Adam Shields
My full review is at http://bookwi.se/just-courage-by-gary-a-haugen/
This was a very good book. It was short, probably too short for the price. But I would rather have a good, tight short book than a long rambling one.
This is the story of International Justice Mission. An organization started to free people from slavery and forced prostitution around the world. Good stories. But the best parts were the two chapters on how to relate to poor and having courage to do something about injustice in the world. I recommend the book.
Full review at http://bookwi.se/a-hunger-for-god-desiring-god-through-fasting-and-prayer-by-john-piper/
Short review. This was a good introduction to fasting as a biblical discipline. It veered into politics in the middle, but other than that I thought it was a very good take on the subject. This was much more of a positive tone than Scot McKnight's book Fasting.
Neither this book or Fasting talks about how to fast. If you are looking for practical discussions about how to fast. You need to keep looking.
My full review is at http://bookwi.se/fasting-by-scot-mcknight/
Short version review: This is a very good book. I think the best of the three Ancient Practices books I have read. It is enough background and history to understand fasting while still being personal and relevant to fasting today.
The majority of the book was really about how not to fast (bad motivation, bad theology, bad health, etc.). I have read or started a few books on fasting in the last week or so and the main addition of this book was the focus on motivation. McKnight says that “fasting should always be the natural result to a grievous sacred moment.” Something that draws us to fasting, not because of what we can learn or what we can get but something that causes us to fast because we don't have any other thing we can do.
Full review at http://bookwi.se/lessons-from-the-road-by-nigel-james/
This book is intended for fans. It gives a brief history of the band, some insight into life on the road, a history of how Nigel started being their road pastor, some background on the guys as individuals, background on a few of the songs and some of the bible studies that Nigel has led while on tour.
It is not a real deep book and only is 4 hours long. But it is put together well. Nigel reads (which I always like) and the guys from Third Day read their own quotes and memories. It is a group effort. The production values are a little shaky. (There is one point when you can hear a door slamming a couple times, there is some other background noise and even though it is an mp3 file it still asks you to put in the next CD once an hour.)
But if you are a fan of Third Day (or Christian music in general) it is probably a decent four hour listen. Especially if you find it for $5.
My full review at http://bookwi.se/the-sacred-meal-by-nora-gallagher/
Short review is that it is an interesting take. Mostly based around a memoir style of writing. I like the take of looking at the Eucharist through story, but I would have liked a bit more history and/or diversity of theological perspectives.
My full review will be posted on my blog http://bookwi.se/hidden-empire-by-orson-scott-card/
Short review. This is the audiobook. I really like Scott Rednicki as a reader.
The book is a political thriller/near term science fiction. More of the Hegemon than Ender because it is pretty political in theme, although not as heavy handed as what Empire was. If you like Orson Scott Card you will like this.
This book really does have some good insights.
Like many church and business books there is a often a very gook kernel that might be explained in a long article but instead it is expanded to book length.
A longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/simple-church-returning-to-gods-process-for-making-disciples/
Overall I would recommend the book. It is part of a series of books trying to rediscover some of the Ancient Practices of the Church. But if you have some familiarity with the liturgical year, then it will probably be mostly review.
A longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-liturgical-year-by-joan-chittister-the-ancient-practices-series/
I am not sure if this would have been better if I read it 10 years ago or if it would be better if I were 10 years younger. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed it. But the concerns of a single man, trying to find his way are just not my struggles.
A longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/high-fidelity-by-nick-horby/
Short review: I am very uncomfortable with the concept of this book, the theology that drove the authors to write the book and the fact that the church has supported it to make it such a popular books. I would avoid it.
A longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/light-and-glory-initial-impressions/
I started reading this book because I did not know much about the creation of the atomic bomb or anything about Robert Oppenheimer. While it is interesting to learn about Oppenheimer and the bomb, what is most interesting for me is the history of the unchecked power of the early FBI, political innuendo, and the scare tactics of the anti-communist 1940s and 1950s.
Overall this was a interesting book. I listened to it (as I like to do with many long biographies). But the sound quality was not great. The volume kept changing and it would be a bit muffled and then go very clear, and then back muffled again.
A longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/american-prometheus-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-j-robert-oppenheimer/
This is an unusual book. The book is mostly concerned with illustrating, through the story of both the Guinness company and the lives of the members of the Guinness family, that people can use their secular positions to do work that they feel called to do. The Guinness company and family have been strong advocates for civil rights (in Ireland they advocated for Catholic rights from the very beginning although the family has been Protestant all along), anti-poverty programs, public health for their own workers and the communities where the company worked and explicitly Christian causes. There is a real story here, although Mansfield at times seems to veer into hagiography.
I have a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-search-for-god-and-guinness-a-biography-of-the-beer-that-changed-the-world/
Short review: The basic format was a chapter for a specific type of fear. Then Lucado would talk about why we should not fear this particular thing. In general I think it was ok, but it was repetitive and there were a few chapters where I strongly disagreed.
I agree that the topic is relevant, I know many people that seem to fear everything. Lucado was biblical and gave good relevant stories to illustrate his point, but the point was basically the same with every chapter that you just need to trust God more.
There are other books on fear that I think are better so I would not particularly recommend this one. A better book is Rhett Smith's The Anxious Christian (my review http://bookwi.se/anxious-christian/ )
I posted a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/fearless-by-max-lucado/
The overall theme of the book is that we are all living a story, and if we don't like the story we are living, we should change that story. It is not as simple as that and Miller makes that clear. He is also very real and does not present himself as having the answers. In fact, after reading it I really do understand why so many people don't like him as an author. He talk about having a beer on several occasions, he knows he doesn't have the answers and doesn't pretend that he has it all together. This is stark difference to the tone of many Christian books I have read. It is refreshing.
I have posted a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/a-million-miles-in-a-thousand-years-and-blue-like-jazz-the-story-of-a-story/