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Reading 2013: Connected

February 20, 2013 in 2013 Reading, reading with 0 Comments

connected

 

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives is a pop sociology book written by Drs. Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler.

For those of us who have experienced the majority of our lives connected to the Internet, it could be easy to think that it has been the Internet (and slightly prior to that, globalization) that has brought about our social networks. But the authors assert that these social networks were already operating and in place, and online social media such as Facebook were so successful because they operated on the age-old social networks that have existed for millenia. Yet it is also true that the speed at which it is seen and develops is different than other eras of history, as is the accessibility.

Is obesity contagious? Connected argues that it is, and has the data to prove it. But conversely, so is healthy living. And so are both depression and happiness. Cross-pollinating a little from reading The Power of Habit, it would seem that not only does our own personal habit change affect other habits through keystone habits, but our personal keystone habits could potentially have a major impact on a large number of people (and in the case of obesity, a number of large people).

Most of us who are online and members of online social networking sites will observe many of the influencing powers of social network in various ways. Interestingly, I see this in Pinterest and Goodreads a lot. For one, these networks reflect how we influence one another, from our reading choices (more obvious) to how we choose to decorate our homes (less obvious, because a pinned pictures doesn’t necessarily mean it happens or that the individual is pinning it for the same reason as others). But in a slightly different form of social netwerk influence, you might see one person pinning a good number of pins on Pinterest about fitness, and sharing a few Facebook statuses about running a 5K and losing weight. Next thing you know, five more friends are doing the same. Continue Reading…

20 Books I Plan to Read in 2013

January 4, 2013 in 2013 Reading, reading with 0 Comments

In no particular order (and with no particular explanation in this post), here are 20 books I plan to read in 2013:

1. Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives (Richard Swenson)

2. Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent (Meredith Small)

3. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable (Seth Godin)

4. Calm and Compassionate Children (Susan Dermond)

5. Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child (John Gottman, Joan Declaire)

6. Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation (Graeme Goldsworthy)

7. Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder (Mariah Bruehl)

8. Taking Charge of Your Fertility, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health (Toni Weschler)

9. A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master” (Rachel Held Evans)

10. What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People (Joe Navarro)

11. The Fault in Our Stars (John Green)

12. What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend: A Short Guide to Making the Most of Your Days Off (Laura Vanderkam)

13. The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One  (Margaret Lobenstine)

14. The Gospel Centered Woman (Wendy Alsup)

15. Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? (Michael J. Sandel)

16. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (Joshua Foer)

17. The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope (Catherine Hamlin)

18. Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics (Ross Douthat)

19. Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity (California Studies in Food and Culture)

2o. Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture (Adam S. McHugh)

I have a good number of other books on various to-read lists (e.g., Goodreads and Amazon Wishlist), but these are 20 I hope to get to in the first half of the year. I also add a lot of new book ideas as I hear what others are reading, read their reviews, and am given recommendations. I’ve set my goal for 100 again this year, and hope to be able to write reviews for a good number of them (this really helps me with processing and remembering the information, though I usually have notes regardless of what review I actually post).

I explain more about how I choose what books to read here.

Related: October’s month-long series, Reading More Without Living Less.

I’m always happy for more book recommendations! :)

Top 10 Books of 2012

January 3, 2013 in 2012 Reading, reading, Resources with 6 Comments

I wasn’t sure if I would make it to my final goal, but I finished book #100 for the year on December 21, and closed out the year with 101 books read (not including the books I read to/with my children).

It is difficult to say how much these 101 books shaped my life, but without a doubt several of my most life-challenging and life-changing lessons from 2012 have come, in large part, from these 101 books. Certainly, a few duds were included in my reading; yet overall, I think most of the entire list of books I read were quite good and challenged my thinking and living to new levels.

Looking back to this past year’s reading, here are the books I’ve selected as my top 10 books for 2012:

1. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Susan Cain)

I’m not the only who liked this book this year: Quiet made it to several “top books” list year, in addition to being a New York Times Bestseller. (Ironically, I never posted a review for this book, mostly because I wanted it to be the perfect review and herein, I let the perfect ideal to be the enemy of the good.)

Quiet examines the personality spectrum of extroversion and introversion, and everything in between (including one with a name: ambiversion). Cain explores how extroversion rose to become our contemporary cultural ideal, whether or not these are permanent personalities, how the extrovert preference has permeated the American Evangelical church (not a huge section, but one that carries significance for me and readers here, being one who makes up a part of the American Evangelical church at large), and even how parenting introverts and extroverts will look different in its application.  This book is a helpful read for anyone: for introverts, in understanding their value and that they are not as “alone” as society percieves them to be, and for extroverts to also understand the value of introverts and to see that many people are possibly more introverted than they let on.

I also benefited from the distinction made between introversion and shyness, and how the two are not always joined at the hip. (Personally, I was once both, but am still quite introverted while much less shy.) I also appreciated highlighting that for many introverts, interacting with people and crowds can be quite emotionally exhausting, even if an introverted person might enjoy such interaction; and for the extrovert, these occasions are oppositely energizing.

2. The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun (Gretchen Rubin)

Sometimes you don’t realize how profoundly a book impacts you until it’s been given time to settle. In my case, this was one such book, and I’m glad I read it early in the year and reaped benefits through the year. I wrote a review of the book here, and reference it many times throughout the year.

I was delighted when Gretchen Rubin released Happier at Home, which carries the same theme in application at home, and again saw the continuing impact of The Happiness Project as I read her second work on the subject.


3. The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (Timothy Keller, Kathy Keller)

If I could recommend only one Christian marriage book, this would be it. Tim and Kathy Keller delve into the complexities of marriage and marital commitment, and do so in a way that portrays a strong marriage as something more abiding than merely a series of “rekindling the passion.” (Though, Keller is not promoting a dull, romanceless marriage, either.)

I originally posted a review of the book here.


4. Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids (Kim John Payne)

Parenting and simplicity were two themes that I frequently found myself reading about. Those themes converge in this excellent resource for any parent, but especially so in our busy, cluttered, excessive American culture. I wrote more abou this book in my review here.


5. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Charles Duhigg)

Charles Duhigg explores the connection between habit and how we live life (and do business). From chain smokers and highly disciplined gurus, from Febreeze to Apple, this book explores how habit shapes our lives in more ways than we realize. This is both a fascinating and motivational book. I posted a review of it here.


6. Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor (Robert D. Lupton)

This is another powerful book for which I failed to write a review. This book was paradigm-shifting, convicting, and continues to shape my understanding of loving “the least of these” through community.

Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life explores the problems at just leaving mercy ministry at betterment, and shows why true, long-term compassion and justice pursues development. It also explains what betterment and development are and how they differ.

The book primarily deals with the fleshing out of this concept within urban and inner-city ministry, but has much broader application. For me, it was eye-opening and slightly paradigm-shifting. The book emphasizes Jesus’ teaching that the whole law hangs on the two commandments to love God and neighbor. Often, the simplicity of these commands is hidden beneath a lot of spiritual clutter.

Although I did not write a substantial review, I shared an excerpt from the book here.


7. Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to “The Passion of the Christ” (Stephen J. Nichols)

Stephen Nichols provides a helpful commentary and examination of how culture has pushed our perception of Jesus and Christianity into a cultural mold. I posted a lengthy review of this book here.


8. Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times (Jennifer Worth)

In this fascinating memoir of her years as a midwife in London’s postwar East End, Jennifer Worth recounts the many fascinating stories and lives she touched during her years serving as a midwife with an Anglican order of nuns. More than just a collection of birth stories for birth junkies, this book portrays the difficult, yet endearing, life for those living in this time and place.

There were several stories that were difficult, and heart-wrenching to read. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as someone who has observed and experienced the joys, pains, and triumphs of natural childbirth, and as someone who enjoys anthropology, sociology, and even a bit of theology thrown in.

Jennifer Worth also wrote two other memoirs of her life as an East End midwife (Shadows of the Workhouse and Farewell to the East End), and I equally enjoyed reading the other two, as well.


9. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (Laura Vanderkam)

168 Hours was another book that took a little bit of settling time before I more fully appreciated the book. And although there are still parts of the book that rub me the wrong way, I realize how much of what was said here has lodged in my mind and frames the way I evaluate my use of time. I posted a review of this book here.


10. How Children Raise Parents: The Art of Listening to Your Family (Dan B. Allender)

Contrary to the initial impression that the cover art and title may give, How Children Raise Parents is a book delving into many profound truths surrounding parenting. Written from a Christian perspective, the book explores how God uses our parenting experiences to mold, shape, and mature us. Too often, parenting is viewed from the perspective of what parents must do to produce wonder-toddlers and preschoolers, rather than seeing what God is doing in us. (At the same time, it does not neglect the important concepts of both sowing and reaping and God’s providence.) The books hones in on understanding the two core questions that both we as parents and our children are asking: 1) “Am I loved?” and 2) “Can I get my own way?” I posted a lengthier review of this book here.

5 Runners Up: (1) The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Michael Pollan); (2) Washington: A Life (Chernow); (3) Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work (Timothy Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf ); (4) The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to a Love That Lasts (Gary Chapman); (5) I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy (Angie Smith)

Related: My top 10 book list from 2011. 

What were your favorites from last year? Tomorrow I’ll share 20 books I plan to read in 2013.

 

Goodreads Choice Awards 2012 Results

December 19, 2012 in 2012 Reading, reading with 3 Comments

Goodreads recently announced their 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards, books nominated and voted for by Goodreads readers. 1,156,852 votes were cast, and a top book was listed in each of 20 categories.

Of the twenty winners, I only read two this past year: Elizabeth the Queen, for History & Biography, and Quiet, for Nonfiction. (But I did read many runners-up in genres that I hadn’t read the winning book. Similarly, in the categories in which I did read the top choice (History & Biography and Nonfiction), I also read a good number of the other nominees.  In some ways, I guess I am not as well-read across genres as I perhaps thought; though, maybe that’s because Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Mystery & Thriller, Graphic Novels & Comics, and Horror were each given their own category. I was also slightly surprised that Religion & Spirituality was not a listed category (realizing even such an appellation would need to include a very broad range within that category).

If you’re a reader, it’s an interesting way to look at what people are reading. There will be more lists of “top books” coming out (or already released) in the next few days, from various sources. I’ve enjoyed using such lists as inspiration for the next year’s reading plan.

The Freedom of Common Grace

December 18, 2012 in books, quotes, reading with 1 Comment

“Without an understanding of common grace, Christians will believe they can live self-sufficiently within their own cultural enclave. Some might feel that we should go only to Christian doctors, work only with Christian lawyers, listen only to Christian counselors, or enjoy only Christian artists. Of course, all non-believers have seriously impaired spiritual vision. Yet so many of the gifts God has put in the world are given to nonbelievers. Mozart was a gift to us–whether he was a believer or not. So Christians are free to study the world of human culture in order to know more of God; for as creatures made in His image we can appreciate truth and wisdom wherever we find it.

Without an understanding of common grace, Christians will have trouble understanding why non-Christians so often exceed Christians morally and in wisdom. Properly understood, the doctrine of sin means that  believers are never as good as our true worldview should make us. Similarly  the doctrine of grace means that unbelievers are never as messed up as their false worldview should make them. For in the Christian story, the antagonist is not non-Christians but the reality of sin, which (as the gospel tells us) lies within us as well as within them.

And so we are likely to be on firm footing if we make common ground with non-Christians to do work that serves the world. Christians’ work with others should be marked by both humble cooperation and respectful provocation. An understanding of common grace, as well as an experience of God’s pardoning grace in Christ, should lead us to freely and humbly work with others who may not share our faith but can be used greatly by God to accomplish enormous good.”

-Timothy Keller, in Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work

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Reading 2012: 168 Hours

August 22, 2012 in 2012 Reading, books, reading, Resources with 4 Comments

After reading Laura Vanderkam’s short personal productivity book, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, I was excited to read her lengthier guide, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.

Continue Reading…

Reading 2012: A History of the World in 6 Glasses

August 8, 2012 in 2012 Reading, books, reading, Resources with 5 Comments

Whilst mostly drinking water, I enjoyed reading history through a new lens via Tom Standage’s A History of the World in 6 Glasses. For every history teacher who has had to listen to the “history’s so boring” line from their students, this book will handily prove that the opposite is true. Standage delves into history and delivers more than just dry facts and dates. This unique history presents how these important six beverages became integral to human existence and flourishing and have maintained their place in our world.  Continue Reading…

Reading 2012: In the Presence of My Enemies

June 26, 2012 in 2012 Reading, ministry, missions, parenting, quotes, reading with 0 Comments

I remember hearing about Gracia and Martin Burnham in 2001, when the New Tribes Missions couple was kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, Islamic terrorists in the Philippines. I also remember hearing of her husband’s death and her release, and then, sometime later, my alma mater’s in-person honoring of her faith (a couple of her nieces were on the dormitory staff) during her ordeal. Her book has been on my “want-to-read-list” since I heard of is publishing, but I never followed through until this month, when the book, In the Presence of My Enemies was offered free via Kindle (no longer available free Kindle download, although the first chapter is available to read here).

In the book, Gracia shares her early life and marriage to Martin, their 17 years of ministry as missionaries in the Philippines, their life there with their three children, and then the 376 days of their captivity (after being kidnapped while at a small resort where they were celebrating their eighteenth wedding anniversary). With only the clothes on their backs (which wasn’t much, as they were taken away in the early hours of the morning), they faced over a year of difficult travels, near starvation, absence of of basic sanitation and comfort, constant exhaustion and physical pain, false hope of release, gunfights, and even having fellow captives face rape and decapitation. In the end, all but one of the other captives besides the Burnhams and those who were killed were released. Martin was unintentionally killed by the gunfire of their rescuers, and Gracia wounded.

The struggles they faced were not merely physical. Gracia humbly and honestly recounts her spiritual struggles during their time in the jungle, one which allowed her to emerge believing in and testifying to the gracious and loving sovereignty of God. The book gives readers a glimpse into fundamentalist, Islamic-based terrorist groups, particularly the dynamic that comes to play when the militants are somewhat uneducated to their own religion and even the manipulation and hypocrisy that is used to force others to join.

After her rescue, Gracia was asked to return to the Philippines to testify against her kidnappers. Eventually, those who were not killed in subsequent gunfights, or who had not escaped, were imprisoned. In an ultimate expression of loving her enemies, Gracia writes these men and shares with them the Gospel. She has also started ministries to help provide financially for their families by buying some of their craftsmanship. As the pastor at our church reminded us this Sunday, many religions ask their adherents to “love their neighbors as themselves;” yet, it is one of the marks of true Christianity for one to love their enemies. Clearly, it is an evidence of God’s sanctifying grace in Gracia that she emerged from this ordeal able to truly love her enemies.

As a wife and mother who at times thought our family would be in a similar missions context, such a scenario is still only one I could have imagined. Yet, there were countless scenarios that placed Gracia in a position dealing with the same experiences many first-world Christians face on a regular basis.
As a young mother, I found this lesson from Gracia to be a helpful admonishment and reminder:
“Poor Martin — he was so good to put up with my emotions. If we were in a gun battle and I was falling apart, he would say, “Gracia, this isn’t the time to cry. You’re wasting energy. You need to get ahold of yourself—you can cry later, okay?”
But he never reprimanded me for crying. It made me think back to earlier  days, when I was homeschooling the kids, and I pushed Jeffrey so hard to perform that he would burst into tears. On more than one occasion I had said, “I don’t want to see you cry, because you’re just trying to get your way.” I was really impatient and unfair with him.
Now in the jungle, I thought to myself, How would you feel if someone walked up to you right now and said, “I don’t want you crying, because you’re just trying to get your own way?“ I promised myself that if I ever got back to Jeff, I would sit him down and apologize for pushing him so hard. He was actually a good student, and so were the other kids. I just expected them to be perfect little adults instead of kids who were learning to make their way in the world.”

The story is engaging, though at times difficult to read and imagine what the Burnhams and fellow captives faced. Gracia divides her story into 22 chapters:

Table of Contents:

  • 1 Seized at Dawn
  • 2 Bright Beginnings
  • 3 The Nicest Guy
  • 4 Rookies
  • 5 Toddlers and Traffic
  • 6 The Perils of Palawan
  • 7 Hospital of Horror
  • 8 The Threat
  • 9 Left Behind
  • 10 Surrounded
  • 11 A Song for the Jungle
  • 12 Justice or Mercy?
  • 13 September 11
  • 14 Wedding Time
  • 15 The Package
  • 16 Silent Nights
  • 17 So Close
  • 18 Ransomed!
  • 19 One Rainy Afternoon
  • 20 The Embassy
  • 21 Going Home
  • 22 Reflections

Reading 2012: Start Something That Matters

June 25, 2012 in 2012 Reading, biographies, books, reading with 0 Comments

When Blake Mycoskie vacationed in Argentina during 2006, he didn’t foresee the trip being a catalyst to starting a world-renowned business.What he did see was a common Argentinian shoe called alpargatas, while at the same time observing a vast number of children who, without shoes, were highly susceptible to injury and soil-borne diseases. It was a problem so widespread that he felt compelled to help in some way, any way. And an idea was born. Blake was no stranger to being an entrepreneur and to wanting to help others, and it was on that trip that his passion for both merged into a brilliant idea: TOMS Shoes.

In Start Something That Matters, Mycoskie shares how his vision became what is now TOMS Shoes–his for-profit company that operates on a One for One basis, donating a pair of shoes to needy children for each pair purchased through his company.

Table of Contents:

  • one: the TOMS story
  • two: find your story
  • three: face your fears
  • four: be resourceful without resources
  • five: keep it simple
  • six: build trust
  • seven: giving is good business
  • eight: the final step

This book is more than just a history of TOMS: Start Something That Matters is in the genre of inspirational business, encouraging entrepreneurs to do something more than just build a successful business.

Reading this book, I caught similar themes as those found in Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness and Timothy Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Work Week, business books that Mycoskie refers to specifically and that I’ve also read in the past year. This book was more in keeping with the theme of Delivering Happiness, but I felt it delved deeper into the concept of philanthropic business than did the latter. (Of course, the two businesses, Zappos.com and TOMS, are quite different in many ways.)

Even if business and entrepreneurism aren’t a reader’s typical fare, I believe many would find this book inspirational for Mycoskie’s story alone; and who knows, perhaps start something that matters, too.

Random things that made this book particularly fascinating: Blake and his sister were contestants on The Amazing Race in 2002. Blake’s mom was also an entrepreneur in her own way. After TOMS began to grow, Blake realized he was living with too much stuff, and too extravagantly; he sold and gave away most of it and now lives on a sailboat. The colors of TOMS shoes that Blake thought would flop have repeatedly been the bestselling colors. In the first years of TOMS, the company selected customers to travel with them on shoe-drops (they still do the shoe drops; but the selection of those going on shoe-drops has slightly changed).

I don’t own a pair of TOMS, but I think next time in the market for a pair of new shoes, I’ll definitely pursue them as a viable option.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

Reading 2012: The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness

June 8, 2012 in 2012 Reading, books, reading with 0 Comments

At just 46 pages, Timothy Keller’s The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy is a quick, yet helpful read. The thrust of the book is as that “a truly gospel humble person is not a self hating person or a self loving person, but a self forgetful person,” and this work is not “superficial outward tinkering, but instead a deep rooted, life altering change that takes place on the inside.”

The book flows through an examination of 1 Corinthians 3:21 – 4:7, and is broken down into 3 brief chapters:

  • 1. The Natural Condition of the Human Ego
  • 2. The Transformed View of Self
  • 3. How to Get that Transformed View of Self
  • Thoughts & Questions for Reflection

This was an encouraging work that can easily be read by most within 20 to 30 minutes. There were a couple of points briefly addressing emotions and psychology that Keller, rather untypical to his writing, did not address to further depth and could potentially be confusing to those grappling with such personal issues; yet, the overall theme and usefulness of the book would make this a worthwhile read.

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