Short Booklog

Chris Chrisman Goes to College by James Sire is a clever story about a young man going to secular college and facing “the challenges of relativism, individualism and pluralism.” It is an easy read. Sire’s characters are interesting and he gives them some depth with background information. The book will likely leave most readers wanting more.

This book is helpful at identifying the worldview behind the philosophy and methods of public institutions, which is disorienting to most first-year students. Putting this information into a narrative makes it appealing to a wider audience. Sire fades in and out of the narrative with non-fiction explanations of terms and concepts, which is somewhat distracting. The story itself is real and believable enough, but the solutions are perhaps a little too simple. However, these weaknesses do not take much away from the book’s overall value. It is a good book that covers the problematic worldview of public colleges in a brief and interesting way.

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The Universe Next Door is also by James Sire and deals with the most common worldviews of our day. Sire boils all worldviews down to a few basic questions about life, death, reality, etc. and then proceeds to answer those questions from the different worldviews.

The book is very informative and worth reading. It is also good to have around for reference once you have read it.