Adam Shields – Page 168

Offsite Review: The Unity Factor: One Lord, One Church, One Mission

December 20, 2012 by Adam Shields

I reviewed John Armstrong’s little book The Unity Factor earlier this year. It is a helpful short book that talks about why the church should work together as a whole and the theological important of unity. David Daniels at Wisereader.com posted a review of it early this week that gets the point of the book … Read more

NPR’s Best Books of 2012

December 20, 2012 by Adam Shields

NPR posted their best books of 2012 in four categories. They are Best Biographies of 2012, Best Mysteries of 2012, Best Young Adult of 2012 and Best Romance of 2012. (Of course NPR’s titles are different, but that is what the mean.) Each list is five books with a description of the and why they liked … Read more

Bookwi.se Favorites of 2012

December 20, 2012 by Adam Shields

Over the next 12 days I am going to share my 13 favorite books of 2012. The list is not based on the ‘Best books’ but rather the books that stayed with me, that I kept thinking about and that I have frequently recommended to others. My only requirement is that I read them first … Read more

Offsite Review: Through the Eye of a Needle by Peter Brown

December 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

These long titles kill me. The full title of the book is Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD by Peter Brown. It looks like an interesting book. I considered picking up a review copy from Netgalley, until I saw that it was … Read more

Offsite Review: Community is Messy by Heather Zempel

December 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

As someone that is part of a large mega-church. And who is getting ready to head off to dinner with my small group. This books (Community is Messy: The Perils and Promise of Small Group Ministry by Heather Zempel) sounds like it would be right up my alley. Reviewed by Sam Edgin over all Englewood Review … Read more

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda

December 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

It is nearly the end of the year. I am looking forward to posting my books of the year and recycling some content over a Christmas break so that I read some books I am looking forward to without as much pressure.

So I looked through the books I was currently reading and decided I just do not want to finish Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda.

It is not that TE Lawrence is not interesting. He is fascinating. And Korda tries (although not quite as successfully as I had hoped) to be a story telling biographer more like Laura Hillenbrand (Unbroken and Seabiscut) than monumental biographer like William Manchester’s three volume biography of Churchhill.

Korda starts with an exciting couple of battles during WWI and then goes back and gives us a brief look at his childhood. Returns to WWI and stays in WWI for a long time. I gave up the book when I had completed about 8 hours of 14 hours on audiobook.

Independent Bookstores Doing Well – New York Times Article

December 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

The New York Time books section had an article yesterday about Independent book stores. And it was actually fairly up beat. The summary is that, even though there were no big breakout books this Christmas, independent books stores are actually doing fairly well. And the Kobo partnership with independent bookstores to sell Kobo ereaders and have people … Read more

Review: Verso Prologue Cover

December 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

The Verso Prologue Cover for Amazon Kindle has changed my mind about using a cover. I have used this cover for nearly three months now.

What I do not traditionally like about using a cover with the kindle is that it usually doubles (or more) the weight and it does not fold back well so that it it is uncomfortable to hold one handed.

However, the Verso Prologue is amazingly light. It looks like it should be a fairly heavy leather cover. But it is not. The inside of the cover has to be some type of hard foam. It will flex slightly, but it withstands a good bit of abuse.

Offsite Review: Booked: A Reader’s Story

December 18, 2012 by Adam Shields

I really liked Karen Swallow Prior’s memoir Booked. It is a memoir that is organized around the books that she read growing up. I have read several good reviews of Booked, and here is another good review that was written by Nick Olson and posted at Books and Culture magazine. “Modernity is eighth grade stuck … Read more

Win $100 Amazon Gift Card from Lendle.me

December 18, 2012 by Adam Shields

I am a fan of book lending sites like Lendle.me. I updated the review a couple months ago. Since then Lendle has undergone a change in ownership. So far there are only minor changes. The emails notifications have been updated. And there is now a weekly email. Lendle has started a new Facebook Fan page … Read more