Mark's #25 - Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is the first book in a post apocalyptic trilogy in the tradition of Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World. Taking place in an unspecified future, society has gone bad, and a corrupt and immoral government is in charge.

What makes this book particularly engaging is the way it ties our cultural fascination with both reality tv and violence as entertainment into key themes of the book.

In short, 16-year-old Katniss is forced to be one of 24 annual 'tributes' to the Capital (each between the age of 12-18).  These tributes are forced to fight to the death in a very large outdoor 'arena' while having their every move and conversation brodcast live to the nation for entertainment purposes (think of the television show Survivor, only with the contestants actually killing each other).  The Capital uses this form of 'entertainment' both to captivate and to control the people.

I enjoyed this fast-paced novel.  The story line was unique and engaging, while at the same time drawing out deeper questions about violence as entertainment.  Unfortunately, as a culture, we're not too far behind... Some of our favorite forms of entertainment celebrate the intended destruction of one image bearer by another (UFC).

Ron says all the 7th graders he knows like The Hunger Games... I say, those 7th graders are pretty cool

Mark's #24 - Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell

Malcom Gladwell set out to answer the question, "Why do some people really succeed, while others don't?"  In particular, why do the best of the best succeed? For example, in this book, what was it about Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, The Beattles, professional hockey players, top lawyers like Joe Flam, and Asian students who excel in math?

As Americans, we love the "pulled up from their own bootstraps" "rags to riches" success stories.  Parents often tell their kids, "you can be anything you want to be when you grow up."  But is that true?  Is it all just a matter of hard work and perseverance, or are their other factors in play?  Is it just natural talent?  Is that what made Mozart - Mozart?

In this book, Gladwell argues (convincingly) that there are other factors.  To be sure, extremely hard work and intelligence are necessary conditions for the successful (sorry, no shortcuts to success), but there almost always is one very key element to a person's meteoric rise to the top; opportunity.

Opportunity is the reason Bill Gates became the richest man in the world.  Two key factors for Bill: First, he was born in 1955 - which turns out to be the exact right time to be born to be a pioneer in the world of computers (by the way Steve Jobs was also born in 1955).  Second, as a teenager, when access to a computer terminal was very limited and very expensive, Bill Gates was given the opportunity to have unhindered access to just such a computer at the nearby University of Washington.

Opportunity is what set the Beatles up for their unprecedented success. They were given the opportunity as a young band to play for eight hours a day, every day in the clubs of Hamburg Germany. After about 10,000 hours (the number of hours one needs to become an expert in any field - including Bill Gates time as a teenager on a computer), when the band returned to play in England, they were much better when they left, and much better than anyone else at the time.

Those are just two brief insights and examples from this book.  In Part two of the book, Gladwell goes on to demonstrate just how profoundly our heritage and the legacies we inherit shape us in both positive and negative ways.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book to read.  I also have a renewed gratitude for all of the opportunities I have been given.

Mark's #23 - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

In my continuing effort to read the books I should have read in high school, today I read this short classic during typhoon Songda today.  Earlier this year I read Steinbeck's East of Eden novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and which is about 900 pages longer than this one. Once again, like a well trained artist, Steinbeck vividly paints each scene and character.  This would be a good short introduction to Steinbeck and his literary prowess esteemed by english teachers.

Of Mice and Men is the story of George Milton and his mentally disabled but extremely powerful and large sidekick Lennie Small.  As Migrant workers during the great depression, the two have dreams of one day owning their own small farm and "livin off the fat of the lan!"  Their plans, however, keep getting sidetracked as they are constantly on the move because Lennie keeps "doing bad things".

Lennie loves to pet mice, and puppies, and one time a little girl's dress. Both the mice and puppy are eventually manhandled to death by the imbecile.  These incidents all foreshadow the death of a young promiscuous wife on the farm.  In her flirtatious way, she allows Lennie to stroke her soft hair.  He likes it, she freaks out, and as she pulls away Lennie gets scarred and squeezes and shakes her to death in the hopes that she'll be quite.   In the end, his friend George is forced to shoot and kill his friend in the back of the head - which was the same fate of an old dog earlier in the book.

As you can tell, the storyline is dark, without any redemption in the end.  It leaves the reader sad... we're so used to the stories that have a rise, a fall, and a redemption, that when we read otherwise it seems like something is wrong.   Indeed, apart from the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the grand story of Creation would end like Steinbeck's novel.

Mark's #22 - The Next Story by Tim Challies

In 1985 the late Neil Postman wrote the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death where he famously critiqued our modern culture and the way the technology of television had eroded our societies ability to think and discourse deeply on the serious issues we face.  He argued that television had turned even the most serious of news into a form of mind-numbing entertainment. But that was 1985, before the modern advances of the internet, email, twitter, facebook, the iPhone, etc.  Did we heed Postman's warnings as we embraced these new advances in technology? Hardly.

In The Next Story, Christian author and blogger Tim Challies seeks to help God's people to develop a God honoring theory, theology, and experience of technological engagement.   To be clear, Challies is not a Luddite, as mentioned, he is a blogger, he uses facebook, twitter, an iPad, and an iPhone.   He argues that technological advancements are part of God's command to humanity to have dominion over the earth.  He says that technology is not inherently evil or good, the issue lies in our own, often sinful,  hearts.

If you've ever felt like the pace of the modern world and the demand for your constant attention is either draining your energy or causing you to obsess over the facebook world, then this would be a great book for you.

As God's people we're called to think deeply and live out our faith in a meaningful context of community.  While email, twitter, your smartphone, and facebook  offer a type of community, it isn't typically meaningful or soul satisfying community. Yet as more and more of our time is sucked away by these things, our ability to engage in the one-on-one, slow, thoughtful, and meandering conversations begins to disappear.  If you've ever been out with your friends and have each simultaneously been checking email, or surfing the internet, instead of talking amongst yourselves, you've fallen prey to this (confession: I certainly have).

So how now do we live?  That's a good question, and a good starting point for figuring out how to live in the sweet spot where theory, theology, and practice of technology overlap.  To begin to break the bondage of our cultural captivity to technology, a good place to start would be by reading and applying this book.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r89uljMuCU

Mark's #21 - The Gift: A Novel (Chiveis Trilogy) Bryan M. Litfin

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7suxKHWC-Os

The Gift is part two of The Chiveis Trilogy. Last year I read and review book one, The Sword, here.  Since The Sword was one of my favorite books of 2010, I eagerly looked forward to the continued adventures of Teofil and Anastatia.

The Chiveis Trilogy is an epic adventure story with strong theological themes.  The setting for the trilogy takes place 400 years in the future, in a world that has been ravished by nuclear war, disease, and famine (which happens 40 years in the future).  The result is a rise of pockets of civilizations that have taken on medieval culture and level of technology.

Like the first book, this book too had many interesting and engaging plot development and twists.  As the two seek out a copy of the  New Testament which has been lost through neglect and destruction. After being forced to flee their homeland over a glacial mountain pass, the pair fall in with the Ulmbartians - a thouroughly shallow culture controlled by dark shamans of evil.

The themes of God's sovereignty, temptation, evil, pride, vanity, and materialism are strong in this book.  Like the first book, Litfin does well to avoid some of the typical pitfalls and cliche's of other Christian fiction.  At the end of the book, Litfin even provides discussion questions for individuals or groups to help process these themes.

Mark's #20 - One to One Bible Reading: A Simple Guide for Every Christian by David Helm

The title of this book pretty much captures the content of the book.  This short book is meant to be a simple tool to encourage and equip believers to engage and grow with others.  The authors imagine a church environment where there is a web of Christians engaging in meaningful discussion of the Bible together.  Rather than creating another program or class to help people grow, this is a more organic approach to growth and discipleship.

In terms of evangelism, I found it interesting and encouraging that 61% of non-churched adults said that they would be willing to read through the Bible one-on-one if someone asked them to do so.  I decided to give this a try and ask someone myself - they said yes, we'll start next week.

The book also gives some basic guidelines and ideas to help people go through the bible one on one.  In Part two of the book, the author gives some additional ideas and patterns to follow while reading the text together.  For example, one helpful model is the COMA model to follow:

• C - Context - What is the context of the passage (of the chapter, book, Bible as a whole, culture, and history)
• O - Observation - what sticks out? What are the main points? Are there any subsections or surprises?
• M - Meaning - What's the meaning of the passage? How does it relate to Jesus, the gospel, etc?
• A - Application - How does the passage challenge my understanding? What does this look like in my life?

If you would like a helpful, and brief tool to equip you to engage and grow with other believers, as well as connect with and reach out to nonbelievers, then you should read this book.