Tag / Books

by Greg

My Vice?

Everyone has a vice. Something they just can’t say “No” to, no matter how hard they try. If it’s a true vice, not only can we not say “No”, often we don’t even want to refuse to indulge ourselves in this pleasure that holds such sway over our will.

Mine… is books.

I just can’t get enough books. In the past year I’ve re-discovered two sources to feed my vice: Goodwill1 and library book sales.

(Throw in Amazon2 and our library system, and I’m either in heaven… or I’m “toast”… depending on your point of view?)

If you’ve ever visited this website, then you know of my penchant for books. I feature the ones I am currently reading with a nice little rotating display in the far right sidebar, and if you scroll down you’ll see ones I plan to read, and ones recently completed (or you can just go to the full library to see them all). I also am often referencing a book I’ve read, or hope to read.

I really like books.

I was telling Jen the other day that they just make me happy. Sometimes they make me sad—like, when I see a book I’d really like to read but any number of other things is keeping me from it… that makes me sad. But usually, most often, the sight of these hardbound, softbound, and sometimes poorly-bound books of all shapes and sizes and genres brings a smile to my face and these words to my lips: “Oh yeah! I can’t wait to read that one!”

I enjoy many different genres. It’s funny… when I was a young boy, I think I read mostly fiction. Ones I can recall include The Cricket in Times Square, The Sign of the Beaver, Stuart Little, The Black Stallion and many more.

But as I got a bit older, I began to shun works of fiction for the more noble non-fiction. I enjoyed books about science most (particularly astronomy, but anything in nature) and some history as well.

It really did become a “thing” with me, to where I considered any fiction a waste of time—even into my adult years. At that point I was reading books on life with Jesus, Christian history, and other theological books as well. Fiction was OK… but… it was not what I wanted to spend my time on.

I’m not entirely sure what swung me back around. It could be audiobooks (specifically Audible.com!), or maybe the Frank Peretti novel(s) that Jen and I read together when we were first married3, or perhaps just a really meaningful work of fiction (two that were connected to Wayne Jacobsen, an author/speaker we’d met and connected with: So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore?, and The Shack come to mind)…

I’m really quite unsure. But it happened. Then, over the past couple years I have really been exploring that genre. Reading historical fiction and fantasy books with my boys (Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia! Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and a new series by Ted Bell, The Nick MacIver Series) and then thrillers by Brads Thor and Meltzer, as well as classics like Dune, and Catch-22. (The latter I’ve yet to finish as it made my head swim a bit… but was highly recommended by a good friend.) 🙂

BOOKS! Oh man, I love them!

I am frequently paying library fines (usually just a few cents, maybe dollars) because I have way too many checked out, and I’m always in-progress on at least ten different books! Ha!

If there’s one thing I can’t say no to, it’s definitely books.

I guess I don’t even want to try!

1 I can’t remember—or even imagine—a post with more outbound links than this one! If you click them all… you win! 🙂

2 And now, with Amazon Prime ($79/year), you get free 2-day shipping on any order, no minimums, and next-day shipping for $3.99/item. Neat!

3 On our honeymoon, we drove down to South Carolina from New York, and for the entire trip, Jen rode shotgun and read aloud the book The Oath by Frank Peretti. It was a fun experience; definitely a great memory from a great two weeks. Started our marriage off right: reading! 🙂

by Greg

Decision Points

George Bush - Decision PointsWhen I first heard of the book that President George W. Bush recently published, I wasn’t sure that I’d ever need to read it. I had an inkling that it might be interesting, historically speaking, but I figured I wouldn’t probably spend my money on it.

But, as my choices dwindled for books to download with my collection of Audible.com credits, I decided to take a chance and made Decision Points one of my late 2010 selections.

I gotta say, it was definitely not a wasted credit.

For all the (undue) criticism this man took over his eight years in the Oval Office (and really, still today!) he really did accomplish quite a lot during his two terms.

Beyond reliving the list of things he accomplished, what I also really enjoyed was the first-person perspective on all the stories that were the big news makers of the day: 9-11, TARP, No Child Left Behind, Iraq, and much more in the Middle East. It really was a tumultuous time, and his book reminded me of two things. First, we who are “on the sidelines” really do not have the full picture. Second, the voices we listen to (the national media) think that they most certainly do!

(Reminds me of the Jim Mora press conference where he was obviously fed up with the sports reporters who thought they knew what was wrong with the team but in Mora’s opinion were wrong. Dead wrong. “You think you know … but you just don’t know. And you never will! OK?”)

Also I really appreciated getting to know more about how Bush began living his life with Jesus. I wasn’t aware that it was very much the direct influence of the famous preacher man, Billy Graham. There were many events and people in Bush’s early life that led him to the place where he decided to trust Jesus with his whole life, but Graham helped Bush make a decision regarding what he really believed and wanted to be: an early “decision point”.

The book also begins with reference after reference to how much young George Bush loved his liquor. I was kind of surprised as it was enough to make me start thinking, Does he really want us to think he’s such a boozer? (I can’t recall if, in my thoughts, I really used the word ‘boozer’ or not…) But it all makes more sense as the story continues to unfold, and he reveals how deciding to stop drinking was not just an early decision point, but a major and an important one.

One sort of minor story that stuck out to me was where he addressed the Bush Tax Cuts and specifically the unemployment rates. Speaking from memory here (writing?), I believe the unemployment rate was near 8% when he took office in 2001, and then following the the implementation of the tax cuts (and subsequent moves to pick up the pace of their taking effect) the rates dropped into the 5% range, hitting for months and years to follow, going as low as 5.2% or maybe 5.1%. And this was sustained for the whole 8 years of his presidency. The current rate (that keeps rising) is above 9%. I guess in the end, you can do whatever you want with numbers (interpret them however you please) but somehow that particular one jumped out at me.

Whether you are a fan of George W. Bush or not, the book is a pretty interesting read, and I do definitely recommend. Especially if you are into history, biographies, current events and the like. It was packed full of very interesting stories to be sure.

If you are NOT a fan… I really would encourage you to read the book with an open mind, and see if your thoughts on the man (and even what he did as President of the United States) might change at least a little.

When talking with a friend of mine, I mentioned how I really appreciated the “other side of the story” since so much of what we heard of these major events that took place our country and across the globe were reported with a (now more obvious) bias or slant. He questioned how I might consider the book, written by the man who was the subject of the biased and slanted reports to be not biased or slanted. I responded that the difference was in the amount of eye-witness, first-hand information. Unless he was flat-out lying (and some are 100% certain that he always does) then the stories within Decision Points will help broaden your perspective on all the key moments from 2000-2009. Many vantage points always helps.

It really was fascinating to take the journey of the entire span of his life in politics (and even before) as though we were living through the events with him. Whether you agree with his choices, his policies, or even his actions (and many times, Bush expressed how he wished he could have done a thing or two differently) I do believe that you’ll grow to understand why we did what we did (America) and have an appreciation for this tough, (incredibly) patient/enduring, spiritual and principled man; the 43rd president of the United States of America.

Lastly, I strongly believe that time and history will not only soften the harsh (and I believe unfair, unwarranted) way that this man was and still is viewed and treated, I really think that his legacy will be more correctly viewed as one of the more positive presidential terms in the first couple centuries of our nation. Much like I am learning about the legacy/reputation of Calvin Coolidge. He was nearly demonized during and shortly following his presidency until decades later when Ronald Reagan claimed him as his favorite US President. Once Reagan lent credence to Coolidge’s time as President, more people began investigating the truth of what he did as president, the things he accomplished and oversaw. I’d imagine a similar thing will occur for Mr. Bush.

If you have read the book, I’d love to know what you thought about it. Or, if you will not read the book, I’d love to hear why. Comment below!

by Greg

Plans

You really never know what is coming next in life. That makes it difficult to plan out what you might do in a year, or even a month. (Sometimes the next week!)

But it’s not a bad thing to have a plan. A “if-everything-works-out”, best-case scenario.

In mine, I will read at least 24 new books in the coming year. (Not counting the Bible, and/or books of the Bible, which I do plan to read again in 2012, too.)

Typing that makes it sound less impressive (and less insurmountable) than it usually feels.

My goal is to finish at least a couple books a month. The issue is, many of the books on my current reading (or “to read”) list are the 800-1200 page variety.

Yes, I am slightly crazy. But mostly, I just love learning about people, events, history, places, things. And I do just love to read.

Here’s a look at what’s currently on my reading radar screen:

  1. *Being George Washington – Glenn Beck
  2. *Original Argument (a modern translation of the Federalist Papers)
  3. Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson
  4. Never Give In! The Best of Winston Churchill Speeches – Winston S. Churchill
  5. Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism – Ronald J. Pestritto
  6. Choosing to SEE – Mary Beth Chapman
  7. The First Commandment – Brad Thor
  8. Spilled Milk – Michael J. Scott
  9. *The Introvert Advantage – Marti Olsen Laney
  10. *One Thousand Gifts – Ann Voskamp
  11. 7 Tipping Points That Saved The World – Chris and Ted Stewart
  12. Sacred Fire – Peter A. Lillback
  13. For You They Signed – Marilyn Boyer
  14. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy – Eric Metaxas
  15. Several C.S. Lewis books

I am realizing as I make this list that such a list would be far too exhaustive. I have way more than 24 books in mind but I think those above are the next dozen or so in the queue, even if they are not entirely in the order I plan to read them in. I am also very good at fitting other stuff in along the way! For example, I’ll probably pick up the next book in the Brad Thor/Scot Harvath series. (I’m reading through his older stuff after reading Full Black this past fall.) And I am also planning to complete the Lord of the Rings trilogy with my boys in 2012.

Basically, it’s going to be a very well-read year, if things go according to plan!

If you’d like to see more books I am reading, plan to read, have read, you can sit and watch the little changing book image in the right sidebar (each one is clickable). Or, you can just visit the page(s) created by the Now Reading plugin for WordPress that I use to organize all this stuff.

I’d love for anyone reading, this to read along with me on some or even all of these books. (It would be a bit strange if you liked all the same books as me…) 🙂 And, if you have any that you’d recommend I add, please suggest them in the comments.

May 2012 bring you many blessings from God (true blessings may not always seem to be blessings at the time) and many great moments along the way, from books and otherwise.

by Greg

Thankful

There are days that it’s incredibly hard to see the good side. Where you’re so completely overwhelmed by the crushing weight of sadness, or failure, or just plain pain that you can’t see a way out of and seems it will never end.

For whatever reason, we’ve had more than our share of those around here lately.

But last night as I was putting the four youngest kids in bed, for some reason I decided to start (quite randomly) naming things that I was thankful for. “Thank you for Mom… and for (insert sibling name here)…” was how I began. Then I began just literally saying any word that came to mind. Some things I saw around their room, or then any related item or word. It quickly exploded into a fun game of who can think of the most random thing to be thankful for!

And the neat thing was, it worked.

The kids were not that excited to go to bed last night, but that little exercise lightened their hearts, and perhaps enlightened mine.

I found it was easy to rattle off all sorts of “good” things that we can be thankful for. Stars, trees, the sun, the moon, Grandmas & Grandpas, other friends we love, books, paper, paint, carpet, air conditioning, and so on. So I began intentionally thinking of “bad” things. (Or at least, weird things to be thankful for.)

“Thank you for toilets. For bottoms. For toilet paper.” Emma (our three-year old) picked right up on that, “Thank you for pee pee… AND poo poo!” And then I actually made myself say, “Thank you for HOT days.” (Reasoning in my mind that, though I loathe and detest the heat, I do love a good, juicy tomato … and they rather enjoy hot days.)

This seemed to work for all of the kiddos from the youngest (just about 2) who would grunt his approval with a little, “mmm hmm” after every word or phrase I’d say, to the room full of his three sisters all spitting out random words as fast as they were able to fit them in. It really was incredible!

It made me think of a book that Jen asked me to read, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Jen reads her blog, and so decided to purchase her book, and was challenged (in a good way) to try to change her perspective on life, as Ann has tried to do. It’s kind of a “glass half-full vs glass half-empty” idea, but a bit different. Her challenge was just to write down 1,000 things that you are thankful for. A few each day.

I think we may have hit about 400 last night alone! 🙂

There are so many things that we can be thankful for. It really just depends on your perspective. If you can come at life looking for goodness, you’ll often (usually) find it. If you’re expecting bad, you’ll usually end up there.

So maybe try it tonight. Putting kids to bed… after they are in bed… on your way home from work… just let you brain bounce from one thing to the next and speak it out, “Thank you for _____.” Not just things that God directly gave us, necessarily, but think about the things that are part of our everyday lives, and how they help us. We really do take much of life “for granted”, as they say. Doing so lifted my spirits last night, and four other tiny spirits.

Perhaps it can lift yours, tonight, too.

by Greg

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Bonhoeffer by Eric MetaxasI heard of a book the other day simply called, “Bonhoeffer”. It was highly recommended, and my interest was piqued when I heard who wrote the book: Eric Metaxas. “Eric Mah-who-huh?” you say? Indeed. However, you may recall that I highly recommended his previous book, “Amazing Grace” (the story of William Wilberforce) and wrote a couple long posts (here, and here) after following Metaxas through Wilberforce’s life. An inspiring man, with an equally inspiring story, masterfully told by Metaxas.

So you can imagine that I am eager to get a copy of this book and learn of the life of another inspiring man. I really think that walking through life alongside great people as they face choices and make decisions helps motivate, challenge, and inspire us to do the same in our lives. So I look foward to getting to know Dietrich Bonhoeffer, through the eyes and prose of Eric Metaxas.

Amazon has a preview video available. Just a two minute overview of who this man was, and why his story was an interesting one. Watch below. (Then go get the book!)

by Greg

Book Sales Are Dangerous

Stack of BooksOur library has a book sale annually where they weed out their own collection as well as receive hundreds of donations from generous library users and other friends of the library. It goes on for quite a while after the official sale portion. The starting price is $1.00 for a hardcover book and $0.50 for a paperback. A very enticing price for a book lover, to be sure.

But the most dangerous time on our library’s book sale is about one week after the sale starts, they lower the price to $2/bag of books. And that’s when they hook both Jen and me. We can’t resist! And even our kids are getting into it now! Emma (our two-year-old daughter) and I were out on an “OK Night” (One-Kid Night) tonight and we stopped to have a look at the sale and came away with many more treasures filling another bag of books! (Many of which she picked out!)

I say another because well… we just got five bags last weekend!

You can’t beat a good book sale—nor can we resist it, apparently—but there quickly arises the issue of where to store all these books once you bring them home…

Time for more bookshelves!

If you’re a book lover, too, there are still hundreds of books left to browse! Come have a look.

by Greg

Book Review: The Age of the Unthinkable

The Age of the UnthinkableI just finished the book I began earlier this summer, The Age Of The Unthinkable. As I had mentioned earlier, the book presents a very intriguing look at the world as it currently is, partly due to the great amount of first-hand knowledge and experience that its author, Joshua Cooper Ramo, has with today’s world and some of its most influential people.

Story after story backs up a few central themes to his book: in this currently unstable and unpredictable world (politically, financially, culturally) one needs to be resilient, adaptive, and move towards a decentralized model of operating (be it politically, or in business) and always be aware of your environment—how everything is effected by and affects everything and everyone around it. Relationships are key, as is the power and responsibility of each individual.

What I found to be so intriguing were the success stories of companies and hospitals and other organizations entrusting individuals with more responsibility and ownership (and thus, retaining less centralized control over organizational structures). This goes against perhaps our natural instinct, and the current model of thinking. However, in many cases (and from my own experience) the more you spread out the power and ownership of an organization, the greater the innovation and production of that group of people. We are individuals, and our greatest desire is freedom… when we are granted that, we most often flourish. (And then, so does the organization we are aligned with.)

Ramo told of a doctor who trusted his illiterate, uneducated patients with a very complex treatment, and it worked. Where, the government had spent millions of dollars attempting to respond to another disease and, when those same people were treated as numbers rather than individuals, the treatments were abandoned and the people died. Given respect and choice and education, the people flourished. Given no choice and treated like parts of a machine, they perished.

There were so many great first-hand stories of successful adaptations to a rapidly changing world. It really was both encouraging and challenging. The book ends with the question, what will your part be in this world? Ramo puts forth the idea that another characteristic of this age is that we all have a role. I believe that’s true. We are all very interconnected and all have access to much more information and means of communicating and acting than ever before.

Definitely a well-written, intriguing book. I highly recommend.

by Greg

What I’m Reading (and Watching)

I have been reading a lot lately. As much as time allows. Before, after, and in between managing all of my website clients as well as six children and time with Jen… plus friends and family… it doesn’t seem to add up to much! But today, when I updated the list of what I’m reading, going to read, and have read… I can understand why I hardly can find time to post here!

In case you have missed it, I added a tab a few months ago in the top navigation of this website titled “Currently Reading/Watching”. When you click that it takes you to a separate website (which you can access directly by going to reading.gregshead.net) that displays all of the books I am reading, or want to read. It’s fairly extensive, but also fairly easy to navigate.

The little video above is a fun way to “show” you how to get there. (And how to navigate once you do go there).

The bonus part is, if you find any of those books interesting, and decide to purchase them from Amazon, I will receive a commission on anything you purchase (even other things you add to your cart from Amazon with the same order). So you find some good new books, and Amazon contributes to the GregsHead.net fund! (It’s not a very large commission, but every bit counts!) 🙂

If you have any recommendations for books to add to my “In The Queue” section, please let me know. Always open to suggestions!

Happy reading!

by Greg

Modern Parallels In 50-Year-Old Novel

Altas Shrugged by Ayn RandI am currently reading a book from the 1950s called “Atlas Shrugged”. It’s a novel about government and business, and the various interactions between regulations and “the public good” versus free market (and individual freedom), capitalism and profits and such. It’s quite intriguing on many levels (also very long!)

I had heard Ayn Rand’s name mentioned a time or two—it’s quite a memorable name—but I actually decided to read her novel based on seeing that a friend on Facebook had “liked” a group titled, “Plugging the Gulf oil leak with the works of Ayn Rand.” (Really? That’s really worth “liking”?)

Sufficiently intrigued, I looked up some information on Rand, and discovered her most notable—and controversial—title was the fictional story, Atlas Shrugged. I borrowed a copy from the library and have been reading it over the past several weeks. (I got the audio book as that is my favorite way to “read” fiction…)

As I was listening yesterday, these paragraphs stuck out to me as amazingly parallel to current events:

They had not heard the text of directive #10-289, but they knew what it would contain. They had known it for a long time. In that special manner which consisted of keeping secrets from oneself and leaving knowledge untranslated into words. And, by the same method, they now wished it was possible for them not to hear the words of the directive. It was to avoid moments such as this that all the complex twistings of their minds had been devised.

They wished the directive to go into effect. They wished it could be put into effect without words, so that they would not have to know that what they were doing was what it was.

Nobody had ever announced that directive #10-289 was the final goal of his efforts, yet for generations past men had worked to make it possible, and for months past every provision of it had been prepared for by countless speeches, articles, sermons, editorials; by purposeful voices that screamed with anger if anyone named their purpose.

Replace “directive #10-289” with the health care bill, and remember things spoken by our politicians like: “…we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it,” or, “…read the bill… What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”

Fascinating. And I do believe it’s true that for many generations we have systematically removed God from the foundation of our country and our lives, and then the family—the one main social structure of our society—began to crumble. And add to that the various social agendas of the various political groups… yuck.

I know that Atlas Shrugged is just fiction, but those paragraphs just jumped out at me. Food for thought, and perhaps discussion.

(See ya in the comments…)

by Greg

Slow Down

Council of Dads - Bruce FeilerI just finished reading the book you see here, The Council of Dads, and would definitely recommend it. Overall it was a moving, and compelling story written by an author who found out he had very aggressive bone cancer—and mostly all he could think of was his twin 3-year-old girls, and that they might be without a daddy.

Bruce Feiler wrote the book (perhaps it’s books, actually) Walking The Bible, where he literally walks through the places where the events of the Bible take place. He did several “walking” books, so it was ironic (sadly ironic) that he was stricken with bone cancer in his left leg.

He dubbed the subsequent chemotherapy and surgery and rehabilitation “The Lost Year” (for obvious reasons) and chronicled it in this book. The title comes from an idea he had early on to provide a “Dad” for his daughters, should he not survive the disease. It was a pretty interesting idea, with amazing results. Made me wonder whom my “council of Dads” would be if similar circumstances were thrust upon me. It ended up being a revealing look at relationships, what matters most in life, and how we are shaped by everyone around us—some we have special connections to, and have a special impact on us.

In one of his last chapters—in a letter he wrote to friends and family—he explained that one of the most important lessons he’d learned through the “Lost Year” was, “Don’t be in a hurry. Slow down.”

That’s a lesson I’ve learned along the way, but it seems I can never get enough reminders to put it into practice.

Feiler said that in the 1840s, when walking was just becoming a source of recreation, the French would take their pets for a walk to help them set a good pace: their pet turtles! How great is that? Then, as they went at their turtle’s pace, they could interact much more with the surroundings.

We modern Americans (and probably many other cultures) definitely tend to miss the journey. We all are aiming so hard for our destinations, and keeping our schedules that we miss the people and the “little things” along the way.

I love to walk, too. Most for that reason, I think. When you walk, you see and experience so much more. The slowing down allows you to share stories with the people walking with you. It just allows time to live.

There is much to do in life. And sometimes you can’t slow down. But I’d say a lot of what we think we need to do can wait. And should wait. It should wait so we can live life as it’s meant to be lived, and experience and enjoy the important things. Bruce Feiler learned that by means of a horrible disease and the equally awful treatment. But I think from what he’s written in his book, he’d prefer we learn without the pain. That we’d slow down not because we were forced to by illness, but because we choose to not miss any moments of this life God has given us.

It’s a good book. Read it if you get a chance. But even better, make sure you’re slowing down enough to live life today.

Maybe buy a pet turtle. 🙂