Bookwi.se – Page 221 – A few thoughts about books, kindles and Christianity

Google Books – A Review of the Reader Software

April 13, 2011 by Adam Shields

It should be no surprise that I use the Kindle software. I prefer reading on an actual Kindle, but about 2 months ago I broke the screen on my kindle and have not replaced it. I am being intentional about this because I have a good number of paper books I need to read and I have both an iPad and an Android phone on which I can read my kindle library. (And my wife has a kindle if I want to use her’s.)

As good of a system as the Amazon Kindle world is, it does not have nearly as many public domain books as Google Books. Google has invested considerable resources into scanning all of the books of many major libraries. There are about 3 million public domain books in the Google library. This dwarfs any other public domain collection. As a system, I think Google books is pretty good. I am not going to leave Amazon, at least in part because Google’s selection is smaller and price seems to be a bit higher. Google was depending a lot on their agreement with the Author’s Guild to make their system the world wide leader in both paid and public domain books. Since that agreement was blocked in court, Google is far behind in the recent book department.

This video is a pretty good introduction to how Google conceives of themselves.

True Grit by Charles Portis

April 13, 2011 by All Old Users

Rating: 5 Stars Purchase Links: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook I think 5 stars should only be given to the best of the best – this is one of those books. True Grit is fantastic. I suspect that the Coen Brothers film adaptation will bring some well-deserved attention to the book, or at least … Read more

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

April 11, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Sarah Vowell is both one of my favorite narrators and one of my favorite historians. That probably says a lot about me.

Sarah Vowell is a unique historian. She may be the only historian known as much for her unique speaking voice as she is for her writing. She has been a regular on This American Life, the voice of the daughter on the movie The Increadibles and is the author of six books.

So it is her voice (both actually and literary) that will lead you to love or hate her. To get an idea of her actual voice you can watch the book trailer below. But that will really only matter if you want to listen to the audiobook (which I did.)

Hannah Coulter: A Novel by Wendell Berry

April 9, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Progress is not always an improvement. How do you discuss a book like this? It is a beautiful story. Berry knows how to draw you into the world of rural 1930-2001 in a way that makes me almost miss not living it. I have not read anything by Wendell Berry before, but he has … Read more

Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr

November 8, 2024April 8, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Maturing is not a straight line and it does not automatically come with growing old.

Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition (Kindle available now, paperback is a pre-order for April 19, 2011)

Today is my birthday so I thought it appropriate to read and review a book that is primarily about how to age better. I must admit I was a bit put off of this book when I first started. Rohr is a Catholic priest and it took a while for me to sink into his vocabulary and understand how he was using his words.

After I picked it up again a week or so later. I started to see a spirituality that was formed by story in a way somewhat akin to Donald Miller. The 30 page intro is rough going no matter how you look at it. But once you get to the early chapters where Rohr uses the story of Odyssius to explain his point I was hooked.

The Private Prayers of Pope John Paul II: Words of Inspiration

April 7, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: One of the most inaccurate titles ever. Actually a series of letters to lay Christians working around the world.

Purchase Links: Hardcover, Audible.com Audiobook

This is a book that I picked up because it was free on Audible (I think it was given away to commemorate his death.) Obviously I did not get right to it. I stumble across it when looking back through my audio archives.

It is very short, just over 2 hours of audio (did not realize until now that it is an abridged audiobook). The full book is actually a collection of 150 letters (fairly short blog/newsletter length) that were written to the Secular Institutes. My understanding from the introduction is that these are people that live and work in the secular world, but take on vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. Mostly they are lay people (not ordained) and unlike monks or nuns (which are also often not ordained) live alone outside of a community. I had never heard of this status before, but according to Wikipedia, there are about 60,000 people that live as ‘consecrated persons’.

Poke the Box by Seth Godin

April 6, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: More inspiration about how to start something new from whatever position you are in. Godin is about innovation and if we want a strong economy, we need people at all levels that follow through with this book.

Purchase Links: Hardcover, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook

I am a mixed relationship with Seth Godin. On the one hand I think that he is very inspirational, a good writer and has been very good at communicating to a large group of people.

But I have been frustrated with some of his concepts in the past. But there is not a lot controversial in this book. Essentially, the book is giving people permission to start something new, be innovative and ‘poke the box’ to see if there is a better way to accomplish or create something.

That is really all that the book is about. It is worth reading because Godin has the ability to really get at the heart of a matter. Accomplishing something big is about actually starting something, seeing it to the end and learning from failure, then trying something else.

Reading Tools: Keurig Coffee

April 2, 2011 by Adam Shields

Aerobie 80R08 AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker I am a big fan of coffee. I drink a lot of it, every day. It is not about the caffeine, I really like the taste. And I like it fairly strong. For the last few years I have used an AeroPress. It is like a modified french press but designed to make espresso instead of brewed coffee (I used it to make americanos).

Cuisinart SS-700 Single Serve Brewing System, Silver

For Christmas we gave my sister in law a Keurig coffee maker. She is the only coffee drinker in her house and we thought that a single serving coffee maker was a good idea. From there my Mother in Law bought one. And a couple weeks ago I broke down and bought this one (at Costco).

What people love is that the coffee is very to make. You use little cups that you put in the coffee maker and the coffee is brewed in that little cup and drips into your cup. Start to finish the water is heated and make in less than a minute. The clean up is simply taking out the little plastic cup and putting in the next one. It is also great for people that love a variety of coffee or households that have both regular and decaf drinkers (like ours).

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

April 1, 2011 by Adam Shields

Summary Review: Best Card book in years. He is always best when writing about gifted young teens. Purchase Links: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook Over the years I have read many of Orson Scott Cards book (if my count based on wikipedia is right, then this is the 29th book.) Based on my original … Read more

Most Read Reviews in March

March 31, 2011 by Adam Shields

First, I want to thank everyone for their patience in the transition from MrShields.com to Bookwi.se. I made some mistakes and broke the RSS feed for most people for two weeks. But in spite of the problems, this months traffic will be about 20-25% higher than my best month at MrShields and I have about … Read more