Rick Warren's bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?, found its way into my library queue after several years of procrastination. I'm not particularly religious, but I was sufficiently curious to pick the book up and see what Warren has to say.
While obviously, this book would speak far more profoundly to an active Christian than to a secular humanist, I thought it was a pretty accurate representation of what it means to be a Christian and how being a Christian can give your life purpose, meaning and dignity no matter how small your talents or capacities. If you're interested in the Christian faith or what churchy-folk believe, it's not a bad place to start, though it's not really written as a conversion text, but more as a galvanizing book for those already somewhat familiar with Christian principles.
It's not for everyone and since I don't read Christian literature all that often, I can't speak to how it compares to other Christian texts. But it's well-written and those far more spiritually wise than me seem to like it.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Half The Sky
NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, collaborated on Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, a sobering look at the appalling conditions that women endure around the world and how contributions of time and money are making substantial changes on both an individual and a societal level. This book is Kristof and WuDunn's call to arms and I think it would be incredibly challenging to read it and not be moved to participate in some way to help the women and children profiled in its pages.
In topics varying from forced prostitution to unhealed obstetrical fistulas, Kristof and WuDunn take stock of the condition of women in third-world countries and the very real challenges to helping them in any meaningful way. They highlight people like Greg Mortensen (of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time fame) who are working in hostile or challenging environments to promote education and public health. They examine successes and failures in international aid approaches and after ripping your guts out with horrific stories of war survivors and rescued prostitutes, they let you know how you can help.
There's nothing light about this book. If Kristoff and WuDunn's intention is to stoke people into helping women, to raise consciousness to prompt action, they've succeeded brilliantly.
If I have one criticism of the book, it's that Kristoff and WuDunn are clearly liberals and at times, their policy analysis reeks of that bias. However, the focus of the book is NOT politics and it would be a mistake to ignore it on that basis.
Worth reading.
In topics varying from forced prostitution to unhealed obstetrical fistulas, Kristof and WuDunn take stock of the condition of women in third-world countries and the very real challenges to helping them in any meaningful way. They highlight people like Greg Mortensen (of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time fame) who are working in hostile or challenging environments to promote education and public health. They examine successes and failures in international aid approaches and after ripping your guts out with horrific stories of war survivors and rescued prostitutes, they let you know how you can help.
There's nothing light about this book. If Kristoff and WuDunn's intention is to stoke people into helping women, to raise consciousness to prompt action, they've succeeded brilliantly.
If I have one criticism of the book, it's that Kristoff and WuDunn are clearly liberals and at times, their policy analysis reeks of that bias. However, the focus of the book is NOT politics and it would be a mistake to ignore it on that basis.
Worth reading.
Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay
Stefanie Wilder-Taylor's foray into the glutted world of motherly advice literature, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom, is an amusing take on the trials and tribulations of navigating motherhood for the first time. Like Celia Rivenbark, Wilder-Taylor is an older first-time mom who seems to think that motherhood is somehow more intimidating or challenging at 35 than it is at 25. (That's bullshit, btw).
Wilder-Taylor offers up nothing new here but her humorous tone and pithy observations make the book, if nothing else (and it is nothing else), a brainless, easy read into issues that every mom can relate to--from the other moms on the playground to the breastfeeding Nazis to the sleep-training fascists. She's obviously trying to be funny and for the most part, she succeeds. I think I might recommend this book to anyone who has tried to breastfeed a baby and had little success or enjoyment from it, since Wilder-Taylor had that experience and writes about it with a decent amount of understanding and empathy.
No matter how many of these advice books you read, your kids will always find ways to surprise you and other moms will pull out meals or disciplinary tactics that you'd expect to find in the African bush or the Spanish Inquisition. Wilder-Taylor gets that.
I liked it. I'm not sure I'd run out and buy it, but if you need a snarky pick-me-up and you're hanging with the under 7 crowd, it's a good one for you.
Wilder-Taylor offers up nothing new here but her humorous tone and pithy observations make the book, if nothing else (and it is nothing else), a brainless, easy read into issues that every mom can relate to--from the other moms on the playground to the breastfeeding Nazis to the sleep-training fascists. She's obviously trying to be funny and for the most part, she succeeds. I think I might recommend this book to anyone who has tried to breastfeed a baby and had little success or enjoyment from it, since Wilder-Taylor had that experience and writes about it with a decent amount of understanding and empathy.
No matter how many of these advice books you read, your kids will always find ways to surprise you and other moms will pull out meals or disciplinary tactics that you'd expect to find in the African bush or the Spanish Inquisition. Wilder-Taylor gets that.
I liked it. I'm not sure I'd run out and buy it, but if you need a snarky pick-me-up and you're hanging with the under 7 crowd, it's a good one for you.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins' futuristic trilogy begins with The Hunger Games, which I grabbed from the library without knowing what I was getting myself into. I was expecting some kind of romantic crap, but what I got was an exciting tale of a gladiator-esque fight to the death blended with a Romeo and Juliet style romance. Fabulous surprise!
In a literary world glutted with horrible fantasy books, (I'm looking at you Twilight), The Hunger Games stands out as a post apocalyptic beauty. The basic premise is that North America has been split into 12 districts and each of these districts sacrifices two teens to the Hunger Games each year. At the Hunger Games, the kids fight to the death and the winner lives in eternal glory and brings a bit of wealth back to their suffering district. Of course, our protagonist, a gal named Katniss, is from a poor, disadvantaged district, but she's spunky and resourceful. She is thrown into the arena to fend for herself against 23 other competitors. Will she turn into a savage killer? Will she win the favor of the crowds watching the competition on TV? Will she survive to see her family?
Oh, you'll have to read it to find out. The book is geared toward teenagers and it has a pretty straightforward, accessible style. Unlike some of my previous nerd-cred books, this one is pure brain fluff, designed perfectly to add some sweetness to your zombie's diet.
Highly recommend it for a quick, easy read.
In a literary world glutted with horrible fantasy books, (I'm looking at you Twilight), The Hunger Games stands out as a post apocalyptic beauty. The basic premise is that North America has been split into 12 districts and each of these districts sacrifices two teens to the Hunger Games each year. At the Hunger Games, the kids fight to the death and the winner lives in eternal glory and brings a bit of wealth back to their suffering district. Of course, our protagonist, a gal named Katniss, is from a poor, disadvantaged district, but she's spunky and resourceful. She is thrown into the arena to fend for herself against 23 other competitors. Will she turn into a savage killer? Will she win the favor of the crowds watching the competition on TV? Will she survive to see her family?
Oh, you'll have to read it to find out. The book is geared toward teenagers and it has a pretty straightforward, accessible style. Unlike some of my previous nerd-cred books, this one is pure brain fluff, designed perfectly to add some sweetness to your zombie's diet.
Highly recommend it for a quick, easy read.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's bestseller, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, is one of the more entertaining and worthwhile non-fiction, non-history books that I've ever had the pleasure of reading. While I rarely gush about books, this one is a real winner--provocative, well-written, interesting and in the end, it made me smarter for having read it. Gotta keep my brain plump for the zombies, you know.
Levitt and Dubner confess early on that their book has no unifying theme, save for the promise that it will ask questions of data sets that are typically left unasked. For example, they question whether or not high stakes testing will increase incidents of teachers cheating to improve scores and how mining test score data can help detect who cheats and who doesn't. It may not sound riveting, but reading it is as good as debating a whodunnit in Law and Order. Perhaps that's the genius of this book. It takes prurient questions--how much incentive does your real estate agent have to get you the very best price on your house?--and asks hard data to reveal the answers.
This is one of the best books I've read for awhile. I highly recommend it.
Levitt and Dubner confess early on that their book has no unifying theme, save for the promise that it will ask questions of data sets that are typically left unasked. For example, they question whether or not high stakes testing will increase incidents of teachers cheating to improve scores and how mining test score data can help detect who cheats and who doesn't. It may not sound riveting, but reading it is as good as debating a whodunnit in Law and Order. Perhaps that's the genius of this book. It takes prurient questions--how much incentive does your real estate agent have to get you the very best price on your house?--and asks hard data to reveal the answers.
This is one of the best books I've read for awhile. I highly recommend it.
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the World
Laurence Bergreen's gorgeously researched book, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, is an entertaining Age of Discovery history that blends rapturous discovery, paternalistic interaction with native cultures, disease, hardship and political machinations into a dramatic tale of exploration and death. A dear friend of mine turned me on to naval history books like Nathaniel Philbrick's winner, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and I've been hooked since.
Bergreen's book tackles how Magellan's fleet became the first to circumnavigate the world despite multiple mutinies, Spanish-Inquisition-style punishments, scurvy, storms, improper maps and hostile enemies. He uses primary sources like captain's logs to piece together what happened, including an insightful account of the God-complex that ultimately led to Magellan's death as he attempted to force Christian conversion on an unwilling native culture and ended up hacked to bits for his trouble. Bergreen explores the motivation of the sailors aboard the ship and he explains how a fleet of five ships and more than 200 men set off...and a crippled ship with a skeleton crew of 18 returned.
I loved this book both for the actual reading enjoyment and for the high brow nerd factor. Though, between the two, I might say read In the Heart of the Sea first. It's been years since I read that one and I still recall the experience of reading it fondly.
Bergreen's book tackles how Magellan's fleet became the first to circumnavigate the world despite multiple mutinies, Spanish-Inquisition-style punishments, scurvy, storms, improper maps and hostile enemies. He uses primary sources like captain's logs to piece together what happened, including an insightful account of the God-complex that ultimately led to Magellan's death as he attempted to force Christian conversion on an unwilling native culture and ended up hacked to bits for his trouble. Bergreen explores the motivation of the sailors aboard the ship and he explains how a fleet of five ships and more than 200 men set off...and a crippled ship with a skeleton crew of 18 returned.
I loved this book both for the actual reading enjoyment and for the high brow nerd factor. Though, between the two, I might say read In the Heart of the Sea first. It's been years since I read that one and I still recall the experience of reading it fondly.
We're Just Like You Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle
Celia Rivenbark's book, We're Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle
, reads a bit like a Jeff Foxworthy comedy sketch, only less funny, less polished and less endearing. Rivenbark tackles some different territory, like the insecurity mothers feel creeping around the edges when someone asks our kid what they had for breakfast and the answer is a cookie instead of steel-cut oatmeal with organic fruit.
The book's strength lies in those few, brief moments when Rivenbark manages to meld satire with a larger note that rings true for many female readers. I think this book would fall woefully flat for men or childless women. There are a few humorous observations anyone can enjoy like her reflection on the way politicians will talk about girls, booze and casual sex as an ice breaker for more substantive policy discussion as if hungover college students groggily recalling their latest hookups want to chat about school reform. But there are other moments like the agony of marathon dance recitals that may seem dull or beyond the realm of common experience for some readers.
The book loses steam about halfway through and Rivenbark's wit gives way to some tedious reading that forcibly reminded me of sitting at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles while a struggling comedian awkwardly stumbled through a poor set of jokes while the audience laughed uncomfortably, desperately waiting for the kid to take his final bow. That being said, it's an easy read with some very entertaining moments and a bit of mindless slog. If you're looking for a laugh, I'd read Sh*t My Dad Says
first.
, reads a bit like a Jeff Foxworthy comedy sketch, only less funny, less polished and less endearing. Rivenbark tackles some different territory, like the insecurity mothers feel creeping around the edges when someone asks our kid what they had for breakfast and the answer is a cookie instead of steel-cut oatmeal with organic fruit. The book's strength lies in those few, brief moments when Rivenbark manages to meld satire with a larger note that rings true for many female readers. I think this book would fall woefully flat for men or childless women. There are a few humorous observations anyone can enjoy like her reflection on the way politicians will talk about girls, booze and casual sex as an ice breaker for more substantive policy discussion as if hungover college students groggily recalling their latest hookups want to chat about school reform. But there are other moments like the agony of marathon dance recitals that may seem dull or beyond the realm of common experience for some readers.
The book loses steam about halfway through and Rivenbark's wit gives way to some tedious reading that forcibly reminded me of sitting at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles while a struggling comedian awkwardly stumbled through a poor set of jokes while the audience laughed uncomfortably, desperately waiting for the kid to take his final bow. That being said, it's an easy read with some very entertaining moments and a bit of mindless slog. If you're looking for a laugh, I'd read Sh*t My Dad Says
first.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)