Adam Shields

Kneeling With Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers

October 18, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: A look at 10 different forms of prayer through biographical sketches.

There are so many books on prayer. As Evangelicals have started paying more attention to historical theology, church history and church practices of other streams of Christian faith there is a need for books like Kneeling with Giants to help us understand the value of prayer practices that we may not be as familiar with.

Gary Hansen takes his experience teaching prayer practices to seminary students and melds it with good church history. In many ways the actual information is not much different from what has been presented in other books, like Richard Foster’s Prayer. But this book will appeal to those that like their history in biographical sketch. Foster can be a bit heady at times.

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julie Child by Bob Spitz

October 17, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Julia is one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century.

Julia Child is one of those fascinating characters that gives me hope that I may not be spinning my wheels in life. She got married late, didn’t really learn to cook until her late 30s. Did not start writing her first cookbook until her early 40s. Was first on TV when she was 50. (And she was a woman that was 6′ 3″.)

But Julia Child has had a lasting effect on food and culture and TV and even the idea of celebrity.

I did not come to this book cold. Several years ago after watching the movie Julie and Julia I read Julia Child’s memoir/biography My Life in France. My Life in France was written at the very end of her life by her nephew based on interviews and discussions with her. It was not published until after her death but it feels more like a memoir than a biography.

Dearie is a full biography written by Bob Spitz, nearly twice as long as My Life in France. I was glad for the extra details on her early and later life. Stylistically, this is a very narrative biography, similar to Laura Hillenbrand‘s Unbroken. It is not hagiography. Julia is presented as being quite amazing woman, but one that made a lot of mistakes.

Primal Credo: Your Entrance into the Apostle’s Creed by Derek Vreeland

October 16, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: The Apostle’s Creed is the most basic of theological statements. It is one that every Christian should know and understand.

With the exception of a church that I occasionally attended in college (that was right on campus so it is where I went when I woke up late), I have never attended a church that used the Apostle’s Creed as part of regular worship.

Theologically I think it is an important thing to do, just like weekly participation in the Eucharist. Practically, like the Eucharist, I attend a church that very actively reaches out to marginal Christians and those that are exploring Christianity. And I believe in that (read my review of Deep and Wide to understand my reasons.)

So even if I do not say the Creed every week, I do think it is something that is important for all Christians to know and understand. Rich Mullins’ song Creed is probably the way that many Evangelicals most know the creed. And I bet that many that know the song do not realize that it is actually the Apostle’s Creed.

Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3) by Rick Riordan

July 16, 2026October 15, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: All of the heroes have been assembled. Now they are on the way to Rome to defeat Gaia.

I really like this extended series by Rick Riordan. The characters are not perfect. They are average teens with extraordinary powers (like many of the readers wish they could be.) It is literary, makes lots of references to mythology and events that are fairly advanced for the intended readers.

Kindle Book Price Fixing Settlement

October 13, 2012 by Adam Shields

US Dept Of Justice Seal (Photo credit: methodshop.com)

The US Department of Justice and Hachette, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster have settled an anti-trust lawsuit about the price fixing of kindle books. It still has to be approved by a judge, but this morning Amazon sent out an email about the settlement. The current estimate is that between $0.30 and $1.32 per book will be credited to your Amazon account for each book you purchased between April 2010 and May 2012 (or you can request a check.)

I have no idea how much that will add up for me, but I buy a lot of books. Because this is a suit by the Dept of Justice and not a class action suit, the majority of the settlement will not go to lawyer fees.

Here is the compete text of the email that I received:

BestBuy to Match Amazon Prices For Holiday Shopping

October 12, 2012 by Adam Shields

Wall Street Journal and others are reporting that BestBuy announced that they will match the prices of Amazon and other online retailers this holiday season. And when they are out of stock for an item BestBuy will offer free shipping. I wonder if Bookstores will try this type of attack against online retailers?

Prime Kindle Lending Library Expands to Europe

October 11, 2012 by Adam Shields

Amazon is expanding the free Kindle Prime Lending Library to Europe. The Lending Library was launched in Nov 2011 with 5000 book but has expanded since then to more than 200,000 books. If you are Amazon Prime member you can borrow one book per month for free. In the US Prime membership costs $79 a … Read more

A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel

October 11, 2012 by Adam Shields

I am a fan of Madeline L’Engle. I re-read the whole five book Wrinkle in Time series last year and several of her young young adult books from the late 40s. I have not read a lot of graphic novels but I am very tempted to buy this new A Wrinkle in Time graphic novel.

Think Christian had a very positive review of it this morning. And Boing Boing was also favorable about the adaptation in a post last week. LA Times did a nice article about it with some graphics of the pages.

Use Library to Get Whispersync Discounts

October 10, 2012 by Adam Shields

This morning when I was writing up the review for Coraline I noticed that I was getting the discounted price for the Audible.com Audiobook instead of the regular price. I had checked out Coraline through my library for kindle. And Amazon, unlike all other formats puts a marker in your Kindle library. That marker keeps … Read more

Dragon Ship (Theo Waitley #4) by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

October 9, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Theo Waitley is now a pilot, has found out that she is the brother of the Delm of Korval and is going on the first run with her new ship.

The most recent book in the Liaden Universe series was released last month. Dragon Ship is the fourth in the Theo Waitley subseries and the 17th overall (including stand alone novels).

You are either interested in series Science Fiction or you are not. So this will be a short review. This is the story of Theo’s first real long haul ship voyage with Bechimo, a sentient ship with Old Technology that the Department of the Interior wants to possess.