daknotes

Review: Sex Is Not The Problem, Lust Is

Joshua Harris is an amazing author, preacher, and speaker. I first heard about him in one of my high school classes, and he has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I’ve heard a few of his sermons, so when I’m reading his book, I can hear his voice in my head reading to me. He has a very easy-to-read, conversational tone throughout all his books. And he address difficult, yet very prominent, topics with wisdom and clarity.

His previous books have centered around dating and relationships, but this one takes a step back, and focuses on a broader issue: lust. I’ve read a few books on the topic of sexual purity before, but this is the best one by far, for two simple reasons:

Harris’ basis is solely Scripture. Roughly 1/3 of my notes have a scripture reference after them. He even dedicates a whole chapter to specific verses that we can use to fight sin in the heat of the moment. Harris rightly says, “I need an authority greater than my own. I need the very words of God. Hand-to-hand combat with lust doesn’t work — I need the sword of the Spirit” (151).

He doesn’t use any graphic descriptions or imagery. I’ve been surprised by some other “Christian” books of how graphic some of the descriptions are. The book’s supposed to be about purity, but the book itself isn’t pure! That’s not the case with this one. Right in the preface, Harris describes the book as a “‘PG-rated’ book that would instill a love for holiness and a hatred for lust without dragging the reader’s imagination through the gutter” (12).

Another thing I appreciate (and he readily admits this) is the book isn’t meant to give a “quick fix” to the problem of lust, because he rightly states that the solution is different for everyone. But he does provide Bible-based principles that the reader can use to custom-tailor a plan to fight lust in their own life. He says the biggest thing is to memorize Scripture, to “hide it in your heart”, so that you can use it to fight temptation when it comes.

Final Word: Highly recommended to everyone. Very practical, relatively short, easy to read, but definitely one to think and ponder about.

Review: Father Fiction

Note: I’m starting to read not-school-related-books. And a LOT of them. I’m not quite sure why, all of a sudden, I’m actively reading upwards of 7 or 8 books at the same time, but I just can’t get enough of reading right now. So I’ve decided I might as well blog about the books I’m been reading, and give short reviews about them once I finish them. It might be because I want to be able to come back and quickly review the books I’ve read, or maybe because it feels good to finish a book, and I want to write about it. I recently finished three books, so I’ll be posting all three reviews over the course of the day today.

My first exposure to Don Miller was back in 8th grade, when the teacher of my Relationships class had us read a chapter from his best-seller, “Blue Like Jazz“. Soon after, I bought my own copy of the book, and read through it, and I loved it. It was one of the first books I remember actually enjoy reading, and one of the first real books I read outside of school.

Fast-forward several years, and he’s a widely-known Christian author and speaker. I think it’s because his writing style (and I assume his speaking style, although I’ve never heard him live) is so down-to-earth, natural, and honest, so it’s easy for many people to identify with him. His most recent book, released last Tuesday, is entitled “Father Fiction”, which is a re-write of “To Own a Dragon”. It’s written for men and women who have grown up without fathers, and what he would have wanted his dad to have taught him when he was growing up. I’ve been fortunate to have a very loving, involved, Christian father, but he’ll be the first to admit he’s nowhere near perfect. As much as he’s taught me since I was born, different perspectives are always good, and I learned a lot from this book.

I love books that I want to read over and over, and still know I’ll learn something out of it. This is definitely one of those books. There were several parts that made me laugh, but there were also some parts that made me cry a little. If I get married and have kids, but I die before they grow up, this is a book I want them to read.

It’s hard to talk about this book without giving so much of it away. But, thankfully, Don gave some of it away on his blog this past week:

• On Monday, he gave a brief, but very good, introduction to the book.
• On Tuesday, he began excerpting from the chapter on Dating, and talked about why we are attracted to the opposite sex.
• He continued from the Dating chapter on Wednesday and Thursday, by talking about what men and women need from each other.
• On Friday, he excerpted from the preceding chapter, on Friendship, and talked about how we become like the people we hang out with.

All of the excerpts will give a good glimpse into the book, but the comments on the posts are very intriguing as well.

Final Word: Hands down, I’d recommend this book to anyone.

Review: Rework

Note: I’m starting to read not-school-related-books. And a LOT of them. I’m not quite sure why, all of a sudden, I’m actively reading upwards of 7 or 8 books at the same time, but I just can’t get enough of reading right now. So I’ve decided I might as well blog about the books I’m been reading, and give short reviews about them once I finish them. It might be because I want to be able to come back and quickly review the books I’ve read, or maybe because it feels good to finish a book, and I want to write about it. I recently finished three books, so I’ll be posting all three reviews over the course of the day today.

37signals is a software company, with products such as Basecamp and Campfire, but they’re also much, much more. Their blog Signal vs. Noise is one of the most widely read blogs in the tech industry. One of their co-founders created a popular web programming framework. And in 2006, they published a book called Getting Real, in which they discussed a different way of building a web-based application.

In typical 37signals no-frills, take-no-prisoners style, they’ve managed to rustle many feathers with their newly published business manifesto, Rework. Instead of talking about software, they take a step back and describe a different way to run a business. I’ll admit, I’m a 37signals-fanboy. So I knew I was going to read this book as soon as I heard about it. But honestly, since I’ve read the blog for so long, and heard several interviews with the guys, not much of the content surprised me. The essays are short and to the point, and yet are still profound. However, it’s definitely not stuff you’d learn in a typical business class, and I still enjoyed and learned from the book.

But, let’s be honest. Part of the reason I bought this book was because it has pictures! (Side note: the illustrator posted a two part series on some of the behind-the-scenes of illustrating: part 1, part 2) You’ve gotta admit, any book aimed at adults (and especially those interested in business), and has pictures automatically becomes cool, even before reading it.

Final Word: If you’re interested in business, or starting your own business, read this book. Otherwise, you’ll wonder why someone is so crazy to try these ideas.

Review: Tribes

Note: I’m starting to read not-school-related-books. And a LOT of them. I’m not quite sure why, all of a sudden, I’m actively reading upwards of 7 or 8 books at the same time, but I just can’t get enough of reading right now. So I’ve decided I might as well blog about the books I’m been reading, and give short reviews about them once I finish them. It might be because I want to be able to come back and quickly review the books I’ve read, or maybe because it feels good to finish a book, and I want to write about it. I recently finished three books, so I’ll be posting all three reviews over the course of the day today.

I only recently learned of Seth Godin, through his TED talk on Tribes, and I knew right away that I needed to read his books.

Tribes is the first book of his that I read, because it was published before the other book of his that I bought; it is short and small; it has no chapters; and the essays are quite short, which makes them easy to read on the bus. I think the reason Seth Godin is bald is because his brain doesn’t have any time to grow any hair, because it’s too busy coming up with good ideas. This little book made me finally realize why Twitter and Facebook are so popular, and why they’re changing how we communicate with the people around us. Seth makes the case that we are going back to an ancient way of socializing and communicating: tribes. Each and every one of us is connected to other people, to a leader, and most importantly, to a specific idea. And with the prominence of technology in everybody’s lives, tribes are easier to obtain and maintain than ever.

Honestly, his TED talk (linked above) is the best summary and review for this book. Seth has a very unique presenting style, which translates into his writing style. Tribes is a very quick read, but a very intriguing, thought-provoking one as well.

Final Word: Good, quick read, especially if you’re interested in social media, or how humans communicate, or human behavior in general. This guy is SMART.