3 out of 4 stars
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With all the news we hear about global warming, nation's fighting, and various chaos happening in different parts of the world, it is not surprising for anyone to think that the end is near. But is the Apocalypse really just around the corner?
Daniel Friedman answers that question in his non-fiction book, Roadmap to the End of Days. This is the third book in his Inspired Studies series. Though the three books can be read in any order, the author suggests that they be read in the same order of publication to have a better understanding of everything starting from the story of Creation until the dreaded End of Days. Personally, I didn't read the first two books and I am still considering whether I should read them. I'm not saying that I didn't like the third book. It's just that Roadmap to the End of Days is already a treasure trove of information that reading it alone can either satisfy you or make you crave for more.
The subtitle, Demystifying Biblical Eschatology to Explain the Past, the Secret to the Apocalypse and the End of the World, gives a quick glance of what the whole book is about. Even though this sounds so mystical, the tone of the writer is serious throughout the book. The author brings a high level of insight to the connection of Biblical events to our recent history. Key periods and personalities in the Bible were examined and the rhythm in history was used to decipher when the End of Days would probably happen. The author also mentioned Noahide Laws and the ten Sefirot pointing out their significance to our role in hastening or delaying the Apocalypse.
The book started in a non-biased way, even discussing how different religions vary in their interpretation of the End of Days. However in the following chapters, the focus was more on Judaism. I guess I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping for the writer to be unbiased all throughout.
When I was reading it, I felt like I was a university student taking up Theology class. It was full of additional explanations in the appendices, glossary and endnotes that I was learning a lot of information from just a short book. However, it was also a double-edged sword. For someone who enjoys learning a lot about the scripture, this book is so rich with data that half of the book was designated for explaining biblical people, concepts and events. The downside is that one would have to go back and forth from one page to the other. There are many links in just one page that I actually got confused a lot of times as to which page I'm currently reading.
Nevertheless, there are still many aspects of the book that I like such as the analogies used by the author to better explain concepts. The writer also included diagrams and tables that I found to be very helpful. I also felt that the book was professionally edited. Therefore, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.
Overall, I highly recommend everyone to keep an open mind while reading this book. In the end, it's still up to the reader to either accept or refuse the author's theory.
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Roadmap to the End of Days
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