Books

A new take on an old saying:

If I had a penny for every time I was asked, “Is Barack Obama a Christian?” I’d be a millionaire by now. 

Truthfully, if I had ten dollars for every time I’ve been asked this, I’d have just enough to buy a new MacBook Air (with the speed bump and better battery life that is rumored to be coming out next month).

History

Early in the 2008 Presidential campaign the far-right made sure everybody knew Obama’s full name was Barack Hussein Obama and that he attended an Islamic school while living in Indonesia.  The implication was, if America’s top enemies of recent years were Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, then surely this man who’s name is similar must be a Muslim and evil as well!

Obama’s campaign reacted and said, No, Barack is a believing Christian and used be known as Barry up until he graduated law school.

Then came the whole Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright and Trinity United Church bruhaha.

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For the last week and a half I have been sharing with you some of my summer reading. I have to wonder, though, if any of this matters. Do people read anymore?

The New York Times

The “Old Gray Lady,” the historical nickname for THE NEW YORK TIMES, recently did a piece entitled “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?” In true journalistic form. the writer see-sawed back and forth on the question, not wanting to alienate anyone by being too opinionated.

The “take-away” of this piece is that their answer is “no,” although their “no” is as qualified as President Clinton’s “is.”

Whatever the answer to their question is, it is less important than how the question itself is defined.

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The third book I read while on vacation was VINTAGE JESUS by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007).

Mark Driscoll

Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I heard him speak a few years ago after some controversy erupted about his conservative views in the local Seattle newspaper. He replied that he was a minority: “A married and straight white-male who eats meat, is faithful to his wife, and believes in Jesus.” That statement is typical of Driscoll: humorous, edgy, theologically conservative, evangelical, all the while being culturally relevant.

VINTAGE JESUS is no different.

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The second book I read while on vacation was THE PRESIDENT, THE POPE, AND THE PRIME MINISTER: THREE WHO CHANGED THE WORLD by John O’Sullivan (Washington DC: Regnery Publishing, 2006).

Personal Memories

I came of age in the 1980s. Ronald Reagan was the first president I met and is still the epitome of what an American President should be. (I later became member of his church.) Pope John Paul II seemed like he always was and always would be the face of Catholicism. Margaret Thatcher epitomized the United Kingdom by her Churchill-like strength under pressure, strong

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While on vacation recently, I had a chance to read a few books. As one of my younger readers pointed out: “How Twentieth,” meaning Twentieth Century or “old school.” The implication is that nobody reads anymore.

Perhaps fewer people read now than before, but I, for one, still do. (I think anyway, but more on that subject next week). Although I own a Kindle (the new wireless, electronic reading device from Amazon.com), I prefer the look of ink on dead trees and the feel of the turning a page.

THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD

The first book I read was THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD by Fareed Zakaria (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008). Mr. Zakaria’s book is about what he calls “the rise of the rest,” non-Western countries becoming significant economic and military players.

Zakaria grew up in India and is now the editor of NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL. His book provides an overview of the world today and the role he sees the United States playing in the future. The facts he examines are, for the most part, objective and nonpartisan. His

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I‘ve received a number of emails lately asking about my GodFarm.org reading list.

This list is made up of books that I believe will allow folks to learn Micro-Entrepreneurship, Micro-Finance, and Micro-Lending as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

You can find the list at Amazon Listmania.  Happy reading!

According to Bowker, the number of new books published in 2007 was 276,649 (or 758 new books each day). And the number of new business books published last year was 7,651 (or almost one new business book each hour).

This is the genre that my new book VISION CASTER is in. In the book proposal I can always say … there is now a large market for new business books given the large number being published.

Who said competition ain’t grand?

I just finished an enjoyable book from author and journalist Michael Pollan. It is called IN DEFENSE OF FOOD: AN EATER’S MANIFESTO. I don’t agree with a number of assertions in the book, but I believe it is worth repeating Pollan’s Twelve Commandments for Serious Eaters.

1. Don’t eat anything [somebody’s] grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can’t pronounce.
3. Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot.
4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.
5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.
6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmers’ market or CSA.
7. Pay more, eat less.
8. Eat a wide variety of species.
9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.
10. Cook, and if you can, grow some of your own food.
11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

Obviously it wouldn’t be wise to become a slave to these Twelve Commandments, but is a good reminder of how I want to be eating in 2008!