Category Archives: Books and Reading

Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians

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Marshall, Paul, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea. Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians. Thomas Nelson, 2013.

Pages: 416

Point: This is not a book about people standing up to drug cartel, kidnapping for money, or natural disasters. The purpose of this work is to report on Christians who are being persecuted around the world for being Christian. 

Path: “Christians are the single most widely persecuted religious group in the world today.”  This book walks through example after example of these persecutions. According to the authors, this persecution takes place primarily for three reasons: 1) hunger for political control; 2) a desire to preserve religious heritage; and 3) radical Islam’s desire for dominance.

Sources: Stories, reports, and personal experiences which haven’t made it to our mainstream media.

Agreement: I appreciate this resource for the numerous stories of persecution which help me to pray better for believers around the world. The recent dates after each story remind me that persecution is happening today.

In their conclusion, “A Call to Action” they point out that prayer is the first responsibility.

Disagreement: One needs to be careful with definitions. “Christian” is defined as including “Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant to liturgical, evangelical, and charismatic, including hundreds of small, little-known sects” (Kindle, 237). They include all these because “our churches are united in belief in the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.” I think this is the main reason I wouldn’t recommend this book to most people. It can be confusing.

Their second, and primary (they spend most of their time on this one), conclusion is that to government action. It is not wrong to push for government action, but is it the primary?

Personal App: Pray for those who are being persecuted for following Jesus Christ.

Stars: 3 out of 5

It would be worth consulting in the future.

If this review was helpful, let me know at amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received this copy through the Booksneeze.com website, however, I am under no obligation other than to give my honest opinion.

Should I read with an open mind?

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Crystal recently hosted a girls activity at our home. Teenage girls came over, ate snacks, made bookmarks, and talked about reading. She challenged them to read critically. Here are some of the questions one can ask:Bookmarks

  1. What does this tell me about God?
  2. What does this tell me about man?
  3. What does this tell me about sin?
  4. What does this tell me redemption? (how are things made right?)
  5. What is this trying to teach me?
  6. What is this trying to make me feel?
  7. Does this cause me to sin or lust?
  8. Does this make me want to be different than I am?
  9. Does this teach me godly contentment with where I am in life?
  10. Does this draw my heart toward or away from Christ?

In the comments below, let us know some questions you might add.

2 Minute Tip to Revolutionize your Reading

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So, depending on how fast of a reader you are it may take more than 2 minutes to read the post. Either way, the employment of this tip will greatly affect your reading. It has revolutionized mine.

Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 4.03.27 PM

Read at least 2 reviews: a 5-star and a 1-star – This is based on amazon.com’s review scale (I don’t like the stars deal, but I don’t have a better idea)

    • This will help you to discern whether to read or not to read
    • This will help give you the background to what is questionable in the book
    • I might agree with the 5 star or the 1 star, either way I know what to look for.
    • I want to thank Adam Keim for this one a few years back. This has saved so much time.

Argument: 

I am sure some of you are thinking, “I like to go into a book with an open mind, unbiased, without looking for a fight.” I pity you.

A book offers a cage fight. You are fighting with the author’s ideas and only one of you will come out alive. Either you will submit to his views or you will reject them. Either way you will be different at the end.

 Can you give us your top tip?

How do you know whether to ignore, read, or buy a book?

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This post is for those who have ever finished a book and said, “I not only want my money back, but I want my day back! That was awful.”

Congratulations! You have joined the club of discerning readers. In a way that can be a good thing because it means you are either 1. Reading widely; 2. Reading a new author; or 3. Reading thoughtfully.

Or it could mean you need some help with choosing books. That is what we will do here. Here are a few tips – then add your own in the comment section.

  1. Evaluate the externals.
    1. Before you get any further:
      • Does it have an interesting title?
      • Does it have a good cover?
      • Does it have a good publisher?
      • Does it have good recommendations?
      • Does it have a picture of a lonely looking woman on the cover? Chances are that is how you will feel after reading it.
  2. Read reviews!
    1. Before you ever read a book you have to, have to, have to read a review on it. This tip alone can save you hundreds of hours of confusing, heretical, and just plain poor writing.
    2. A great place to do this is at www.amazon.com . Make sure you check the “helpful box” on the fair reviews and the “not helpful” box on the bad ones – giving the fair reviews a higher standing than the biased ones. I post all my reviews over there.
    3. Other places include googlebooks.com and goodreads.com
      • I have found that Amazon normally has the best ones.
  3. If you don’t know the author, check it out at a library.
  4. Find good authors and stick with them.
    1. If they consistently put out good material, buy it.
      • Supporting them helps them write more. Everyone benefits.
      • In addition, get other people hooked on them.
    2. We have a few authors that we try to buy whatever they have written
      1. Fiction
        • C.S. Lewis
        • Andrew Peterson (Wingfeather Saga)
        • N. D. Wilson
      2. Christian living
        • Jerry Bridges
        • Tim Keller
        • David Powlison
        • Martha Peace
        • Elizabeth George
        • Paul Tripp

What are some criteria you put on reading/buying books? Do you have any authors you could recommend to us?

What to do with books you won’t read again

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We read a lot (as you can tell from this blog. We are changing the book reviews so you won’t have them all the time! I promise) and we have accumulated more books than we will want to have to haul around the rest of our lives. So we have to do something with them.

This post will deal with hard copy books, not kindle (for a different post).

book

First – evaluate whether you will ever read them again or recommend them to a friend.

Second – if they don’t pass the test, get rid of them (at least making room for better books). Here are some ideas to do that.

  1. Don’t buy them in the first place unless you know you will want to keep it! Its called a library.
  2. Sell them on amazon.com 
    • Make sure you can sell for over $3 otherwise you are paying to give away a book. Not fun.
  3. Trade them on paperbackswap.com
    • This is a great website that is free. Basically you set up a virtual bookshelf of books you don’t want and one with books you do want. When someone wants one of your books, you mail it to them (yes, you pay the $2.53 for postage). Then you receive one book credit which allows you to request one book from someone else.
    • An audio book costs two credits, so we have been trading two books we don’t want for one audio book we do want.
  4. Give them away to friends
    • You may not want to hold on to it, but you know someone who could benefit from it. Give it away. Just don’t give away trash books.
  5. Sell them at Half Priced books
    • We put this after giving away because you get very little for them. If it can be a help, it is better to give it away then get $.25 for it.
  6. Tear them up for exercise
    • Chances are if you are a big reader, you need some more physical exercise. Here is a great way to do it!
  7. Give them to a child to color in
    • We are not responsible for any collateral damage caused by the child getting into the habit of coloring in “big people” books.

Leave a comment and tell us what you do with extra books.

Books I look forward to reading again

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I’m a little late on the best books of 2012, but I am unashamed. Here are a few books off the top of my head that I look forward to reading again.

1. Lewis, C. S. The Great Divorce. HarperCollins e-books, 2009. Heaven like you haven’t imagined it before.

2. Chesterton, G. K, and Dale Ahlquist. Manalive. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011. Modernism and Postmodernism with a gun to its head.

3. Adams, Richard. Watership Down. New York: Macmillan, 1974. Rabbit warriors. You’ll just have to read it.

4. Wilson, Nathan D. The Dragon’s Tooth. Ashtown Burials 1. New York: Random House, 2011. Made me want to learn Latin.

5. Piper, John. Brothers, We are Not Professionals: a Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2002. 

Suggestions on how to Read Widely

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Last week there was a post on Reading Widely. This week there is some “how to”
If you don’t have time to read, consider these suggestions:

1. “Double Duty” – read something that doubles for something else, or use time that you are doing something else, to read. For example- if you are trying to reach out to a neighbor, ask him what he is reading and then read it as a witnessing possibility. Or listen to a classic while driving for 10 minutes, or sitting in line at the bank. Use time when you are running, or normally not productive. Crystal and I listen to a book before we fall asleep. Read to your kids. (Tell me how John Calvin is with sound effects and voices!)

2. Read Wisely –
A. recognize that not all you are going to read deserves to be read and you are not going to remember everything you read. Most is trash. Even on good books there are poor parts. Skim when you get to those.

B. Recognize when you read the best. I think the most clearly from 7-11 am. That is when I read the heaviest stuff. Blog posts, fiction, and history can come at other times.

C. And then don’t read like you have to understand every word. Recognize that a good book you will read again, and again, and again. (More on this later)

D. Don’t think you have to read everything at once. This is a lifelong process. (Insight courtesy of Scott)

Just Too Busy

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Just Too Busy: Taking Your Family on a Radical Sabbatical
Joanne Kraft
Product Details
  1. Paperback: 192 pages
  1. Publisher: Beacon Hill Press
  1. Language: English
  1. Date of reading: May 2, 2012
Point: Joanne Kraft shows how detrimental overly-busy lives can be, and what her family did to be pro-active in that area.
Path:  Kraft explains what most of our lives look like. Busy, overworked, etc. She uses her own life and family as an example of where she was and what they did to change their situation. As a family, they had a whole year that they did not participate in extracurricular activities and they had one family field trip every month. She goes on to explain what her family members thought and even some roadblocks along the way.
Agreement: This book is a very accurate representation of our society and culture as a whole. I liked the idea of stepping back and evaluating all of our areas of involvement. I appreciated her dealing with the fact that many of the activities or possessions in life are not a “right” or a “need” but a desire. I also appreciated her emphasis on not living our lives based upon what other people think, but doing what you need to do in your life for God’s glory.
Disagreement: I would have liked to see more of a Gospel-centered focus in the book. Christ was mentioned, but it seems as though the main reasons given to slow life down and not attend all of the nonessential events were to enjoy your children before they move away rather than the glorification of Christ. I also would have appreciated a section in which the book really dealt with the heart of busyness. There were a couple of brief references to things that sounded slightly like psychology, but as always we need to read with discernment.
Personal App: I need to ask myself if I am too busy doing a lot of things that do not have eternal value. Also, what are my motivations for being involved in the areas in which I am?
Stars: 4 out of 5
I would recommend it.