Mark's 36 - The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer(336 pages)

On a recent family road trip to Western Colorado we listened this book on cd as a part of our children's homeschool curriculum.  While the intended audience of the book is for children, I thoroughly enjoyed the the recap of the history.

In volume 1, the book covers the time of the earliest nomads up until the fall of the Roman Empire.  The author and the audio narrator do an excellent job of making history come alive and seem relevant (which it is!).  The colorful retelling of major events and people kept the attention of my children and myself... as soon as we got in the car each time, one of my kids would say, "Can we please listen to the history book!"

A few minor complaints I have of the book are that it seemed very heavily weighted toward western civilizations... with only cursory details given about what was taking place in such places as Africa, east Asia, and the Americas.   I'm told that in the subsequent volumes of The Story of the World, the author goes into more detail in these areas of the world.

In conclusion, if you have children, I would recommend going through this book with them to give them an a good overview of history.  If you're interested in a more 'grown-up' retelling of history, Susan Wise Bauer also authors a book entitled The History of The World.

Marks #35 - Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches by Russell Moore (232 pages)

One of the areas in the American church where God seems to be moving powerfully is in calling Christian families to pursue and support adoption.   I could be wrong, I don't know about the actual numbers, but it seems from my limited  experience and friendships that many have gone down or begun the adoption journey - to which I say praise God.

Though I bought this book on the review and recommendation of blogger Tim Challies, both my wife and Ron Coia read the book before I did (read his review for more insight).   The catalyst for me to read the book came while preparing a message in a sermon series on the book of Galatians.  At the beginning of Galatians 4, Paul explains how as Christians, we are all adopted by God into His family and are consequently heirs to the family inheritance.   This was one of my favorite messages to give, and I owe a lot of the insight and illustrations to Russell Moore and this book.

I would encourage all Christians to read this book, to both understand earthly adoption and our heavenly adoption.

Mark's #34 - Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters by Timothy Keller (210 pages)

Timothy Keller is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.  He's well known for being a leader in cultural engagement, philosophical thought (see his book Reason For God) and gospel grounded sermons and books.

As the title suggests, Counterfeit Gods deals with many of the most prominent idols both individually and culturally that 21st century Americans have embraced such as romantic love, money, success, power, and others.   Keller exposes each of these idols using both contemporary examples and biblical illustrations.  He shows, as Calvin said, "The human heart is an idol factory."

The problem with all of our idols is that, because they are counterfeit gods, they can not hold up to the weight of god like status in our lives... For example, eventually money will fail to deliver on it's promise of security and happiness.

I appreciate Keller's writing style and clarity.   More than this, I particularly appreciate the way he is able to guide the reader back to the heart of gospel as our only source of hope in this life.

Unfortunately, or rather thankfully,  reading a whole book on idolatry personally served to expose many of my deep-seated idols that I still cling to for various reasons...  May God grant me the faith to continually turn back to cross and look upon Him who alone is faithful to deliver on all His promises.

Mark's #33 - Switch: How to Change Things When Change is hard (320 pages)

Anyone who is either responsible for or personally motivated to be a change agent in any realm of life should read this book - whether it's for personal change and growth, change within your faith community, in a non-profit organization, in a business, or even on the macro-government level (basically everyone).

This book came highly recommended by two people I greatly respect.  I put off reading the book longer than I should have because I thought it would be a bit too 'corporate' leadership kind of stuff - which is alright, just not my favorite genre.  Now my only regret is that I didn't read it, and begin implementing the principles espoused in the book earlier.

The authors, Chip and Dan Heath do a great job of drawing from a wide variety of people, places, organizations, research results, and problems to show how change almost always follows a pattern.  Along the way, they use the analogy of the rider and the elephant.

All of us have both a rider side and an elephant side.  The rider is the rational side of who we are.  The elephant is the emotional side.   For change to occur, we must reach both the rider and the elephant, as well as shape the path for them to travel to make the switch.  The book shows how one goes about doing just that.

At the end of the book there is a one-page overview of the book and it's core principals... Helpfully, the authors have provided a .pdf download for you to view here: www.switchthebook.com/resources

Mark's #32 - War by Sebastian Junger (302 pages)

War is definitely one of the best books I've read this year.  It is a gripping account of the events, battles, men, dynamics, and psychology of war as experienced firsthand with the men of second platoon of the 173rd Airborn brigade in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley - one of the most intense and bloody corners of the conflict.  In 2007-2008, author Sebastian Junger inteminently spent 14 month's with the men of second platoon.

As someone who works alongside and ministers within the context of the military community, I was particularly drawn to this book.  This book is very eye-opening for anyone interested in what actual combat experience is like.

Along the journey, Sebastian experiences the terror and thrill of war.  He sees men die in battle right in front of him. Like a drug, most of the men crave the bloody encounters with the Taliban, even while the reality that at any moment their lives could be over is obvious.

The sense of mission and togetherness for a cause bigger than themselves gave their lives a weight and meaning they had never had back in the 'civilized' world.  While most of the men could care less about the politics behind the war, they fought and sacrificed for the lives of the men to their right and their left.

Here are a few of the lines that really grabbed my attention while reading War:

(In relation to why some platoons survive surprise attacks and overwhelming odds): "The choreography always requires that each man make decisions based not on what's best for him, but on what's best for the group.  If everyone does that, most of the group survives.  If no one does, most of the group dies.  That, in essence, is combat."

"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - Winston Churchill

(On group accountability regarding things like tying the laces on your boots or drinking enough water): "There was no such thing as personal safety out there; what happened to you happened to everybody"

(A surprising statistic): "Statistically, it's six times as dangerous to spend a year as a young man in America than as a cop or a fireman, and vastly more dangerous than a one-year deployment at a big military base in Afghanistan."

***Side note*** This was the first book I've read entirely on a Kindle - I rather enjoyed the experience... my only hesitancy is the difficulty it now is to share the book with other friends.

*** Another side note*** I look forward to watching the documentary Restrepo with Sebastian and his photographer/videographer when it comes out  in November.  It was filmed during this same experience.

Mark's #31 - The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World by R.C. Sproul (203 pages)

The Consequences of Ideas is a brief survey of the history of the philosophers and their philosophies that have shaped the world we live in today.

In the introduction R.C. Sproul states, "This book is written not for philosophy scholars but for laypersons -- albeit educated laypersons."   While it is a 'brief survey' of philosophy, many of the concepts and ideas are not easily understood or explained.  In short, this was not a lazy Sunday afternoon read.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed the review, and in some cases, the introduction to many of the great philosophers and their thoughts on ultimate reality.

Here's a list of each of the chapters, which will help you get an idea of the direction and content of the book:

The First Philosophers	13
Plato: Realist and Idealist	27
Aristotle: ThePhilosopher	39
Augustine: Doctor of Grace	51
Thomas Aquinas: Angelic Doctor	65
René Descartes: Father of Modern Rationalism	79
John Locke: Father of ModernEmpiricism	91
David Hume: Skeptic	103
Immanuel Kant: Revolutionary Philosopher	117
Karl Marx: Utopian	133
Søren Kierkegaard: Danish Gad?y	147
Friedrich Nietzsche: Atheistic Existentialist	159
Jean-Paul Sartre: Litterateur and Philosopher	173
Darwin and Freud: In?uential Thinkers	187
Conclusion: Gilson’s Choice

We read this book as part of our monthly Apologia discussion group over a period of two months.  In our first session, there were many participants and a lively discussion.  Whereas, by the second month, for whatever reason, most of the participants had dropped out of the discussion.   It's too bad too, because I felt the most enjoyable and thought provoking chapters of the book came in the second half of the book with the more recent philosophers and their more readily apparent consequences in our world today.

I would recommend this book as an introductory survey of philosophy, though there are some things I wish Sproul would have done a bit differently in the book.   For example, I wish he would have concluded each chapter with a brief discussion of just how the particular philosophies have manifested themselves in the world through history and in our present day world.  To be sure, there was some of this throughout the book, but for the most part, I felt the reader was left to grope for 'The consequences of ideas' on their own.