Book Reviews – Page 143

Identity Man by Andrew Klavan

March 21, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Explores the idea of whether a person can really change, and what it takes to motivate them if they can change.

I first heard about this book, as I do so many, from Books and Culture magazine. John Wilson, the editor, named it one of his personal books of the year and it was also discussed on the B&C podcast.

I was pushed into buying it when it dropped to just over $2.00 in kindle format (back up to normal price now). What actually moved me to read it was a malaise with my standard non-fiction fare. I just needed something different.

Once I started, I was hooked. I finished the book in three days (pretty unusual for me since I usually read a half dozen books at a time.)

Identity Man is an anti-hero book. I like the concept of anti-heros. Or at least this version of anti-heros. Those that are on the wrong side of the law most of the time, but have a real sense of honor, pride and understanding of the lines that they will not cross. Usually I see this in spy fiction or in fantasy or superhero fiction.

Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three in One by Philip Ryken and Michael LeFebvre

March 13, 2012 by Adam Shields

I am way behind in my 2012 reading goals. I am reading about the Trinity this year. I started out with this book to read with some friends in a little informal email reading group. Because we all graduated from Wheaton College and Ryken is the current president of Wheaton we though we would read this book together.

After 3 months we are only half way through (and probably won’t really finish).

This not a bad book, but there are several theological and editorial decisions that I disagree with and make it so that I would recommend this only as a supplemental book on the Trinity. On the good side, it is only $1.99 for Kindle.

For Men Only: A Guide to the Inner Lives of Women by Jeff and Shaunti Feldhahn

March 8, 2012 by Adam Shields

At this point I would recommend reading Great Sex Rescue and once you are done with that, then maybe you can find value in For Men/Women Only.
Takeaway: Women and men are different. Using interviews and surveys can show some differences, only conversation will work them out in your life.

I first heard about For Women Only when I saw an interview with Shaunti Feldhahn when that book first came out. All the women in the audience received a copy. So I read my wife’s copy to see if it was any good and then highly recommended that she read it.

A couple years later Shaunti and her husband Jeff co-wrote a men’s version of the book. Both books take fairly large surveys of men or women and a lot of focus group data to try to build a case for the important differences between men and women. There is no discussion about nature vs. nurture, just that these are the real differences that actually exist between men and women right now in the US.

The Atlantis Complex (Book #7) by Eoin Colfer

March 6, 2012 by Adam Shields

The Atlantis Complex: Artemis Fowl 7 Summary: Some of the ramifications of Artemis’ past life of crime (and his guilt) come back to haunt him.

This is the penultimate book of the series and it is clear that the disparate stories line of the previous books are coming together. But I have no idea how they are going to wrap up in just one more book.

In this book Artemis is going mad. He has (probably in part because of exposure to magic) has developed a fairy mental illness.

Again, the fairy world is in danger and this time Artemis does not seem capable of helping because he is in danger of going mad himself.

The Trinity (Life Changing Series) by Burton Rager

March 1, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Basic ideas of the trinity in a short pamphlet form.

One of my reading projects this year is to read about the trinity. I am currently (very slowly) working through a book on the trinity with some friends. And I have several more lined up when that is done.

But this book came up free last week, and it was short, so I thought I would read it. It is part of a series, about half of which have been temporarily offered for free, but they are all currently $2.99.

Unity by Q. Apelles

February 29, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: I have no idea This is one of my Prime lending library books. I went out on a limb and the limb snapped off underneath me. This is a book on ontology, the meaning of things. It is short. I read it in about 90 minutes. But I did not understand what in the … Read more

Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Anglicanism

February 28, 2012 by Adam Shields

Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Anglicanism Summary: Stories of conversion from Evangelicalism to Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism and from Catholicism to Evangelical

I am a big proponent of story. I think that personal stories are often more valuable than discussion based purely on rationalism. I believe this because we are not purely rational creatures. There is something else that is important to us and story often communicates in a more well-rounded way than pure rational discussion.

The structure of this book is that an author discusses their move from one branch of Christianity to another. Then there is a response by a third party and then a response to the response by the original author.

In general, this allows for the story to be the main subject of the first section. Then the response can bring up rational/theological issues and then the original author can deal with theological objections.

The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl #6) by Eoin Colfer

February 27, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Artemis’s mother is sick. And some how she has a magical sickness that can only be cured by a now extinct lemur. Artemis’ 10 year old self was responsible for killing that last lemur. He has to go back in time and stop himself.

Time Paradoxes are always fuel for science fiction. The fact that you can in your future change something in your past both is an interesting idea, but also something that we all would like to do.

Artemis is continuing to mature in this series. Because he gets to see himself as a 10 year old he has a chance to really evaluate where he has come from and his changing values.

Crossed (Matched #2) by Ally Condie

February 23, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: In book two of this young adult romantic dystopian novel, Cassia is looking for Ky, who has been shipped off to the outer provinces as a decoy in the secret war of rebellion.

This trilogy by Ally Condie is a unique take on the dystopian novel. It has all of the traditional elements: a society that has re-built itself out of the ashes of our current world, a tension between the totalitarian elements that want to prevent another societal meltdown through social engineering and those that rebel against the power of the society, and a utopian undercurrent that believes that if only we can do it a bit better.

But in Condie’s novels much of the action is internal to the characters. The violence of the Hunger Games is absent. There is plenty of tension. But it is a psychological and romantic tension. Not a tension caused by physical violence and political intrigue.

Original Sin: A Cultural History by Alan Jacobs

February 15, 2024February 21, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: The concept of original sin has greatly shaped Western culture.

Original Sin is a doctrine I have always had trouble understanding. It is not that I disagree that we are all sinful. I affirm that.

My issues have been in the way that Christians understand the origin of sin, the way some understand the need for a physical Adam and Eve to affirm the doctrine of original sin (which then some need to justify the need for Christ’s death and resurrection), and the extent of the corruption of the world caused by the fall.

Jacobs is an author I appreciate. He was a professor at Wheaton College, and while we overlapped, I did not have him for any classes. But he is one of those authors that, as I read, I am always aware that he is much smarter than I am. Not in a snooty or negative way. He is very readable. It is that he always brings in ideas and sources that I would not have considered (and often do not even know exist).

This is not a theological history but a cultural one. So Jacobs deals primarily with how Christianity and the West have culturally understood original sin. Occasionally, the cultural and the theological understanding separate. I think, at least partially, this is my issue with original sin. I hear people speaking of the transmission of sin as if it were literally part of our DNA. I believe it was Augustine who proposed that one reason that Jesus could be born of a woman and not be corrupted by original sin is that sin was transferred through semen.