Adam Shields

Short review: This is an interesting look at the value of physical labor. Not as ditch digger, but the jobs that are manual but bring fulfillment in a particular way that “knowledge worker” jobs might not. Crawford has a PhD, was the head of a Washington Thinktank, but left it all to start his own motorcycle repair shop. He has also been a bunch of other things, from electrician to journal abstractor. The parts where he talked about his own relationship to work were the best. I appreciated the parts where he delved into the more philosophical aspects of our relationship to work and the employer, but I think that many people will check out of those portions. I think that Christians that have thought about a theology of work would probably benefit from his thoughts about work, but this is not a Christian reflection on work. Not a perfect book. I think there are several places where he over thinks or under-thinks his point, but he raises a lot of good questions and proposes some good answers as well. This would be an interesting book to read as a group.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/shop-class/

Short review: Action packed, but still moved the story along pretty well. By the end we know a lot more than I expected and also got a lot of back story.

My full review and a short little rant about inappropriate expectations of books published by Christian publishers at at my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-long-way-home-homelanders-2-by-andrew-klavan/

Short review: Carr has lots of good points, which tend to be lost amidst his hyperbole and cherry picked stats. I really do think that this is worth reading. And worth thinking about because there are some real issues here. But it is also very frustrating.

My full review (about 1000 words) is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-shallows/

Short Review: I do not read a lot of historical fiction. But much of this was good. It is based on a snippet of reality about the first Native American graduate of Harvard in the 1660s. It is told through the eyes of a woman (starting as a young girl) writing in her Day Book (a journal). I found this particularly interesting because I had a class in grad school reading early Puritan journals, primarily women's. I thought this was a good, but not perfect recreation of a Puritan Day Book. I listened to it on audiobook. So some complaints in other reviews about the language probably slipped by me because I was listening not reading. The basic idea is that the woman in the book meets Caleb (a Native American boy just a bit older than she) as a young teen. They spend a lot of time together learning each others' language and culture. Later, after Caleb's parent die of small pox, he comes to live with her family and learns Greek, Hebrew and Latin from her father (a Pastor and missionary to Native Americans).

There is some tragedy and some romance. I think that the author handles the Puritan theology fairly well and does a good job of dealing with the every day life that is really the heart of many historical fiction novels.

The longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/calebs-crossing/

Short Review: This moved the story along well, but I didn't like it as much as the first book Matched. It has more action, but felt more like a romance novel. Good enough that I will read book three when it comes out in June, but not so good that I have a ringing endorsement.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/crossed/

Short Review: The basic idea of the book is that right brain creative and emotionally responsive thinking is becoming more valued in the work place and will increasingly become even more important as the work world changes. The majority of the book is about how to encourage more right brain thinking. There was not a lot of new information and it did not do much to contribute to the world of business psychology books.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/whole-new-mind/

Short Review: I am pretty mixed on my review of this book. When I am mixed I get wordy. So I have a 1600 word review of the book. In short form, I think the point is right. We need an explicit gospel. I think he is right that a right eschatology helps influence a right understanding of our current lives. I think that his discussion of the difference between moralism and the gospel is right on track. But I have some real issues with the way he defines the gospel. Good writing, but some issues on the whole.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-expliciet-gospel/

Short Review: I have read Metaxas biography of Bonhoeffer. And while I think it is a decent biography, this one is better. Bonhoeffer's place in Germany, his theology, the history and his own writing are all better presented here. The problem with the biography is that it is expensive and harder to find. But I would make the effort, track the price of the kindle book or look in used book stores. Bonhoeffer is worth the effort to explore.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/1906-1945/

Short review: The basic thesis is simple. The church should be teaching people how to follow Jesus, not how to be leaders. I like Sweet. He is one of the smartest, widest read Christian thinkers out there. His books are always very quotable and I almost always think his thesis is basically right. But he needs an editor to cut out some of the fluff (30-50 pages here). And I think he has a tendency to over play the point. But I really do think that he is right about this. His prescription is that we need to be more focused on intentional discipleship within community, on the process of becoming sanctified and not on the event of salvation, and more on the organic nature of Christianity and less on the technology/organization of the church (those are all my words, not his).

My longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/follower/

Short review: This was a good book. I read it in an afternoon and I was very inspired by it. It made me want to work harder at live. In some ways it reminded me of Radical by David Platt and some of Seth Godin's books. It was not so much tactics or strategy of how to change the world as it was the personal make up of the people that will change the world. The four elements are Calling, Character, Doctrine and Commitment. Doctrine is the one that will throw people (not because it is a bad element but because the current use of the word is not what he means.)

My full review will be on my blog at http://bookwi.se/passion-is-not-enough-four-elements-to-change-the-world-by-greg-darley/

Short review: I think the idea (that a pastor familiar with the academic study of Bonhoeffer would write about the theology of Bonhoeffer for the lay person) is a good idea. But I was put off by the narrator and I thought the focus of the book while interesting was not as successful as it could have been.

Full review at http://bookwi.se/anxious-souls-will-ask-the-christ-centered-spirituality-of-dietrich-bonhoeffer-by-john-matthews/

Short Review - This isn't a bad book. I actually like it. But if you have read much of Wright previously then this is mostly repeat. It is a re-issue of a 1978 book and then it was a collection of his earlier sermons. It is surprising how many of his main ideas are here, but they are not as fully developed as later books. So while it is a decent intro to Wright, it is not as good as some other books of his. And its biggest weakness is that it isn't tightly organized, so it feels like a bunch of disperate sermons more than a cohesive book.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/small-faith-great-god/

Short Review: Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card - This is classic Card. A very talented boy ends up alone after the death of his father. He is instructed to find his sister (who he didn't know he had) in the capital. Along the way he finds other talented companions and they realize that the entire world depends on them. First in a series, but the only one out.

My longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/pathfinder-by-orson-scott-card/

Short Review - This is a historical fiction book about the life of Athanasius. Athanasius was the bishop of Alexandria and one of the most important early Christians. He was a defender of the trinity, and a prolific writer. This is a decent book and only $2.99 on kindle. I am not a huge historical fiction fan, because I am never sure of where the history ends and the fiction starts. But I enjoyed this as a book and it is on topic for my Trinity reading project.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/athanasius/

Short review: This is a very different book than previous books in my Catholic Theology project. It is written primarily to Catholics and so is more of an inside look. I am pretty sure I missed some of the nuance because I am not Catholic and Neuhaus is a fan of Latin phrases. But on the whole this was a very good book. Discussions of his conversion, the magisterium, the role of the church in the world, disagreement in the church and more gave me a lot of insight into his thought.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/catholic-matters/

Short Review: This is an excellent collection of essays about how life is both hard and sweet, and that is the way God has intended. There is much here about the pain of life, miscarriages, lost jobs, struggling marriage, etc. But also much that is hopeful, birth, parenting, friendships, gathering of friends around the table. I have seen a couple of reviews that suggested that this book was whiney. I don't think we were reading the same book. Because while Shauna Niequist was honest about pain, the was not a book about the pain, it was a book about joy amidst the pain.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/bittersweet-by-shauna-niequist/

Short review: History is important and many people do not know much about history. If you are one of these people this single volume, easy to read history of the US is worth the time. I listened to it on audiobook, but it might be better in paper, not because the narration is bad, but because the narrator reads the timeline at the end of each section and most people would get that info better visually reading rather than listening. There are several versions of this book. Originally it was written in 1986 but it has been updated to inclue recent info a couple of times. I read the 2003 version that went through the 2000 presidential election.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/dont-know-much-about-history-by-kenneth-davis/

Short Review: I am a fan of the Very Short Introduction series from Oxford. This is another good example of why short histories like this are useful and should be encouraged. The Reformation is very important to the history of Christianity and Europe, but the mythology of the Reformation is often overplayed and detrimental to understanding modern history. I picked this up a couple weeks ago on kindle when it was on sale for $2.99. It is not on sale now, but still only $7.10

My full review (about 800 words) is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-reformation-a-very-short-introduction-by-peter-marshall/

Short Review: This is a review of the 2011 translation of Solaris. As far as I can tell this is only available as an exclusive audiobook by Audible.com and as a kindle edition. It has been a while since I last read solaris. So it is hard to remember specific differences, other than the very obvious fact that the name of the female lead is different (corrected to the original). My best memory is that this language of this is more evocative. But it is also a book where I am glad to have the kindle dictionary built in.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/solaris/

Short Review: This is a good tight young adult thriller. The book opens with Charlie West, a 17 year old high school student, waking up tied to a chair after having been tortured. Over the book he remembers a bit of what happened, but realizes that he is in serious trouble, and he may have done some things that are quick contrary to his nature. He is on the run, from police and others.

This would make a good read for teens age 14 and up.

I have a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-last-thing-i-remember/

Short Review: This is Eoin Colfer's first adult book. And it feels a bit like he is trying to make up for having written young adult books for the rest of his career. There is a lot of swearing and violence in this books and some sex. But a lot of the adult content feels like filler more than really necessary to the plot. On the whole though the problem with the book is that the characters do not feel believable. The main guy is good. But why has he spent a decade working as a bouncer as a seedy club. The bad guys are pretty two demential. And in the end the twist made me feel like I had wasted my time with the book. I really like Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, but I think I will stick to his young adult books from now on.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/plugged-a-novel-by-eoin-colfer/

Short review - this is the first of the Liaden books I have read in years. But I jumped back in without too much problem remembering the threads of the different storylines. The beginning felt a little YA (in a bad way) but by the middle of the book I was pretty hooked and was quite surprised to see how the threads of the series were coming together. Already picked up the next book in the series.

A longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/saltation-by-sharon-lee-and-steve-miller/

This may have ended up being fine. But about three hours into the audiobook I was bored and just didn't find the characters interesting or engaging. A couple of the reviews suggest that the last quarter was much better and made up for all of the weaknesses of the earlier parts. But I did not want to wait that long.

It is free on audio from Christianaudio.com until the end of June 2012. So if you want to try it out, get it now.

Short review: A good look at Catholic spiritual practices and why they are done. I am reading this to learn more about Catholic theology as a Protestant. So it wasn't directly written for me. But it was interesting. Formatted as 40 short devotional styled chapters.

My full review is at my blog at http://bookwi.se/signs/

Short Review - I would give this 3.5 stars if I could. There are parts that I think are very important for Evangelicals to hear (Evangelical politics, Christian Restorationists, Quiverfull Movement). But there are parts that I think will turn off those that I think most need to hear it (the early section on the bible.) It is a memoir(ish) book by the son of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. His last memoir (Crazy for God) was mostly about his dad. This one is mostly about his mom. But he spends a lot of time talking about how the Evangelical world interacts with women (and politics.) If you really like politics and are not offended easily this is worth reading.

My longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/sex-mom-and-god/