Sunday, February 26, 2012



The Divine Comedy - Purgatory by Dante Alighieri, tr Dorothy L. Sayers, 1955, ISBN 0140440461. The Divine Comedy - Purgatory tr Charles Eliot Norton, 1891.

The Sayers translation was an actual book. Probably purchased in 1973, for $1.05, maybe at Powells, maybe at a bookstore by PSU. This translation has a long introduction and notes after each canto. Plus there are several Appendix that discuss certain issues in more detail. In the Divine Comedy Dante mentions many people and scholars have tried since it was first made available to determine who these people where. Matilda is one such character who has be speculated about for many years. This translation is again in verse form, that tries to reproduce the Italian Terza rima.

The second translation I read was the Charles Eliot Norton. This is a file I read on my kindle (2ddcn10.mobi), which can be found at websites that have public domain texts. I think this was originally a project Gutenberg text (here.) This translation is older and in prose form. It also has notes to explain the various references.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

How to Answer a Mormon by Robert A. Morey. 1983 ISBN 0-87123-260-X. Recently there has been talk in the media about Mormonism vs. Christianity. Mostly because of a republican candidate for president. So I thought it would be interesting to read a book on the subject. I have read about Mormonism before, I even tried to read the Book of Mormon (I found it too silly. Read it here.) This book however doesn't discuss Mormonism vs. Christianity. Morey's attack on Mormonism is based purely on the prophet-hood of Joseph Smith jr. and what he prophesied. Morey's idea is that all of Mormonism rests on Joseph Smith being a Prophet and if he is shown to be a false prophet then the religion is false.