From the pen of Justin Gustainis comes another page turner…
Quincey Morris and Libby Chastian are not your everyday, ordinary private detectives. They specialize in supernatural cases that involve witchcraft, vampires, werewolves and all sorts of preternatural creatures.
In this story, an eccentric billionaire named Walter Grobius has one thing in his agenda: to control the world using the most devastating evil known to man, a powerful evil that can be traced back to biblical times. Children across the country are being kidnapped and brutally mutilated; good witches are being killed. For what purpose?
As Grobius prepares for the ‘big ritual’, the one that will make him immortal and grant him the power that he’s always wanted, Morris and Chastian team up once again to fight evil. But will they walk out of it alive?
Evil Ways is the second book in the Morris and Chastian Investigation dark fantasy series. Like in the first book, the author delivers a thrilling ride filled with action, suspense and interesting twists and turns. The pace moves pretty quickly, and the story kept me engrossed from beginning to end. What I enjoy most about this series is the protagonist, Quincey Morris. He’s the good guy next door, the guy with the big heart and high sense of justice, and with a touch of vigilantism in him — but of course, he’s also an expert at fighting supernatural fiends. If you like novels about the battle of good vs. evil, you’ll love Justin Gustainis’ books.
This book can be summed up in one word. Amazing. I am so glad that I had certain friends that urged me to read it.
Nora…ALMOST reminded me of Bella. But she was more logical, and not so stupid about things.
Patch…up until like Chapter Twelve, scared me like no other character in literature so far.
The mystery elements in the novel were really well done. I had no clue what was going on right up to the end. I am just really glad that Elliott turned out not to be too bad.
There are other characters that I am kind of iffy on. But I really enjoyed the book as a whole. I can’t wait until the next part is released!!
Suzanne Pepper. Civil War in China: The Political Struggle, 1945-1949. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
In her preface to Civil War in China’s 1999-printed second edition Suzanne Pepper cites the axiom that “historical writing is defined as much by its own present as by the past it seeks to illuminate” (xix). The “political struggle” referred to in the title might thus be interpreted as reflecting conditions under which American scholars wrote China’s revolutionary history, as well as describing the vaster human experience of that revolution itself. During the late 1960s and early- to mid-1970s, focal points of struggle for young American China-watchers were Chalmers Johnson (Pepper’s graduate advisor) and intellectual contestation surrounding the Vietnam War. According to Pepper, Civil War in China was intended to provide a counter-argument to Johnson’s “peasant nationalist” theory of the Chinese Communist Party’s political success by “tracing the pragmatic process of revolutionary institution-building” (xxv), with the hope of establishing a closer relationship between the categories of (Marxist) socioeconomic revolution and Chinese contexts. The work’s broader agenda was to show that conservative arguments bemoaning the “loss” of China, and Vietnam, to communism failed to appreciate the social conditions that fostered such transformations. More than twenty years later, both Pepper’s argument and the density of its supporting evidence remain persuasive models within the field of Chinese studies.
Strictly speaking, Civil War in China is concerned with establishing the meaning of Chinese political contexts during the 1945-1949 period, defining politics as “a process of interaction and exchange between the government and the governed” (4), thereby allowing the author to sidestep accusations of an overly elite (and elitist) focus while simultaneously directing inquiry toward the foundations of political legitimacy itself. While Pepper includes both Guomindang failures and Japanese aggression as factors contributing to Communist success, she is primarily interested in the source of the Communist “mandate” to rule as stemming from popular support. To what extent this support existed is thus a result of both KMT deterioration and CCP dynamism, and of the context of civil war in general.
The first part of the work, “The Last Years of Kuomintang Rule,” provides a thorough catalogue of KMT blunders during the “reconversion” (jieshou) process following Japanese defeat in 1945. Collaboration with officials of the hated quisling regime, abuse of those who had remained beneath it (rather than following KMT leaders into uncertain exile), inept attempts at economic reform, and seemingly ubiquitous corruption and graft stripped the KMT officials of their prestige as legitimate rulers. Within the “informal court of public opinion” (28), this de-legitimating process was manifested in the form of labor strikes, student protests, and repeated calls for reform. Pepper convincingly shows that, for many, to oppose the KMT did not necessarily imply support for Communist policies, and that within the coastal cities that were primarily under KMT control the Communists often remained only a shadowy, unproven alternative to the more immediate experience of pressing social malaise. Liberalism, not communism, “was the dominant political current among intellectuals in the KMT-controlled areas” (132). But liberal intellectuals proved equally inept as politicians, generating no viable alternatives of their own.
The second part, which addresses “The Communist Alternative,” is thus an investigation both into intellectual critiques of the Communists, and of the rural and urban policies from which their ‘viability’ – and legitimacy – derived. At the heart of this investigation is Pepper’s reinterpretation of the much-discussed Communist policy of rural land reform, through which she argues that the reduction of social inequality, and liquidation of rural elites, remained a consistent practice throughout the Anti-Japanese and Civil Wars even while discourse and practice related to tenancy changed. The political success of the Communists was not a result of a nationalist “united front” (as argued by Johnson, and an impossibility given the stiff opposition of elites to Communist policies), but of an approach to redistribution that coupled the mobilization of poor and middle peasant support with systemic institution-building. As this rural revolution returned to the cities following KMT defeats, pragmatism and anti-leftism ultimately ‘led’ to an urban policy whose aim was “to safeguard China’s urban economic infrastructure” (391) by pursuing a more unlikely united from that included workers, capitalists, and highly-paid Soviet advisors.
Concluding that “the CCP’s victory was as genuine as the KMT’s defeat” (433), Pepper’s account presents a view of ‘victory’ that includes tactics of violent intimidation and localized variation, and a view of ‘defeat’ that includes attempts at reform, and popular ambivalence alongside popular rejection. Civil War in China’s geographic and thematic sweep are almost unthinkable by present standards of scholarship, but as Pepper herself modestly observed, “to the extent that the book succeeded, it did so because of the compelling nature of that same subject matter and the lines of inquiry it opened” (xx). The obviously exhaustive research on these subjects, however, led one contemporary reviewer to praise the work as a “definitive account” within the writing of modern Chinese history (Journal of Asian Studies, 38,2: 343-345). Rather than critique the work for its unavoidable limitations concerning sources, or for its position within a cluster of concerns that are now refigured or forgotten, a more productive interrogation might ask (as Pepper does) why such an undeniably transformation – and as of recently, richly-documented – period has received so little scholarly attention among Western academics since Civil War in China’s initial publication. The varied levels and locales at which Pepper investigates political process, far from appearing outdated, reveal configurations of change that escaped the reified dichotomy of KMT and CCP “periods” within Chinese historiography, without denying the importance of (or ambivalence toward) politics in everyday human life.
Thomas P. Bernstein. Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages: The Transfer of Youth from Urban to Rural China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978.
Thomas P. Bernstein’s book was the first major study of the rural transfer, popularly called “up to the mountains and down to the villages” (shang-shan, xia-xiang), an ambitious public policy program implemented by the Chinese government. The program, practiced first on a limited scale just before the Great Leap Forward and accelerating sharply during the early years of the Cultural Revolution, transferred urban secondary school graduates to rural villages and frontier settlements. According to Bernstein’s statistics, over 14 million urban youths, roughly 10% of China’s urban population, were resettled to the countryside during and after the Cultural Revolution. The study’s goal was to “describe and analyze the policies and practices underlying the transfer,” and to consider their efficacy. (9)
What is noteworthy of this study is Bernstein’s exhaustive research and documentation, a difficult feat considering that at the time he conducted his research, foreign scholars had almost no access to China. As such, he industriously uses data from the Chinese media, visitor’s reports, and interviews with refugees in Hong Kong. Due to the lack of reliable figures, Bernstein is forced to resort to extrapolation, educated conjectures, and deductions to compile data and to analyze important statistics, such as the number of youths resettled and the proportion of urban population transferred, all of which are provided in the form of charts and tables. This type of data analysis forms the basis on which he illuminates different aspects of the program: What were the economic and ideological rationales of sending these millions of urbanites off to the countryside? What was the clash of values between this policy and the propelling of personal ambition? What was the relationship between rural residents (peasants) and the sent-down youths?
An example of Bernstein’s data analysis is demonstrated in his discussion on the goals and policies of the transfer program, in which he argues that the incapacity of the urban sector to supply enough jobs to those in the urban labor market was the root of the rustication program. He connects a relation between the capacity for the urban sector to provide young people with employment and the actual numbers sent to the villages to support this argument. His analysis of the Chinese press reveals two other major goals that sustain the program, that of ideological transformation and rural development. To Bernstein, the tension between the developmental and ideological goals creates difficulty for the implementation and success of the program, for “the transfer of urban youths to the countryside itself promotes the very institutional normalcy so suspect to China’s ideological radicals” (289).
The two contemporary reviewers, Susan Shirk (Journal of Asian Studies, 38,1:148-152) and Victor Funnell (Pacific Affairs, 51,3:502-503) both recognized the value of this book for its insightful analysis and perceptive observations. Shirk wished that the author would have been able to develop the implications of his findings. Indeed, the weakness of the book is exactly the author’s lack of explanation for how the policy was implemented by the government, given the lack of support for the program itself. One is also left wondering about the change in people’s perceptions and social values in relation to the shifting urban-rural dichotomy. On the other hand, this book’s contribution is precisely that it lays groundwork and raises issues from which further study, especially given the passage of time and increased access to sources, may arise.
Wikipedia has a lot on this book. I don’t have a lot to say on it, other than to point out that the Arab world has been in an incredible decline for a long time. I what the HBD explanation for the decline of the Arabs is? Their clearly not stupid and they were responsible for many technological and intellectual advances for centuries. Then they completely stopped doing anything productive. It seems like even those of us who put emphasis on genetics would have to recognize the importance of culture when it comes to explaining how messed up Arab civilization (what’s left of it) is.
As you may have already guessed, the main purpose of this book is to present some key elements that must be present in a healthy church. Mark Dever does a wonderful job in simply laying out what he considers to be the nine basic indicators of church health. These 9 marks are:
1. Expositional Preaching
2. Biblical Theology
3. The Gospel
4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
6. A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. A Concern for Discipleship and Growth
9. Biblical Church Leadership
Dr. Dever is clear to explain that this is not an exhaustive ecclesiology. Instead it is a concise address on common errors that are responsible for so much that goes wrong in the church. As such, this book is very useful.
In Mark 1, Expositional Preaching, Dever explains why he believes that systematically preaching through God’s Word should be the staple form of preaching in a healthy church. The difference between topical and expository preaching, as Dever sees it, is that in topical preaching the pastor chooses a topic and then picks the Scriptures that support what he has already decided he wants to say; with expository preaching, on the other hand, the pastor systematically works through the text of Scripture, unfolding God’s Word for God’s people. Many times, an expository preacher will not know what he intends to say when he comes to a particular text. In fact, Dr. Dever says that many times he is quite surprised by the things he finds in a passage as he studies it (pg. 40). Topical preachers pick select topics that they feel their congregation needs to hear and find Scripture to support it. Expository preachers assume that all of the Bible is relevent to all of us, all the time. One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is:
Many pastors happily accept the authority of God’s Word and profess to believe in the inerrancy of the Bible; yet if they do not in practice regularly preach expositionally, I’m convinced that they will never preach more than they knew when they began the whole exercises. [...] A preacher should have his mind increasingly shaped by Scripture. He shouldn’t just use Scripture as an excuse for what he already knows he wants to say (pg. 41).
Mark 2, Biblical Theology, was another that was particularly interesting to me. At the beginning of this chapter Dr. Dever tells the following story:
I had made a statement in a doctoral seminar about God. Bill responded politely but firmly that he liked to think of God rather differently. For several minutes, Bill painted a picture for us of a friendly deity. He liked to think of God as being wise, but not meddling; compassionate, but never overpowering; ever so resourceful, but never interrupting. “This,” said Bill in conclusion, “is how I like to think of God.”
My reply was perhaps somewhat sharper than it should have been. “Thank you, Bill,” I said, “for telling us so much about yourself, but we are concerned to know what God is really like, not simply about our own desires (pg. 58).”
This particular chapter really resonated with me because I find this type of attitude so prevalent in the modern evangelical church. We need to be concerned with knowing and understanding who the God of the Bible really is, so that we can worship Him. No matter how sincere your worship, if it is directed to a deity who is not the God described in Scripture it is idolatry.
As you may have expected, Dever does touch on God’s sovereignty in this chapter. As exemplified in the story to open this chapter, Dever is not exactly bashful in his defense of the truth and integrity of God’s Word and Biblical leadership. In fact, one of my favorite quotes from this chapter is quite bold but immeasurably important:
For confessing Christians to resist the idea of God’s sovereignty in creation or salvation is really to flirt with pious paganism. Many Christians will have honest questions about God’s sovereignty. But a sustained, tenacious denial of God’s sovereignty should concern us (pg. 72).
Dever then takes it a step further, applying this to church leadership:
As dangerous as such resistance is for the spiritual life of any Christian, it is even more dangerous in the leader of a congregation. To appoint a person as a leader who doubts God’s sovereignty or who seriously misunderstands the Bible’s teaching on it, is to set up as an example a person who in his own heart may well be deeply unwilling to trust God. That is bound to hinder the church as it tries to trust the Lord together (pg. 73).
Theology is the study of God. Therefore it is essential for a healthy church to have a Biblical understanding of God and His ways with us. Dr. Dever plainly states:
How you think about God impacts the way you live and what you want your church to be like. You must have a biblical understanding of God (pg. 72).
While I would love to give a little summary of every single chapter in the book, I’m affraid that would deem the reading of the book unnecessary in the minds of many of you. Dr. Dever’s insight is far more siginificant than I could even begin to summarize. Each and ever chapter of this book is filled with biblical truth as applied to the local church. Every single chapter is worth reading, and I would recommend this book to anyone. Whether you are in a position of church leadership desiring to grow a healthy church, or a lay person desiring to measure the health of your current local church, and especially if you’re a lay person trying to find a local church, this book is a must-read!
To conclude, here’s a list of some endorsements of this book by some of my favorite pastors/teachers/theologians:
If you are a Christian leader, be careful of the work you are now holding in your hand: it may change your life and ministry. (D.A. Carson)
Mark Dever gives the biblical criteria for discerning the spiritual well-being of a church, not what it looks like on the outside before the world, but what it is on the inside before God. This is a foundational work which I highly recommend. (John MacArthur)
It is astonishing that the apostle Paul describes the local gathering of Christians as “the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28 ESV). That raises the stakes of church life and health and mission about as high as it can be. We are dealing with a blood-bought body of people. I do not want human ideas. I want God’s Word about the church. I turn with hope and confidence to Mark Dever’s radically biblical commitment. Few people today have thought more or better about what makes a church biblical and healthy. (John Piper)
Written by a pastor and theologian who has built a strong local church in Washington D.C., this is the best book I have read on this topic of critical importance. (C.J. Mahaney)
Mark Dever points toward a truly biblical recovery of the New Testament church in his manifesto, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Every page is loaded with thoughtful analysis and careful consideration. It belongs in the hands of every faithful pastor and all those who pray for reformation in this age. (Albert Mohler)
I’ve been a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson for a little over a year. Recently, Thomas Nelson streamlined their book reviewing process, starting a new program called Book Sneeze. They provide you with books and you provide them (and consumer websites) with honest reviews of their books. It’s a great system. If you’re interested in getting in signing up and getting some free books, check out this link.
Though I’m not an ardent follower of Jonathan Kellerman’s books, when I do come across one, I will generally pick it up. Bad Love is one of Kellerman’s popular Alex Delaware novels. Delaware is a child psychologist who tends to find himself helping his good friend Det. Milo Sturgis solve complex crimes.
In Bad Love, Delaware is the object of odd threats, such as having his koi skewered and the tape of a child saying “bad love” over and over. Delaware remembers the phrase “bad love” was used by a child psychiatrist at a 1979 symposium that Delaware co-sponsored. When Delaware investigates further, he discovers many of the people associated with the symposium have died. Sturgis also connects the phrase with other murders that have happened over the years.
As usual, Kellerman plots a great story that is filled with many twists as you seek to understand the mind of a killer. Kellerman also does a good job of maintaining the suspense so that the reader is dying to know whodunit and why at the end of the novel.
So if I enjoyed the book (and I did), you might wonder why I’m not a bigger fan of Kellerman’s. I wish I could stay. I’ve read many of the Alex Delaware novels and enjoyed them all to varying degrees, but I can’t say why Kellerman’s not one of my favorites. I bet Dr. Delaware could tell me why if I talked to him, but I guess that won’t be happening.
I finished Witch & Wizard late saturday night. I have to admit that while there were a few places where I almost vomited because it was so ridiculously cliché, I enjoyed it overall. And I am excited because it is the first in a series yet to be written.
I stand by my presumption of a 1984 wanna be, but It was also reminiscent of a lot of fantasy. There are 5 worlds, or parallel universes, which to be honest the author didn’t do that good of a job explaining more than 2 of them. There was magic and suspense that really did keep me interested. It’s kid friendly. I am going to say it’s a kids book you need to be an adult to appreciate. Or rather, understand. Like I said, some bits were just too in your face political that I was not the least bit amused.
I’m going to say that I liked it, but not that I’d recommend it to someone who isn’t prepaired to read it with all the cliche patrs. I want to read the next one.
This book has been through a lot. Photo (c) r.smith 2010
This is actually a re-read, and I don’t think I posted it about it the first time I read it.. but even if I did, that was over a year ago so, it bears repeating.
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts is the true story of Attila Ambrus, Hungarian “folk hero” (as proclaimed by his countrymen).
Just as it was the first time I read this book, I could not put it down. Proof positive that truth is stranger than fiction.. Whenever I first started reading it, after I intially received it, I actually had to do a little online research to see if it was a biographical book or a work of fiction. (Despite the fact that the title states it’s a true story, yes. It was just that off-the-wall.) For me, one of the only things reminding me that it’s non-fiction is the skillful way in which the author weaves the tumultuous history of this area of the world throughout the story. He succeeds in creating another character out of Hungary, as if it were another person in the already outrageous cast, as opposed to it merely being a setting or a background for the events that unfold.
He also manages to perfectly capture and re-create for the reader the conflict between a blundering police force bent on serving justice to what they consider a “dangerous criminal,” and the rest of the country who sees the man as a modern day Robin Hood.. Robbing from a government that has failed all but the richest of its citizens and has opened the door for other countries to prosper off of their natural resources while returning no benefits to Hungary.
For fans of fiction and non-fiction alike, I would recommend this book. Bet you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference if you didn’t already know.
Welcome to Porter Grand’s Moonlit Library. The Lycan Librarian, as most librarians, knows that many people have a hard time finding books they will love to read. Life is short for mortals, so there is no time to spend struggling through a book one does not enjoy devouring. There is a vast legion of wonderful books that do not get the publicity they deserve, so the Lycan Librarian is here to share notes and impressions about wonderful, lesser-known books pulled from the new book cart, and from the dusty shelves of this library. (Yes, I fear I am a very poor housekeeper, as I would rather be reading than cleaning.) I hope to help you find new books and authors to rave and howl about, and to learn, from you, about some I have not yet discovered. I especially love dark books, and horror, but some of the most graphic and disturbing books fall in non-fiction and literary fiction categories, so I have learned to not pigeonhole books, and I don’t judge them by genre, their title, their cover, or their author. Each book is as unique as you and I, and we all deserve the chance to showcase ourselves on our own merits. I look forward to this blog being a fantastic journey, and I hope you will log in often to share it with me.
Porter Grand
I hesitated to read Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan because it is for “young adults,” but since it is a new steampunk book, and I tend to find YA books tolerable, I decided to read it in the end.
I found the book an uneven package, so I will start with the strengths. Leviathan is a very well-imagined and executed steampunk world of walking war machines and genetically engineered super-beasts. Set against the outbreak of World War I, the political divide between the German/Austrian alliance (Clankers) and the British/French alliance (Darminists) is overlaid with philosophical and religious differences over the use of machines and the manipulation of genetic material. These fantastic artifacts of engineering are wonderfully illustrated by Keith Thompson, and I would recommend any steampunk fan to at least flip through a copy just to look at the artwork.
The story follows two young heroes. Fifteen-year-old Deryn disguises herself as a boy to enter the British air force to serve on the living balloons and airships created by melding jellyfish, whales, glowworms, bats, hawks, and talking lizards. Think Harry Potter meets Horatio Hornblower meets Mulan. Her counterpart is Aleksander Hapsburg, the orphan son of Archduke Ferdinand. He flees the emperor’s assassins with his tutors and guards in a walking tank (think Star Wars) to a mountain hideaway in Switzerland. They’re both likable heroes, but neither one came across to me as particularly strong or memorable. They’re just…nice.
Deryn’s airship, the flying whale-beast called Leviathan, is shot down and crashes into the Swiss mountains. Alek comes out of hiding to help the survivors, and ultimately the Austrians and British join forces to escape the German military. And that’s it.
This is where we swing into the negatives. The hard cover edition features extremely large print, which pushes the book up to 450 pages or so, but the whole story feels like Act I. Naturally, there will be sequels, but we shouldn’t need sequels. We should want them.
The Harry Potter books each tell a single complete story within the larger, over-arching plot of the series. Each volume has a plot, and subplots, and a villain, and a resolution. Leviathan has no clear villain, just “bad guys out there in the world” and it has no clear plot. Alek is on the run from assassins, in general, and Deryn is just doing her job on her ship. They happen to meet, and fly away together. This is not a story.
There was also a disappointing lack of subplots. The secondary characters were fairly thin and interchangeable, with the exception of the British scientist and the Austrian count. You’ll find no rich cast of teachers, mentors, relatives, friends, love interests, and enemies. Which hurts the book.
So, I highly recommend the concept and the art, and I suspect when the series is complete I will also recommend the full story, but here and now, Leviathan is an incomplete book.
But in Westerfield’s defense, I would really like to see an adult version of this book, or an adult book set in the same world. It really is an exciting alternate reality, and I think if he were to tell a properly bloody and emotionally complex story in this world, it would be outstanding.
Things have been really, really busy (and kind of exciting) these last few days. On Thursday, I went to a retirement party and it was really nice – there was a really big turnout for this person, which she totally deserved. And I’l actually miss her – even though she’s not really leaving us. Then, yesterday, I had my follow up CT scan for my sinuses. It was wierd – just as weird as the first time – they put you on this kind of table that moves up down and back and forth. Then, my head was put into this circular type of thing that reminded me of a MRI machine, but it wasn’t a tube and it moved really fast, taking pictures of my sinuses.
Also, on Thursday, I visited the allergist for the first time and they did allergy testing on me. It turns out that I’m pretty much allergic to everything except for animals, food and mold. I’m allergic to all trees, grass and flowers. I’m also allergic to dust. That explains an awful lot, but maybe now I’ll get answers from the ENT.
I reviewed my latest read:
The review is here.
I also have a new Twitter account. I fixed the URL in the sidebar so be sure to add me.
Quick review on Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point.
The book develops on top of the theory the author calls “The Tipping Point”, in which simple and modest things can make big difference in whether a message, a behavior, a product, a disease and whatnot becomes an epidemy or fails to deliver any significant result.
The writing
The basic concepts that surround the theory are presented and extensively defended and grounded with examples and case studies, always citing several experiments and studies somehow related to specific details of the concept. This is an interesting approach as it won’t just give a good credibility to the idea, as it will also present other ideas and concepts coined in different times and by different people, but that in the end help to suggest and defend the same things that the book author is writing about.
Still on the book approach to the ideas and concepts presented, the fact that the it will only run on top of the homonymous theory, defending it on its own and without stating whether it’s good or bad, right or wrong, and without attacking any other subversive concept, makes it for a compelling and enjoyable read.
The content
Running on top of 3 pillars: The Lay of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context, The Tipping Point theory suggest that only a few outstanding individuals are able to get in touch with a message and pass it on to several different individuals from distinct groups and cultures with the credibility of a friend, or can assimilate all the details of it and translate in a compelling way for the larger audience, or can be charming enough to draw and influence others to accept it.
It also suggests that details on how a message is presented determine how sticking it can be, what will make it for a remarkable experience and convert people to its interests. And how the context of time and circumstance, and audience and their boundaries can provide the necessary power for the message to last, convince or just spread like wildfire.
I found it specially interesting how short and quick the “Conclusion” chapter is, and how it needn’t be any longer, as you will inevitably map all the concepts presented back to your day-to-day experiences and all the trends you end up taking sides with. At some point things just seem to fit it, and it all makes sense.
The afterword by the author goes on how to take advantage of the Tipping Point concept to create develop your own messages and turn it on a tipping point for your goals. It also presents 3 new topics, showing how the isolation generated by the contemporary life helps different messages to tip among kids and teens, and how immunity can make an epidemic to cease and how important the people who are able to translate messages for larger audiences are, and why messengers should take special care of them to make sure they always have a good translation of their messages.
That’s it
Recommended reading for data junkies by the amount of data related to studies and surveys that are presented. For business folks and marketers also.
I also got Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking from the same Malcolm Gladwell, and will start reading it on February. Looking forward to it!
… find me on goodreads.com to share your thoughts with me and recommend me some good books!
Maggie and I just finished reading Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr last night, which was a re-read for me, but a first read for her since she fell asleep on it last year and never picked it back up. I enjoyed it more this time around, and wonder if it was because I haven’t recently seen the movie, or that I saw things this time I didn’t before, or that it was the wide-eyed (most of the time), often giggling girl cuddling beside me. Maybe it was all three, but I’m thinking it was the last that increased my enjoyment the most
Since I reviewed it last year, I thought it’d be a perfect chance for Mags to do her first official review. She has given a paragraph here and there on different books that we’ve read together about what she thought of a book, but never the whole review. So, take it away Maggie!
My mom is making do this, I want to play and this is boring and stupid, but she’s making me sit here and write this with her.
So why did I read Nim’s Island? “Because I wanted to” isn’t enough, mom says, so I guess I have to say more. At school we do Accelerated Reader. You get points for reading books and you get prizes and it goes on your report card. Also, if I don’t meet my point goals, I can’t play computer games. With Nim’s Island’s 3 points, I’ll have 46 points. I want to get 100 points by the end of the year, I’m trying to get mom to read Twilight with me, it’s worth like 20 points or something
Nim’s Island is about a girl named Nim who lives on an island with her dad, Jack. Her dad leaves her alone while he goes to study plankton. He only means to be gone for 3 days, but then a storm hit and his boat got broke, and he couldn’t get back to her. He let Nim know what happened by hooking up a note on Nim’s bird named Galileo. While he was gone, they got an email from Alex Rover, who is the author of the adventure books Nim loves. Having someone to talk to makes Nim feel less alone and happy to have a friend. When Alex finds out that Nim is alone, she comes to the island immediately, even though it was hard for Alex to even leave her apartment because she’s afraid of everything, even just going outside.
Five things I liked about the book:
I liked Fred, the iguana, best. He’s so funny. He always forgets he doesn’t like banana and takes a bite of Nim’s then spits it out and then Nim’s too grossed out to eat the banana.
The book was funny. When Fred got mad, he swam down to the bottom of the pool and hid under a rock.
It was cool that they lived on an island. I’d love to live on an island and swim in the ocean whenever I wanted. And she didn’t have to sit in a boring classroom for school, but got to sit outside and learn about nature and stars and how to talk to the seals.
It was a short book.
I liked the pictures in the book.
Things I didn’t like:
I didn’t like that Nim was left alone. It’s bad to leave kids alone. It made me feel sad that she didn’t have anybody to share the coconut pearl with or to comfort her when her knee got hurt.
I didn’t like it when my mom teased me and said she was going to stop in the middle of the storm, in the middle of a sentence. This is what she did:
“The water was up to Alex’s waist, then her chest, and up to her neck; she was spluttering and ducking, and… “
Okay, time for bed.
I threatened to bite her if she didn’t finish. She finished.
Did I mention I didn’t like writing a review?
I give Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr 4 out of 5 stars. Okay, that’s all I can think of, so I guess I’m done.
I took everyone’s advice and finished my book club book – The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I’m an Atwood fan, and looked forward to reading this futuristic view of a dystopian society. Although I don’t usually care for science fiction, Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale - not really science fiction, but certainly futuristic - is an all-time favorite of mine. I picked up Year of the Flood hoping to find something similar.
For anyone who read Oryx and Crake (which I did not), you’ll find some familiar characters as Oryx, Crake, and Amanda Payne, to name a few, show up here. However, the point of view differs as Flood focuses on an “eco-religious” group known as God’s Gardeners. The main characters are Ren, who enters the sect as a young girl, and Toby, who is rescued by them as a young adult. The different perspectives that these characters bring to the story give us different ways of understanding the group and it’s leaders, particularly “Adam One,” the acknowledged head of the group.
The story is a fairly straightforward look at how this group attempts to withstand the disintegrating society of the “Pleeblands” (average citizens) and the “CorpSeCorps” (Corporate Security) that governs this dystopian world. It is a world rife with manufactured “food,” genetically spliced animals, and other completely conceivable changes to the natural order, with an ultimately bleak view of our future. There is suspense, friendship and affection, hymns, and the occasional sermon from Adam One to take us to an ultimate resolution of sorts.
I can’t say that I loved this book, although I loved parts of it. Atwood is always wonderful in her literary style and eye for detail, and this book is a great example of that. It is obvious that environmentalism is a cause near and dear to her heart. In fact, she has established a website, www.yearoftheflood.com, with many resources concerning the environment (and a CD that was produced of the God’s Gardeners hymns).
However, I felt that the heavy emphasis on environmentalism in this novel came at the expense of the storyline. I found many of the futuristic names (“liobamb,” “HelthWyzer,” “the Exfernal World” to name a few) distracting and off-putting. The plot was often dragged down by side stories designed, I believe, to proselytize about potential dangers to the planet and/or our western culture.
I don’t begrudge the time I spent reading this – it was interesting and gave me a lot to think about. However, I can’t honestly say that it is a book I will recommend often to friends.
The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by the late M. Scott Peck, M.D was first published in 1978. A classic book about the road to spiritual growth through discipline, love and gratitude, something I return to for guidance and highly recommend to others. The ideas put forth are timeless and invaluable.
This is an insightful book about life and highlights how our upbringing and family dynamics effect our future. I found this book really thought-provoking and relative to raising a family as one needs to follow their conscience and make tough decisions. Peck teaches and encourages this process.
My favorite parts of the book were the real life stories as Peck was a practicing psychologist/psychiatrist who reveals the secrets to fulfilling, healthy, meaningful and lasting relationships. It really makes you see yourself and others in a different light, as well as words and concepts we think we understand. His hallmark argument is that we so often view love as a noun instead of a verb… as something that just happens to us or doesn’t happen to us, instead of an ongoing task we must work at…that work, that action-is love.
The Christmas Break gave me a chance to catch up on a lot of books I’ve been waiting to read… most of them were well worth the wait!
“ Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church” by Michael Horton
This is a hard-hitting wake-up call for those of us in the American Church. Horton, a professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, essentially dismantles what passes for theology at most evangelical churches in this country.
While he does confront the errors of “pop theology” movements such as the “Word-Faith” or “Prosperity Gospel” of Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen, and the “seeker-sensitive” or “Emergent Church” of guys like Brian McLaren, his harshest criticism is reserved for those of us who attend conservative evangelical churches. His primary argument “is not that evangelicalism is becoming theologically liberal, but that it is becoming theologically vacuous”. In other words, it doesn’t take a great heresy to lead the Church into apostasy. All that is necessary to make the Church ineffective is for Satan to succeed in de-emphasizing the centrality of Christ in our churches. Horton’s argument is that the vast majority of churches follow a “flavor of the moment” mentality, emphasizing programs, political activism, and social work — in and of themselves all admirable undertakings — at the expense of the preaching and understanding of God’s Word. This leads to a lack of discernment among professing believers, leaving many unable to even tell the difference between sound doctrine and heresy.
This is not to say that this book is merely a collection of criticisms. After all, anyone can identify problems. What is needed are visionaries who offer solutions. This is the purpose of the final chapter in the book, in which Horton calls for the Church-at-large as well as individual church congregations to recommit themselves to theology, and, most of all, to the power of Christ and the Word. After all, it is the Word of God that equips us for good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Still, read by itself, this book is long on critique and short of solutions. However, Horton wrote in the introduction that this would be the case, as this book is actually part one of a two-book effort in this area. It’s counterpart, “The Gospel-Driven Life”, is entirely solution oriented, giving direction for those who, like Horton, do not believe that the Church has already arrived at “Christless Christianity”, and that reformation is not only possible, but imperative. I hope to offer a review of this second book in the next month or two.
All in all, this is a great read, though you should be prepared to be convicted by it. I certainly was! Buy it here.
“Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit” by Francis Chan
This is the second book published by the author of “Crazy Love” (which is one of the greatest books published in the last few years). Those familiar with Chan’s previous work will undoubtedly love this one. In it, he explores the theology of the Holy Spirit. His premise is that the Holy Spirit is the “forgotten” person of the Holy Trinity — not in the sense that he is actually forgotten or left out completely, but that our understanding of the Spirit lags behind our understanding of the roles that the Father and Son play in the Godhead. We have neglected the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, choosing in most churches to either over- or under-emphasize the Spirit’s power in the lives of believers.
“Forgotten God” is light reading, but offers questions that require deep reflection. Chan does not offer an exhaustive study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Rather, his purpose in this book is to stimulate conversation and thought about the Holy Spirit, which will lead in turn to more Christians taking up further study of the Spirit from God’s Word. He does this primarily through sharing testimonies of believers who exemplified spirit-filled lives (such as Joni Eareckson Tada and Francis Schaeffer), and by gently confronting pre-conceived notions about the work and purpose of the Spirit through asking tough questions (“I think most of us would…choose a physical Jesus over an invisible Spirit. But what do we do with the fact that Jesus says it is better for His followers to have the Holy Spirit?”) and pointing out uncomfortable truths (“Let’s be honest: If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming.”).
Highly recommended reading for any Christian. Buy it here.
“Words From the Fire: Hearing the Voice of God in the 10 Commandments” by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
In this book, Mohler, who is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes an exposition of the Ten Commandments, explaining how each is still vitally important to us today, even though we live under the covenant of grace, and not under the law. Jesus, after all, was the fulfillment of the law, and we are to be like him. While Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to come to faith by the free gift of God’s grace — even though we are guilty of breaking every commandment He has ever given us — we are still called to live according to God’s Will. Jesus didn’t remove the law, though he removed it’s power over us. Rather, he raised the bar, setting an even higher level of expectation for those who bear His name. It is not enough to live according to the letter of the Law. We are to live according to its spirit, through the power of the Spirit which enables our obedience.
The purpose of the book, says Mohler, is to answer the question: “How do we know and teach what we claim to know and teach?” His answer is that God is a God who speaks. Previously, He has spoken through the law, but now He has spoken through the Living Word, Jesus Christ. This leads to what he calls “several realities that should frame our thinking”. He offers eight such realities that must be true regarding the question “How do we know?” if we operate under the assumption that God speaks, and that He has spoken: If God has spoken, then (1) we do know; (2) we know only by mercy; (3) we too must speak; (4) all He has spoken is about God, and it is all for our good; (5) it is for our redemption; (6) we must obey; (7) we must trust; and (8) we must witness.
Mohler then devotes a chapter to each of the commandments. I was amazed and challenged by the depth of his insights, particularly in regard to our worship. In fact, as I was reading the book, I shared one of those insights here on this blog. His focus is entirely on Jesus, and this makes the 10 Commandments more “relevant” now than ever! Mohler’s summary in the penultimate paragraph of this book is spot on:
“Understood rightly, these commandments lead, not to our despair that we fall short of them, but to our thankfulness for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ comes to save lawbreakers like ourselves. Thus, we see the commandments themselves as grace to us. But our confidence is not in our ability to keep these commandments, for we will surely fail. Our confidence is in Christ, whose perfect obedience fulfills the law.”
This book would make an excellent resource for small group discussion, as well as for personal reading. Buy it here.
“Who Made God? Searching for a Theory of Everything” by Edgar Andrews
I don’t know if I’ve ever had more fun reading a book so steeped in scientific terminology… in fact, I’m sure I haven’t! Andrews, who serves as Emeritus Professor of Materials at the University of London, is one of the world’s foremost experts on molecular science. He also possesses a keen wit and employs a great sense of charming British humor in his writing (think Monty Python without the crassness).
In this book, Andrews addresses what he calls “the sceptic’s favourite question”: If God made everything, then who made God? Richard Dawkins and many other “new atheists” seem to think this is a trump card that destroys any argument in favor of a Creator God. Rather than simply refuting the arguments of these atheists, though, Andrews instead asserts that this is an “unanswerable question” not because Christians do not have an answer, but because the question leaves the word “God” undefined. The question “Who made God?” begs the question “Who is God?”
With that in mind, Andrews seeks to come up with a scientific “theory of everything”, which he says is every scientist’s dream. Whereas many Christian apologists have devoted themselves to refuting the assertions of atheists (primarily in regards to Darwinian evolution), the author’s goal is to promote a positive thesis (that God exists and reveals Himself in the Bible) rather than a negative antithesis (that Darwinian evolution is false). His book’s purpose then, is “to explore how the biblical hypothesis of God provides a comprehensible, intellectually consistent and spiritually satisfying view of being that encompasses man’s experience of life, the universe and everything.”
Andrews explores the origin of life using what in science is called the “hypothetical approach”. This involves investigating two (or more) mutually exclusive hypotheses, and observing which hypothesis accounts most plausibly for what we observe in every area of life. He reasons that this is the approach seen in the Bible itself. Nowhere in God’s Word do we find any argument that seeks to prove God’s existence. It is assumed from the very beginning: “In the beginning God…”
The book goes through all of the most recent scientific theories regarding the origin of life, as well as the history of how those theories developed. He covers everything from molecular biology to astrophysics to natural selection to string theory. This branches out into discussions of philosophy and psychology. At every point, though, these complex scientific theories are presented in layman’s terms, making heavy use of analogy. At each point of discussion, Andrews explains how “natural science” (which assumes there is no God) accounts for what is observed, and then compares it with his hypothesis of God (which assumes that He exists and that the Bible offers explanation for all that is observed). It is truly fascinating.
If you are a fan of books dealing with the “Creation vs. Evolution” debate, this is a must-read. If you are skeptical of God’s existence or the authority of his Word, this will address your questions better than just about anything else out there. If you’ve never read a book in this genre, this is a great place to start! In other words, buy this book… eventually. It’s been a hot seller, and is currently unavailable pending a second printing! When it is available, you’ll find it here. In the meantime, feel free to borrow my copy!
“Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches” by Russell D. Moore
This is a book I never thought I’d read. Now I can’t imagine how a book exactly like it wasn’t published long before 2009! In his first chapter he explains why you ought to read the book, even (and especially) if you don’t want to… and I’m ashamed to admit that this probably described me.
There are plenty of “how-to” books regarding adoption. There are plenty of books describing the great need for adoptive families felt by orphans all over the world. There are plenty of books examining the theological doctrine of spiritual adoption. This, to the best of my knowledge, is the only book that combines these three in a manner that shows how these issues absolutely cannot be separated.
Russell Moore is a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but he writes this book as both an adoptive father and an adopted son of our Heavenly Father. His book argues that the Bible does not draw any lines between theological adoption and practical adoption, so Christians should not, either. The Bible tells us over and over what it means to be adopted into the family of God, as sons of the Father and co-heirs with Christ. It also tells us that pure & undefiled religion requires the care and rescue of orphans, just as Christ did not leave us as orphans.
Moore does not assert that all Christian families are called or equipped to adopt, but he DOES assert that EVERY Christian has a responsibility to be involved in adoption, whether through becoming adoptive parents, helping others to adopt, or working to create and/or support an adoption ministry in the local church. After reading this book, I am 100% convinced that this is absolutely true. After your Bible, I don’t know that there is a more important book that I could commend to you than this one. Buy it here.
You can learn more about this by watching this short promotional video for the “Adopting for Life Conference“, which Laurie and I will be attending in about a month. If you would like to attend as well, we’d love to travel with you!
“Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God” by Bruce A. Ware
Last but not least is a book that I read very quickly, but an now going through very slowly and meticulously. I was intrigued to hear that Bruce Ware, professor of systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was publishing at the end of 2009: A systematic theology written to be taught to and read by children!
In the book’s introduction, Ware explains that as his daughters grew up, he began to realize that what he had been teaching them each night at their bedsides was the same material he had been teaching to his seminary students for decades! This led to the idea of writing a book that would progress systematically through the essential doctrines of Christianity on a level that is accessible and understandable for children, without compromising on the rich truths expressed in Scripture.
I have to say, he has done a great job with this! Far too often we underestimate the ability of children to grasp the deep things of God. How tragic! They understand far more than we think, and in many cases, probably more than we do. After all, Jesus didn’t tell children to have faith like adults! There is a deep need for our children to be brought up immersed in the Word, and this book will be a great resource for parents seeking to raise their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). I am personally thankful to have this tool as I pursue my aim of becoming a Proverbs 4 dad!
Though this book says it is written for ages 9 and up, it is by no means childish. To be perfectly honest, most adults could stand to learn much from this book! We live in an age where an intellectual pursuit of theology is not much emphasized in evangelical culture, and it is probably safe to assume that the vast majority of Christians have never devoted themselves to a serious and systematic study of theology. If a 1200+ page seminary text seems intimidating, this quite manageable 230-page paperback could be the ideal starting point for many! Buy it here.
I’ve just realized that three of last month’s books were written by professors at Southern Seminary. Perhaps I need to look elsewhere for books this month! Thankfully, none of the books nearing the top of my reading stack are in any way affiliated with SBTS:
“The Gospel-Driven Life” by Michael Horton; “Counterfeit Gods” by Tim Keller; “The Trellis and the Vine” by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne; “Unleashing the Word” by Max McLean
As an advocate of the theonomic (theocratic) thesis for almost ten years, I am continually perplexed at the attempts of Kline’s disciples to override the theonomic agenda. Like all other theologies, theonomy is not a monolitihic position. The Jordanians and Bahnsenians have gone their separate ways, though both affirming the necessity of God’s law for modern society (for some differences read James B. Jordan’s Therough New Eyes).
In his Covenantal Theonomy, Kenneth Gentry responds to one of Meredith Kline’s most fervent disciples, T. David Gordon. Gentry’s response focuses on Gordon’s premise that the Bible is insufficient to address issues pertaining to the civil sphere. Gordon argues that theonomists have abused the law of God by perpetuating the Mosaic Law in the New Covenant. Gordon argues that the law had a distinct purpose and it was meant for a distinct people, the theocratic nation of Israel. However, following the Bahnsenian tradition, Gentry argues persuasively that the law is part of the immutable character of God. Since God does not change, his laws remain the same in every time and place, unless it is rescinded by a New Covenant imperative (the sacrificial laws as a clear example). Further, Gentry argues that the Scriptures provide a clear case for the accountability of non-theocratic nations to the law of God. Even nations who did not have the disctinct Mosaic laws as their own were judged for violating them.
Unique to this discussion is the exegesis of Matthew 5:17. Gentry spends a considerable time defending the theonomic understanding of this text. This passage is crucial to the theonomic position, though theonomy, as Gentry reminds, is not dependent exclusively on it. The theonomic thesis is “rooted in the presupposition that Scripture is the self-attesting word of God, which is not to be dismissed by man (170).” Thus, Paul and the other New Testament writers assume a theonomic thesis.
The reader will see two clear assumptions as they compare Gentry and Gordon. Gentry is firmly grounded in the Westminsterian tradition. That is, the main confession of the Reformed Presbyterian faith is on the side of theonomy on this issue, as Gentry ably expounds. Gordon, on the other hand, holds no such commitment. He affirms–as his mentor Kline– many times that the “assembly” and “divines” were wrong to assume such continuity between covenants. Thus, confessionally, Gentry and the theonomic tradition are in good standing.
Gordon, though in error in most of his assumptions, brings a freshness to the debate. He raises several crucial questions. Is it legitimate (as I have argued elsewhere) to take exceptions to your tradition’s central confession? Have theonomists been too literalistic in their understanding of civil laws without considering the trajectory and redemptive outworkings of biblical history? Has theonomy minimized the biblical idea of “wisdom” and “maturity” in speaking to areas of the civil sphere? My own perception is that the modern day theonomists (or “theocrats” as Jordan prefers) have matured in their view of biblical ethics. They have filled in the gaps which our early forefathers were not able to do.
Further thoughts:
a) For a more recent expression of the theonomic movement, see James B. Jordan and Peter Leithart’s lectures at the Biblical Horizon’s Conference in 1991.
b) As you read through Gentry’s response, note the level of research in the footnotes. Theonomists have in the words of Gary North “foonoted opponents to death.”
c) If you do not already have Greg Bahnsen’s masterpiece Theonomy in Christian Ethics, you can purchase it from Covenant Media.
In my last book review, I was disappointed by the book’s inability to cause a change in my husband and I. Well, I won’t be saying that about this one. Not since The Power of Now has a book stirred me up so much. A definite life shifter, Steering by Starlight is the kind of read that makes you want to live better and believe that a better life (a more magical, mystical and miracle-laden one) is possible.
This is one of the books I call my “turtle reader” because it’s among my stash that I read super slowly. It’s my wine and chocolate read. This is the kind of book that should be savored, absorbed and appreciated. Frankly, I couldn’t get enough of it and was sad when it came to an end.
Why?
I’m a big fan of Martha Beck. But I have to say this is one of my favorite books by far. Written in Beck’s light, humorous style (comparing lizards to our minds and Harry Potter’s dark arts to toxic people), she provides easily digestible info on life’s most painful parts. This book didn’t fail to deliver on fun or insight.
Beck sheds light on everything from dream analysis to dealing with toxic people. I’m so glad I bought this book and not borrowed it because I know that it’s going to be something I can turn to again and again.
Powerful exercises. Every self-help book has exercises for you to do. Normally I wince when I see them and don’t get much out of it, but in Steering by Starlight, I was first surprised by how fun they were and then by how powerful it turned out to be. One of my favorite exercises was thinking about a positive thing in my life now and going backwards from end to beginning. I realized that a lot of so-called negative events were actually necessary and in the end brought something positive in my life.
Beck’s books are influential because they show rather than tell you how to change your life. Reading about her life story and seeing both difficult life challenges and its positive outcomes were inspirational. She spreads optimism and hope by demonstrating what is possible.
Why not?
It’s difficult to find a con about this book. I think if anything, I wish it were longer.
My last words:
If you’re struggling to find your purpose, feeling stuck and need a change, I definitely recommend this book! Since I’ve picked it up, I’ve been experiencing small miracles every day. My only regret is that I’ve already read it and have finished most of her books. Martha puh-leaze write more books!
I haven’t posted here for a month, but the carnivals keep rolling out like clockwork.
On Dec. 21st I hosted a carnival at my own blog I’ll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!.
January 3rd saw our first carnival of 2010 at Book Dads.
And today the 35th Book Review Blog Carnival is posted at Home School Dad .
Submissions are being accepted for the Jan 31st edition, to be hosted by Kitsch Slapped. Submit your BOOK REVIEWS here. Did I mention that this carnival is for BOOK REVIEWS?
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic, 2009. 400 pages. Source: Personal copy
When I curled up with Shiver and read the first few chapters, I was captivated. Grace is a teenage girl who survived a wolf attack in her Minnesota backyard as a child; Sam is the werewolf who saved her from the rest of his pack. During the six years since the attack, the two have watched each other: Grace catching glimpses of Sam in wolf form from the safety of her home and–rather than being afraid of his frequent presence–finding herself drawn to him. Other people in town are not so captivated by the wolves. When a boy from Grace’s high school is killed by one, hunters take to the woods to weed out the pack. Fearing for the life of “her wolf,” Grace plunges into the woods and encounters him in human form.
The story that follows is romantic, full of long gazes and many (mostly chaste, yet intimate) nights spent in Grace’s bed. Facing what may be his last year of ability to switch back and forth between wolf and human form, Sam’s body temperature must be carefully regulated in order to keep him from changing back into a wolf. Grace is determined to help Sam remain human for as long as possible, and her ability to keep a roof over his head owes to the fact that her parents are largely absent. Sam’s wolf-ness doesn’t remain a secret for long, though, and complications arise from nearly every direction: curious friends, rogue pack members, and the impending winter frost.
I enjoyed this book, but the thrill I felt when I began reading it did dwindle throughout the course of the story. Parts of it are very slow. There are many, many episodes where Sam and Grace snuggle in bed or do other leisurely activities together, like cooking or reading. (Sam’s one literate lupine, let me tell you! Rilke is strewn throughout the novel.) These scenes were sweet and did help to portray the young couple’s intimacy and ease with one another, but also they made me long for something, anything to actually happen to move the story forward. Alternately, the parts of the book which dealt with Sam’s pack members and teens from Grace’s school felt as though they were cluttered with too many characters. I’m not sure how these episodes could have been framed differently–where there’s one wolf or high school student, there tends to be many–but most of these side characters lacked depth. On the other hand, the alternating first-person narration limits the story’s perspective to either that of Sam or Grace. When I think about it this way, it makes sense information about side characters would be incomplete. Even so, the huge ensemble wasn’t quite satisfying to me.
That said, I think this is a good book for teens and adults who enjoy paranormal romance. A second book, Linger, will continue this story in July 2010. Perhaps that’s why there are so many characters in Shiver? Lots of directions for a second volume.
Lovers of classic comedy and show biz biography undoubtedly know the name Simon Louvish. In recent years, the Scottish-Israeli film scholar has penned colorful, interesting books about W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Mae West, Mack Sennett, and Laurel and Hardy. In Chaplin: The Tramp’s Odyssey he tackles the granddaddy of them all, providing his own quirky insight into one of the 20th century’s greatest enigmas.
As Louvish wisely points out in his prologue, there are probably already a hundred books on this juicy subject. Yet still the author has managed to carve out a niche for himself, mostly by presenting the most up-to-date scholarship on the topic, and by structuring his book playfully, as a sort of marathon Charlie Chaplin film festival starring the Tramp himself. Chapter headings are named after Chaplin’s key films, the themes of which are connected to events in Chaplin’s own life. Most significantly, he makes the touchstone of the book the greatest crisis of Chaplin’s adult life, and one of the most unfathomable events of (if you’ll excuse the expression) modern times: Chaplin’s 1952 exile from a land where he had been universally beloved only a decade before.
It would be hard to exaggerate the scale of Chaplin’s fall from grace. In his heyday he had been the highest paid man in America, the co-owner of his own movie studio, an icon, a toy, a comic strip. His Q factor was second only to Santa Clause. As Louvish mentions in one of the book’s more arresting sections, Chaplin actually enjoyed a following in the jungles of Africa – in a time not so long after Stanley first bumped into Livingston. An intimate of Shaw, Wells and Einstein, Chaplin was as close to a God as it is for a mortal man to get without actually commanding an army. But mortal is the key word. After one too many scandals involving girls half his age, and a rather foolish propensity to speak too generously about America’s Cold War enemies, Chaplin was given the “heave ho” by some grand-standing No Nothings, and the public betrayed him with a speed that would astound Timon of Athens. He spent the next 25 years in exile in Switzerland – a deposed king not so very unlike Napoleon in St. Helena, a subject about which he’d once wanted to make a film.
With the benefit of hindsight, it becomes easier to see why this unthinkable event happened. Yes, America loves the Little Guy. It also loves the Self-Made Man. But by the time of Monsieur Verdoux, Chaplin had ceased playing the former, and seemed to be denying the right of his fellow citizens to join him in becoming the latter. When a child of grinding poverty in Europe becomes one of the wealthiest inhabitants in America, and then implies that her ideological enemy has the better system, it should at the very least not be surprising that the public reply becomes “don’t let the door bang you in the ass on your way out”. On the other hand, it is surely no coincidence that Chaplin’s detractors tended to be morons who showed no evidence of comprehending the Constitution or its Bill of Rights, the very instruments that made the American system superior to the communist one in the first place. These documents, when honored, were supposed to guarantee Chaplin’s freedom not only to make his fortune here, but to say whatever damn-fool idealistic notion came into his head. Otherwise, America may as well be Russia. Call him any names you like. But kick him out for his beliefs, and (to adapt a handy modern phrase) the communists will already have won.
But don’t be deceived. This political angle is really just the book’s eloquent framing device. Louvish is writing about a comedian after all. Much intelligent analysis is given to the content of the films, including thorough descriptions of their plots, for those who don’t know them. Strung together as they are in Louvish’s book, the chapters of Chaplin’s life spool together like the reels in a film. The trajectory of his life, occurring as it did in numerous discrete, definable steps, makes for an exceptionally coherent narrative arc even under the worst of circumstances. His Dickensian childhood, his apprenticeship with Karno, his stint as first among equals at Keystone, the breakout at Essanay, the formal brilliance of his Mutual period, the full flowering at First National, the masterpieces for United Artists, the talkies, and then the political and personal problems that brought him down. Weaving through it all, like a naïf on a fairy tale journey, is the character of the Tramp, far from Chaplin’s only creation, but the one that public clamor constantly demanded he return to.
As always, Louvish is smart, passionate and writes with clarity. Sometimes, he is almost too smart. A spirit of “gotcha” pervades his books. He’ll catch his subjects in some inaccuracy and match it against a documented truth he has uncovered elsewhere, often a date or some other salient detail, and then follow it with an (often literal) crow of “aha!” While correct facts are obviously necessary to the progress of knowledge, I frankly find Louvish’s attitude of triumphalism a bit illogical, even perplexing. Do entertainers often lie in the course of building their myths? Of course – public relations is, after all, the Siamese twin of show business. No revelation there. But just as importantly, and just as frequently, the actors themselves are not lying at all. They are people who have led extremely busy lives, often advanced in age when they slow down to pen their memoirs. Lapses in memory can often attain proportions appalling to their devoted fans, who revel in memorizing every minute fact of their heroes’ lives and careers. Think of George Harrison in the 1995 Beatles documentary, not remembering if a certain song was on Rubber Soul or Revolver. Inconceivable! Woody Allen claims not to have seen most of his own films since they first premiered in theatres. To my mind, it’s crazy to even bother citing the artists or their intimates as sources in such cases, except where the occasional example may reveal some particular illuminating truth. With Louvish, spotting the uttered untruths is a kind of bloodsport, often taken to absurd degrees. When writing about one of Chaplin’s many child-brides Joan Berry, Louvish writes “Note that press and FBI records consistently spelled her name as ‘Berry’”. Why? Why should we take any note of that at all? It speaks volumes about Louvish’s abilities as a fact-checker, but little if anything about Charlie Chaplin.
But these are nutshells in an otherwise tasty cake. While some of the notes on the dust jacket give the impression this book is for Chaplin aficionados only, my feeling is that it’s detailed descriptions of the films themselves (for those who don’t know them) ought to widen its appeal. Call me a Pollyanna, but who doesn’t want to know more about Charlie Chaplin? The book is available here.
“The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, fins Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler. On a July afternoon, a young woman’s body is dredged from Sweden’s beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues, Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Back knows is that her name is Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people on a cruise. As the melancholic Beck narrows the list of suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for casual sex, and to the psychopathology of a murderer with a distinctive-indeed, terrifying-sense of propriety.”
I have been spoiled with white knuckle murder mysteries that I almost didn’t finish this book. Written in 1965, it really made me slow down and think about crimes and how they were solved back then. I think this book was a breath of fresh air, mostly because I’m not used to the old detective or manual solving of a murder. I gave this book a chance and really learned how murders were solved back in the 60s. This book took place mostly in Sweden, with many references to other parts of the world, including Lincoln, Nebraska, where the murder victim was from. If you can get past the obvious grammatical errors made during the translation from Swedish to English, then it is worth the read. However, you have to give this book a chance because the main climax comes about 50 pages to the end of the book. Please don’t read just the last pages of the book because it gives an overview of most of the passengers of the boat, why Detective Martin Beck is the way he is, and the gripping details as to how they solved a virtually unsolvable crime. All they started out with was a dead body in a lake.
My rating: 4 out of 5
Next book review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
I’m not sure what it takes to get banned from FaceBook. I guess you have to do something so heinous that it has not only no redeeming social value, but you should not be able to show your face either in civilized company or on any street in New York. I mean, it should be in the same category as someone who kidnaps girls out of madrassas in Afghanistan and sells them into prostitution. O.K. I did not do that. And neither was I actually physically banned from a site that now captures the imaginations, time, and for many the advertising attention of edging onto a 100 mil people. That means that FaceBook now is an unofficial country, much larger than, say, Vatican City, with an amount of wealth that would make the Vatican pink with envy.
No, I did not get banned. My book did. Like a lot of authors, I got taken in with the idea that in order to sell my book to the multitudes, I needed a FaceBook ad. I had been flogging the hell out of the book on my FaceBook page to whomever would give me an inkling of attention (and let’s face it, any author’s friends, among whom are many other authors, get tired of being the same old meat to that writer’s works).
I needed an ad. So I clicked the little button that runs you through “creating your ad.” It was simple. My book is a how-to book. It is about mastering an art form. It could be the art of sculpture, or French cooking (pace Julia), Baroque dance, or flirting. O.K. It’s actually closer to the last one. The book is called The Manly Art of Seduction, How to Meet, Speak to, and Become Intimate with Anyone. The book is aimed squarely at gay men (you could pretty much tell that from the cover), and it has absolutely nothing to do with seducing 13-year-old virgins of any gender (sorry, Mr. Polanski), or imposing yourself in a male-chauvinist way on anyway. The main reason for my writing it is that in this age of Cubicle Hell and Digital Isolation, too many queer men have become just as klutzy as anyone when it comes down to going up to, meeting, and scoring with other men. They are wracked with feelings of rejection, even before they leave their apartments. I wanted to change this, and came up with a wonderful program to do this: I know, it has made me psychologically secure, socially popular, and sexually happy as a pig in doody most of my life. Since you are only allowed a paltry 100 character in your ad, I had to get in their “the fustest with the mostest” as Stonewall Jackson advised. So my ad had the book cover and these few words:
Frustrated, scared of rejection, a complete guide to emotional and sexual satisfaction with men.
The ad then came with a link to the Amazon page for ordering the book. Since on FaceBook ad rates are based on the size of your potential audience (and they are steeeep, let me tell you), I narrowed down my audience to single gay men: a merely 13,000 souls I was told. Therefore, the ad would appear on pages that other single gay men would see, and not on pages frequented by Christian households, etc. I released my copy up to the FaceBook gods, and a few hours later, got a message from them saying:
”Hi Perry Brass,
Thanks for purchasing a Facebook Ad! Below is the confirmation for the ad that you have created. You will be charged only for the impressions or clicks your ad receives and this amount will never exceed your daily budget. We will email a receipt for each charge from your Facebook Ads account to this email address.”
This message was signed: The FaceBook ad team. I came to learn that at all points I would be interacting with the FaceBook Ad team, never with a real person who can be reached one-on-one. But I had the potential of reaching 13,000 randy, ready, single gay men, so what the hey (!) as they say.
Blissfully, my ad ran. I was given a link to spot every page view and click, and the clicks did happen. I was getting a lot of clicks and hundreds of page views. I was happy. The book was not selling through the rafters on Amazon, but then we have a recession going on.
Everything was hunky-doory for a week, when suddenly I got an email from my friends at the FaceBook Team telling me that:
“The content advertised by this ad is restricted. Per section 5 of Facebook’s Advertising Guidelines, this content is prohibited from being advertised on Facebook. We reserve the right to determine what advertising we accept, and will not allow the creation of any further Facebook Ads for this product. Ads for this product, service or site should not be resubmitted. We appreciate your cooperation with this policy.”
In other words, the famous FaceBook team, looking over hundreds of thousands of FaceBook ads decided that my ad, for The Manly Art of Seduction, was not in keeping with FaceBook’s good name in this world. My product, a book, would be banned from FaceBook ads, even though it defamed no one (FaceBook has a ban on any product that calls for racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual orientation hatred of any kind), sold no service, and did not direct anyone to any kind of questionable site other than Amazon.com.
I was furious, of course, as any author or reader can imagine, and having obtained the name and email address of a real person at FaceBook, who answered me once in the name of the famous Team regarding a billing question, I fired off an email to “Betty.”
”Dear Betty,
Can you please explain to me why the ‘FaceBook team’ has decided that after 58,000 impressions and over a hundred clicks, charging me $68, my book will henceforth be banned from ever being advertised on FaceBook? I think that banning books is a very serious charge, and would like to know why FaceBook has suddenly decided that this book is offensive? The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and probably hundreds of bookstores. So what is it about this book that FaceBook finds offense enough to ban it from ever being advertised on ‘our site’?”
I’m sure “Betty” felt this was a quagmire she was not going to get her kindly butt into, so she turned the question over to “Molly.”
“Hi Perry,
Thanks for writing in to us. This issue has been escalated, and after reviewing further, the product was determined to be unacceptable to run on our site. We do not allow ads for products with a sexual emphasis, including seduction, sexual health, etc. Please note that we reserve the right to choose which advertisements we’ll accept, and we will not allow the further creation of ads for this product. Users have demonstrated that they are very sensitive about these types of ads on our site, and we are taking these concerns very seriously.
Thanks for your cooperation with this decision.
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
Molly
Online Sales Operations
Facebook
I was, as ever, amazed at the chirpiness of this response from dear ol’ Molly. I was also amazed at how many other truly questionable ads I found on FaceBook—ads for a site for foot fetishists, for a site for definitely X-rated “massage therapists,” and for numerous dating and plain old escort services. One of my friends warned me, though, not to call attention to these ads, because the poor schnooks who took them out and were paying for them, would be bounced off, too, and didn’t they have a right to pay dollars for FaceBook’s millions of eyeballs, just as I had wanted to?
I also learned that FaceBook has a truly hypocritical attitude toward gay content; they will censor any ad they feel is “too gay,” and once told The Advocate, a national gay magazine, that they could not use a picture of Matthew Mitcham, an “out” gay Australian diver who was a star at the Beijing Olympics, in a Speedo. In other words, an image that a couple of billion people had seen, this diver in a skimpy bathing suit, was not right for an ad for The Advocate. The Advocate, which is now owned by a gay media conglomerate, caved in, feeling they could just as easily switch the cover image to one of a straight celebrity in more than a Speedo. They did, and the FaceBook Team was happy. So my question is, do these more “blue” ads just get past the FaceBook Team’s eyes? Or, did some bluenosy fundamentalist, while on the lookout for trouble, alert the Team to the vileness of my book?
(In regard to FaceBook’s hypocritical and homophobic stance on “gay” material, I can also attest that numerous other gay men have had similar experiences, to the point that even images of shirtless men have been deleted from some FaceBook pages. This goes on while the same kind of image can appear happily on other pages.)
It’s all hard to say. But it does make me wonder now that we are entering that phase when Social Networking sites are becoming the gatekeepers of a lot of our culture, one way or another, what other things will be banned from promotion on FaceBook, etc.?
As an aside, I Googled movie titles with the word “Seduction” in them: They are numerous, and some of them are tied to classic movies such as “The Seduction of Joe Tynan” with Barbara Harris and Meryl Streep. Sorry, Meryl, your movie can never be advertised on FaceBook. Also, I did an Amazon search of books with the same word in the title: I stopped counting after sixty titles. I would gather that none of these books can be advertised on FaceBook either. Sorry, you poor authors, you toilers of the pen and the DVD screen: clean up your acts! The Seduction Police are here.
You can also read more about FaceBook censoring The Manly Art of Seduction, How to Meet, Talk to, and Become Intimate with Anyone in this article in Out in Jersey:
http://outinjersey.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=608:facing-homophobia-with-facebook&Itemid=1 For more information about the upcoming workshop based on the Manly Art of Seduction, Jan 20, 2o10, please visit
A serious reader could not have missed hearing about this book. It has been making news ever since it has been written. I too heard of it but never felt the urge to pick it up and read it. On my recent library visit, I picked this book up for lack of any other choice. I am glad I did it because this was one inspirational read I have done since a long time.
The book is written by Lance Armstrong, a cyclist. It is about his fight against cancer and survival. The author was diagnosed with cancer just when he was at the peak of his career. He was at the advanced stage and had to undergo multiple surgeries and multiple sessions of chemotherapy. The surgeries and chemotherapy drained out the last ounce of energy from his body and left him almost dead. He bounced back and entered the Tour de France and won it and went on to win three more of them. This book is his journey from diagnosis of cancer and his winning the Tour de France.
Armstrong could have easily adapted a tone of feeling sorry to win the sympathy of the world. Instead, he puts up a brave face and wants the world to be motivated by his fight. For Armstrong, the focus is on the fight and the ultimate bouncing back rather than the cancer and the suffering. This I feel is the best part of the book. The tone of the book is one of courage and not of self-pity. This is what made the book work for me.
The book starts with Armstrong’s childhood. He talks about his father abandoning his mother and how his mother struggled to run the house and pay his fees. Armstrong shares a strong bond with his mother and that is evident from the very beginning. They understand each other very well and you wish you had that kind of relationship with your mom. The book goes on to trace Armstrong’s journey as an amateur cyclist and his turning pro. It takes an emotional turn when Armstrong is diagnosed with cancer. His surgeries, his chemotherapy sessions, the way he and his mom read and read about cancer to gain knowledge in order to fight it out – all this makes for a motivating read. The book continues about his recuperation and his decision to get back to professional racing, his wavering between states of self-confidence and depression. There is even a detailed section on IVF, where Armstrong talks openly about his experience.
The book was easy and quick to read. This may not the best book I have read, but it will remain in my memory for a long time. If you are going through a low phase in your life and need some pepping up, this is the book for you.
Working with the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s collection frequently provides us with a blast of remembrance, recalling favorite books from many years ago. Books such as Keith Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. Anthropologist Keith Basso lived and worked with the Western Apache for fifteen years when an elder asked him to make a map. “Not whitemen’s maps, we’ve got plenty of them, but Apache maps with Apache places and names. We could use them. Find out something about how we know our country.”
Basso took to the task and learned more than any one map could convey. As one of his Apache friends tells him: “Wisdom sits in places. It’s like water that never dries up. You need to drink water to stay alive don’t you? Well you also need to drink from places. You must remember what happened at them long ago…then your mind will become smoother and stronger…” Basso’s simple words speak volumes. This is a classic work on the power of place.
A Sampling of Apache Place-names
from Wisdom Sits in Places
Trail Goes Down Between Two Hills, Slender Red Rock Ridge, Eagle Hurtles Down, Whiteness Spreads out Descending to Water, Juniper Tree Stands Alone, Line of Blue Below Rocks, Big Cottonwood Trees Stand Here and There, Flakes of Mica Float Out.
At last, a novel that dares to ask: What if you got amnesia and couldn’t remember all of the important things that had happened in recent years, such as that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had gotten divorced? Tomorrow: A review of Remember Me?, a stand-alone book by Sophie Kinsella, the author the bestselling “Shopaholic” series.
I just tried updating this blog to make it look a little more snazzy. I think it looks a little better and hopefully, over time, I make this look semi-professional. For the time being, this will have to do.
On a side note, and not entirely having to do with book reviews I am going to attend my first book release party next week - very exciting! The party is for the upcoming book, Add More ~ing to your Life, which proves to be a pretty incredible book about making a better you for the new year. I’m very excited. Also, the author, Gabrielle Bernstein, is pretty awesome. She’s young, she’s perky, she’s intelligent, and she’s legit out there to help young women succeed in the world.
Here is her website if you want to check it out: http://www.addmoreing.com/
Also, I found this a while back and I thought it was incredible. It’s a listing of all the outta sight libraries in the world so check it out: http://thisrecording.com/today/2009/6/10/in-which-i-always-imagined-that-paradise-would-be-a-kind-of.html
(I’m starting to think heaven could be a kick ass library)
I’ve been catching up on reading over the holidays and finally finished Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. I’ve been reading the book off and on since fall, and I’m glad that I’ve taken my time with it, as a lot of its lessons are ones that should percolate awhile, to get the full benefit.
If you’re wondering about the mindset that made Brogan and Smith—two social media veterans—so successful doing business over the Web, then Trust Agents delivers on its promise to explain the thought process behind what they do. In addition to describing the six basic principles of being a trust agent, the book includes “actionable information, supported by research, strategies, and studies” (p. xii)—all presented in an anecdotal yet intellectual style, that’s both enjoyable and enlightening to read.
So, what’s a Trust Agent?
In the opening chapter on trust, social capital, and media, the authors define people “who humanize the Web” (p. 20), as trust agents (p. 20).
Trust agents have established themselves as being non-sales-oriented, non-high-pressure marketers. Instead they are digital natives using the Web to be genuine and to humanize their business. They’re interested in people (prospective customers, employees, colleagues, and more), and they have realized that these tools that enable more unique, robust communication also allow more business opportunities for everyone (p. 15).
Further, these digital natives are comfortable with a new level of transparency, on the Web:
They operate under the assumption that everything they do will eventually be known online. Realizing they are unable to hide anything, they choose not to try. Instead, they leverage the way the Web connects us and ties our information together to help turn transparency into an asset for doing business (p. 9).
According to the authors, those who understand how to build relationships on the Web, also know how to make business happen both on- and off-line, as an extension of their social capital:
When people come together and share a meal [or in this case, interests or goals on the Web], they not only end up fed, they also become tighter as a group. The mere act of gathering means that they will exchange things—stories, favors, and laughs—and will grow richer as a result. It may sound touchey feely, but these things have real value. And we don’t just mean that they keep you warm on a cold winter night, either, we mean they have real value, as in “you can take it to the bank” value (p. 22).
In this view, “online social networks (like the Facebooks and Twitters of our time)” are media, “not because they help us communicate, but because they extend human relationships” (p. 18).
Trust Agent Principles
The book is organized according to the six basic characteristics/actions of trust agents:
Make Your Own Game: My favorite chapter, it provides examples of and strategies for “gatejumping”—what happens when you find a better way to do things, while everyone else is too busy to notice (p. 35). It describes three methods of gamesmanship, including playing, hacking, and programming, where the business objective is to “understand the systems, learn the rules, and then determine whether we want to hack the existing systems or create completely new ones” (p. 66).
One of Us: Comparing the trust we reserve for those off-line, Brogan and Smith suggest that “trust on the Web is more highly impacted by what other people say.” “…a lot of trust on the Web is established by groups, through a sense of belonging—in other words, by being One of Us (p. 80).
Archimedes Effect: “The Archimedes Effect is about leverage [on the Web]: putting in a certain amount of effort and getting a greater result than our normal human effort would give” (p. 115). This chapter shows “how the whole Web is one gigantic lever, and you can use it to accomplish pretty much anything more easily than before” (p. 139).
Agent Zero: This chapter observes that “…no matter where they go, trust agents have a desire to connect good people together. We refer to this as being Agent Zero; being in the center of a network and being able to spread ideas” (p. 142).
Human Artist: This chapter describes how essential people skills are to business. It provides tips on learning the etiquette of circumstances and understanding how to interact with people. It calls customer service, “the new PR”, and an area where trust agents “can crush your competitors and create great press for you” (p. 198).
Build an Army: This chapter explains that “leaders aren’t simply those who are best at doing their jobs; they are best at helping others to grow and gathering those people’s skills to their command when necessary” (p. 240).
It ends with a summary chapter “The Trust Agent,” which interweaves the various characteristics/actions discussed previously and shows how these principles tie back to your career, in immediate and actionable ways. It describes how frames and perspective matter in business and how the trust agent “analyzes things with a particular strategy and end result in mind” (p. 243). To this end, it advises starting small and provides six games you can begin making for yourself today.
Recommendation
This book really made me think a lot. That’s about the highest praise you can give a book, and why it’s such a provocative read. As I considered the six principles of trust agents, I was constantly playing devil’s advocate, in the sense that though I want to be on board, I intuitively know, as even the authors themselves observe in the concluding chapter, that in a lot of settings, trust agent moves would be dismissed, as too amateurish or unquantifiable.
In other settings, I suspect the views expressed, and the implied loss of control they require, would be deemed outright heresy. Would a Robert Scoble approach really work for me, and most “regular” worker bees?
Frank Eliason from Comcast Cares notwithstanding, I still ask myself how likely a trust agent is to flourish, from within. Is this a book only for those consultant/entrepreneurial types, already operating outside the system? And if these principles don’t work within, then what does that say about your business’ likely prospects to succeed?
And yet the proof is in the pudding. Brogan and Smith offer example after example, where trust agent principles have worked, not least of all in their own businesses, in that take your money to the bank, sort of way. And to that end, they have written a wonderfully generous book, reflecting on their collective experiences on the Web, and making their lessons easily accessible to us, as the helpful mentors they are known to be.
And so, we’re left to consider—is the Golden Rule the key to business success on the Web? and by the end of the book, the authors seem to imply, in all relationships? Brogan and Smith think so:
…if you were to retain one piece of information, one tip, about the social side of trust, it should be this: You need to be liked, and you start becoming likeable by being worthy of being liked. Be kind. Be patient. Be humble, on time, and generous. Be that person you would like to be friends with. Likeability and the related trait, intimacy, is one of the biggest factors in trust, and it’s one of the easiest to develop with people online (p. 247).
Unfettered idealism? or the deepest pragmatism? Is helping others, for the right reasons, also one of the most effective ways to help yourself? Is it possible to do both, simultaneously, and remain genuine? That’s for you to decide. But make no mistake about it, Trust Agents is a revolutionary book, showcasing how the Web helps create democracy, “in the ability for all of us to produce and distribute our materials” (p. 223). In good democratic fashion, the book’s conclusion challenges us to write the next chapter, and answer these and the many other implied questions it raises, for ourselves. Read it.
Related Links
On Making Your Own Game: A Parable
Bringing Trust Agents and Six Pixels to You
Inbound Marketing Summit Live, hosted by Awareness, Inc.
From the pen of Justin Gustainis comes another page turner…
As you may have already guessed, the main purpose of this book is to present some key elements that must be present in a healthy church. Mark Dever does a wonderful job in simply laying out what he considers to be the nine basic indicators of church health. These 9 marks are:
Though I’m not an ardent follower of Jonathan Kellerman’s books, when I do come across one, I will generally pick it up. Bad Love is one of Kellerman’s popular Alex Delaware novels. Delaware is a child psychologist who tends to find himself helping his good friend Det. Milo Sturgis solve complex crimes.
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from the same Malcolm Gladwell
, and will start reading it on February. Looking forward to it!
Maggie and I just finished reading Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr last night, which was a re-read for me, but a first read for her since she fell asleep on it last year and never picked it back up. I enjoyed it more this time around, and wonder if it was because I haven’t recently seen the movie, or that I saw things this time I didn’t before, or that it was the wide-eyed (most of the time), often giggling girl cuddling beside me. Maybe it was all three, but I’m thinking it was the last that increased my enjoyment the most 
My mom is making do this, I want to play and this is boring and stupid, but she’s making me sit here and write this with her. 
Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church” by Michael Horton
Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit” by Francis Chan
“Words From the Fire: Hearing the Voice of God in the 10 Commandments” by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
“Who Made God? Searching for a Theory of Everything” by Edgar Andrews
“Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches” by Russell D. Moore
“Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God” by Bruce A. Ware
In my last book review, I was disappointed by the book’s inability to cause a change in my husband and I. Well, I won’t be saying that about this one. Not since The Power of Now has a book stirred me up so much. A definite life shifter, Steering by Starlight is the kind of read that makes you want to live better and believe that a better life (a more magical, mystical and miracle-laden one) is possible.
January 3rd saw our first carnival of 2010 at Book Dads.
And today the 35th Book Review Blog Carnival is posted at Home School Dad .
Excerpt from back cover:
A serious reader could not have missed hearing about this book. It has been making news ever since it has been written. I too heard of it but never felt the urge to pick it up and read it. On my recent library visit, I picked this book up for lack of any other choice. I am glad I did it because this was one inspirational read I have done since a long time.
Working with the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s collection frequently provides us with a blast of remembrance, recalling favorite books from many years ago. Books such as Keith Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. Anthropologist Keith Basso lived and worked with the Western Apache for fifteen years when an elder asked him to make a map. “Not whitemen’s maps, we’ve got plenty of them, but Apache maps with Apache places and names. We could use them. Find out something about how we know our country.”
At last, a novel that dares to ask: What if you got amnesia and couldn’t remember all of the important things that had happened in recent years, such as that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had gotten divorced? Tomorrow: A review of Remember Me?, a stand-alone book by Sophie Kinsella, the author the bestselling “Shopaholic” series.