Books
Books I have just finished reading. Take a look you might find something interesting to read.
9/3/10
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Started strong then faded before coming back in the last third for a strong finish. Good fantasy. Not to formulaic-can't stand the formula. Great concept in the BioChroma and good characters that undergo expected transitions but written well. I look forward to reading more.
9/2/10
The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute
This book chronicles the conversation between two peace workers and a group of parents. The conversation is fiction though, I suppose-historical fiction is more accurate as it is based on years of similar conversations. The parents each have troubled children starting a wilderness experience. The conversation with the parents demands that they encounter how they are part of their child's problems. There is a lot of really helpful philosophy and psychology in this book that can be of real benefit. I know i have already been processing things different after reading it. The conversations are not dry and the book does a good job addressing the questions that you will be dealing with while you are introduced to the new ideas presented. The authors know what we are thinking.
8/22/10
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
A good conclusion to the series starring the super confused and dramatic Katniss Everdeen. She stays true to form. I liked it though not as as well as the first two. Not that this matters-you need to read it to finish the story. Suzanne continues to lead you one way only to have a surprise take you another direction. She is good at that. So don't try to hard to figure out the ending. An enjoyable read. I highly recommend the whole series.
8/20/10
The Big Short by Michael Lewis
Eyeopening and interesting and bizaar. A good read. I can't say i understand all of it because it does explain financial markets and processes that i don't get. You are left with the impression that not many other people do either. Which is a bit scary. The whole machine-organism might be better-is too large to be understood. The main lesson from the book is pay attention to outsiders who don't fit in anywhere else because they will see things that you can't as an insider.
8/1/10
Justice: What is the Right Thing To Do by Michael Sandel
This is a great book. A great intorduction to some really tough philosohical ideas about ethics. Sandel reviews three major ethical frameworks for dealing with modern ethical debates through the use of great examples and stories. Amazing as it sounds Sandel turns terribly dry complicated stuff into fun stuff to read. Sandel ultimately shares his view on a modern ethical framework he calls communitarianism. He argues that without a notion of common identity informing our ethics our execution of justice will be lopsided. I feel that his conclusions are the weakest part of the book but he seems to pereive that as well. Perhaps it is very new territory and just being explored. I truly don't know-but i recommend this book.
7/28/10
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and series) by Steig Larsson
I read the whole series. Thre books. They are enjoyable but in my opinion don't deserve the high acclaim that they are recieving. Certainly Larsson created an interesting character in Salander and she is undoubtedly the reason to continue reading the books but by the end of the series the hero were way to heroic and the criminals were way to dumb. I liked Larsson's desire to uncover the world of abuse on women and the voice and self determined power he gives women who otherwise could have slunk into holes and buried their heads. i fine read and i encourage people to read the books but there are better books out there of this genra.
7/28/10
Whatever It Takes:Geoferry Canada's Quest to change Harlem and America by Paul Tough
As the title suggest this is no book of small dreams. Tough shares his unprecidented acess to a man on a mission to employ a conveyeor belt strategy starting from conception to college for every poor child in Harlem. Canada has behind him some well financed co-dreamers that are not wishy washy dreamers but hard core buisness elites that demand results. Much of the book seeks to convey the difficulty the Canada navigates the tension between the idialistic dreamer and the results oreinted buisiness man that he is. The book introduces to the reader more interested in human interest some good theory on education, racial theories of education, implications of poverty on future welfare and more. All in all a good book and well worth the read.
7/28/10
Everything Must Fight to Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in the Congo by Bryan Mealer
This is my first read on the Congo. There is a lot in this book. It doesn't read as well as someother first hand reporter accounts of devasting lands such as The Forever War but i am certainly thankful I read it none-the-less. The book records the adventures of free lance reporter Bryan Mealer as he first encounters the Congo and later journeys there out of a almost perverse love and insatiable desire to find some hope in the country. Certainly the stories of war are pervasive as is the hopelessness of the region. Mealer leaves you with the impression that this is a nearly unfixable country what with its long history of colonization and ethnic mistrust. He spends some memorable chapters sharing his adventures of byciling through the jungle, traveling up the river on a barge and finally by train. Along the way he meets wonderful people that I gather Mealer places any hope of deliverance, as suggested in the title, on.
5/16/10
The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark
Dark is a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt School of Religion and he is very, very bright. Brighter than me by a long shot. He uses an incredible pedantic knowledge of pop culture-especially music-and a great literary library to discuss the importance of having an open mind or maybe an inquisitive imagination. I have long said that imagination is the better part of wisdom and so I took to Dark's thesis naturally. Dark is a very good writer to boot and taught high school English for years. I am trying to think of something specific to write about the book but sorry to say nothing specific is coming to my mind but don't let this stop you from reading this book. It was enjoyable, not to scholarly-largely accessable and important to Christians as we engage the present trend in modern discourse towards ultimatums of thought and belief. Perhaps such ideology has always been present but regardless, Dark is writing to Christians of today with a message of openness as a witness to the God that is after all eternal and thus a bit hard to nail down. At least that is one way to look at the cross-isn't it?
4/17/10
Hunger and Happiness: Feeding the Hungry, Nourishing our Souls by L. Shannon Jung
I liked this book. I liked it because I agree with it and because it is well written, theological, practical, and unpretentious. Jung orients himself firmly in our culture and thus, part of the problem. This culture of consumerism is counter productive to our happiness. Jung argues that our happiness is dependent on our relationship with God and with others and that we are happy when we are in open and mutually beneficial relationships. Basically we are hardwired to share. He argues that our culture is built not on sharing but on appropriation or in my words hoarding at the expense of others. If there is a weak part of the book it is Jung's attempt to reveal just how our relatively rich lifestyles are dependent on the poverty of others. This is pretty self evident to me but not to many and the examples Jung uses sound like more of the same examples used elsewhere. Examples that are easily dismissed as liberal propaganda. Jung is aware of the difficulty opening our cultural eyes to our sin of appropriation-largely because we are not bad people, don't see how and where, and have been so thourghly indoctrinated in consumerism that it is considered natural. Jung argues to the contrary and therein lies the unhappy truth.
3/8/10
as we forgive:Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda
by Catherine Claire Larson
Not for the faint of heart but nothing to do with the monstrous evil of the human heart is. I haven't watched Hotel Rwanda because I can't handle the pain. this book shares biographical stories of survivors. Through their stories we gain perspective into life before, the terrfying days of slaughter and the years of recovery in order to focus us on the work of forgiveness. When the president of Rwanda released 60,000 murders back into public life the country was left with the bewildering need of coeexistence. Seperating each story Larson shares theological and psychological realities of forgiveness and reconciliation.
3/8/10
Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing
by Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice.
The authors seek to bring theology and practice together, this is hard to do and I am not sure it is accomplished in this book. This is not to say that there is not great theology here or great stories or great lessons to be learned However, by the time i finished the book I wonder what it was I had just read exactly. The authors seek to drive home that reconciliation is the mission of the church because we ourselves have been reconciled to God through Christ. This is not the work of experts but of all saints. Reconciliation must balance out incredibly complext realities; the reality of suffering, the need for lament, the need to move forward and the call of justice. Tough stuff.
2/28/10
Economic Justice in a Flat World: Christian Perspectives on Globalization
by Steven Rundle, Editor
A very pro globalization anthology Rundle's collection seeks to counter the overwhelming critical stance of Christendom to globalization. The authors ground every essay in the Christian perspective as the seek to tease out the positive effects of a globalized world. Though they do not blush away from the negative realities of globalization they do argue that all in all globalization has been and will continue to be good news to the poor. An essay I would have like to see included is one that deals with the sacramentalization of the global free market to which, I feel, much of the Christian condemnation of Globalization is against. Globalization and free market capitalism as Idolatry. This is a good read-accesable-and provides an essential balance to the more easy to swallow anti-globalization theology available. One has to wonder if those of us anti-globalization activists aren't reacting to the terrifying shrinkage of our world in the same way vehement anti-immigration activist are? The world has shrunk-there are real life consequences of this-it is good to read that not all is bad.
2/25/10
Debating Immigration by Carol Swain
This is a great book full of essays that deal with immigration from a variety of perspectives; economic, legal, political, racial, national and theological. The book favors a more liberal immigration policy as a whole though it seeks to provide competing perspectives. Most of the essays are critical of policy choices today in regard to immigration but ground the criticism in careful analysis, historical insight and practical realities. All in all the immigration questions that plague our society today are a messy business rooted in deep pathologies of the American people. Untying the issues from these pathologies is complicated and will not be an easy task for our Republic to achieve.
2/23/10
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade
by Pietra Rivoli
Great book. Highly recommended. Rivoli is an established economist who firmly believes in the over all benefits of global trade and economic theory. This is no economic radical. However, her book reads as very unbiased and well researched. Rivoli buys a cheap t-shirt for the tourist market in Florida and follows its life from cotton to eventually being recycled. She points out that the US cotton industries near monopoly is due to a variety of factors-only one of which is huge cotton subsidize. However, she argues that these subsidize need to be reworked and perhaps, removed. She also traces how the politics of America protect 'king cotton' and how difficult it has proved to be for elected leaders to 'stare down' the cotton industry. Rivoli finds little proof of horrible sweatshop conditions in China, the largest manufacturer of t-shirts in the world. Instead, she traces the history of the 'unwitting conspiracy' between the corporate interest seeking low wages and high profits and the anti globalization communities allied against them. The overall effect of this dance is to create a better trained, better educated workforce ready for higher end manufacturing jobs through a process called 'creative destruction.' Rivoli is not unaware that real people are hurt terribly by this process that she believes is ultimately good for the world. She argues that the failure of the markets to balance profits with humanitarian jobs is not a failure of free markets but actually a result of markets being hindered by politics. She concludes her book by looking at the 'recycling' of t-shirts through their redistribution in Africa called mitumba. Her she argues is what an unfettered free market looks like and here, she also argues, is the t-shirts greatest success.
2/23/10
Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants
by David Bacon
Bacon is very biased toward unions and the right to organize. This is a very pro union book and pro immigrant/illegal immigrant book. As such it was a little hard to get through. Not because he doesn't have good points to make but because I fear he has chosen to leave a lot of pertinent information out in order to strengthen his argument. However, there are some stunning stories here. Bacon uses case studies to move his argument forward and it is very important to be reminded that at the end of our nations immigration politics there are real people struggling to provide for themselves and their families. A very important point of Bacon's thesis is that criminalizing illegal immigrants is a tactic of big government to woe American voters without challenging corporate America's unfettered right to cheap labor. Bacon does a stellar job at showing how government crack downs on illegal immigrants coincide with union organizing efforts and effectively stops any work place improvements that laborers deserve. The corporation gets off scott free and they get rid off 'trouble makers' and reinforce the notion that the ideal worker-indeed the only acceptable worker is the silent worker.
2/23/10
The Perpetual Prisoner Machine by Joel Dyer
This is a good illuminating book an the role of democracy and economics in relation to the prison industrial complex in the USA. There is something going on in America as you compare America's prison explosion in relation to other western countries. Our prison population has exploded over the last 30 years. Dyer does a fabulous job tracing the development of this explosion. He focuses on politics-largely blaming the rise of importance of public opinion pools on modern elections-the violence in the media-arguing effectively that the violence doesn't make us more violent but rather terribly afraid of violent crime and thus more likely to support harsh sentencing laws. Further, he argues that we are much more afraid of violence that is warranted by the facts of violence in America. Lastly, he argues that the prison industry is very good at selling itself to communities struggling with the harsh reality of a globalized world. Prisons provide good jobs to people who used to be employed in other industries no longer present in the US economy. I found this book to be very well researched while not being burdensome to read. I recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about what is going in our country.
2/8/10
Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crises, and Opposition in Globalizing California by Ruth Wilson Glimore
This is a pretty technical book full of numbers and charts and more works cited than i think i have ever seen. Which is to say that this book is not for the casual reader. However, I learned a lot even though the book requires a much closer reading than I gave it. Gilmore takes an activist perspective to the complex issues surrounding the tremendous increase in prisons and prison populations in America. She seeks to offer some answers through careful in depth analysis into facts and figures into the real reasons for the modern American prison population. Her analysis discredits the easy to make but non-the-less false correlation between crime and prisons. Instead she credits the huge numbers of prisons built in the last 30 years to policy decisions effected most by the economics of a changing global world.
1/26/10
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
This was a great book. Pollan traces four meals from his plate to their source and analyzes their implications. Not surprising, or it shouldn't be, the McDonald's meal cost little at hand but has a huge cost hidden in subsidize, health reperucussions, environmental damage and, I think maybe more than Pollan, on the human soul. The McDonald's meal dehumanizes us by disconnecting us from nature and manipulating the natural world beyond recognition. Surprising to me was the final word on organic foods which it turns out are as industrial as the non organic. They provide some benefits but have a huge cost as well. It comes down to eating as locally as possible with an intentionality that is nearly completely absent from the modern table. We are mostly intentional about saving money. However, this obsession is thouroughly unsustainable and down right dangerous to our long term health as a species and as stewards. A must read!
1/21/10
Resistance: A New Role for Progressive Christians
This is a great book for those looking for a definition and then implications of Progressive. The authors intentionally seek to move the progressive movement beyond liberal and are gracious to evangelicalism while not mincing words about the failures of both to witness to an authentic modern Christianity. This is a powerful book that puts its foot down on the great struggles allied against the Kingdom of God and offer practical advice about how to move beyond efforts to reform to resistance. I recommend it for any serious disciple seeking how to live as a Kingdom Citizen in a world incredibly complicated and global.
1/11/10
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
Peck is a great young adult writer and his books that feature Mrs Dowdel are great. This book was slow to start. I really couldn't find a strong narrative thread until mid way through so i was a little dissappointed. However, when I figured out the story line i really began to enjoy it. I don't want to tell you what holds the whole book together because it is kind of a secret. There are several little innocents secrets the turn out to be the main focus. This would be a very good book to read with a young youth group in order to talk about the difference in religiosity and compassion. A topic that Jesus loved to talk about as well.
1/11/10
Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go by Dale E Bayse
This is a pretty cute book. Not to heady. It took me a while to get into it but know that i am done with it I would like to finish the series. You are left wanting to figgure out what happens next. The simple narrative not withstanding there are a lot fo great theological ideas in the background at work. Limbo, hell, the nature of bad and good, destructive tendency of systems, and more. This book is good for a young reader.
1/04/10
The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini
This is a very good novel that has of course been out long enough to be made into a movie. I have not seen the movie adaptation. The book didn't leave as impressed as it has some of my friends who recommended I read it but perhaps that is because I had so recently completely the Forever War. However, the book gives you another look into the heart and soul of a country decimated by war through the lives of character very much made alive by a great story teller. Honestly, i don't know if I was reading fiction or history. Though in many ways terribly heartbreaking the book also leaves you with the impression that we are incredibly beautiful creatures yearning for joy and freedom and capable of creating such a world.
1/04/10
The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
This is a great look at the wars in Iraq and Afganistan through the eyes of a reporter who has been in the territory for a decade. Filkins writes in a simple way about the confusing and difficult nature of the people and the wars fought among them. I was left with a very nonpartisan impression of what is going on. Considering our present and future involvement in these countries it is a book well worth reading
12/03.09
Manifold witness:The Plurality of Truth
John R. Franke
Franke seeks to explain how the church is not harmed by diversity but rather can only truly be the church if it is diverse. He argues this point from a Trinitarian perspective of God as unity-in-plurality and plurality-in-unity. As such, the church that bears the name Body of Christ must seek hard to listen to the voice of the Other, be self-critical, deconstructive, particular. However, Franke argues that this is very different than the anything goes church. The church of diversity is strongly grounded in scripture but also recognizes that interpretation is always a human endeavor and thus finite and flawed. This is a good read for the theologian seeking to aid his/her endeavor to understand how diveristy is a sign of God's nature rather than a failure of human nature. I don't think it satisfies the lofty goal of being an easy for the non theologically trained reader. It is accesable but will require a lot of time to understand.
12/1/09
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
This is a fascinating, easy to read look at Genghis Khan and his lineage. The author utilizes the so called 'Secret History' of Genghis Khan to illuminated Genghis's life. If the Secret History can be believed then this book does a good job of inviting us to reconsider who Genghis was. For instance, i did not know that Genghis allowed no paintings or representations of him to be made. We have no idea what he looked like. All the images of him we have are interpretations often created by westerners who held a very unhealthy impression of the Mogol world. Further, the author argues that Genghis, well before, centuries actually, any one else was creating a society of religious and ethnic tolerance was creating an empire with these characteristics. Though Genghis remained committed to his traditional Mongol beliefs he not only allowed but advanced Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Bhuddist and more to the top levels of government. You were Mongol first and religous second. Certainly, Genghis could be brutal, (but maybe less so than his western counterparts) but he was also tolerant, adaptable and definitely brillant. The book traces his lineage through its main manifestations and makes the case that the western world owes a great deal to Genghis and his succesors. A good read. An easy read.
12/01/09
The Meaning of Jesus: Two Views
Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright
This is a great book by two of the leading Jesus scholars, faithful Disciples and good friends. Borg is a progressive Christian and Wright is an orthodox Anglican Priest. They are both brilliant and compassionate and clear. If you want to have a side by side analysis of what the other side is thinking and why then this is a good book. I highly recommend it.
12/01/09
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church
N.T. Wright
I tell you what, this will go down as a seminal book for me. Wright, an orthodox Anglical Priest, does a remarkable job helping those of us who are more progressive theologically to see the wonder, beauty and power of an orthodox interpretation of Jesus Second Coming. Wright is no fan of American Evangelical Conservativism and, I might add, no fan of American Progressive Christianity and he can tell you why. You will not be dissapointed if you read this book. I am not convinced in Wright's argument that if you do not believe in the literal resurrection, accension, and second coming then you will end up in escapism or triiumphalism but none-the-less he does a great job articulating his views. Wright loves being a little saracstic and that makes it fun. All in all I have a much better appreciation for how to interpret the unexcapable testimony in our Scriptures of Jesus Second Coming after reading this book.
