Matthew's Musings

Nutshell overview: it’s a decent story, told fairly well, but over-hyped.

I thought that Unsinkable was going to be the story of a young woman sailing around the world. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. A full two thirds of the book details her preparation and her life before and after her attempt.

You come away from the book impressed with this young lady, and that’s about it.

Here’s what was good:

• Her story is pretty cool. I’ve never spent more than a couple of hours on a boat, much less attempting to solo around the world as a teenager.
• The editors were wise: some parts of the story are told by Abby, other parts are told by the narrator. Considering her age, her writing is good, and it gives you a great insight into this young lady. Having said that, I’m thankful for the polish and style of a professional writer in the narrative sections.
• If you’re a teenager who needs to dream big again, this book speaks directly to you.

Here’s what wasn’t my cup of tea:

• The book almost felt like a PR defense of her family for sending her around the world alone. The defensiveness turned me off a bit.
• The book was written by a teen. That’s probably great for a teenaged audience, but it wasn’t for me.
• I picked it up to read the story of a woman sailing around the world—and by and large, the book wasn’t about that.

I reviewed this for Book Sneeze, and got a free copy, FYI. If you’ve got a teenager who would enjoy this book, great—find it at a used book store. Other than that, don’t pay full market for the hardback. I wish I could recommend it – but it’s just kind of there. Sorry, Abby.

When I received this book, I looked at the cover and expected it to be nothing more than a feel-good “Jesus likes you, so be happy!” type book. I was wrong.

Lucado doesn’t write this to be a feel-good piece. Instead, it’s designed to confront the apathetic Christian with the blessings and responsibility he has. He points out that there are more than twice as many people who claim to be Christians in the United States as there are orphans in the world. Doesn’t it seem like we should be able to make more progress in helping the hurting in the world if that’s the case?

The book is compelling and well-written. Better than any other Lucado book I’ve read, he balances grace and the drive it creates in us to act. He emphasizes doctrine and life—two things that should never be divorced in the life of Christianity.

He tells a few stories of how Christianity is “done right” and really helps to inspire and encourage his readers to not settle for pew warming and 2-hour-per-week Christianity. God wants you to do something that will outlast you. Overall, this book is well written and would make a great study piece for a class or discussion group.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book from BookSneeze, but it doesn’t affect my review, I promise!)

There is a sense among many ministers that preaching in a country church is a lot like being on a farm league baseball team. It’s better than nothing, but they are really holding their breath until they get called up to the “big leagues” in the city, where money, resources, and people abound.

The biggest strength of this book is that it recognizes the innate value of the rural church. These congregations are not second-class citizens of God’s kingdom. They deserve attention, respect, and energy. It’s time not to think of them as second-best.

O’Dell tells how he learned to love and care for the rural church. Like many country churches, his congregation had its share of problems–people mired in the past, a shoestring church budget, and a building that wasn’t up-to-date (or codes!) when it was built 8 presidential administrations ago.  O’Dell helped lead his congregation into a more vibrant church community. The story is well-told and will resonate with anyone in ministry.

O’Dell has a strong view of pastoral leadership. I’d prefer that he would allow more for a group of elders to guide, but he does make the point well that sometimes progress in the church depends on you, and you alone. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions, stand alone, and stand for what is right.

I wish that I could offer a more positive review, but the weaknesses in this book were pretty strong. O’Dell is clearly frustrated with the status quo of rural churches, and perhaps rightly so. I don’t think he means to, but he comes across as kind of condescending in the online videos laughing at the old ugly building. It seems that his vision was basically to create a megachurch in a farm community. While he is right that sometimes people do actually intentionally stand in the way of change, he kind of paints those who disagreed with him as adversaries, and that part of the book makes me a little bit nervous. I wish a bit more humility had shown through the story.

All in all, I don’t strongly recommend that you go out and buy a copy, but if one makes it to your desk, go ahead and read through it. It will cause you to think about what you could be doing different to help transform lives–and if the book accomplishes that, it will have been well worth it.

(By the way, I’m part of the BookSneeze reviewer program. I got a free copy of this book…and as you can tell, I’m not telling you to buy it…so, they’re not making me say nice things!)

One word review: beautiful.

That’s really all there is to it. This book is 176 pages of full-color beauty. Each page is filled with images from the deepest regions of space. You see the planets like you’ve never seen them before. You see representations of stars being born, decaying, and erupting into supernovae. Visually you will be impressed. The photos and the print quality are stellar (pun intended).

The images are paired with quotations, song lyrics, and passages of scripture designed to foster a sense of worship, humility, and awe. The universe is big; her creator, bigger. There is a sense of security in that thought depicted.

This is a great gift book for someone who needs some encouragement. It would be a great addition to a coffee table as a daily reminder of the scale of the universe. I have seen Hubble images before, but never a collection this stunning. I encourage you to spend some time enjoying this book!

(I received a complementary copy from BookSneeze, but they don’t care if I burn the books–I can write whatever  I want…)

John C. Maxwell’s Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently.

I was fortunate enough to win a signed copy of this book from Michal Hyatt’s blog. I was especially excited about getting this book because I was in the middle of an independent study on preaching. This communication volume would be a little bit outside of the realm of traditional homiletics, but it would definitely speak to some common issues.

Here’s how I’d summarize the book: Maxwell writes this book on communication in the same style that Covey writes about being effective. Effective communication begins with my integrity. If I want people to hear my message, they need to feel that I am concerned about their best interest. If I want people to think that I’m concerned about their best interest, I need to be concerned about their best interest. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not always.

Maxwell is brutally honest: connecting with others takes work. Sometimes we have to investigate and dig to find ways to build a bridge. It takes energy and time. The result, though, is that when a real connection is formed, the potential we have to help each other skyrockets.

A neat feature of this book is that Maxwell posted it online for several weeks prior to its printing. During that time, he allowed people to comment on each chapter. The final edition of the book comes with the anecdotes, suggestions, and the thoughts of literally hundreds of people. Their contribution alone is worth reading the book.

This isn’t a ground-breaking, earth-shattering sort of book. It’s more like good fundamentals for a team, rather than advice on coaching a star player, and I appreciate that about it. I think you will, too.

I purchased this book as a graduation gift for a young man in our congregation who is hoping to begin the police academy soon. Miano writes as both a lawman and a chaplain, wearing two hats in his life’s work.

Miano entered the academy as a nominal Christian. His faith was surface-level, at best. It didn’t take long until someone taught him more about Jesus and everything began to change.

The book parallels the uniform of a peace officer and the armor of Christ in Ephesians 6. It is filled with scripture and anecdotes about those tools and is an easy read. The ideal reader would be any young person interested in law enforcement. Miano keeps his head on straight and is a straight shooter. You’ll enjoy this work.