Archives For 40 Books in 2010

Monkeys, Guns and ladies

Chris —  January 25, 2010

Y: The Last Man, began as one the most fascinating and addictive graphic novels I have ever read, but ended in lethargy and preachy-ness.  Published and told over five years, Y is a unique post-apocalyptic story of manchild Yorick, the only living male to survive a catastrophe that kills every male creature on earth.

Yorick is a pop-culture junkie a la Kevin Smith, aspiring escape artist, and woefully immature.  He is accompanied by a fem fatale from a secret organization, a shy genius biologist on the verge perfecting human cloning, and a monkey.  As they travel across the U.S. and eventually the world, they are faced with the worst that both mankind, and womankind have to offer.  Yorick is seduced by desperate women, attacked by violent anti-misogynists, and hunted by foreign governments.  With half its population suddenly gone, most societies delve into violence and rampant sexuality, while the remaining institutions, such as women’s prisons and orders of nuns, struggle to redefine themselves.

I hesitantly recommend The Last Man.  Stephen King called it the best graphic novels he’d ever read. It’s compared to Lost in it’s depth and addicting nature.  It is also surprisingly fair, condemning both feminism and misogyny.  However, the only overarching theme is that of Yorick’s own disjointed and disappointing descent into adulthood.  As the book progresses it’s theme gets lost in the portrayal of sexuality.  The authors try to wrap it all in a touching love story, however even this is lost, along with a clear answer as to what caused the catastrophe in the first place.

Y: The Last Man is a lot of fun, raises some good questions, but is too graphic and looses its way.  In other words, it’s not for everybody.

Terrorism Can Be Stopped

Chris —  January 14, 2010

This is the first reflecction from my goal of reading 40 Books in 2010.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin is part biography and part field manual on how to truly make a difference in the world.  Relin shares Mortenson’s story, growing up as a missionary kid in Africa, failing to summit K2, stumbling into the mountain villages of Pakistan, and creating an NGO to build schools for girls in those villages.  Tea is a fun read, laying out a life that takes place on three continents and is filled with deeper love, danger, failure and success than most of us can imagine.

The book climaxes just before 9/11.  Just as Mortenson’s organization, the Central Asia Institute, has just begun to catch some steam, he learns of his competition for the hearts and minds of impoverished muslims: Saudi funded Wahabi Madrassas and Mosques teaching and preaching jihad. 

Mortenson’s argument is straightforward: the causes of terrorism are poverty and ignorance.  With a little education (it cost about $12,000 to build a school) both of these can be eliminated. 

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragging on, Three Cups of Tea serves as a canary in a cole mine, sounding disaster if we do not treat the roots of our problems.

12 Plans for 2010

Chris —  January 4, 2010

Instead of resolutions, I’m making plans for 2010.  Here’s my top 12:

1.  Read the whole Bible.

2.  Run a full marathon.

3.  Climb a 14,000′ Mountain.

4.  Visit somewhere I’ve never been.

5.   Find a full-time job.

6.  Take at least one graduate course.

7.  Read 40 books.

8.  Volunteer at least 1 time a month.

9.  Pay off all debt, except school loans.

10. Share my faith regularly.

11. Begin leading and/or hosting a regular gathering for skeptics and Christians to study the Bible.

12. Write daily, including journaling, blogging and working on a book.

What are your plans for the year?

The 2010 Reading List (so far)

Chris —  December 17, 2009

Thanks to all of you who have made suggestions for my 2010 reading list.  So far, I’ve come up with the first 25 out the 40 books I intend to read next year.  If you’d like to help me out by donating a copy of any of these books, you’ll get a special shout out on the blog, and my eternal gratitude.  I’ll be posting summaries and reviews here and on Amazon.

1984 by George Orwell

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

What Is the What by Dave Eggers

The Year of Living like Jesus: My Journey of Discovering What Jesus Would Really Do by Edward G. Dobson, Ed Dobson

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs

Confessions of St. Augustine, The: Modern English Version by St Augustine

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

The Life of St. Francis of Assisi [from the Legenda Sancti Francisci ] by St. Bonaventure

John Wesley: A Theological Journey by Kenneth J. Collins

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Guerrilla Lovers: Changing the World with Revolutionary Compassion by Vince Antonucci

How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins

Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them by Ed Stetzer

The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch

Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch by Nelson Searcy, Kerrick Thomas

The Barnabas Factors: Eight Essential Practices of Church Planting Team Members by J.D. Payne

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

Real Hope in Chicago by Wayne Gordon

Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America by Paul Tough

The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World by Stephen Mansfield

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C. S. Lewis

Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement by Will Mancini

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman, Rod A. Beckstrom