The DMZ - Jeanette Windle

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Category: Fiction Acquired: SPCC Church Library Read: August 2008 Briefly: Jungles, terrorists, kidnapings, escapes, snakes, bugs, bullets.

Comments: This book stands out from the typical Christian novel in a couple of ways. For one, the plot itself isn't totally implausible. OK, maybe it is, but at least it's interesting. Islamic terrorists form an alliance with Columbian guerrillas in order to strike at the US from the same hemisphere, yada yada. Hey, it's a lot more believable than some Romanian guy becoming dictator of the world.

Beyond that, I thought the characters had some decent depth to them. The woman (a journalist) grew up as a missionary kid, and had baggage - deep doubts and bitterness about whether the sacrifice was really worth it. The male protagonist (Army Special Ops) was a ghetto kid whose conversion to Christianity had re-formed his outlook on life. No quick fixes here - the author takes her time (and 500+ pages) gradually breaking down the cultural gulf that separates the characters, and leading them through lengthy conversations that eventually peel back the issues and create some honest confrontations. Part of this comes about as the journalist spends a month in a guerrilla camp, observing people whose commitment to a cause has driven them to even greater sacrifices than the ones she has made. It's well done, actually, and not hokey.

Best of all, the inevitable romance doesn't develop until the final 50 pages, and can be safely ignored because it's not that important to the plot. You can just skip right by it and give all your attention to the cool, shoot-em up finale.

Longitude - Dava Sobel and William Andrewes

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Category: Biography Acquired: Borrowed from Dennis O'Brien Read: July 2008 Briefly: the subtitle says it all: "The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time".

Comments: In the middle of the 18th century, one of the greatest scientific problems facing humankind was navigation - finding your location on the globe. Without an accurate way to determine latitude and longitude, sailing across oceans would continue to be a risky proposition.

Latitude wasn't the problem, because it could be easily calculated from the sun's position. Longitude, on the other hand, perplexed the most brilliant scientific minds. Why? It, too, was calculated from the sun's position, but that had to be done at a precisely-known time. If you were a minute too late, your calculated location would be off by dozens of miles. The problem was that clocks built in the 1700's could gain or lose many seconds per day - completely inadequate, when multiplied by a 40-50 day transoceanic voyage.

So, while longitude was the great problem, the desperately-sought solution was a clock that could stay accurate through the jarring motions and temperature changes of an ocean voyage. The need was so great that, in 1714, the British Parliament offered a 20,000 pound reward for a suitably accurate device.

This book tells the story of John Harrison, who spent most of his life developing a series of five such clocks. It's a story of brilliant engineering (he pioneered techniques still found in clock mechanisms today), of famous people (Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley have roles), and of political intrigue (due to conflicts with the head of the reward committee, it took him over 40 years to receive his money).

It's a good read, with plenty of photos and diagrams, and just enough technical detail. You'll come away appreciating how something we take entirely for granted today - accurate time-keeping - was once a seemingly impossible dream.

Oh, and you'll also learn what the word horology means.

In His Image - Paul Brand (with Philip Yancey)

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Category: Medical, devotional Acquired: Smokey Point Comm. Church Library Read: July 2008 Briefly: Humanitarian doctor shares some of the scriptural truths that have become more real to him over the years as he has observed the workings of the human body.

Comments: Amazing guy, amazing book. Dr. Brand spent most of his life in India as a medical missionary, working almost entirely with lepers - because nobody else would. Working year after year to reconstruct damaged limbs, he's responsible for greatly advancing medical knowledge on the workings of the human hand, and is known for his pioneering techniques in restorative surgery.

This book isn't his biography, though - for that info, you might start with the chapter about him in Yancey's book Soul Survivor. Instead, it's more like a devotional - each chapter begins with a discussion of some aspect of the human body, and then develops that background to illustrate a spiritual theme.

For example, there's a fairly indepth discussion about blood - its composition, its functions, its roles within the body, etc. (One thing I liked about the book is how simply he describes incredibly complex processes - even with no medical background, the concepts are completely understandable). After presenting those topics, he then talks about the message of blood in Christianity.

In particular, he takes issue with those who say that blood is primarily symbolic of the pain and suffering that Christ underwent on our behalf. Wait a minute, he says - blood is a far more positive symbol than that. It's responsible for bringing nourishment to the other cells. It facilitates the healing of sick or damaged parts. It's also the primary mechanism by which the immune system protects the body from attack. Starting to see the point? When Christ's blood becomes a part of us, we are likewise nourished, healed and protected, by virtue of having received a transfusion of His blood. Cool.

For insights like these, and many more, I can heartily recommend this book. Incidentally, it's actually a follow-on to the original Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, which I understand was written along much the same lines. Too many lessons for just one book, I guess. Hopefully my favorite church librarian can scare me up a copy of that one, too.

The Call of the Wild & White Fang - Jack London

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Category: Books that everybody else read in high school. Acquired: Half-Price Books, Everett Read: July 2008 Briefly: Two stories, one about a domesticated dog that returns to his wild roots, and the other about a wild dog that ends up domesticated. Does that mean they cancel each other out?

Comments: I didn't pick this up for any particular reason, except that I've never read anything by London and sort of wondered what the fuss was about. I'm not even a particular fan of animal stories, but do have some interest in the historical setting, namely the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1904.

Anyway, being the last person on earth to read these books, I don't have much to say about the stories themselves. What I did find interesting about this particular edition was the introduction, written by a professor of American literature at Vassar. She discusses London's (well-known) interest and support for Socialism, and then proceeds to cite passages from the books that (to her way of thinking) illustrate and even validate the Socialist world view. Example: the wolf pack that stalks and eventually overwhelms the two dog sledders at the beginning of White Fang demonstrates that workers who organize (i.e. the wolf pack) will have greater success than those enslaved by the ruling class (i.e. the mushers, who are carrying a cargo for a rich family). What foolishness, as she totally misses the point. She doesn't even see the irony in the Jack London letter she quotes later, where he pitches his idea for White Fang to his publisher, raving about how many copies it's going to sell. Ahhh... Socialists make such good capitalists.

So, check this book off my list of books I should have read long ago. What's next? Who knows, maybe it's time to pick up some of the Shakespeare plays that went straight over my head in high school.

Moneyball - Michael Lewis

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Category: Sports, non-fiction Acquired: Suggested/loaned by Ben Z. at work Read: July 2008 Briefly: Unique ways of judging player talent keep the Oakland Athletics perennial contenders in the AL West, despite having one of the smallest payrolls in the Major Leagues.

Comments: I've always been a little skeptical of baseball statistics, particularly the ones popularly used to compare players, but which clearly don't tell the whole story. For example, a pitcher's W-L ratio can have as much to do with his team's offensive performance as it does his own pitching skill. A player's batting average fails to reward those who get on base in other ways - walks, in particular - which are just as useful as hitting singles.

This book, written by a Bay area author, describes how A's GM Billy Beane developed his own ways of judging talent, ignoring traditional metrics and even setting aside the traditional wisdom of his scouting staff. He shocked the Major Leagues by drafting and trading for players who were unimpressive by conventional standards. As a result, he was able to get maximum mileage from his salary budget, for which the numbers are impressive - typically half that of most teams.

While there's no doubt that the A's have been a team to reckon with for the past 10 years or so, it's a little hard to say that it's been specifically because of this approach. The proof just isn't there. Nonetheless, this book is an interesting read because of the insights it gives into how teams choose players, and how they wheel and deal in their back rooms when it's time to trade. There are also a few nice character studies of players who were chosen against all odds, and who did indeed become the contributors that Beane predicted.

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Category: Russian Novel Acquired: Borrowed from Betsy & Todd Read: February, March, April, May Briefly: Russian man commits a nasty crime, and is tortured by guilt for 472 pages.

Comments: So, you ask, "since when did Ken start reading Russian novels?" The answer is twofold: first, since I became impressed by how often Dostoevsky was mentioned by other Christian authors as someone whose writings had a profound impact on their own spiritual journeys. Indeed, I've heard him described as someone whose writings kept the Christian perspective alive during the dark days of Communism. I wanted to understand why this was so. Secondly, it was just one of those curiosity things - my kids had read them (voluntarily), and I wanted to see what the fuss was about.

However, what they neglected to tell me (until too late), was that the best way to go at one of these books is to read a commentary first, find out what to look for, and then go ahead and read it. Maybe if I had done that, more of it would have sunk it. As it was, I pretty much followed the story line OK, but I think I missed the deeper parts. At least, I can't point to any profound effect this had on my spiritual understanding. I suppose it also didn't help that I read this book in 15 minute snippets over a four month period. Maybe that's not ideal?

The Shack - William Young

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Category: Fiction Acquired: Borders Read: United Flights 916 and 950 (Seattle to D.C. to Brussels) Briefly: An excruciating family tragedy leaves a man angry at God and questioning His goodness, love and justice. After months of brooding, he receives a handwritten note in his mailbox, inviting him back to 'the shack' - a key locale in the tragedy - because "we need to talk". The ensuing weekend is something we've all dreamed about at some point or another - the chance to sit down with the triune God of the universe, letting Him know that things aren't going so swell down here, and getting to hear His response.

Comments: Jumping right to the bottom line - you need to read this book. Not because it's a theological textbook, but because it's a piece of art, where the author paints word pictures to show what it might look like if the three members of the Trinity were to meet with someone in a run-down shack in the woods. He describes their effect on the physical surroundings, their interactions among themselves, and their compassion toward the person -- all with a depth of creativity and beauty that left me smiling and shaking my head in awe (when I wasn't... ummm... wiping some speck out of my eye). The theology is sound (as far as it goes), the topics are deep, and the treatment is immensely satisfying.

Basically, there's no way I can really do justice in reviewing this book, so I'm not going to try. However, here's a link to the best review I've read so far, written by a fairly well-known evangelical theologian. And, just for completeness' sake, here's a link to the most absurd review I've read.

That being said, I will comment on two things that left an impression:

First, I was tickled by the portrayal of God the Father as a matronly, cookie-baking African-American woman. When the man (and probably some of the readers) reacted in surprise, the response was (my paraphrase): "yes, I know you were expecting a caucasian, grandfatherly type with a white beard, and I wanted to show you that all mental images are equally incorrect". (Note to The Matrix fans: there's a striking similarity between this depiction and Gloria Foster's character "Oracle". Anyone care to explain?)

Secondly, there was a phrase that caught my eye as the Godhead were discussing the nature of the love relationship. It was that such relationships should not be built around expectations, but rather around expectancy. That is, you don't approach the other with a list of desires and needs that you want/expect them to satisfy, but rather by granting them freedom to do whatever they think best, simply trusting them to have your best interests at heart. Still pondering that one.

Yes, I know that this book has generated some controversy in the Christian community, but lighten up folks - it's fiction - it's fantasy, not a theology textbook. I've read a few of the negative reviews, and the most common theme seems to be that it portrays God's relationship with mankind as essentially love-based. That is, it doesn't spend a lot of time talking about God's other, equally important attributes - righteousness and justice - which necessitated the ultimate act of love on Christ's part. Fair enough.

However, I'd also point to the picture hanging on the wall of many Sunday School classrooms - the one where Christ is standing in a garden, knocking on a door and hoping to be invited in. But guess what - Jesus didn't look like that, and there is no actual garden, no door, and His knocking is only symbolic. And yet, that piece of artwork, in its own symbolic way, communicates an important truth about one aspect of God's relationship to humankind. It's not the whole Gospel, but just one part, yet presented in a way that's memorable, accessible, and just might impact you in ways that a textbook description never could. If a painting can accomplish that, how much more can a piece of literary art such as this book?

As it happens, my niece Denaye was reading this book around the same time that Brenda & I found it. I thought her comments on it were insightful, you might enjoy them as well.