Book Reviews
2024
“Hollywood brucia. Declino e caduta dell’impero di celluloide tra scioperi, scandali e intelligenza artificiale.” Review of Ryan, M. (2023). Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood (New York and Boston: Mariner Books). L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 41(1): 16. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/gennaio-2024/
2023
“Alan Moore racconta i supereroi tra populismo e nostalgie infantili. Il lato oscuro del fumetto made in Usa.” Review of Alan Moore, Illuminations, London & New York: Bloomsbury. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 40 (11): 11. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/novembre-2023/
“I dolori del giovane Parker. Sessant’anni di Uomo Ragno: come nasce una mitologia a fumetti.” Review of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (2022), The Amazing Spider-Man. Foreword by Jason Reynolds, Introduction by Ben Saunders. London: Penguin Classics Marvel Collection. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 40 (7-8): 6. https://www.lindiceonline.com/arti/fumetti/sessantanni-di-uomo-ragno-come-nasce-una-mitologia-pop-a-fumetti/
“L’Homo fictus di Jonathan Gottschall e la decostruzione della storiografia.” Review of Gottschall, J. (2022). Il lato oscuro delle storie. Come lo storytelling cementa le civiltà e talvolta le distrugge. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. Originally published in 2021 as The Story Paradox: How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down. New York: Hachette. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 40(1): 10. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/indice-sommario-gennaio/
“Quando Jurassic Park incontra il Far West”. Review of Crichton, M. (2018). I cercatori di ossa. Translated by D. Comerlati. Milan: Garzanti. Originally published in 2017 as Dragon Teeth. London: HarperCollins. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 36(3): 21. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/marzo-2019/
2019
“The Persistence of a Delusion.” Review of Conversations and Controversies in the Scientific Study of Religion: Collaborative and Co-authored Essays by Luther H. Martin and Donald Wiebe, edited by L. H. Martin and D. Wiebe. Leiden and Boston: Brill. Endeavour 41(3): 71-72. https://doi.org/j.endeavour.2017.04.006
“Post-verità, fede e scienza.” Review of Coyne, J. A. (2016). O scienza o religione: Perché la fede è incompatibile coi fatti. Translated by O. Cavagnino. Rome: Nessun Dogma. Originally published in 2015 as Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible. New York: Random House. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 34(6): 5. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/giugno-2017/
2017
2016
Slone, D. J. and J. A. van Slyke (eds.) (2015). The Attraction of Religion: A New Evolutionary Psychology of Religion. London and New York: Bloomsbury. Science, Religion & Culture 3(1): 55-57. http://researcherslinks.com/current-issues/D-Jason-Slone-and-James-A-Van-Slyke-The-Attraction-of-Religion-A-New-Evolutionary-Psychology-of-Religion-Scientific-Studies-of-Religion-Inquiry-and-Explanation-London-and-New-York-Bloomsbury-2015/9/7/261 [PDF]
“Il Fight Club della scimmia.” Review of Gottschall, J. (2015). Il professore sul ring. Perché gli uomini combattono e a noi piace guardarli. Translated by G. Olivero. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. Originally published in 2015 as The Professor in the Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to Watch. New York: Penguin Press. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese (33)12: 41. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/sommario-dicembre-2016/
“Una disciplina fittizia?” Review of McGrath, A. (2015). La grande domanda. Perché non si può fare a meno di parlare di scienza, di fede e di Dio. Translated by S. Placidi. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. Originally published in 2015 as Inventing the Universe: Why We Can’t Stop Talking About Science, Faith and God. London: Hodder & Stoughton. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese (33)5: 31. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/maggio-2016/
Martin, L. H. (2015). The Mind of Mithraists: Historical and Cognitive Studies in the Roman Cult of Mithras. London and New York: Bloomsbury. Journal of Cognitive Historiography 3(1-2): 204-207. https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.33929
Martin, L. H. (2014). Deep History, Secular Theory: Historical and Scientific Studies of Religion. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter. Journal of Cognitive Historiography 3(1-2): 201-203. https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.33928
2015
Jensen, J. S. (2014). What Is Religion? London and New York: Routledge. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (2)2: 169-173. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.v2i2.26394 [PDF]
Mastrocinque, A. (2014). Bona Dea and the Cults of Roman Women. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal (16)1: 110-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2014.1001626 [PDF]
Xygalatas, D. and W. W. McCorkle Jr. (eds.) (2013). Mental Culture: Classical Social Theory and the Cognitive Science of Religion. London and New York: Routledge. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (2)1: 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.v2i1.67 [PDF]
2014
Wedemeyer, C. K. and W. Doniger (eds.) (2010). Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions: The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle religioni (77)1: 253-260.
2011
Oişteanu, A. (2010). Narcotice în cultura română. Istorie, religie şi literatură. Ediţia ilustrată. Iaşi: Polirom. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (76)2: 630-634. Updated version published in Romanian: “Narcotice şi halucinogene în cultura română”. Viaţa românească 11-12(2011): 173-177.
Eliade, M. (2009). Diario portoghese. Milan: Jaca Book. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (76)2: 605-609.
Eliade, M. (2009). Saggio sulle origini della mistica indiana. Turin: Lindau. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (76)1: 289-292.