Book Reviews

Problogger has a great article on the best books every blogger should read - I agree with their list, the only one I would add is Geoff Livingston’s, Now is Gone”.

Here is an excerpt from the post:

Blogging is relatively new in the scheme of things, but even so, there are some conventions and ideas that are already well embedded in blog “culture”.

For example, how many times have you heard the phrase “content is king”? It’s pretty clear where that idea is meant to lead, for some other phrases some more context is required. The following five books have become not just best sellers and famous, but actually launched whole new ways of thinking about what we do and their titles have become mainstays of blogging conversation.

Rule 3: Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole… You have not grasped a complex unity if all you know about it is how it is one. You must also know how it is many, not a many that consists of a lot of separate things, but an organized many.

I am trying to finish an incredible book dedicated to the art of reading and doing so intelligently - “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler. The title may sound simplistic, but it couldn’t be more accurate and if you think you know how to read a book - you are wrong.

Beyond this being a book full of sound quotes on thinking and processing information in general, let alone while reading, this book is a great resource if you ever desire to write a book.

I am at the point in the book where it talks about the third stage/level of reading which is called “Analytical Reading.” Here is a quick excerpt:

“How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)” (Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren)

I had the very cool opportunity of meeting the authors of the book Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation About Faith, Churches, and Well-meaning Christians on Wednesday night. The premise of the book is a conversation between a pastor and an atheist as they visit some of the iconic churches in America. After spending a couple hours at dinner and then getting a chance to record a podcast for a client of Contagious, I was really impressed with both of these gentleman.

Jim has been a pastor for 25 years, and has now started an organization call Off the Map. His heart is to help the church find it’s way back to the natural style of evangelism and faith that was displayed by Jesus. He said several times that there needs to be a shift from certainty to faith and from conversion to connection.

Matt is the atheist in the book and the one which the outside perspective centers on. As easy as it is to try and villianize him as the cynical atheist, after having a chance to interact with him - I couldn’t. And that is one of the highest values of this book, is the “permission” it gives the reader to start having real conversations and connections with people, whether or not they agree with you.

It is a great read and I really suggest to everyone just for how it will open your eyes.

It takes a battle to raise change in the church - so you fought and fought and the church did eventually change. You became ‘mainstream’ - then mainstream kept moving and you didn’t move with it. Somehow in the unintentional complacency of just a couple of years you are back right where you started, but instead the songs are from 1980 instead of 1880. You made it through The Dip once before, but now you’ve got lots of withdrawals and a dwindling credit balance.

Josh has a great conversation started on the need to reinvent the church consistently. Do you agree? Here is an excerpt:

Read the rest…

a good intro summary to a very helpful book in “next level” reading…



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I am reading a really cool book called “Peter Drucker: The Great Pioneer of Management Theory and Practice by Robert Heller. It is awesome because it is a broad stroke look at the life of Drucker, and all his thoughts and principles of leadership and management. Not a lot of fluff, just all the good stuff.

Anyways, I came across a great little tidbit on the eight perspectives Drucker asserted a good manager needed to maintain in order to keep producing results. Here they are:

Producing Results Rests on these Eight Perceptions
1. Resources and results exist outside, not inside, the business
2. Results come from exploiting opportunities, not solving problems.
3. For results, resources must go to opportunities, not to problems
4. “Economic results” do not go to minor players in a given market, but to leaders
5. Leadership (in a given market), however, is not likely to last
6. What exists is getting old
7. What exists is likely to be mis allocated (i.e., the first 10 percent of effort produces 90 percent of the results
8. To achieve economic results, concentrate.

All stuff I had never seen before, and that I think is helpful in ministry or wherever!

“Good blogs, or at least blogs a lot of people read and follow, nearly always cover the same four bases: let people comment, trackbacks are important, no tolerance for spam, and enable RSS for your readers’ sake.” - Walsh

“Your blog, like other successful blogs, needs big hulking heaps of credibility to be successful.” - Walsh

I have been reading through “Clear Blogging” by Bob Walsh in trying to get a solid grasp the use and benefits of blogging both personally and professionally.

“The big advantage of conversational marketing is that the consumers reach their own decision under their own power. It is helping them reach their own conclusions.” - Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion

First, the book has ALOT of information in it. Walsh really covers so much that it is hard to read like a normal book, it feels more like a reference book than your typical read. He starts very basic in explaining what a blog is, and how to set one up on a few different platforms.

The element of the book I like best though are the interviews between Walsh and Industry leaders in blogging, and the fact that it was published this year (these things change so fast it is good to have a current source). These solid glimpses of the best minds in blogging reveal new and innovative ways to think and use this ever evolving medium.

Here are a couple of the best so far:

This is from a quick excerpt on Fast Company about a new book from Jeff Chester titled: Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy

Here is an excerpt:

“The dramatic, lightning-fast changes now occurring within communications are one reason why we can’t afford to be silent. If we act now to express our collective vision of the kind of communications system that the United States requires in the 21st century, we might have a media environment that nurtures free expression, education, social justice, and economic well-being. Missing from what should be intense and well-publicized debates about where our digital society is headed are discussions of how our media can foster civic participation, make government more accountable to the public, address the needs of low-income people, and help ensure that our programming reflects the nation’s diversity.”