everything that's on my mind

Having read far fewer books over the past several years than I would have liked, my goal for 2010 was to try to read a minimum of 3 books a month, or 36 books for the year. I should finish number 20 in the next day or two, and should be able to knock out number 21 by the end of the month. That would put me right on track, so hopefully I can do so and then keep it up for the last 5 months.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve read over the last few months, since my last reading post in early April:

Beyond Basketball: Coach K’s Keywords for Success
Mike Krzyzewski

As a Duke basketball fan, I read most of what coach Mike Krzyzewski writes. And if you’re familiar with him and/or his coaching style at all, this is exactly the kind of book you’d expect him to write. This is a nice collection of stories and suggestions centered on various “keywords for success” – adaptability, commitment, excellence, integrity, trust, etc. Krzyzewski uses these words with his own teams and here communicates how these keywords and concepts can be applied in various settings – business, home, family, etc. Granted, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but a nice reminder nonetheless.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time
Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

Descending from a failed climb in Northern Pakistan to the summit of K2 – the worlds second highest peak behind Everest – Greg Mortensen found himself separated from his group and stumbled into the small mountain village of Korphe. After weeks of recovery in the village, Mortensson noticed the children of the village had no school building, instead learning in the cold temperatures outdoors, using sticks to write in the dirt. Because of the hospitality they had shown to him, Mortenson vowed to one day return to Korphe and build a school for their children. Mortenson knew nothing of raising funds and getting things done in this culture far different from his own, but he was determined. After some bumps along the way, he eventually did return to Korphe and build that school. And since, he has founded the Central Asia Institute and built schools for villages all over northern Pakistan and now into Afghanistan. There is much to this story, but Mortenson believes that education – particularly for girls – is the key to slowing (and eventually stopping) the terrorism that is born in this part of the world. And he may very well be right. A remarkable story that everyone should hear.

America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story
Bruce Feiler

A few years ago I read Feiler’s book Abraham and enjoyed it a great deal. His most recent offering is a look at how the story of Moses and the Exodus has always been important in the American story throughout it’s history, from the time the pilgrims journeyed across the sea to the present day. Feiler argues that Moses’ influence on this country is greater than any other figure, including Jesus, and provides numerous examples to back it up. I suppose it’s debatable, but I found the book quite enjoyable, and particularly enjoyed it’s historical nature.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot

In the early 1950′s, a poor, black woman from Virginia was treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins. While she died after a brief treatment, doctors there took a tissue sample from her cervix, which, over time, continued to reproduce and live while other such cell lines would eventually die. Since that time, these cells (known as HeLa) have been instumental in all types of medical research and breakthroughs, including cancer, AIDS/HIV, and the polio vaccine. Skloot tells the story of both Henrietta – her life, her family’s life since (her children didn’t even know that her cells were still alive until nearly 20 years later) – as well as the story of her cells and the medical and scientific discoveries which they aided. A fascinating, true story.

Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don’t Like Religion (or Atheism)
Frank Schaeffer

As the subtitle suggests, Schaeffer desires a faith for those like himself who are unsatisfied with typical fundamentalism, be it the religious funamentalists that most are well aware of, or those on the other side of the fence – the so-called “new atheists” (see Dawkins, Hitchens, et al.) Part-critique, part-biography, he rejects the dogmatic certainty promoted by many of these people, and instead believes that there is plenty of room for both faith and doubt in our spiritual journeys. While many everyday evangelicals will find much here with which they would disagree, it spoke to me and my own journey quite a bit. A very good read.

Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played
L. Jon Wertheim

This was a nice little book, probably more like 3.5 starts instead of 4. Federer & Nadal have been so enjoyable to watch not only because of their exceptional skill, but because they are indeed really nice guys, too. While this book is about that historical match 2 years ago, it also shares a fair amount about the players lives and supports the nice guy image that they have. They’re the two best players on the court still today, but they’re not you’re typical superstar athletes, which makes you like them all them more and want to cheer for them. While I’m a huge Nadal fan, I’ve become a Federer fan over the years as well. This was truly an epic match on Centre Court 2008 (whether it was the greatest ever is, of course, debatable), and so I enjoyed this book quite a bit.

Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, An American Town
Warren St. John

Luma Mufleh grew up in a very priveleged family in Jordan, and then came to the US for college. After she finished, she decided – much to the displeasure of her father and family – to stay in the US and make it on her own. After bouncing around a little, she ended up in the Atlanta area, and began a youth soccer program for children of refugees (from Africa, Europe and the middle East) who had settled in the area. She not only helped the kids by coaching their soccer teams, but also by investing in their lives, including their parents. She developed a tutoring program to help the kids – often struggling with English – in their schoolwork, and help their parents in myriad ways with adjusting to a new culture. This is a fascinating and beautiful story about people from many cultures around the world coming together and making a difference in each others’ lives.

Zeitoun
Dave Eggers

Abdulrahman Zeitoun is a Syrian-born painter and contractor in New Orleans who chose to stay behind when his family fled just days before hurricane Katrina hit. This is an account of his and his family’s experiences after the storm – his days there following the storm, his families travels while waiting to return to the city, the help Zeitoun provided in rescuing various neighbors and strangers from their homes after the floods came, and the grave injustice of his inexplicable arrest and three-week imprisonment by the post-Katrina police and military, despite never being charged with a crime. (hint: he is a middle-eastern born muslim.) While non-fiction, it reads like a novel, and is an outstanding book. Everyone should read it.

So that’s it, that’s the list. At least for now. I’m trying to finish up Alister McGrath’s Glimpsing The Face of God: The Search for Meaning in the Universe right now, and then am looking forward to reading Ozzy Osbourne’s autobiography I Am Ozzy.

Now that should be entertaining.

As has been the case for the last several years, I’ve read far less than I wanted to read. In fact, this year got off to the worst start ever when I didn’t even finish my first book until late March. I went through several periods of not reading – lacking either time, desire or both. In the end, I averaged only about one book per month, while I would have liked to have read a minimum of two. I did begin several books and abandon them at different times, but as for finished books, the list is short.

Here are my favorites of the year.

The Unlikely Disciple : A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University – Kevin Roose

After meeting some students from ultra-conservative Liberty University, Roose – an agnostic student at notoriously liberal Brown University – decides to “study abroad” for a semester at the Virginia school founded by preacher/activist Jerry Falwell. He chronicles his semester in this book and it’s a great story, and probably not what you might expect. I posted about it last month, so you can read my full thoughts on it here. This was my favorite book of the year.

When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball – Seth Davis

This was a fun read about the 1979 NCAA championship game, the events leading up to it, the people involved (most notably Larry Bird and Magic Johnson) and how it impacted the game of basketball both at the college and NBA levels. The game itself was one of the catalysts in creating the “March Madness” we all know and love today, and certainly the professional success of Bird & Magic and their role in reviving the faltering NBA is well-documented. It all started here, in a pre-ESPN time when most of the nation was first introduced to Bird & Magic either in the tournament or this very game. Great read, especially if you love college basketball (and if you don’t, you should.)

Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution – Karl Giberson

Giberson, a Christian scientist who subscribes to evolution as the story of our origins, attempts to explain why, and how he reconciles that with his faith. The historical nature of the book is what I found most interesting – Giberson’s own story, Darwin’s story, the advances of science since Darwin’s time, and the history of the debate between creationists and evolutionists (as well as the more recent “intelligent design” crowd.) He didn’t seem to spend much time directly addressing what you would expect from the subtitle (“How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution”), but he did, in my opinion, lay out a foundation one can use to consider that question on their own. A fascinating read.

The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World – A. J. Jacobs

This was as enjoyable as Jacobs’ more recent book The Year of Living Biblically, which I read last year. Jacobs sets out to read the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica from A to Z, and this is the story of his adventure. Like Biblically, it probably was a little longer than it had to be, but still a lot of fun. Jacobs makes me laugh out loud regularly, and there are a lot of interesting EB facts in there as well. His attempts to interject his new-found knowledge into everyday conversations and his frustration with a know-it-all relative were always hilarious.

And here’s the rest of what I read.

• A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life – Donald Miller
  When a couple of directors contacted Miller about making a movie featuring his life, he was concerned he didn’t have much of a life that would interest anyone else. In this book he recounts his search for the story of his life. Didn’t grab me the way his previous books have, but still quite good.
• The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team – Mike Krzyzewski
  This book about the 2008 Olympic basketball team was not quite what I’d hoped. A lot more about team-building than I expected. Would have preferred if it had been entirely focused on the basketball part of the story, but still a good read.
• The Myth of a Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a Revolution – Gregory A. Boyd
  Good stuff, but nothing really new. Mostly stuff I’ve read/heard from Boyd or others already.
• Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith – Marcus Borg
  I honestly have little recollection of this book. I must not have been paying attention. I’ll have to try it again.
• The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life As an Experiment – A. J. Jacobs
  Jacobs’ newest, which I did not find to be as good as Biblically or Know-it-all, but it still has plenty of good (and humorous) moments.
• Genesis – Bernard Beckett
  A nice little sci-fi novel (or novelette) set in a post-apocalyptic world with a not-too-surprising twist at the end.
• Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why – Bart D. Ehrman
  Very interesting book about how the Bible came to be and questioning if we actually have what the original authors wrote or copies manipulated by scribes and church officials over time.
• Crazy Love : Overwhelmed by a Relentless God – Francis Chan
  Just labored to finish this one. Maybe I missed something or I’ve just heard it all before, but really didn’t care for it at all.

That’s it. That’s the list.

I picked up six books from the library this week, and I’m halfway through my first. Hopefully, 2010 will get off to a good start and I’ll find time to read more this year. We’ll see…