Book Reviews

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Lessons from Lives Past

By LeRoy Lawson Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa”s Greatest Explorer Tim Jeal New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007 Cleopatra: A Biography Duane W. Roller London: Oxford University Press, 2010 George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I Miranda Carter New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010 “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Who hasn”t heard Henry Stanley”s famous greeting when, after an incredibly arduous search for the missing missionary-explorer, he uttered this premeditated, deliberately understated line? More Than a Counterfeit That greeting, frankly, is about all I could have told you of the man before reading

October 29, 2010

A Resource for Readers of Books

By Mark A. Taylor “Do you publish books?” It”s a fair question for Standard Publishing, because our company is known for so much more than books: Sunday school courses for every age, a best-selling and award-winning VBS, classroom supplies, youth material, electives for children and teenagers and adults, small group resources, teacher-training materials, and much more. But amid all these Bible-teaching resources is a growing library of books that many adults have come to savor and share. Some of them are best-sellers, too. All of them inspire and entertain and teach. You”ll find many good reads among the books we”ve

October 28, 2010

My Paper Friends

By Mark Atteberry My wife introduced me to my love affair with books. And now they”ve been my companion in life for decades. When you walk into my office you”ll notice a unique smell. No, I don”t have an aversion to personal hygiene. Nor do I burn incense, smoke cigars, eat junk food at my desk, or keep my clothes in mothballs. The smell is a mixture of paper, cardboard, glue, and ink. That”s because my office is full of books. Some are old and a little musty, while others have that distinctive new smell. Whatever they may smell like

October 27, 2010

Read a Book!

By Matt Proctor I love books. As a kid, I read everything””westerns, science fiction, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Most kids think Disneyland is “the happiest place on earth,” but for me it was the public library. I was such a bookworm that, when I got in trouble at home, my parents would ground me . . . from reading! It wasn”t until I enrolled at Ozark Christian College that I discovered reading books could actually be a spiritual discipline. Growing up, books were entertainment””a way to feed my imagination, but I had never considered that the right books

October 4, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Two to Help Us Think About Prejudice

Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind Margalit Fox New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007 Christianity:Â A Short Global History Frederick Norris Oxford: One World, 2002 ___________________ By LeRoy Lawson For this reader, Margalit Fox”s title could be Talking Hands””and What They”ve Taught Me About Prejudice. Prejudice is sneaky, hiding in the deepest crevices of the human psyche, seldom recognized in oneself even by the most accepting and fair-minded among us. Campaigning Against Sign Language Take our attitudes toward the deaf, for example. Who would have guessed that Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, whose compassion for his

September 1, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Missionary Loses It All””Even His Faith

By LeRoy Lawson ___________________ Daniel L. Everett, Don”t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle (New York: Vintage Books, 2008). Kerry and Chris Shook, One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2008). Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984). ___________________ You won”t sleep through Daniel Everett”s Don”t Sleep, There Are Snakes. This is one of the most engrossing and disturbing books on missions I have read in a long time, a study in cultural anthropology and linguistics that often reads like a jungle

July 18, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Who Will Help the Poor Help Themselves?

By LeRoy Lawson The Poor Will be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World Out of Poverty Peter Greer and Phil Smith Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009 The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America Jeffrey Rosen New York: Times Books, 2006 On the Wealth of the Nations P.J. O”Rourke New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2007 Sunday”s sermon was a good one, but on the way home we talked less about what the preacher said than what the preacher showed. His PowerPoint pictured the church”s mission dollars at work inÂ Uganda, among the poorest of the poor: images of the

June 6, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Three Reads to Make You Squirm

LeRoy Lawson reviews three provocative books that challenge church traditions, American worship practices, and Christians’ responsibility to the world’s poor.

May 9, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Will You Lead? Will You Serve?

LeRoy Lawson reviews books by Jeff Jarvis, Gary Hamel, and Seth Godin, drawing leadership lessons for churches, organizations, and the Restoration Movement.

April 11, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Focusing on Grace

LeRoy Lawson reviews four Christian books on ministry friendship, grace, small group leadership, and long-haul leadership, offering a mixed but thoughtful guide for ministers and church leaders.

March 14, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Politics, Commerce, and Religion: All About Us and Them

By LeRoy Lawson Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2009). James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004). David Domke and Kevin Coe, The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). Love of country can be beautiful. I remember returning from my first extended trip to Europe. When we landed I almost kissed the ground, I was so glad to be home again. I”ve since had that experience over and over. I”m proud to be

February 14, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Group Projects and Real People

LeRoy Lawson reviews Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies, reflecting on success, storytelling, faith, brokenness, and the grace found among real people in the church.

January 10, 2010

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Forgotten, Free, and Faithful

LeRoy Lawson reviews three books that stirred his curiosity, exploring the Great Depression, the modern expectation of “free,” and Harvey Cox’s provocative vision for the future of faith.

December 20, 2009

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Taking the Lead

LeRoy Lawson reviews books by Bill Hybels, David Wessel, and Brian McLaren, reflecting on leadership, financial trust, global crises, and the church’s calling to a transformed way of life.

November 29, 2009

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: From Mathematics to Mystery

LeRoy Lawson reflects on four books spanning mathematics and faith, missionary service in Japan, friendship across poverty and race, and P. D. James’s autobiographical reflections on life and belief.

November 11, 2009

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Practical Advice for Problems We”d Wish to Avoid

LeRoy Lawson reviews three practical books offering counsel for widowers, parents of missionaries, and readers learning resilience through hardship, loss, distance, and difficult realities.

November 1, 2009

Eddie Lowen

Read Well to Lead Well

Eddie Lowen reflects on three leadership books that helped him embrace stewardship teaching, understand his leadership style, and equip others for better communication in the church.

October 4, 2009

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Money–Ascendance and Dependence

LeRoy Lawson reviews The Ascent of Money and Hot, Flat, and Crowded, connecting financial collapse, environmental concern, trust, and Christian stewardship.

September 20, 2009

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: What to Do About Poverty?

LeRoy Lawson reviews four books on poverty, comparing global aid strategies, local solutions, and what churches can learn about serving the poor with wisdom and commitment.

September 6, 2009