A History of the End of the World. Sounds interesting right? Well you know what they, "Don't Judge a book by its cover," or in this case by its title. This book, written by Jonathon Kirsch, would be an exceptional book if I was the type of person who likes to read text books for fun. I am not trying to say the book was not interesting, because it was, however it was not very entertaining, as most non-fiction books tend to be.
The Book was written from the perspective of a very intellectual man. Jonathon Kirsch has written several other books. Most of them are about the history of a religion or a religious character. Kirsch wrote this book to inform people about the effect the book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse, has had on our world throughout history. In his book he explains the different interpretations made for the book of Revelation and he also tells his readers how he interprets the book. Kirsch's intent was to explain how the controversy of the book of Revelation has changed and shaped our lives in different ways. He gives various examples of change throughout the entire book and he explains very thoroughly how each of these events, thoughts, or actions were brought by the Apocalypse book. He definitely succeeds in defending and supporting his opinion because he gives supporting details and facts for each of the examples he presents. One of his arguments is that the book influenced Christians to demean Jews during the Middle Ages by mentioning "the synagogue of Satan" in the Apocalypse. He then supports this statement in the next few pages by reviewing some of the difficulties Jews have had to endure and at the same time casually adding his opinion. In doing so he achieves his goal of convincing the reader that the "most controversial book in the Bible changed the coarse of western civilization."
Kirsch's writing structure is helpful in certain portions of the book, while it is quite confusing in others. He writes his "story" in chronological order, however he does not go by year rather by century. It is certainly helpful that he writes in an certain order, but it is a bit confusing that he does not give the information year by year. He uses a lot of quotes from the book of Revelation, which I found to be a very successful way to interest the reader and at the same time help him/her understand the perplexing book of the Apocalypse. Not only does he give the quotes from the Bible, but he also explains what they mean and how he interprets it.
As I mentioned before, Jonathon Kirsch has written other books. He went to college and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in art, then he went to a different college and studied law. Kirsch is an educated man, therefore his book is credible. Not only is he a educated man, but he has also written other books, making him an even more credible writer. I particularly enjoyed that he only presented the information and tried not to show bias towards any particular group. He would give his opinion on the topic, but he would also say the opposing view and defend both sides. His book has gotten great reviews and apparently fans really liked it. One of the reviews he got was, "Jonathon Kirsch has written an important book that is essential reading in our torn, conflicted world: it is articulate, learned and balanced." I do not agree with the first part of this comment, but I do agree with the last. The book is definitely articulate, learned and balanced, but most of all it is balanced. It is genuinely noticeable that Kirsch did abundant research to write this book. The main idea of his book was clearly that the book of Revelation in the Bible has influenced our world a lot since it was written. After reading his book I completely agree with his opinions. He does an excellent job of convincing the reader of his opinions.
The book is very much like a text book because it use very big and complicated words. Kirsch writes in a very articulate manner, to such an extent that a high school student like myself would find the book to be rather boring. All he truly does is give all the information and write his opinion and the opposing view's opinion, somewhat like a text book. However the book did give me plenty of information about my topic. For instance, it gave me information on how the Apocalypse has influenced the decisions of lunatics all over the world, such as a monk by the name of Peter John Olivi. Apparently Olivi thought "the church founded by the disciples of Jesus Christ was now 'infected from head to toe and turned, as it were, into a new Babylon.'" Babylon is the city of sin in the Apocalypse and Olivi had read this in the Bible so he accused the Church of being Babylon. This book gave me great insight on my topic.
Although this book was very informative, I would not recommend it to a high school student because it is somewhat of a difficult read, it is long, and it is not a fast read. The intended audience for this book is most likely not high school students. I did not honestly enjoy reading this book, but I can say that i got a lot of knowledge out of it.
The Book was written from the perspective of a very intellectual man. Jonathon Kirsch has written several other books. Most of them are about the history of a religion or a religious character. Kirsch wrote this book to inform people about the effect the book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse, has had on our world throughout history. In his book he explains the different interpretations made for the book of Revelation and he also tells his readers how he interprets the book. Kirsch's intent was to explain how the controversy of the book of Revelation has changed and shaped our lives in different ways. He gives various examples of change throughout the entire book and he explains very thoroughly how each of these events, thoughts, or actions were brought by the Apocalypse book. He definitely succeeds in defending and supporting his opinion because he gives supporting details and facts for each of the examples he presents. One of his arguments is that the book influenced Christians to demean Jews during the Middle Ages by mentioning "the synagogue of Satan" in the Apocalypse. He then supports this statement in the next few pages by reviewing some of the difficulties Jews have had to endure and at the same time casually adding his opinion. In doing so he achieves his goal of convincing the reader that the "most controversial book in the Bible changed the coarse of western civilization."
Kirsch's writing structure is helpful in certain portions of the book, while it is quite confusing in others. He writes his "story" in chronological order, however he does not go by year rather by century. It is certainly helpful that he writes in an certain order, but it is a bit confusing that he does not give the information year by year. He uses a lot of quotes from the book of Revelation, which I found to be a very successful way to interest the reader and at the same time help him/her understand the perplexing book of the Apocalypse. Not only does he give the quotes from the Bible, but he also explains what they mean and how he interprets it.
As I mentioned before, Jonathon Kirsch has written other books. He went to college and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in art, then he went to a different college and studied law. Kirsch is an educated man, therefore his book is credible. Not only is he a educated man, but he has also written other books, making him an even more credible writer. I particularly enjoyed that he only presented the information and tried not to show bias towards any particular group. He would give his opinion on the topic, but he would also say the opposing view and defend both sides. His book has gotten great reviews and apparently fans really liked it. One of the reviews he got was, "Jonathon Kirsch has written an important book that is essential reading in our torn, conflicted world: it is articulate, learned and balanced." I do not agree with the first part of this comment, but I do agree with the last. The book is definitely articulate, learned and balanced, but most of all it is balanced. It is genuinely noticeable that Kirsch did abundant research to write this book. The main idea of his book was clearly that the book of Revelation in the Bible has influenced our world a lot since it was written. After reading his book I completely agree with his opinions. He does an excellent job of convincing the reader of his opinions.
The book is very much like a text book because it use very big and complicated words. Kirsch writes in a very articulate manner, to such an extent that a high school student like myself would find the book to be rather boring. All he truly does is give all the information and write his opinion and the opposing view's opinion, somewhat like a text book. However the book did give me plenty of information about my topic. For instance, it gave me information on how the Apocalypse has influenced the decisions of lunatics all over the world, such as a monk by the name of Peter John Olivi. Apparently Olivi thought "the church founded by the disciples of Jesus Christ was now 'infected from head to toe and turned, as it were, into a new Babylon.'" Babylon is the city of sin in the Apocalypse and Olivi had read this in the Bible so he accused the Church of being Babylon. This book gave me great insight on my topic.
Although this book was very informative, I would not recommend it to a high school student because it is somewhat of a difficult read, it is long, and it is not a fast read. The intended audience for this book is most likely not high school students. I did not honestly enjoy reading this book, but I can say that i got a lot of knowledge out of it.
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