Topherlytle
This is a great entry point for those wanting a general overview of best practices. If you are familiar with any of these topics, you won't learn anything new, but it could act as a reminder. This is a book you can quickly skim to get the overall gist so you can go dig into specific areas you want to cultivate.
I think it is important to note that this book is clearly designed for people whose identity is based on what they do, their achievements, and how others perceive or judge their success. While I think the practices presented can be very beneficial in any area of life, I would encourage caution. It takes very little work to find stories of burnout, suicide, abuse of power, addiction, and destroyed families because of an identity based on what you do, how much money you make, or your “success.”
I honestly have no idea how to rate this book. I have been told for years by people and lists that it is a must-read for every man. The strategic side of my brain is relished in the presented intentionality and forethought. The prideful portion of my brain wanted to latch on to everything to enable my own power and success. I am conflicted. As we see individuals wage war over everything and anything, we continue to make people our enemies. I am more interested in finding rational and strategic thoughts to build bridges, not conquer and subdue.
I read this once when I was young, and I could not fully grasp the depth that such a small story could hold. Rereading it in my forties, I found this to be evocative and affecting in ways I was unprepared for. Much can and has been said about Hemmingway's style of writing, but here in this story is a man who demonstrates the necessary courage it takes to keep going, the inherent need for companionship, and the devastating beauty that comes in realizing that life ends and our moments to live are now.
I have many conflicting thoughts about this book. On the one hand, the author firmly grasps scripture, history, culture, and interpretation. But, on the other hand, he often leans into conjecture camouflaged as certainty. As a result, this book is strangely overly simplistic as well as overly complicated.
That being said, he presents some interesting ideas worthy of much thought and conversation, but more importantly focuses the reader on “the fear of the Lord” and the reality of the death and resurrection of Christ. While his writing style is approachable, by his word usage, it seems like he thinks only men will be reading this book, or he is errantly trying to mimic the phrasing of the Bible in his use of specific pronouns.
This is a book that I would have enjoyed better if others were reading it as well. It would make for a lively book club pick or discussion group. However, I am grateful for the author's passion and desire to bring forth a core biblical idea that seems to have been forgotten, even if, at times, he seems to be stretching to make the puzzle pieces fit.
A poorly written, outright slanderous trudge with very little scholarship and research. As a pastor that holds to a historical Biblical ethic, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone - ever.
