I have no idea how to categorize a book like “The Social Animal” by David Brooks. It’s kind of a fiction book built around non-fiction research… but it ends up coming across as neither a cohesive story nor a collection of fun facts. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think that Abraham Lincoln was a great president. He also suffered from depression. For anyone who has struggled with depression, or who’s just had to go through some difficult circumstances, “Lincoln’s Melancholy” by Joshua Shenk is a fantastic read that offers real hope. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we make mistakes all the time. Big ones, little ones, lots of them we never own up to. But in some cases, our mistakes can have really huge consequences. Like when you identify the wrong person for committing a terrible crime and send an innocent man to jail for over 10 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Inheritance is the latest Eragon book by Christopher Paolini and the final installment of his fantasy series. While it’s marked a “teen” book, I have to say that it’s a fairly appealing read regardless of your age. Read the rest of this entry »

I really enjoyed “The Know-It-All” by A.J. Jacobs about his quest to read the Encyclopedia Brittanica in one year, so I thought I’d check out his “The Year of Living Biblically” for more adventure and humor. It was funny, but it just didn’t resonate with me the way that “Know it All” did. Read the rest of this entry »

I just finished “Year of Plenty” by Craig Goodwin and now I want to take my family to Thailand. Okay, that may be over-stating it a bit or maybe I’m just travel deprived. “Year” is similar to “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” and “Better Off“, both books that I enjoyed thoroughly. What “Year” does that the others don’t do is put it into a Christian context. Read the rest of this entry »