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Book Reviews

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Journey of Hope

What is hope? The meaning of hope has been on my mind lately, so I’ve decided to think more on the topic in 2015. It seems both healthy and timely.

We live in an era when millions of good things are happening, yet we grow weary with despair. We worry about our broken political system, the rise of extremism, the violence in our schools, the pervasiveness of greed in our culture, the wealth disparity, high taxes, ISIS, the Byzantine health care system, immigration reform, Putin/Russian aggression, measles outbreaks, and out of control social media.

It’s endless what we can find …

Book Reviews,

Keeping Hope Alive, by Lewis Smedes

I have a lot of hope in the future. It’s what keeps me going through all the negativity pervading our lives. People are down on everything these days — perhaps because they watch too much cable news — and I want to push the tide in the other direction.

We must learn to live by hope in the midst of all the negativity. Hope in the future, hope in each other, hope in ourselves. Even hope in the government and institutions. But most of all, hope in Christ.

But how, I wondered, do we sustain hope in the midst of …

Book Reviews,

Bold, by Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis

Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis wrote Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World as the follow up book to their previous work, Abundance. Where Abundance tell us what the future might look like, Bold explains how entrepreneurs can get us there.

What I enjoyed about Bold was the sheer audacity of what the authors aim for. These two think big — as in “let’s start a company to mine asteroids” big. And they have enough success on their resume to show they can really do these things.

In Bold the authors become pragmatic — well, …

Book Reviews,

The Grand Paradox

Ken Wytsma opens his new book The Grand Paradox with this paragraph:

“We want answers from God. We have a ravenous appetite for clarity in life. And often, we desire justification, or, at least, some kind of explanation for why He allows certain things to transpire. God, however, is more mysterious than we think He should be or wish He were. Most of the time, we don’t receive the desired answers or the clarity for which we clamor. In spite of our seeking, God seems just out of our reach. Try as we might, we cannot pin Him down. In …

Book Reviews,

Boys Adrift

When I wrote about the most influential 25 books of my life, Reviving Ophelia was a no brainer to add. It shaped my understanding of what girls deal with in our society, which helped me be a better father to my daughter.

But until I read Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax there was nothing comparable about boys. Now I only wish this book was published when my son was younger — it would have helped me raise an even better son!

For decades I’ve advocated for boys. So much emphasis has been put on helping girls — rightfully so, I’m …

Book Reviews,

The Accidental Superpower, by Peter Zeihan

Gloom and doom are an always present part of the American psyche. For two hundred years we’ve convinced ourselves the best days are behind us. It’s easy to find books that feed this anxiety.

That’s why I enjoyed The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder by Peter Zeihan.

Authors who point out the inherent advantages America has compared to the rest of the world always fascinate me. Not just our civil rights, not just our wealth, not just our (relatively) uncorrupt culture. But the geographic position we find ourselves in. We are one …

Book Reviews,

What if?

If you’re looking for a FUN book about the kinds of crazy questions often asked after a couple of beers, this is the book for you. What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe is willing to take on the ridiculous questions with serious science. And the result is informative, hilarious, and often just a bit scary!

For instance, what if everybody on earth aimed a laser pointer at the moon; would it be brighter? A ridiculous question, obviously. But Munroe takes the time to think through the answer. How much light would that be? Could …

Book Reviews,

Favorite Books of 2014

Just in time for your shopping list, here are my favorite books of 2014:

The coveted, “Would you shut up about that book … it’s all you ever talk about” Award goes to The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. Easily my favorite book of the year. History, human interest, love stories, Nazi propoganda, politics, sports … it’s all here.

The “This changed how I think about my faith” Award goes to Soul Keeping by John Ortberg. I’ve always wondered what a soul really is and why it’s important. John wrote a brilliant book that explains it all …