Book Reviews

I read alot. Here are some short blurb reviews for a few books I’ve currently read or am reading.

Nomad byAyaan Hirsi Ali.  This is an autobiographical book chronicling Hirsi Ali’s departure from Islam to America.  In this book she shares many personal anecdotes about the challenges, fears, and failures she faced as an immigrant first to the Netherlands and finally to the US.  Hirsi Ali is an avowed atheist, and with that I strongly disagree, but no one could walk away from this book without being moved and grieved for the plight of Muslim women around the world.

Adopted for Life by Russ Moore.  I’ve owned this book for a while and have intended to get around to reading it, but never made the time.  Recently, Christian Audio made it available for a free download, so I now have it on my iPod.  Angela (my wife) and I are very interested in adoption in the future, so I was anxious to hear from Moore on the subject of both physical adoption and spiritual adoption.  I did not expect, however, to be blessed by this book as much as I have.  Listening to it on a long run recently, I was nearly reduced to tears as I considered the plight of countless orphans the world over and the reality that we too were orphans, but our heavenly Father was not content to leave us as such.  This is a must read (or listen to if you have it digitally as I do) if you are interested in spiritual adoption or physical adoption.  It really should be a must read for you if you are interested in either of those things because it would challenge your current perceptions.

Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis.  I’m beginning a series on the Psalms and ran across this book by Lewis.  I had no idea he had written on the Psalms, but am glad to have discovered this little book that contains many of Lewis insights on the Psalms.  Particularly useful to me has been Lewis effort to show the difference between “being in the right and being righteous.”  In our sinful condition we can be in the right, but only in Christ can we be righteous and only righteousness leads to life (Romans 8:10)

Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I was impressed, challenged, and abused with the first three or four chapters of this book.  Bonhoeffer’s approach to cheap and costly grace is knowledge that every Christian should possess.  Grace, he contends, is free but not cheap. It cost Christ his life and it will cost us as well if we are serious about discipleship.  I really wish I had read this earlier in my life because his information on the Sermon on the Mount is very good and very valuable.  If you are into studying the SOM, you should read this book for that if nothing else.

Intellectuals by Paul Johnson.  Now this is a book unlike any other I’ve ever read.  Johnson looks at many of the leading intellectuals since the enlightenment and shows that though their thoughts may have seemed to be concerned primarily for humanity, their lives showed little care for humans.  I was blown away to learn of the horrid lifestyles of some of history’s most esteemed intellectuals.  These thinkers rarely practiced what they preached and were often more interested in lining their own pockets than anything else.  This book has given me a fresh outlook on politics, education, and the current state of ideas in our world.