Galatians by Martin Luther - 304 pages

One of the classics of the Protestant Reformation. Surprisingly accessible.  Read this as our church in Okinawa was going through Galatians.

The Brother's Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - 960 Pages

I started reading this book with a group of friends.  To my knowledge, I am the only one who finished it.  I'm not sure who among us was the wisest.

I did not enjoy this book.  I know it is a classic but neither the characters or the story was gripping enough for me to justify the amount of time it took to read the almost 800 page monster.  I have nothing against long books (Les Miserables at 1200 pages is my favorite book of all time), I just wasn't compelled enough early on to stay mentally and emotionally with this book.  By the last half it was just sheer will that got me through it.  By the time something actually happened I was so sick of these hyper-sensitive, overly-philosophical, and exceedingly nick-named characters that I just wanted them to go away.

I know I'm being a little harsh, and there were some interesting commentaries on atheistic relativism, the nature of man, meandering chit-chats with Satan...etc.  Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more if I had a guided discussion group or class, but this experience was painful.  Next time I have a need for Russian fiction, I'm going back to Tolstoy.

Visit the Sick by Brian Croft - 128 Pages

I read this book a few years ago.  Since I have been doing quite a bit of hospital visitation for my new assignment as Wing chaplain, I pulled this off my shelf and reviewed it.  In doing so I was reminded of how useful a resource this is.  Here is my review from 2011:

Do you consider care for the sick an essential activity for Christ followers?  Do you have a theology that is sturdy enough to shine even in the darkness of those on the brink of death?  Do you think to pop a few breath mints before you go and pray with someone on their sickbed?

This book presents a concise, Biblical and practical guide for caring for the sick in Christ’s name and strength.  While Croft’s many years of experience as a pastor as well as being the son of a doctor provide ample material for practical advise, it is the Biblical foundation that Croft lays prior to discussing the practical implications of that foundation that is the real strength of this book.  Too often books either expound on Scripture and theology but never make practical demands from that theology, or even worse, start with the pragmatic and then search for prooftexts in Scripture to give weight to opinions.    Croft does an excellent job of letting his practical exhortations flow from the Word of God, both from specific texts on caring for the sick and dying and from the metanarratives of Scripture.  Above all he shows that caring for the sick is about the Gospel.

This book was a great reminder of the essential ministry of caring for the physical needs of people as well as a great tool for accomplishing that task.

Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon by Edward Dolnick - 400 pages

My super awesome sister-in-law Miriam bought this book for me a few years back and I finally got to it this year.  It's the story of the first expedition down the Colorado into the Grand Canyon. 

Adventure, white-water danger, one-armed manly men, presuppositional atheistic geology, Mormon murder mystery...all told in breathtaking detail by award winning journalist Edward Dolnick.

 Excellent read!

Good News of Great Joy by John Piper - 57 Pages

I read this book last year during the Advent season.  I returned to it again this year and read it with my wife every morning.  I think the tradition will continue.

Here's my review from last year:

Although I tend to be schizophrenic when it comes to traditions (my tradition is not being tied down by tradition…unless I want to be) –  getting married, growing a family, and getting older has shown me the importance and value of traditions, especially within the family.  Every family has traditions, even non-traditional families.  The question is to what purpose do our traditions serve?  Are we are slaves to our traditions, as if they exist for their own sake?  Or are traditions our slaves, our tools, or old testament Ebenezers – reminders to point us to something more important and meaningful than the tradition itself?   As we strive to create a Christ-centered culture in our family, we have looked to some traditions that God’s people have observed throughout history and tried to incorporate those that help us keep our eyes and hearts fixed on the Gospel.  Advent is one of those traditions.  And that’s where this book comes in.

Released this year as a free ebook, Good News of Great Joy, is a collection of short daily Advent devotionals taken from John Piper’s sermons and writings.  We found this to be a great resource for focusing us on the celebration of the Incarnation of God at Christmas.  It’s short daily readings made it more realistic that our family would find the time to actually read it and meditate on the truth it highlighted.

A great Scripture driven, Gospel-centered, Christmas resource.  I think a new tradition has begun.

Finally Free by Heath Lambert - 176 Pages

This book has been on the top ten lists of many Christian book reviewers this year.  I won't repeat what they say, only refer you to their excellent reviews and tell you that this book is every bit as good and helpful as they say.  The best, Gospel-centered book on purity I have read.

- Tim Challies' review

- Mark Mellinger's review

A Short Life of Jonathan Edward by George Marsden - 152 Pages

Despite the fact that this is a distillation of Marsden's much larger biography - Jonathan Edwards: A Life - this book still delivers much insight, information, and illustration of the dynamic life that was Jonathan Edwards.  In this short work Marsden captures the impact that this obscure pastor in an obscure new world was used by God to change the whole world.  Like most historical figures, the extent of Jonathan Edwards' influence was not seen until after his death and Marsden does a great job of connecting the dots for the modern reader.

Three thoughts that have lingered since reading this book are:

1.  Conflict:  Most of Edward's defining moments came out of conflict.  Conflict with his culture, conflict with his congregation, conflict with his soul.  Edwards was a man of conviction - compromise - for better or for worse - was completely foreign to him.

2.  Emotion:  I had no idea how emotion driven the Great Awakening was.  I wonder what the Strange Fire crew would have thought of it.

3.  Benjamin Franklin:  Marsden often brought attention to the fact that Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards where contemporaries.  Although they never met as far as we know, their stories and journeys intersected in many places and Marsden masterfully weaves the reader through understanding the significance of these two lives.


I look forward in the future to reading more of and about this influential jar of clay.

Isaiah by the Day by Alec Motyer - 336 Pages

This book was my favorite Christmas present last year and was one of my favorite reads of this year.  Old Testament scholar Dr Alec Moyter breaks down the book of Isaiah into daily readings, providing his own translation and lexical/exegetical notes along the way.  At the end of each Scripture reading Moyter gives a brief devotional commentary on the passage.  This work helped me understand the amazing book of Isaiah in ways that often left me breathless.  The beauty of God's righteousness, mercy, sovereignty, love and grace were unlocked in powerful ways as Moyter led me through this section of God's Word.  I highly recommend this book.

The Swords of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs - 191 Pages

My least favorite of the John Carter series. Started strong but as the story progressed it felt like Burroughs wanted to hurry up and finish it so he could go outside and play. Still fun and better than Dan Brown though....

The Lost Letters of Pergamum - by Bruce W. Longenecker (192 Pages)

Longnecker creates a compelling story by creating a fictional correspondence between the Gospel writer Luke and the early church martyr Antipas (2:13).  While the book is a great concept which provides considerable insight into the socio-economic barriers and consequences of believing in Christ in the first century A.D it is a bit weak on the content of the Gospel.  Recommended.  

Inferno by Dan Brown - 462 Pages

The latest from Dan Brown, Inferno puts the (apparently Tom Hanks in a mullet lookalike) Robert Langdon in Florence, Italy and races him around through familiar landmarks, medieval literature, and short cliffhanging chapters in a desperate quest to stop a biological weapon.  If you are familiar with Dan Brown, you know what to expect...and you won't be disappointed.  Having read three Dan Brown novels, this was my favorite as it was the least crass and had the least amount of cheap shots at the Bible and faith of the Brown books I've read.

A quick, entertaining, guilty pleasure.

World War Z by Max Brooks - 352 pages

I saw the movie this summer and while not an amazing movie, I was interested enough to check out the book that it was based on.  As always, the book is better (and different) than the movie.  What I liked most about the movie forms the core of the book. Told from many different perspectives, WWZ isn't so much about zombies as it is about exploring how different cultures and world views would react to a global catastrophe, bringing out the best and worst of us. I found it to be an interesting and entertaining discussion of geopolitical, economic, social, and moral case studies...oh ya and it has zombies!  

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild - 366 Pages

Years ago, I remember while on a morning walk in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, watching off in the distance as the morning mist rolled in over Mount Stanley, part of the mountain range that makes up the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  During my time in Uganda I had heard many stories for the first time about the spiritual, political, and social darkness as well as the amazing beauty and people of that massive country.  As I stood there taking in the beauty and mystery of the scene, I felt that whatever the future brought, the DRC would be part of it.  Originally I thought that call was a call to pursue missions in the DRC.  This seemed to be confirmed when the church I was working at in Los Angeles began to share our building with a congregation of dear Congolese brethren, many of whom where recent refugees from DRC.

For the time being it does not look like God is is leading us to live and work in DRC.  However, we believe that He has called us to be involved with DRC in a much more intimate way.  We are in the process of adopting two twins from DRC and making them part of our family.  That is another story in itself, one that you can follow here.

As God has kept DRC on our mind and heart, now is making it part of our family, Sarah and I have begun to look for resources to help us understand the history and culture of this vast country.  That's where King Leopold's Ghost comes in.

It's hard to know where to start in praising this book.  Although a work of historical nonfiction, it reads like a thriller.  It would be a fantastically entertaining story...if it weren't true.  You couldn't make up some of these characters - A heroic, homosexual with an English Bulldog, a Baptist missionary, an obese slimy lawyer, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, countless (literally) African victims, Parisian courtesans - the list goes on and on.

In reality it is truly haunting.  The extent to which this one man was able to exploit such a vast population and area is horrifying.  Yet it is in understanding this history that one begins to understand how such instability and corruption exists in the region today.  I do need to say that Hochschild, while focusing on the depravity of King Leopold and the type of people his exploitative rule attracted, doesn't gloss over the depravity of the other parties - African, Arab, and American alike.  However the extent to which Leopold oppressed the people of the Congo has few parallels in the history of injustice.

This book hit me in a personal place. These are people I know.  Now through adoption, these are people I am related to.  It is one thing to read about atrocities that happened in an exotic far away place in a time very different from our own.  It is quite another to read about your kids great - great -grandparents being treated like animals, and to see your kids living in the fallout of racist, imperialistic, systematic explotation today.

This is one of the best and most important books I have read in a long time.  I highly recommend it.

Dispensationalism: Essential Beliefs and Common Myths by Michael J. Vlach - 73 pages

Great, short survey of Dispensationalist core assertions and common misunderstandings.  A great introduction not only to this eschatological view, but also to hermeneutics.  Any productive conversation about eschatology needs to start by truly understanding the views represented in the discussion and this concise book lays a great foundation for understanding what Dispensationalists believe.

Recommended as a good starting point for adherents and challengers of Dispensationalism alike.

Sanctification in the Everyday by John Piper - 50 pages

Three classic Piper sermons on the subject of sanctification in e-book form.  Great, soul-feeding truth.  Get it free here!

"...in every case, the decisive impulse for our holiness and our sin-killing is the death of Christ.  Which means that the decisive power for our conquering sin is Christ's canceling sin.  That is, the only sin that we can defeat is a forgiven sin."

"By the world's standards we may accomplish much without Christ (like build an institution, or produce a blockbuster movie).  But from God's perspective, without Christ our lives are like little, shriveled, fruitless twigs."

"Sin can't enslave a person who is utterly confident and sure and hope-filled in the infinite happiness of life with Christ in the future."

When God Comes Calling by Ted Fletcher - 172 pages

Good Missionary biographies are at once engrossing and instructive.  When God Comes Calling excels at both.  It starts out as an autobiography by Ted Fletcher, the founder of Pioneers, a missions agency that seeks to bring the Gospel the least reached and most inaccessible people groups on earth.  Fletcher tells about hearing the Gospel on the front lines of the Korean War as a Recon Marine.  After the war Fletcher became one of the senior editors of the Wall Street Journal.  Yet in all of that success, he and his wife Peggy, felt a call to be part of something more eternally significant.  After years of being rejected by traditional missionary agencies, they decided to start their own - Pioneers.

In the second half of the book, Fletcher leaves his story behind and instead tells of the amazing things God has done through Pioneers.  I found it instructive that even in his autobiography Fletcher rarely talked about himself, but wrote about the men and women of Pioneers, those who have come to faith through their work, and above all - His Savior.

The last chapter is a beautiful tribute to Ted, and God's work in and through him written by his wife Peggy.

Sarah and I hope to join Pioneers this year in preparation for missions work in Southeast Asia.  This book has confirmed that this agency has a Christ-centered, Gospel-driven ethos and we look forward of becoming a small part of the faithful legacy that God has given the Fletchers.

Amazing Diving Stories by John Bantin - 276 pages

This is a collection of exactly what the title says - Amazing Dive Stories.  Each story being only 5-6 pages long,  anyone remotely interested in diving will move quickly through the fascinating stories of underwater creature encounters (both friendly and not-so friendly), wreck dives, discovered treasure, triumph, and tragedy.  My only two critiques are: (1) the writing is a bit off, perhaps because of the British colloquialisms of the author, but I think it extends beyond this a bit.  (2) for whatever reason the stories got progressively macabre as the book progressed. This made for interesting reading but I think gave the book and diving in general an unfairly dark outlook.

Timeline by Michael Crichton - 512 Pages

Archaeologists travel to Medieval Times and almost get stuck.  I would say that they time travel, but the book is very clear that what they are doing is not traveling through time but traveling to another, parallel universe.  Using pop quantum theory, Crichton has his adventurers basically getting faxed into a universe that is almost the same as ours, yet not the same.  Although Crichton's explanation is slightly more technical, you can understand that it is still quite a stretch and leaves ample room for some ridiculousness and plot holes - the biggest of which (in my opinion) is how does doing something in the past of one universe affect anything in the present of this universe...if they aren't the same universe?

Anyways, if you are willing to swallow some of the inevitable jumps in logic surrounding the time/universe travel, this is a fun, exciting read.  Nonstop action, most of the main characters are well developed and as a history buff I enjoyed the discussions on the importance and impact of understanding the history that has shaped the present.  

If you like Crichton, I think you would enjoy this, one of his less popular books.

Renting the movie this weekend.  Paul Walker is in it.  I have a very bad feeling about this....

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco - 641 pages

I was thoroughly unimpressed with this book.


Imagine 40 pages of a Dan Brown novel (although admittedly Eco's prose is much more refined and beautiful than Brown's) bookending 600 pages of three guys sitting around talking about conspiracy theories, secret societies, pseudo-history, occult rituals, mysticism and abstract dream sequences.


I'm sure some English major types would like the whole everything-relates-to-everything-and-words-have-whatever-meaning-we-assign-to-them-reality-is-what-we-make-it postmodern subthemes that run through the book. No thanks.


as reviewers on goodreads commented:


"One of those books where the author tediously says next to nothing, and all the semi-litterati can't figure out what he's trying to say, so they conclude he must be brilliant."


or


"This book consists of predominantly two things: (1) Endless dialogue by mentally unbalanced paranoid conspiracy theorists; (2) Endless dialogue by scholars who study mentally unbalanced paranoid conspiracy theorists. This is not a bad book, but its not an easy read, and not really a particularly enjoyable one."



If you want to read about postmodern philosophy I would suggest not Foucault's Pendulum but Michel Foucault. Likewise, if you want to read a thriller about Rosicrucians and Templars and the like I would look elsewhere.

In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson - 256 Pages

For the past few months I have been reading a few pages of this book every morning when I have extra quiet time.  It has proven to be one of my favorite books of its type.  Short chapters filled with truth.  Each chapter can be read in 5 minutes or less, yet there is much to chew on and think about and apply.

Ferguson lays the book out in 6 parts:

I.   The Word Became Flesh (Christology)
II.  The Heart of the Matter (The Gospel)
III. The Spirit of Christ (Pneumatology)
IV. The Privileges of Grace (Sanctification)
V.  A Life of Wisdom (Discipleship)
VI. Faithful to the End (Perseverance)

Although each of these sections has their own specific focus, they all flow out of the central theme of the sufficiency and glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Throughout the book I was impressed and helped by the way that Ferguson not only didn't avoid, but embraced and applied difficult doctrines such as limited atonement, predestination, total depravity, suffering, and the perseverance of the saints in a pastoral, concise, and clear way.

I recommend this book for anyone wanting to be encouraged to grow in their love of Christ.

"Santa Christ is sometimes a Pelagian Jesus.  Like Santa, he simply asks us whether we have been good.  More exactly, since the assumption is that we are all naturally good, Santa Christ asks us whether we have been "good enough"...Jesus becomes a kind of added bonus who makes a good life even better.  He is not seen as the Savior of helpless sinners."

"There is, therefore, an element in the Gospel narratives that stresses that the coming of Jesus is a disturbing event of the deepest proportions.  It had to be thus, for He did not come merely to add something extra to life, but to deal with our spiritual insolvency and the debt of our sin.  He was not concieved in the womb of Mary for those who have done their best, but for those who know that their best is "like filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6) - far from good enough - and that in their flesh there dwells no good thing (Rom 7:18).  He was not sent to be the source of good experiences, but to suffer the pangs of hell in order to be our Savior."

"Only a sinless Savior is able to die for our sins.  He cannot die for our sins if He must die for His own."

"Say this to yourself when you rise each day, when you struggle, or when you lay your head down sadly on your pillow at night: 'Lord Jesus, You are still the same, and always will be.'"

Transcend: Beyond the Limits of Discipleship by Matt Smay - 114 Pages

This was a free ebook I downloaded from the Verge Network website.  It was a quick, easy read, and while there were some helpful thoughts in it, most of what was helpful can be found better said in other resources, and the spaces in between the helpful nuggets are filled with typical post emergent calls to be more relevant, descriptive narrative portions of Scripture used in prescriptive ways and early 2000s Christian catchphrases like "love on",  "lean into", and "incarnational" (all phrases that I have used myself btw).

While I did find Smay's outline of Discipleship helpful, I think he may have been a little overconfident when he states: "I will give you a new framework to use to lead yourself, your family, friends, community and church on the best run ever" - as if the church had been messing up discipleship for the last 2,000 years and he is going to fix it with his 5 step process.

He lays out his framework by using 5 E-words:

Expose:  the first step of discipleship is exposing people to the Gospel in a relational environment.
Embrace: next, moving from knowing about Christ to an embracing of Christ
Engage: a disciple who has truly embraced the Gospel will then live in light of it
Equip: Getting the "skillset to work from" to be successful on the journey of discipleship
Expand: Becoming disciples who make disciples who make disciples

I'm not sure what he meant by subtitling the book "Beyond the Limits of Discipleship" as these 5 E's are much of what discipleship should be according to Scripture.

In summary, there are some helpful reminders in this book, enjoyable illustrations, and good intentions.  Anyone attempting to call the church to pursue making disciples is a friend and ally in my book.  However the meat contained here is more accessible and clearly presented in other books such as Radical, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, What is a Healthy Church Member?  to name a few.

Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden - 234 pages

Every year out of all the books I read, one or two linger and becomes a part of me in some way. This book is one of those. Like a visit to Auschwitz, you cannot read this book and not be effected by it.
Just last month I visited the Demilitarized Zone and actually got to step into North Korea for a few minutes while in the Joint Security Area. Yet even after that experience, North Korea to me remained what it is to most, a weird - potentially dangerous - but mostly laughable hermit kingdom. Shin's story recorded in Escape from Camp 14 is helping to wake me up from my apathy.


Part escape thriller, part (unintentional) commentary on both the Imago Dei and the depths of depravity, part humanitarian journalism - all true - Escape from Camp 14 is gripping from start to finish. As the only person bred, born, and raised in a North Korean Prison camp to escape to the West, the story of Shin Dong-Hyuk is unlike any other. Imagine reading Night by Elie Weisel, or the Diary of Anne Frank. Now imagine not just reading a story about someone plucked from a loving family and a world of comfort and thrown into the hellish conditions of a prison/death camp but instead you are reading the story of someone who only ever knew life in a cage. Shin wasn't captured and taken to an Auschwitz-like concentration camp. He was born and raised there. Totally cut off like a state bred feral child, Shin barely knew North Korea existed outside of the electrified prison fence - let alone a free world. And this didn't happen during our great grandparents life. It is happening now. ...this is a description of current events. As Harden writes, "North Korea's labor camps have now existed twice as long as the Soviet Gulag and about twelve times longer than the Nazi concentration camps." These many camps are are visible to anyone who knows how to use Google Earth, yet the outside world remains either in ignorance or apathy as to their existence.


Shin's story has started for me what I hope is a lifelong journey of education, prayer, and action in response to one of the greatest injustices in our world today - the North Korean Prison State.

The God Who is There by D.A. Carson - 240 Pages

Let's start with what I didn't like, keeping in mind these criticisms are all relatively minor things and probably say more about me than the book and/or Carson:

- Too much poetry.

- Too much Scripture.  I know, that sounds really bad (especially when I complained that Keller didn't have enough scripture in his book a few posts ago) What I mean is that in virtually every chapter Carson quotes and reprints multiple, long sections of Scripture, many taking up many pages.  I love the Word, but if I want to read the Word I will read the Word (which I do btw).  If I want to read a book about the Word, it better be filled with references to the Word, but to reprint huge sections of Scripture seems lazy.

- Why did he have to use the same name as the classic Francis Schaeffer book?

- I didn't like the writing style.  It felt like it kept switching from a casual conversation ("let me list one or two reasons here" ...are you making this up as you go?...weird Canadian colloquialisms..."jolly well"....etc)  to lecture notes to a systematic theology.  This was distracting and I think is linked with the next, and in my opinion, largest drawback of the book.

- I couldn't figure out exactly who his audience was - non believers? new believers? students? Pastors?  All of the above? At times I felt like I was in a kids Sunday school class only to step into the seminary on the next page.  Not understanding exactly who he was trying to address was confusing at times.

Having said all of that I still would recommend this book for it's excellent content, even if I didn't like the presentation of it. Many passages were just flat out brilliant in the way they explained simple, beautiful doctrine.  Carson does accomplish what the subtitle states - Finding Your Place in God's Story - making this is a helpful resource for those seeking to understand the overarching themes of God's Glory and Grace woven throughout the pages of Scripture.

A Fighting Man of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs - 279 pages

The 7th book in the John Carter of Mars series, this book follows the same pattern as most in the series. That fact bothered me for the first few chapters...until I realized that it is exactly that simple plot of adventure, romance, and sci-fi fantasy that keeps me coming back for more.

A Fighting Man of Mars only mentions John Carter on the periphery of the story and instead centers around Hadron of Hastor, a young knight in Helium's army (I realize I have lost most of you already).  He falls in love...his love is kidnapped by an evil king...he goes to rescue her and all manner of intrigue, swashbuckling, romance, and sci-fi excitement ensue.

If you know and like the John Carter series, you will like this solid entry in the canon.

The Meaning of Marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller - 288 Pages

Based off of a popular sermon series that Pastor and author Tim Keller preached at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, The Meaning of Marriage provides a timely and powerful voice to the modern Christian trying to understand and live out a Christ-centered marriage.  The Keller's challenge both ends of the spectrum of error concerning marriage, showing that marriage as God intended it can be both more enthralling than any illegitimate pleasure as well as more exhausting and sacrificial than what modern notions of love and romance advertise.

The Keller's have a well known love for C.S. Lewis and his influence is felt a lot in this book. They write with a Lewis-like approach: lots of compelling and wise theologically based thoughts...not an abundance of Scripture exposition.  Kierkegaard and poets get as much ink as the Word of God.  That approach isn't necessarily wrong, it just needs to be recognized for what it is and read with discernment.

My wife and I read this book together, setting aside time a few times a month to discuss it.  The conversations that ensued were very helpful and fruitful.  A discussion that was particularly eye opening and exciting was when the Keller's point out the differences between a consumer relationship vs. a covenant relationship and their implications on marriage.

This book is a great resource filled not only with wisdom for married couples but anyone trying to understand the purposes of God in the institution of Marriage.

The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne - 140 pages

A lesser known, but no less exciting adventure from Jules Verne, The Survivors of the Chancellor follows the voyage of the British sailing ship Chancellor on its fateful voyage from Charleston, South Carolina to England.  As the title suggests, the ship soon intercects with tragedy - first sustaining a fire below decks, then wrecking on a reef, then drifting and slowly sinking.  In his usual detailed fashion, Verne tells a gripping story of survival as the characters strive not only against nature but each other, and their own temptations to abandon their civility.
A great, quick read, especially for anyone interested in survival and/or nautical fiction.

Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian - 496 pages

Last year I read Master and Commander, the first in a 21 (!) book series by Patrick O'Brian.  I loved it.

Post Captain continues the misadventures of captain Jack Aubrey and his surgeon friend,  Stephen Maturin.  Picking up right after Master and Commander, it is a brief rare season of peace between England, France, and Spain.  As often happens with sailors with too much time on their hands, they quickly fall into debt and love.  Jack is enraptured with the young heiress Sophia Williams, and Stephen falls for the unconventional widow Diana Villiers.  The first half of the book almost reads like a Jane Austen novel told from the man's (are there any real men in those books?) perspective.
Thankfully, war breaks out and the boys leave land behind to sink, plunder, and generally harass the French enemy.

As usual Patrick O'Brian's distinctive writing style, while taking some getting used to,  takes the breath away and draws the reader in.  The action was bigger, the romance greater, and the development of the often contentious relationship between Aubrey and Maturin was delightful.  I also enjoyed the insights on leadership, as Jack learns to maintain discipline and good morale amongst the crew of his ship.

I can't wait to read the next one!

"It is unjust to provoke a man and then complain he is a satyr if the provocation succeeds."

"How helpless a man is, against direct attack by a woman."

"The sailor, at sea (his proper element), lives in the present.  There is nothing he can do about the past at all; and having regard to the uncertainty of the omnipotent ocean and the weather, very little about the future."

"Ever since I was breeched I have pined to see a narwhal."

Adoniram Judson: How Few There Are That Die So Hard by John Piper - 24 Pages

This short, free ebook is a converted transcript of one of John Piper's biographical sermons that he gave for many years at the annual Desiring God Pastor's Conference.

Though it is short, it packs a punch.  I was expecting more biography and less exhortation, but I was pleasantly surprised and challenged.  Piper weaves in glimpses of Judson's life, suffering, and fruitful death to his call for followers of Jesus to embrace suffering as the God ordained means of bringing the lost nations into the joy of glorifying Christ.  A great read.  I will be handing this out to anyone interested in joining us on the field.

"My question is, if Christ delays his return another two hundred years - a mere fraction of a day in his reckoning - which of you will have suffered and died so that the triumphs of grace will be told about one or two of those 3,500 [unreached groups of] peoples who are in the same condition today that the Karen and Chin and Kachins and Burmese were in 1813?...Most of these hopeless peoples do not want you to come.  At least they think they don't.  They are hostile to Christian missions.  Today this is the final frontier"

"Judson wrote to missionary candidates in 1832:  

Remember, a large proportion of those who come out on a mission to the East die within five years after leaving their native land.  Walk softly, therefore; death is narrowly watching your steps. 

The question for us is not whether we will die, but whether we will die in a way that bears much fruit."

The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler - 224 Pages

I normally don't like to read books on leadership.  I find that they generally fall into one or more of the following categories: Secular leadership books filled with un-and-anti-Biblical advice, Christian leadership books that are trying to be like the secular ones but with some proof texts sprinkled in, or Biblical leadership books that are solid but are really only applicable to a senior pastor role.

With The Conviction to Lead, Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler has broken the mold, composing a book that is driven and grounded in a high view of Scripture as well as broad enough to speak to Christians in any sphere of leadership, not just the church.

The basic premise is clearly displayed in the book's title - that more than skill, personality, methods, and opportunities, it is the conviction to lead that is preeminent to being a successful, faithful, and Christ-honoring leader.  Stating that "true leadership starts with a purpose, not a plan," Mohler seeks to bring together and empower two groups of people in the Christian leadership world - those who are believers and those who are leaders.  He says,

"If our leaders are not passionately driven by the right beliefs, we are headed for disaster.  At the same time, if believers cannot lead, we are headed nowhere.  My goal is to redefine Christian leadership so that it is inseperable from passionately held beliefs, and to motivate those who are deeply commited to truth to be ready for leadership."

Mohler succeeds brilliantly with his goal, grounding much of his advice and exhortation in his real life experience of turning almost singlehandedly the historic Southern Baptist Seminary from a being a bastion of Liberal theology to being a flagship of Biblical faithfulness that it has now become.

I would put this up there with Oswald Sanders' book as one of the best on Christian leadership.  I look forward to returning to it often and recommending it to others.

"We do not believe in belief any more than we have faith in faith.  We believe the gospel, and we have faith in Christ.  Our beliefs have substance and our faith has an object."

"You can divide all leaders into those who merely hold an office or position and those who hold great convictions" 

The Lamb and the Fuhrer by Ravi Zacharias - 90 Pages

I often listen to master apologist Ravi Zacharias' podcast  and have been meaning to read a book by him.  This short book, with an interesting title and concept seemed like a good place to start.  I'm not so sure.

The concept of the book (and "Great Conversations" series) is simple but intriguing - "what would the conversation between Jesus and Hitler be like at the Final Judgement?

While there were great apologetical points made during the conversation a few things bothered me:

1.  Zacharias' Arminian perspective is evident in some places, and in my view diminish the glory of God.  For example in a section where Hitler asks Jesus why He didn't just make people love Him, Jesus responds, "It's not enough to command love; it must be wooed" (p.81).  Is this to imply that, among other things, that if someone does not fall in love with Christ, it is because Christ is an incompetent wooer?  This seems to contradict Scriptures like  John 10:14-18, John 6:37 and many others that speak of the sovereign, gracious, irresistible call of the Shepherd to His sheep.  If Jesus had never made me love Him, I wouldn't.

2.  For some reason Bonhoeffer shows up as sort of a prosecutor.  This was interesting but unnecessary.  He is given some of the best lines.

3.  There is just something that feels trite about Jesus arguing with Hitler.  Maybe I'm way off but I can't imagine Hitler (or anyone not reconciled to Christ) being able to keep his underwear clean, let alone verbally contending with, the risen, glorified Christ sitting on His throne of judgement.


I still admire and will continue to learn from Ravi Zacharias and his ministry.  But I don't think I will be recommending this book to many people.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells - 128 pages

I grew up fascinated by the 1960 adaptation of H.G. Well's The Time Machine, with it's cheesy effects but interesting plot about a victorian era scientist who travels into the future.  I was surprised by two things when I read the original book: 1. the movie (note: the 1960 version not the abomination-that-shall-not-be named made in 2002) followed the book rather closely and 2. The book really isn't very long.

Written in 1895, the plot follows the unnamed Time Traveller, an eccentric London scientist, as he recounts to his skeptical dinner guests how he constructed a machine that is capable of traveling in the fourth dimension - time.  Traveling thousands of years into the future, the Time Traveller encounters a humanity that has been divided into two deformed mutations of what it once was.  One ilk living in ignorant luxury above ground, being raised as human cattle for the more primitive but powerful subterranean Morlocks.  His time machine stolen by the Morlocks, he eventually escapes with not much more than his life, traveling even further (and foolishly in my opinion...what happens when you run out of time?)  into the future to observe the sunset of life on earth...which apparently involves weird crab-like creatures and lots of moss.

Wells' groundbreaking novella provides thought-provoking speculations about the nature and future of mankind, along with a mildly entertaining adventure.

Why 10,000 Pages?

For the last two years I have committed to and managed to read 52 books a year. You can find those books reviewed at MY52books.com 52 books a year was a great exercise and I am glad I did it. I thank Mark and Ron for putting up with my reviews for the last two years and hope to guest post over there from time to time if they will let me. This year I'm going to try a new reading experiment. Over the last two years I found myself reading a few large books at the beginning of the year and then choosing shorter and shorter books to keep up the pace. This year, I'm changing my strategy. Instead of setting a goal of how many books I will read, I am setting a goal to read 10,000 pages. Why 10,000? I averaged out the amount of pages in the 52 books I read last year and they came to about 10,000. So as you can see, although I will probably not read 52 books this year, I will be reading the same amount of pages. The hope is that this strategy will allow me to more freely and wisely choose what I read based not on the size of the book, but the content. Whether I am successful with this experiment or if it explodes in my face, I hope you are encouraged to read more, entertained, and edified by observing it. Thanks for being along on the journey. If you are looking for reasons and ways to increase your reading this year I recommend to you this excellent post by my friend Ron Coia: Thirteen Ways To Read More in 2013