Junto Boys

E’s BOOK REVIEWS 2004

I generally read in three categories: spirituality, business, and practical helps, with particular books often straddling categories. This year I also read on politics. I rarely read fiction, and when I do, it’s timeless classics like FRANKENSTEIN or DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE with masterful language and themes that probe the human condition. Following are capsule reviews of the books I read in 2004.

THE BIBLE CURE FOR ALLERGIES by Don Colbert and MANAGING YOUR ALLERGIES by David Hazad (3 stars of 5). I developed a full-blown allergy to soy in October 2002. The main takeaway was that if I treat my body well in general through good diet, exercise, and sleep, then my body will react less violently to allergens. What strikes me now, having consumed so many pies and cookies over the past five weeks, is how completely I forget that wise counsel. I stopped taking my daily allergy meds some months ago, feeling that I had the problem under control. Yesterday I had my first allergic reaction in quite some time and had to pop a pill. At about $3 per pill, I think I better revisit diet and exercise. Don Colbert is very supplement-happy and I am generally not a fan of his. I was struck by one nutritionist’s remark that supplements are the ultimate processed food, with all the actual food removed. He made the point that the natural balance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc. in whole foods work in combination to bring health in a way that supplements can never replicate. Which made sense to me.

Self-study of THE BOOK OF JONAH. Dug up some interesting reading on how sperm whales have been sighted in the Mediterranean and how incidences of whales swallowing and then regurgitating live humans have been documented, and ultimately realized that a big fish (or aquatic mammal) is not what the book is about. I shared my testimony at church in February and used Jonah as a backdrop for my own life story.

GOD AND RONALD REAGAN by Paul Kengor (5 stars). Meticulously researched and effectively (if selectively) presented account of Reagan’s spiritual influences and how they shaped his perceptions and actions in office. This book made me appreciate the importance of who is President, made me take a very active interest in politics this year, and has me considering running for local office in the future.

A NATIONAL PARTY NO MORE by Sen. Zell Miller (2 stars). A couple of rousing chapters at the end which make an emotional case for war and explain his affinity with President Bush. Otherwise mostly disenchanted ranting on how corporate and special interests own both parties and especially the Dems. He longs for the days of conservative southern Democrats and proclaims the end of the Democratic Party’s national appeal in anything like its current form. Incidentally, I heard a few weeks ago that Zell Miller starts his new gig as a Fox News political analyst after the holidays.

THINK LIKE JESUS by George Barna (5 stars). An in-depth treatment of WWJD. The Barna Group polls Americans on cultural and moral issues. This book grew out of his findings that few Americans, and few churchgoers, operate from a worldview that reflects an internalization and outworking of core biblical principles. I taught some of this material with a friend to a group of 14 men at church over the summer. Barna is one of those authors (C.S. Lewis, Chuck Colson, and Lee Strobel would be others) who makes the case for Christianity as the thinking man’s religion. See www.barna.org.

GOOD TO GREAT by Jim Collins (5 stars). Superb business book that examines the common elements that caused 11 large public companies to track the market for 15 years and then substantially outperform the market for 15 years. The “hedgehog concept” and “economic denominator” are concepts that any manager can and should apply. Don’t skip the appendices which explain the author’s methodology – there’s gold there.

THE TRUSTED ADVISOR by David Maister (3 stars). I probably gave this book 4 stars on completion, but upon reflection I find that little of it has stuck, so I am downgrading it to 3. Practical advice and lists on how providers of professional services can serve clients in such a way that consultant and client become true partners with mutual trust, admiration, and respect. Maister is required reading among law firm managers and legal consultants. Much of this was intuitive or review.

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS BUSINESS ETHICS by John Maxwell (2 stars). I like Maxwell – in fact, Nancy is teaching his MAKING YOUR MARRIAGE WORK video series in our Sunday school class right now. But this gift-size book didn’t offer anything new. I generally don’t like gift-size books because they can’t treat their subject matter with sufficient depth. But I received it as a gift so I read it. I find these books generally don’t require much and therefore don’t deliver much.

TEACHING TO CHANGE LIVES by Howard Hendricks (5 stars). A classic must-read for teachers. Tremendous.

THE VISION by David Wilkerson (5 stars). Social, political, cultural, weather, and other prophecies, written in 1973. Amazingly accurate and therefore highly disturbing.

THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE (3 stars). Mind-bending content but weak conclusions. I finished this in July and still owe Dude a review, which I took notes for and will eventually post. Worse, I still owe Tom a review of THE TRUE BELIEVER from 2003. No promises there, Tom.

10 STUPID THINGS MEN DO TO MESS UP THEIR LIVES by Dr. Laura Schlessinger (1 star). Fortunately I am not doing any of them. Basic rehash of her radio show. To be fair to the author, Nancy read her PROPER CARE & FEEDING OF HUSBANDS and loved it.

BUSH COUNTRY by John Podhoretz (5 stars). Defends the arguments liberals use to demean President Bush. Logical, coherent, persuasive, and fun. His column in the NY Post is worth following.

UNFOUNDED LOYALTY by Wayne Perryman (1 star). Written by a black clergyman on blacks’ unfounded loyalty to the Democratic party. Rush job. A great book could be written under this premise, but this one wasn’t it.

SLANDER by Ann Coulter (4 stars). Replete with examples of liberal media bias and the irrational attack strategies liberals typically employ. Would be 5 stars except for the author’s pathological obsession with the New York Times. I enjoyed SLANDER and TREASON but Coulter’s shtick does grow a bit tiresome after two books and dozens of weekly columns. I think I’ll pass on HOW TO TALK TO A LIBERAL (IF YOU MUST) although I love the title.

THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES – audiocassette study by Tommy Nelson (5 stars). As a philosopher, Ecclesiastes is my favorite book of the Bible. This 12-volume audio series opens up each of the book’s 12 enigmatic chapters in an easy, personable style. I learned in many cases that wise guy Solomon wasn’t saying what I thought he was saying.

THE BOOK OF JOB – audiocassette study by Jim Richards (3 stars). Offered new insights into what is really going on between God and Satan with respect to Job, but on further study I had to conclude that the standard interpretations of biblical material probably became standard for good reasons.

KOUFAX: A LEFTY’S LEGACY by Jane Leavy (2 stars). Weak New York Times bestseller. Koufax is notoriously reclusive, so the author pieced together his biography from friends, family, teammates, and other published works, so it lacks the self-discovery insights that make a biography interesting, and it also lacks the kind of first-person insights into the game that make for a good baseball book. A friend gave me this book to read, presumably on his recommendation, so when I got halfway through and told him it really wasn’t clicking with me and he said he didn’t really like it either, that kind of chapped me. There were some interesting nuggets, however, like how Koufax saw pitching as a series of levers, an intuitive theory later validated by physicists.

CAN A SMART PERSON BELIEVE IN GOD? by Michael Guillen (3 stars). I know the answer because I am one who does, but this pithy gift-size book probably fails to make the case with its smartest readers – again, due to the inherent limitations of a gift-size book.

Those are just the books I read in full or large part. I also revisit previously read books from time to time as I get reminded of stuff or want a refresher. I mark up books as I read them, which helps the material to stick since I can remember it visually, and so that I can re-read them quickly.

I am currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Bible program at Lancaster Bible College where I have completed two courses. I had forgotten how time-consuming graduate study is, but I am really enjoying being back in the classroom and studying under intellectual and spiritual giants. My other reading has fallen off since I enrolled in August. For my coursework I have read HANDBOOK OF EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY by Robert Lightner (and written a book critique on same), A SURVEY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (580 pages), most of the Old Testament, and countless articles, book chapters, and course notes. In the spring I will be taking a New Testament survey course and a Biblical Hermeneutics course.

I also consumed a tremendous amount of political analysis this year as mentioned above. I have reclaimed that portion of my life since election day and am glad to have the next couple years off.

And I am leaving out hundreds of children’s books, some of which were extremely impressive.

I am frequently reminded of the old R.I.F. public-service spot where Ed Asner asks the kids, “You’re pretty smart! How’d you get so smart?” and they all shout in reply: “READING!!”