Book Reviews

Read My Lips by Debby Herbenick and Vanessa Schick

November 23, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Yes, this book is about celebration of women’s genitalia.

If you have a book review blog you get asked to review all kinds of books. Some I review, some I do not. But I decided to review this book for a couple reasons. First, although I am a guy, I am married, I am the nanny for two little girls and my wife and I lead a small group for newly married couples. So I regularly read and think about marriage and sex issues. If you look through my archive, you will find a number of books about sex and marriage. In general, I have not been a huge fan of any of them. All books on sex, gender and/or marriage seem to have several common problems. 1) They try to address too large of an audience. Issues that are appropriate to talk about in one context are not appropriate in another context. 2) They either suggest marriage/sex are really difficult, or really easy and tend to lack balance. 3) They are either Christian focused and tend not to address issues that confront real people, or they are non-Christian focused and tend to not have any moral guide.

After the jump, the review will be more on the rated R side. (Mom you may want to stop reading now.)

Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine by Gregg Allison

November 16, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Theology does not exist in a vacuum.

Historical Theology is a massive and far reaching undertaking. All theology has a history and a context for when and why it first came to prominence. My personal learning style is such that I tend to learn best when I understand the context of why.

My frustration with my seminary Historical Theology class was that it was focused on the thought and theology, but rarely talked about they history and the why around the thought.

Gregg Allison is writing a Historical Theology to accompany Wayne Grudem‘s Systematic Theology. I have not read Grudem, I used Erickson’s Systematic Theology text in college. But regardless, Allison is writing on the history of the basic points of theology that would be included in any systematic theology.

Obviously this is not a short book. And even at almost 800 pages, I still want more history and more wide ranging discussion. Allison says in the beginning that he is not dealing with Orthodox Historical Theology. So this is a historical theology of the western church, and as you read, you will see that it is a historical theology that is focused on providing context to Evangelical readers. I understand why he is fairly narrow in his wide-ranging task (in part because this book intended to be a partner to Grudem’s Systematic Theology), but I think that Allison’s conservative Evangelical understanding of theology would be better served if he was a bit wider ranging in his understanding of history. And I am sure that the general Evangelical student would be better served by a work that showed them that they are not the center of the Christian world.

Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation by Frans Johansson

November 11, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Innovation occurs at the intersection of different fields of study.

My wife originally told me about this book. She saw the author speak at last year’s Chick-Fil-A Leadercast. It is an interesting book. If you like random facts and good stories and enjoy the writing of Malcom Gladwell or Chris Anderson, you will like Medici Effect.

The basic thesis is that we need to encourage innovation by encouraging people of different backgrounds and fields of study to work together. So an architect in Africa created a new system for cooling a building because he knew he could not rely on the electricity intensive standard air conditioning system. So he found out about how giant termite mounds keep precise temperatures and incorporated those insights into the build’s design and was able to cool the building with less than 10 percent of the energy costs of a regular air conditioning system.

Here is a video I saw today that is not in the book, but is a great example of innovation. Using soda bottles to provide light in impoverished communities.

How to Succeed in Evil by Patrick E McLean

November 10, 2011 by Adam Shields

Summary: Real evil isn’t the villains, it is the accountants/consultants behind the villains

About 6 or 7 years ago I was listening to a lot of independent fiction that was read by the authors. This started with Cory Doctorow but then I found other independent authors that were doing similar things through podiobooks or other sites.

One of the books I remember enjoying was How to Succeed in Evil. But it seemed to be more of a short story/novella than a fully developed book. And I remember looking for the next chapter because it seemed like it just ended. Evidentially, it did just end and McLean or someone else just stopped recording the rest of the book. As I was scrolling through books that were available to borrow on Lendle, I found a kindle version of How to Succeed in Evil. I enjoyed it before, I thought I would figure out how the book ended.

Following Jesus, The Servant King: A Biblical Theology of Convenintal Discipleship by Jonathan Lunde

July 16, 2026November 9, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: God is a Covenant God

Up front I want to say, I only read about half of this book. Part of the issue is that I had several other books that were drawing me away either because they were really interesting or I needed to finish them because they were review books.

But part of the other problem with this book it that I had a hard time understanding it. Not because it was badly written (although it was a bit dry), but because it talked about God’s covenant relationship in a way that I just did not have context for. I guess once against I am showing my lack of reformed-ness. Theoretically, I have always understood God as a covenant God and I thought I understood what that meant when others were using that term. But Lunde was using that category in a way I just do not understand.

The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan

November 8, 2011 by Adam Shields

I gave up on this book. I checked it out of the library as an audiobook through the Overdrive system. I really enjoyed the rest of the Percy Jackson series, but this book is clearly filler. Evidentially it was released between books four and five to keep readers happy and interested in the series until the … Read more

I read to be changed

November 5, 2011 by Adam Shields

http://tentblogger.com/steve-jobs-book/ One of the people that has most encouraged me to blog is John Saddington. He has created a whole community of people that encourage one another on various blogging projects. This morning John posted a blog post about how he has been changed by reading the new Steve Jobs bio. This is why I … Read more

Aquinas for Armchair Theologians by Timothy Renick

July 15, 2026November 3, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Aquinas is important, an understatement I know.

This is the second book in the Armchair Theologians series that I have read. I like the idea of a series of short books on theologians or important periods. It is a mix between Oxford’s Very Short Introduction series and a Dummies handbook. It actually is pretty intellectually rigorous (or at least Aquinas is) but they are written with the lightness and humor of a dummies book.

christianaudio.com had a sale on the series last week, each book only $5. So I picked up Aquinas. I have also read John Calvin. I liked the Aquinas more than the Calvin book. Aquinas is a bigger philosophical figure, so it it feels more like a intro to philosophy book than a theology book, although it is clear that Aquinas was doing theology and was concerned with issues of understanding and seeking after God.

Renick clearly enjoyed his task of writing a Dummies style book for Aquinas. He makes all kinds of jokes (mostly funny) but probably too many dated pop culture references. This book was written almost 10 years ago, and even then the references were probably a bit dated. (He has two different references to the dog in the show Fraiser.) And glancing around at other reviews, it seems that people either liked or hated the humor.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

October 31, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Protection from terrorism means protection of freedoms

Little Brother is classic Cory Doctorow. Doctorow is a science fiction writer/free speech advocate/teacher/activist. He has has worked for the Electronic Freedom Foundation, is one of the founders of Boing Boing. I have read several of his science fiction books and short stories. Doctorow is known for his advocacy of free. He has all of his books available for free download if you want to read it electronically. I see now that he allows donations for the free books. I disagreed with his earlier stance of not accepting donation because he wanted people to buy paper copies. I, and many others, don’t want paper copies, we want digital copies and he had no way to accept income from people that wanted to support his writing. He also protested against Amazon’s DRM scheme and refused to allow his books on Amazon, but has relented now that Amazon allows for DRM free versions of books if the authors choose.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

July 15, 2026October 21, 2011 by Adam Shields

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread Takeaway: A dark fairytale where a mouse can be as important as a knight.

As I get older and start reading children’s books, not just for my own pleasure, but also I am thinking about what I will be able to recommend and when to my nieces, I am increasingly wondering what is really appropriate for children. The answer has to be at least in part, it depends on the child. Different children are affected by different things, different children have different personal experiences, and different children emotionally process books differently.

So I read and basically enjoyed the Leminy Snickett books, they were very dark but they were funny and I can understand why they were popular. I have read Harry Potter and understand why parents let children read the first three but make them wait until they are older to read the next four.