Where's my merit badge?

Sitting on my deak for many days like a bill I didn't want to pay was an unopened Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI. Don't get me wrong, I like his writings, but where two words will do he uses two pages. I actually took on his Introduction to Christianity and waited patiently for the attendant merit badge to come in the mail. I felt my efforts to get through hundreds of pages on the simple word "I believe" would warrant some accolade. Maybe an indulgence or a commemorative rosary (who doesn't get enough of those in the mail?) to show off to the adoring crowds... but I digress.

One has to begin a Benedict / Ratzinger book reading with 2 short prayers. One is for understanding and the other is for patience.

The understanding one needs is to remember that these books came from German. That is why no sentence goes un-comma-ed, un-semicolon-ed, or id-est-ed. There is a central point to the section and like the great Mississippi River there are numerous tributaries that must - I repeat must - be investigated with copious references to men with European surnames longer than the reference points themselves.

The patience one needs is to complete a papal paragraph without self-inflicted bodily harm. I like to start my paragraph spelunkery with a sizable sandwich and a Red Bull. It is as if he separates paragraphs by the amount of paper he has at the time - "And so... Oh, last page. Better finish this paragraph." One does not read a chapter through in one sitting. One must instead mark sections as one would climb a mountain lest he slide to his death, ice pick in hand scraping the mountain face all the way down. You have been warned.

For all of that, this is a good read. Properly planned perusal yields real understanding. As many have commented in online bookstores there are few pages where you don't feel that you have learned something. As someone who is still reading it, I can already recommend it as a solid book to be read alongside some piece of fluff (i.e. do not try and read the Analects of Confucius at the same time, try the Tao of Pooh or something).