While I cannot say with 100% certainty, that these "gods" of mythology never existed. But I can be sure about one thing, that is when I compare the gods of mythology against the God of Christianity. Everything tells me that these gods of mythology, cannot be the true God. Because these mythological gods, are superhuman with limitations, and they are just as flawed as they are noble. God of Christianity however, is everything that a true God should be, this is most evident when I examine my own heart with the meaning and the teachings in the Bible. Personally, this is the best evidence/reason I need to persevere as a believer.

Book Review: Kull: Exile of Atlantis by Subterranean Press

 Before the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, there was an age undreamed of. When empires lay spread across the world like shining jewels, but the greatest empire of all was Valusia. Hither came Kull of Atlantis, black haired, grey eyed, an exile, a slave, a gladiator, an army commander and finally, a king.

Welcome! To the age of king Kull, a world of heroic fantasy, magic, adventures, and philosophy. Kull, is one of the characters created by the father of sword and sorcery sub-genre, Robert E. Howard. This talented Texan author has forged many fantastical characters and adventures such as Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Conan the Cimmerian, El Borak, and Kull of Valusia, in the short period of less than two decades. Today, Robert Howard's influence in sword and sorcery genre can only be rivaled by J.R.R. Tolkien in the sub-genre of high fantasy.

King Kull is my favorite literary creation from Robert E. Howard. Not only because I am fascinated with epics about barbarian warriors dealing whirlwind like death, with battle axes and brandished broad swords, but I also prefer reading stories where the character thinks and ponders on philosophy and epistemology. Kull stories have it all! Some people say Kull is prototype Conan. I do not agree. It is true that both characters are formidable barbarians in the art of war, but the essence of these two characters are completely different. Conan is a character who lived by the philosophy of existentialism (live in the moment). Kull is a much more introspective character who wanted to build a kingdom that would last. In short, Kull is a thinking man's barbarian and a barbarian as a thinking man.

In the 1920s, early in his career, Howard wrote Kull stories. At that time, he was experimenting with different writing styles. At this stage of his career, Howard let his imagination run free. It is easy for the readers to see that Kull stories are heavily influenced and inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and writings from Edgar Allan Poe. Together with Howard's personal interest in philosophy and history. The result is epic tales of blood and thunder, philosophy, mysteries, adventures of the metaphysical and the physical. Howard's style of poetic lyricism made him a master story teller, and the Kull stories read like a combination of forgotten heroic tales lost in the sea of time, prose poems and philosophical fables. On that note, Howard's wrote his fantasy stories with a strong focus of realism. The realism of a world that Howard crafted by his imagination and typewriter.

Since 1998, the publisher Wandering Star re-published a collection of Robert Howard's writings. These high quality, hardback books are fully illustrated by artists and the contents are unabridged texts from Howard's typewriter . The objective was to expose modern readers to the creations of Robert E Howard, and treating Howard as an author with the respect that he rightfully deserves. However, Wandering star never published Howard's Kull stories in hardback format. In 2008, a small but profitable book publisher called Subterranean Press, published a glorious edition of Kull in the same style as the books from Wandering Star. This book is titled "Kull, Exile of Atlantis". This edition is  limited to 1500 copies, and contains all of the Kull stories written in Howard's life. This book is also fully illustrated with 12 color plates, and numerous black and white illustrations alongside the texts, drawn by artist Justin Sweet. I have included samples of some of color illustrations in this book.

 Disclaimer: I do not own these images, the copyright of these drawings belong to Mr. Justin Sweet, and these images are taken from http://www.justinsweet.com

   This volume collects 11 Kull stories, 3 poems an other unfinished fragments. My favorite stories are The Shadow Kingdom, The Mirror of Tuzun Thune, and Kings of the Night. The Shadow Kingdom was written in 1925, and is often recognized as the first true sword and sorcery story ever written. This story has many parallels to Shakespeare's Hamlet and HP Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos, and is regarded as the best, and the original sword and sorcery story. The Mirror of Tuzun Thune is a bizarre and fascinating story about the reality, the illusion and the relativity of space and time. Kings of the Night is a finely knitted story which blends historical fiction and sword and sorcery, with theme of time travelling. The story involves a Roman invasion, Pits, Gaels, Vikings and epic battle scenes, featuring both King Kull and another of Howard's creation, the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn. 

Subterranean Press crafted a gorgeous book here. It has top notch bindings, beautiful slip case design, dusk jacket covering, high quality paper, and thunderous illustrations that give off sparks to these unbeatable stories. This wonderful edition of Kull, Exile of Atlantis is an absolute knock out on my bookshelf.

Robert E Howard stopped writing Kull stories in 1930. His was shifting from Kull to Conan. Although Kull's world and Atlantis sank beneath the ocean, Conan and the Hyborian age were coming! Nevertheless, the saga of Kull are shining gems in the genre of fantasy fiction. The fantastic stories which feel so real that they often blur the line between fantasy and reality, lost in the winding passage of space and time.

Book Review: The Language of God - Francis Collins

Introduction:

The thirst for knowledge, and the seeking of truth, are unique traits in the human kind. Throughout human history, there are many famous thinkers who formulated ideas, synthesis and theories based on both the physical and the metaphysical. These are attempts to solve the big question of "how, why and where?", which ultimately takes us to the quest for the meaning of life. The seriousness of this big question can be best reflected, when thinking about the problem of "lunch": 1) How do we eat lunch? 2) Why do we eat lunch? and 3) Where do we go for lunch? And if we are on the right track, somehow we might find the meaning of life is "42.4665813" (now up to the accuracy of the 7th decimal place, since the original publication of the hitchhiker's guide). 

While sometimes it is helpful, to use humorous relieves as we wrestle with the big question in life. (as I have applied the sense of humor akin to Douglas Adams in this case). But needless to say, despite what you "believe", or "disbelieve". Every single human being will be confronted with this big question of "how, why, where? And the meaning of life", sooner or later, because what you believe/disbelieve about the answer to this question will constitute to your character, value and principle. This will define what you are about.

Like many others, I had realized the true answer to the big question of "how, where, why? The meaning of life", lies with the Christian faith. In salvation by grace through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Back in my mid twenties, in the early years of my walk with Jesus, I constantly struggled with the "war" between science and religion. As someone whose life's work at that time was based on science (I was an engineering PhD student), I constantly felt the pressure from some of my fellow Christians to surrender to the view that science, is a lesser truth compared to the Bible. Therefore I was "supposed" to submit to the view that science, should be made to fit a certain interpretation of the Bible passages whenever a "seemingly" contradiction appears. 

At that time, I was attending Central Sydney Presbyterian Church. It was through the pastor's (David Thurston's) positive guidance and encouragement, as well as reading various books and literature written by Christian and non-Christian thinkers and scientists, that I gradually gained a better and healthier perspective on science and religion [1-10]. (see the list of recommended reading in the "reference section of this review).  As I continue to expand my understanding in science and religion, it was only a few months ago that I finally came across this book called "The Language of God", written by Dr. Francis Collins. And I am delighted to say that this is probably one of the best Christian book addressing the topic of science and religion so far, but not without minor issues.

What's this book about:

Some people might never heard of the Human Genome Project, and I would suspect that even less people have ever heard of Francis Collins. The Human Genome Project, was arguably one of the most ambitious scientific project since NASA's mission to the moon. Where the project's goals were to find the sequence of the chemical base pairs that made up the DNA, and to successfully map the 25,000 genes from the human genes. A few years later, Dr. Collins took on the leadership as the director of the project. The announcement for the working draft of the genome was made in 2000, and completed in 2003. Francis Collins is not just a scientist, but he is also a Christian. In this book, Francis Collins shared his thoughts on the topic of science and religion. 

In the first chapter of the book. Collins gave a testimony of his own journey from atheism to Christianity. Starting from his childhood to early adulthood as a medical student as an atheist. As a medical student, Collins was looking after some patients from North Carolina who were suffering from tremendous illness. Collins testified that he was often struck by how well these people handle suffering. Especially when he witnessed how these people's Christian faith has given them the strength to endure the suffering they were going through.  When he was 26, he encountered a patient he was looking after, who was a Christian old lady suffering from severe untreatable angina on daily basis. This old lady shared her Christian faith with him, and asked him the question of "what do you believe"? Collins stated that the question struck him deeply, and lead him to investigate the evidence for and against belief seriously. Later, Collins went to visit a minister at a methodist church. After listening to Collin's questions, the minster gave him a booked called "Mere Christianity", written by the legendary Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis [11]. Where he realized his previous constructs against the Christian faith were not sound. Collins said the argument that struck him the most, was the argument of ethics (right and wrong) and the meaning of the universe. It was Lewis' argument for Christianity, based on the moral law and altruism that finally led Collins to reason that if there is a God, then this must be a God who wants some sort of relationship with human beings. In other words, Collins reasoned that if such a God exist, then this must be the God of Abraham, the God of the Bible. Collins testified that after struggling with this question for a while. He finally made a "leap" and became a Christian. 

In chapter 2, Collins discussed the different worldviews that are at war against each other. Which is a war that every seeker of truth will face on their journey. Such as: 

1) Is the believe in God simply a self wishing fulfillment? 

2) The problem of the evils done in the name of religion, 

3) Why would God allow suffering in the world? 

4) How can a rational person believe in miracles? 

Francis Collins provided very satisfactory answers to all of these questions. Personally, I particularly enjoyed Collin's argument for 4), where he used a combination of mathematical statistics in a poker game and Occam's Razor [12], to demonstrate the logical fallacy in denying the possibility of miracles, invoked by a supernatural entity such as God.

In Chapter 3, the author gave a brief history on the development of astrophysics and cosmology. From the struggle of scientists such as Copernicius, Kelper, Galileo against the Catholic church, all the way to Einstein's theory of relativity, Edwin Hubble's laws and the evidence supporting the big bang. For those who are interested in finding out more about this area, one can refer to the books and literature listed in the reference section of this review, particularly reference 2,3,4 and 7 [2-4,7]. Collins then moved on to discuss the question of "what about before the big bang?". He used Anthropic principle [6] and the cosmological constants [8] to construct an argument for a universe that is fine tuned for the existence of life. Collins argued that while this argument does not give us any conclusive proof that a God can exist, but the anthropic principle does favor the argument of a creator God. At the end of the chapter, Collins proposed a synthesis for someone who is seeking a true God through the moral questions mentioned in chapter 1. This synthesis is in harmony with modern scientific discoveries.

Chapter 4 and 5 are essentially, the meat and bones of this book. This is where Francis Collins discussed why the theory of evolution is, pretty much a scientific fact. The discussion was made based on the discoveries made in the human genome project, as well as the fossil record. Collins also emphasized that just because science is still unable to solve certain questions about the natural world. One should not hastily use God as a way to fill the gap in our knowledge, lest our faith will be in danger if science has discovered the knowledge to fill the gap in the future. 

In chapter 6, Collins gave a brief discussion on why the theory of evolution is still such a controversial theory in the public, yet it is a widely accepted theory in biological science just like the law of gravity. Collins also mentioned the delicate nature and the difficulty in the interpretation of Genesis. Such that Christians should not hastily take a side, and insist that Genesis contains scientific data meant to be interpreted word by word. Such is also the view and warning from St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest Christian thinker in history. As Christians, we should continuously update our knowledge about the natural world [9]. Collins pointed out an important message, as Christians, we should not play the role of antagonist against revelations from the scientific truth. Quoting Collin's own words: " If God created the universe, and the laws that govern it, and if He endowed  human beings with intellectual abilities to discern its workings, would He want us to disregard these abilities? Would He be diminished or threatened by what we are discovering about His creation?"

In Chapter 7, 8, 9 and 10. Collins presented the different options of belief/disbelief:

- Chapter 7, the title is: Atheism and agnoticism (when science trumps faith)

In this chapter, Collins explains the difference between weak and strong atheism. As well as Agnoticism. Collins argues that it is a logical fallacy on Richard Dawkin's behalf to insist that science demands atheism. As Collins stated, Dawkin's argument demands science to go beyond its boundaries. Because if God exists and he is the creator of the universe. Then science, which only deals with the things OF this world, can neither prove nor disprove his existence. Therefore Atheism, is then a system of ideology based on blind faith, because it adopts a belief system that cannot be defended based on pure reason. 

- In chapter 8, Collins discussed the view of "creationism" (where faith trumps science). Collins stated that if this definition is centralized on the idea that a God is directly involved with the universe that He created. Then many Christians and himself will have to consider themselves "creationist". However, Collins went on to explain that his main topic of discussion in chapter 8, is focused on Young Earth Creationism. That is the belief that Genesis should be interpreted word by word, leading to the belief that the earth was created 6000 years ago, in a six, 24 hour days period. Collins gave a brief history of the rise of Young Earth Creationism in the last 50-100 years. Young earth creationists often call evolution a lie, and that the Big Bang is a wrong scientific theory, or "just" a theory (see this article to understand the true meaning of scientific theory [16]). In this regard, Collins explained why an "ultra-literal" interpretation of the Genesis is unnecessary. Not only that, Collins made a few examples of the problems of interpreting the entire Bible word by word, and the incompatiblities of young earth creationism with science. Furthermore, Collins argued, why would God created the universe to be young, but made it to "appear" to be billions of years old? (including all the fossil records, DNA, RNA that are strong evidence of evolution) Is God a great deceiver? Collins pleaded to use reasoning to discern the truth.

- In Chapter 9. The discussion was focused on the idea of "intelligent design" (where science needs God's help). Collins gave a short history on the development of the "intelligent design" movement. He revealed the movement is essentially, "God of the gaps" ideology masqueraded as science, by rejecting modern science such as evolution for some ulterior motives. Furthermore, Collins pointed out the theological problem with "intelligent design", because this ideology portrays God as a clumsy designer who cannot, perfect his creation in one attempt, but needs to keep on re-creating and perfecting his creations on earth, by driving the previously existing ones to extinction (refer to the fossil records). Such a god is surely not the all mighty God described in the Bible. Side note: Kenneth R. Miller has written a great book on this topic, for further reading [13].

- In Chapter 10, Francis Collins presented the idea of "Bio Logos" (science and faith in harmony). This is essentially the view that God created lives on earth through evolution. Collins argued that this view brings science and faith into complete harmony, and this perspective also makes Christian scientists to be intellectually fulfilled and spiritually alive, both worshiping God and using the tools of science to uncover the mysteries of His creation. 

In the final chapter, Francis Collins pleaded the careful examination of the evidence for Christian faith. He argued that the foundation of the Christian faith, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, was historically documented in the Bible. That no historians will doubt the existence of Jesus. He quoted F.F. Bruce's word: "The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar [14]. Finally, Collins called for a truce between science and religion, where extremists on both sides, should stop making science and faith warring against each other. In Collin's own words: "Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced. God is most certainly not threatened by science; He made it all possible. So let us together seek to reclaim the solid ground of an intellectually and spiritually satisfying synthesis of all great truth. That ancient motherland of reason and worship was never in danger of crumbling. It will never be. It beckons all sincere seekers of truth to come and take residence there. Answer that call, abandon the battlements. Our hopes, joys and the future of our world depend on it".

My thoughts about the book:

In general, I think this is a great book. Francis Collins has made some powerful arguments for Christianity, and made a great attempt to reconcile science and religion. I will like to share some of my thoughts about some of the points he raised in the book.

A) In this book, Francis Collins mentioned the phrase "free will" several times. Mainly to make an argument that human beings, are at the cause of "human related tragedies" and not God. From his argument, I speculate that he meant "free will" to be "pure will" (as "will" purely from human beings). The phrase "free will" is only mentioned in the Bible as "free will offering" (Psalm 54:6, Leviticus 22:23). The reason why I think his argument would be better by replacing "free will" with "pure will" is because, according to Immanuel Kant's view. Human beings, although rational and self conscious, but are limited with impure freedom of choice. For example, if I like to eat chicken, then I will always want to eat chicken instead of salad, because chicken is my preference. Therefore, my choice is already affected by my personal preference prior to the food decision I make. Unless someone comes along and influence me otherwise. However, that is not to say that we do not have the ability to "choose". Because human beings are self conscious and rational beings. This means human choice can be affected but not determined by impulses, and therefore the choice we make is of ourselves. Not pure but can be brought into action by "pure" will (purely our own) [15]. A lawless free will (a will without pre-existing laws) is therefore incomprehensible in this natural world. But as I said before, I believe what Francis Collins tried to say is, we are responsible for our actions.

B) I think Collin's message about harmony between science and faith, is a particularly important message that is relevant to most Christians. Seeing that neo-atheism has been using science as a tool to attack Christianity. A lot of Christians have reacted with knee jerking reactions by calling science false, further adding oil onto a raging fire. Personally, I believe the same thing as Collins does. And that is scientific truth should not be made to fit a certain interpretation of the Bible. Nor should we call science false. Because the Bible was never meant to be a science textbook. It is a manual from God that teaches us about Him, about ourselves, and about how we ought to live to glorify Him. As Christians, we are to put our faith, build our hopes on Jesus Christ. Not on a particular view on how Genesis must be interpreted. Furthermore, we must be very careful not to build our faith on other things other than Jesus. 

To give the readers more insight into this important issue. I will debunk a popular Christian arguments for intelligent design, to show you how dangerous it is to build Christian faith on human ideas. Namely, the watch maker's analogy.

A Christian who build his/her faith based on the William Paley's watch maker's analogy (intelligent design, apparently Darwin was once very fond of this analogy until he formulated theory of evolution), is in danger of having a faith crisis when the watch maker's analogy is toppled. How? Well, according to the watch maker's analogy:

- A watch is complex

- A watch has an intelligent designer

- Life is complex

- Therefore life must have an intelligent designer

I will demonstrate how easily this analogy can be debunked. By using the same logic, we get:

- The tape water in my house consists of hydrogen and oxygen

- Tape water, comes from the dam

- Rain, consits of hydrogen and oxygen as well

- Therefore, rain must come from the dam.

I think the logical fallacy of William Paley's watch maker analogy, is pretty obvious when I apply the logic to different objects, as shown above.

Similar danger exists for those who radically build their faith on the ground that science is false and Genesis should be interpreted word by word. Equally as dangerous is the intelligent design movement, which uses God as the way to fill the gaps in our scientific knowledge. These are serious issues that can lead people to fall away from their faith. If they discover that scientific truth does not support their interpretation of Genesis, or that science has discovered ways to fill in the previous gaps in our scientific knowledge, causing people to think that science leaves no room for God. This can happen, if we do not build our faith on Jesus. Indeed, we have been given warnings by great Christian thinker such as St. Augustine more than one thousand years ago [9].

C) As Francis Collins pointed out. There is no need for science and faith to be in a war, because science deals with the "how" in this world. Christian faith deals with the "why and where" in this world. One may argue that knowledge of science is more reliable, because it belongs to the realm of "epistemological realism". While knowledge of Christianity is less reliable, because it belongs to the realm of "epistemological idealism". But the heart of the problem is, as human beings. We cannot radically separate them and only follow one. Any complete human being and experience, consists of both subjectivism as well as objectivism. For example, no one can really appreciate his wife's beauty in that green dress by interpreting the light reflected from the green dress as 540THz! Similarly, it is not very wise to insist to get a tan quickly by sun bathing without any protection cream! The interface between Science and Christian faith, is also about the healthy balance and harmony of epistemological realism, and epistemological idealism. 

Final thoughts:

  

The Language of God, is a great book written by a sincere Christian scientist. The messages are clear:

For Christians, it is a call for the time to end the war between science and Christian faith. We cannot bring glory to God by devaluing scientific truth and shun reasoning. 

For atheists/agnostics who have elevated scientism. While science is great at telling us "how", but it does not lead us to know the "why and where". Science alone, cannot teach us the meaning of life. Just like my joke at the beginning of this review. While the answer to "how" life  started may turn out to be 42.4665813, but the meaning of life is simply NOT 42.4665813 (down to the 7th decimal place, mind you), because that is just not human!

For truth seekers, the Bible said "Seek and you will find" (Matthew 7:7). Consider the human moral laws, why is there good and evil? Why do people display altruism when it clearly does not benefit them at all? Is it all meaningless, or an accident? Great thinkers such as Francis Collins and C.S Lewis have all been through this journey to seek the truth. In the end, they have come to worship Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. Why? Perhaps it is time for seekers to weigh the evidence and reasons more seriously and sincerely.

Harmony between science and Christian faith, lead us to gain even more awe for the complexity,  beauty and the wonder of God's most divine and sacred gift. Perhaps it is when we finally stop the war between these two truth, then we can gain even more awe and admiration for our amazing creator, by gazing into the chasm of scientific revelations, of the laws that govern the eons in the past and the future of this universe, the language of God. 

Reference (Recommended reading, item 1-10):

[1] Dinesh D'Souza, What's so great about Christianity, Regnery Publishing, 2007

     Link: (what's so great about Christianity) 

[2] Stephen Hawking, A brief history of time, Bantam, 1998 

     Link: (A brief history of time)

[3] Albert Einstein, On the electrodynamics of moving bodies, in Annalen der Physik.

     17:891, 1905 Link: (on the electrodynamics of moving bodies)

[4] Albert Einstein, The meaning of relativity, Princeton University Press, 5th Edition, 1966 

     Link: (The meaning of relativity)

[5] Charles Darwin, The origin of species, Penguin Classics, 2009 

     Link: (The origin of species)

[6] Frank J Tipler and John D Barrow, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, Oxford University Press, 1st Edition. 1988 Link: (The Anthropic Cosmological principle)

[7] John D. Barrow, The Origin of Universe, Basic Books, 1997

     Link: (The Origin of the universe)

[8] Martin Reeves, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shapes the Universe, Basic Books, 1st             Edition, 2001 Link: (Just Six Numbers)

[9] St. Augustine of Hippo, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis Vol.1 

      Link: (On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis)

[10] David Bohm, The Special Theory of Relativity, Routledge, 1996 

       Link: (The Special Theory of Relativity)

[11] C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity, HarperSanFrancisco, 2001 

       Link: (Mere Christianity)

[12] Blumer A, Ehrenfeucht A, Haussler D, Warmuth MK, Occam's Razor", Information Processing    Letters 24 (1987), 337-380 Link: (Occam's Razor)

[13] Kenneth R. Miller, Finding Darwin's God: A scientist's research for common ground between God and evolution, Harper Perennial 1st edition, 2000 Link: (Finding Darwin's God)

[14] F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents, Are they reliable?,Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2003) Link: (The New Testament Documents: Are they reliable?)

[15] Immanuel Kant, Metaphysics of Morals 6

[16] Holbrook J, Rannikmae M, The meaning of scientific literacy, International Journal of Science and Enviornmental Education, Vol. 4:3, 2009, pp.275-288 Link: (The meaning of scientific literacy)

Video game review: Diablo 3

  When I was still a teenager in 1997, the video game developer Blizzard released this game called "Diablo". I still remember installing this game on my Intel Pentium I PC, with 120MHz CPU and 16MB of RAM. The game ran flawlessly on Windows 95, and I had a heck of a good time playing this game. Some of the most fond memories of Diablo I, included playing against a friend from school using dial up modem connection. The game became a must-play classics for every hardcore RPG gamers in the late 1990's.

3 years later, in year 2000. Blizzard released the sequel Diablo 2. The sequel turned out to be a bigger and more elaborate game than Diablo 1. Diablo 2 became one of the most popular RPG to embrace the video game market. I remember playing Diablo 2 from time to time until 2005. Those great memories of playing Diablo2, came from the days when my friends and I used to have a LAN party after our university exams.

Diablo 3 was first announced in 2008 and released in May 2012. Despite the fact that Diablo 3 has broken the record of "most pre-ordered PC games on Amazon", I was not particularly excited about it. Largely because I only play video games on special occasions these days, but also because I no longer possess the same enthusiasm about video games as I once did. Although I wasn't particular thrilled about the news of Diablo 3, but for old time's sake, I pre-ordered the game anyway.. simply because it's a Diablo game.

Diablo 3 collector's edition content

The funny thing is, when I finally picked up the game from the shop on the release day. I couldn't help but felt a tinge of excitement, as I held the massive box that contains Diablo 3 collector's edition in my hands. All of the sudden, as I stare dumbfounded at the size and the weight of the game's box. The memories of my nerdy teenage years flashed back in my mind, I remembered the good times I had playing Diablo I and II, as well as the days when I played the game with my friends of old.

With this new sense of excitement. I went home and installed the game, then start the game. I was first greeted with the message of user agreements, then I was notified that I needed to create a battle net account. Then I realized, Diablo 3 requires constant internet connection to play. "No problem", I thought, "I have unlimited broadband internet, surely this will not be a major issue". How wrong was I to have thought so...

I created the battle net account, chose my username and password. Then eagerly launched the game, thinking of re-living my nostalgic and glorious gaming memories of the past. An error message popped up, saying that the server was too busy and refused to let me log in. The next 30 minutes consists of desperate, and unsuccessful attempts to input of my battle net password to try to access the game, with no luck. Disappointed, I visited Blizzard forum, only to realize that there are hundreds of post from people on the same boat as me.

Apparently, too many people wanted to log in and play Diablo 3 on the launch day. The server network at Blizzard could not handle the traffic, and folded...

At that point, I wondered to myself: "Can this Diablo 3 really be the high quality Diablo game I remember from my teenage years?" Here I will give you my review for the much anticipated Diablo 3.

Examples of Barbarian concept art

Story:

 The story of Diablo 3 started 20 years after the original events in Diablo 2. New evils threaten the world of Sancturay. In the face of new threats, new heroes came from all corners of Sancturay in attempt to defeat this new evil.

The adventure starts in a town called New Tristram. The old town of Tristram, after the events of Diablo I and II now lay in ruins. People have re-built the town in a new location. Following the event of a fallen star crashing into the town, news of the appearance of demonic monsters spread. The would-be hero arrived at New Tristram to investigate this new threat. Only to discover a series of evil plots, and raging battles that will lead to the resurrection of the Lord of Terror, Diablo himself.

Character selection screen

The story telling method in Diablo 3 has been revamped. In previous Diablo games, while the story was interesting, it was never very involving. In Diablo 3, many new elements in the story telling method give the player a more immersive experience. For example, the player character is now fully voiced, and can have conversations with NPCs. The towns in act 1 to act 3 are also bigger, with more NPCs to speak to. On top of this, the NPCs and followers sometimes have conversations with the player character through real time speech, or cut scenes in the dungeons. This method of story telling prevents interruption with the pace of the game. Most importantly, there are beautifully rendered CG movies, narrating the story from the protagonist's perspective. To make the adventure more interesting, there are also events that will trigger randomly as the player happens upon them. Finally, the world of Sanctuary is full of lores, these lores can be picked up in the form of lore books. The player can listen to these lore books while adventuring, if they are interested to explore the background of the game world a bit deeper.

There are four acts in Diablo 3, each act varies in length and intensity. While the first half of act 1 may develop slowly, but after that, the pace and the intensity of the game pretty much resembled an aeroplane taking off on a runway.

Gameplay:

The gameplay in Diablo 3 remains very similar to the previous Diablo games. The player chooses one of the five characters in the game: Barbarian, Monk, Wizard, Demon Hunter, and Witch Doctor. In Diablo 3, now the player can choose to pay either male or female for each character class. Each character class has his/her own unique skills and strategy in game. When the player logs in, he/she can either embark on a crusade against legions of demons in a solo adventure. Or, alternatively the players are also free to choose to wage the war against demons in co-op mode with their friends.

Desert land (zoom in)

There are four difficulty levels in Diablo 3: Normal, Nighmare, Hell and Inferno. When the player starts a new character, he/she is playing at normal difficulty, beating the game will unlock the next level of difficulty. Blizzard has issued a claim, saying it is impossible to solo in Inferno level because the difficulty is too high.

The co-op mode shines brightly in Diablo 3, offering much challenges and fun . The difficulty of the game rises as you team up with your friends. This means if you are building a large team, you better have a team with balanced skills, and wide range of character classes to complement each other. Only then can you hope to defeat the toughest demons that spawned from the deepest recess of hell.

The game still uses the isometric camera view, and the control only involves mouse and keyboard. Left click on the mouse attack, right bottom of the mouse activate special attacks. Which other keys that can be assigned to execute special skills.

Blizzard is the master at crafting games that provide non-linear gameplay experience. This is done by using randomly generated dungeons. Every time, when the player re-play a dungeon, it will never be the same map. In addition to this, when monsters are slain, they will drop random loots. This means even if you created 50 wizard characters , you will build 50 very different characters, because you don't know what equipment you will get in the game for each character. This obviously adds great replayability value to the game, a trademark for the Diablo games.

Desert land (zoom out)

In previous Diablo games, when the character levels up, the player can choose to increase attribute points such as: Strength, dexerity, vitality, and intelligence. In Diablo 3, the attribute system is dropped. Instead, when the character levels up in Diablo 3, the player can acquire skills. The higher the character's level means more skills can be unlocked to aid the player's quest to anguish minions of Diablo. However, the interesting thing about the new skill system is, the player is free to switch between skills at anytime. Meaning the player can choose a combination/set of skills that best suit their play style and strategy. While able to change to a different strategy if they want to. This new skill system works wondrously, because this encourages people to experiment with different strategies and explore different skills, allowing the player to have more freedom to explore the gameplay mechanism in more details.

Another new addition to the game is the follower system. Previously in Diablo 2, the player can hire mercenaries on their epic quest. However, the mercenaries are essentially mute and dont' have stories, when they die, you just go back to the town and buy a new one. It was not very interesting at all. In Diablo 3, the new follower system is in place. There are 3 followers that can join your honorable quest to defeat the Lord of Terror: Templar, Enchantress and Scoundrel. Each follower has his/her own unique background story, and will have conversations with the player character randomly. The player can customize the follower's skills and equipment. When I played Diablo 3, I took followers with me because it was interesting to have them along.

Inventory screen in Diablo 3

The most useless feature of the new gameplay system, is the newly incorporated feature of auction house. The idea of the auction house is that the player can put their excess items on auction (because some items are class based, so if you are using a barbarian you are unable to use the equipment of a wizard), in a public domain on the Blizzard network. Other players from around the world, can purchase the equipment of interest by using in-game gold, or alternatively, using money in real life. Personally, I think this is a poor excuse for Blizzard to make more money, by handling the transactions from such trades in the auction house.

Graphics:

Many people will say that the graphics in Diablo 3 is not spectacular. While it is true that the graphics is no match for Mass Effect 3 or Batman Arkham City, but I do think the graphics in this game suits its purpose for a game like Diablo 3. The isometric view is probably the most efficient method of display in a hack and slash RPG. This allows the developer to craft big areas in the game. At the same time the explorations of the dungeons won't feel overwhelmingly long. Furthermore, the graphics look superb on a 3D TV, with great 3D depth and elevations for environmental details.

The centre of New Tristram

One of the most interesting thing about the graphics in Diablo 3, is the use of color in the art design. I noticed that each act in the game have their own unique color set. Creating a sense that each chapter is distinct in its area, location and lore. The use of the color scheme also created great immersion for players, a sense often missing in traditional hack and slash RPG. Overall, the atmosphere of the game stays true to the previous Diablo games, dark, bleak and depressing. With a sense of dangers looming around the corner.

Music and sound effect:

The music of Diablo 3 remains to be one of the best aspects in the game. The soundtracks are atmospheric and sometimes, creepy. The sound effects are very well done, from the slashing sound of the sword to the death cry of the demons. The sound effect and the music of Diablo 3 brings this dungeon crawling adventure to your living room.

What I think about the game:

I thin Diablo 3 is a very good game, hands down. This is probably the best game in the series. It has a lot of improvements on gameplay, story telling and graphics compared to its predecessors. The story is the good old fashioned tale of good versus evil. With a mixture of tragedy, desperation, loss of hope and the ultimate triumph of good against evil. While the story is not epic in scale such as Baldur's Gate, the story of Diablo 3 is interesting enough to attract the players to spend time to listen to the lores, talk to the NPCs and wanting to know what will happen next.

The gamplay mechanism added new elements and improvements in Diablo 3. The new skill system is very interesting, and will encourage the players to explore different play styles and strategies. While some may accuse Blizzard of "dumbing down" the game mechanics. Personally, I think the new system allows the player more freedom to craft their own unique strategies and play styles. Everything else about the game, from the graphics to the music and sound effects are pretty good, well suited for a game of this genre.

In other words, I think Diablo 3, is definitely (or better than) the Diablo games I remembered from my nerdy teenage years. But I am also sad to report that my experience of Diablo 3, was ruined by cob webs of technical problems.

An example of a skill tree layout

A more terrible foe than the Lord of Terror:

As if the quest to vanquish Diablo does not put enough chills into the spines of the would-be heroes. There is a even more horrifying foe that stands as the insurmountable enemy, threatening to thwart our noble quest. That foe, is none other than the abominable entity known as "Blizzard server network infrastructure".

Seriously, other than unable to log in to the game on the launch day. In the first two days, I experienced constant error messages (error 3007). Telling me that I have been "removed" from the server. This happened at 15 minute intervals. Thousands of people have posted on Blizzard's forum, reporting they the same problem. This means everytime this happened, the game crashed and I lost all the progress I made in the game. In the 20 hours that I played this game, I experienced in excess of 100 disconnections, meaning I had to restart certain dungeons more than 100 times! Honestly, this is not a technically sound product. While it is true that the network problem, is due to the network traffic caused by millions of users playing this game on the server. However, this does not excuse Blizzard from the responsibility of preparing for this kind of network traffic before the game was released.

Currently, the work around for error 3007 is to join the general chat in game. This also requires the player to say something on the general chat channel every 15 minutes. To "keep the network connection alive". In the last two days, whenever I played Diablo 3, I was always frantically type in something on the general chat channel. In order to remain connected. Suffice to say, I am not the only one spamming the general chat to avoid the infamous error 3007 message.

The reason for this network failure, is because Blizzard has made Diablo 3 to requires constant internet connection. Even in solo single player mode! Why do I need to be constantly connected to the internet, if I am only playing solo adventure? All we can hope is, Blizzard will release a patch shortly to address this problem. Otherwise in the meantime, Diablo 3 is almost unplayable due to the technical problems with the servers

Verdict:


Story 8.5/10
Gameplay 9.5/10
Graphics 8.5/10
Music and sound effect 9.5/10
Replayability 9.5/10
Recommended age of audience: Mature audience only

Final score: 9.1/10

I really like Diablo 3, I think it is a great game. And unlike Skyrim and Mass Effect 3, I can actually see myself playing this game from time to time in the next few years. From its game play mechanics, random dugeon/loot system, multiplayer co-op mode, and wide range of characer class choice. Diablo 3 has much to offer in terms of replayability. I wouldn't mind playing this in co-op mode with my friends. unfortunately at the moment, the more diabolic element of the game is not Diablo himself, but the poorly designed Blizzard network infrastructure, which has rendered the game almost unplayable. Today I heard that Blizzad issued an official apology to the customers. Promising to release a patch to fix all the problems. Let's hope they do so in the very near future. Otherwise, it will be a shame to see such a jewel of a game being ruined by a poorly executed technical infrastructure.

P.S. This game is quite violent, and the atmosphere of the game is very dark and depressing. The general vibe is a blend between horror and fantasy. Therefore, I do not think it is suitable for younger audiences. The horror theme might frighten younger audiences (I used to have nightmares in my sleep after playing Diablo I some 15 years ago), and the game can be very violent at certain places.

 ** This review is based on playing in normal and partially, nightmare difficulty (both solo and co-op mode). Game play experience might vary according to different game play difficulty settings.**