The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson My rating: 4 of 5 stars The ending brought tears to my eyes. The narrative kept us all (me and my 6- and 4-year-old) going for months. That's all good. I did think the series had trouble deciding whether it was a...
Books
Review: Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care
Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care by John McWhorter My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'm a big McWhorter fan. His lecturing style, which is just like his writing style, is so engagingly brilliant. This was such a wonderful...
My New Book on the Shaun Tabatt Show
Can I Smoke Pot? Marijuana in Light of Scripture
My new book is out. My co-author Tom Breeden formed the initial structure of the argument and wrote the first draft. It was my job to make that draft sing with illustrations and style, though I enjoyed working with Tom so much that in the end I was able to contribute...
Can I Smoke Pot? Live Interview Wednesday, Sep 14 at 11:05 Eastern
Tomorrow (Wednesday), Sep 14, from 11:05–11:30 a.m. Eastern, I'll be on Kevin Boling's live, call-in radio show talking about the new book I co-authored with my friend Tom Breeden, Can I Smoke Pot? Marijuana in Light of Scripture. I've been surprised to see how much...
Review: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg My rating: 2 of 5 stars [Please note that some of the varnish has been removed from the following opinion, and I think I got down into the wood grain.] Since people are just complicated...
Review: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Though Gladwell's interpretation of the David and Goliath story leaves a bit to be desired (he reads too much into certain narrative details and fails...
Review: By the Waters of Bablyon
Scott Aniol’s new book, By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, argues at length against the architects of missional evangelism—not because Aniol thinks the attractional model (of Hybels, Warren, et al.) is better, but because he doesn’t see...
Review: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath My rating: 3 of 5 stars I purposefully let this book marinate in my mind for a week or so after I completed it before sitting down to write the review. I wanted to see what stuck. For me, it was the...
Review: Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational and Scientific
Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana - Medical, Recreational and Scientific by Martin A. Lee My rating: 2 of 5 stars Indefatigable. Argument by avalanche. That's the method here. Story after anecdote after study after reason why cannabis should not only be...
Review: Black Boy by Richard Wright
Black Boy by Richard Wright My rating: 4 of 5 stars Stirring, insightful, and beautiful. So many memorable and powerful vignettes. I do see why the Book of the Month Club dropped the second part, but I was glad to read it, too. I did keep feeling as if Wright...
Ten Years with a Precious, Precious Treasure
An important ten-year anniversary passed without my noticing, and I'd like to make up for my failure to mark it with this little post. Paul McCusker's Focus on the Family Radio Theatre adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia is truly one of the greatest gifts to the...