Imago Andei

Donald Miller-A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

 I had a break in homework this weekend and so was finally able to pick up Donald Miller's latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  I knew that it was around the theme of story and had heard him give a couple amazing talks on the topic but I wasn't really sure what I would think of the book.  It was amazing.  I think this could easily be described as Miller's best work, even exceeding his extremely popular Blue Like Jazz (which is definitely worth reading).  I think in Million Miles we find a more refined Miller who is able to tie his thoughts and insights of life and faith into a more congruent movement and story.  The book is beautifully written, gripping, and enjoyable.  I literally hardly put it down from the time I began on Thursday evening till I finished reading around lunch on Friday.

The book follows what happens after Miller was approached by some filmmakers wanting to turn Blue Like Jazz into a movie.  As they edit his life he realizes that he might not actually be living a good story and sets out to make some changes.  He pursues a girl, rides a bike across the country, and starts a foundation that provides mentors to fatherless children.

This book will properly push you to examine the story that you are living.  It will encourage you and inspire you to live a good story.  It is definitely worth reading the next time you have a few hours free.  I highly recommend A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

Gary Hamel-The Future of Management

Gary Hamel's talk at this past summer's Leadership Summit was by far my favorite so I immediately added his books to my Amazon wish-list.  This morning I finished his book The Future of Management.  It was the best book on leadership I've read in a very long time.  I love the way he sees the future and how he talks about how we can best lead our organizations.

He looks very practically at what managers and leaders can do to help foster innovation and sustained success in their organizations and he argues that managing our employees differently than our competitors is the best way to gain a competitive edge.  Gary gives some great case studies of organizations that our organized in ways that help them keep a step ahead of their competitors and he also has great information and exercises you can go through with your own organization to think about how to change your management culture.

The Future of Management should be taken seriously by every manager and should sit prominently on their bookshelf.

Retiring into Secretness

Young Adam was always an obedient child.  Something in him shrank from violence, from contention, from the silent shrieking tensions that can rip at a house.  He contributed to the quiet he wished for by offering no violence, no contention, and to do this he had to retire into secretness, since there is some violence in everyone.  He covered his life with a veil of vagueness, while behind his quiet eyes a rich full life went on.  This did protect from assault but it allowed him an immunity.-John Steinbeck East of Eden

I read that this morning and then stopped and read it again because it was so profound.  I believe it speaks to the existence so many of us are living; in secretness and under the veil of vagueness. 

For a lot of us it is because it was the best (or only) way we knew how to get through the abuse of our childhood.  For others they hide because it is the best way to protect themselves from getting hurt or abandoned.

We so often want to hide from the darkness in this world and so we stuff it deep inside and lock it away but we don’t realize that the darkness that has caused us so much pain coming from the world also lives within us.  And when we push the darkness away and lock it up we lose part of ourselves.  Violence is in everyone, he says.

Now I’m not saying that we should succumb to the darkness that resides within, only that we should acknowledge it and look it in the face because until we can do that it holds a power over us.  Until we can acknowledge that the darkness that hurt us coming from someone else also resides in us we will never be able to forgive, we will never be able to heal.

I think a lot of times Christians especially ignore the darkness within.  We Christians are supposed to be holy and loving and caring and we don’t know what to do when our tempers flare or are moral foundation crumbles.  But ignoring the problem is not a solution.  We need to, in the context of a loving community, stare our darkness in the face and say, “I know you but you do not control me.”  By bringing the darkness into the light its power disappears.  Only darkness that remains in the shadows has power over us.

And when we allow the darkness to win we retire into secretness and live under a veil of vagueness and miss out on the life we could be living.

Tom Kelley-The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

IDEO has popped up in a few talks and books I've gone through recently and so I thought I'd like to learn more about them and came across The Art of Innovation written by the general manager of IDEO, Tom Kelley. I have to say I was blown away by the quality of this book.  It is the most practical, yet insightful, book on innovation and creativity I've ever read.

I think for a lot of us creativity and innovation seems illusive.  We all want it, yet can't quite grasp it all the time.  IDEO has been driven by creativity and innovation for decades and in this book Tom discusses how they've been able to keep the flame alive.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants their organization to think, work, and act more creatively and produce more innovation.  I know The Art of Innovation will remain on my leadership bookshelf for a long time.

Charles Wheelan-Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science

When I found out that I got into the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy I was ecstatic.  It then quickly dawned on me that this was essentially a masters of applied economics and I had never taken an economics course in my life.  I needed help.  I needed someone to open me up to the basic understandings of economics.  I needed econ 101 in a book, and preferably one that was entertaining.

Thus enters Naked Economics.  I had seen it on the shelf at Borders and it had even been in my Amazon wishlist for some time and then I learned that Charles Wheelan actually teaches at the school I'll be going to.  So I thought I'd pick it up.  Both to be able to kiss his butt a little bit but more so because it did look like a good introduction to economics.

It was.

And now I cannot wait to take his classes.

He was funny and engaging and did an amazing job of putting econ 101 into an entertaining book.  I now feel more prepared to dive into my economics classes with at least a base level of understanding.  So if you're wondering how the Federal Reserve works, why McDonalds sells so many hamburgers, and how Bill Gates has a private jet and you don't, pick up your own copy of Naked Economics today.

N. T. Wright-Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

N. T. Wright is an outstanding contemporary theologian and one of his more popular works, Surprised by Hope, has been on my Amazon wish list (see left) for some time now.  It's one of those books that I've heard about again and again and just never got around to reading.  I am so glad I finally did.

The book stretched me intellectually.  It is one of the deeper theological books I've read and there is so much packed in to each page that it took me awhile to get through it.  I could only handle it in certain doses.  But what he has to say is very enlightening and important.

The book centers around our beliefs of the resurrection and heaven and how those impact our mission.  He spends a lot of time setting up his argument for a bodily resurrection and what it meant to first century Christians and Jews, the theology of heaven and whether it's life after death or life after life after death, and then he dives into how that impacts our mission here and now.

I've been fascinated by the theology of heaven for some time now.  A lot of Rob Bell's teaching around heaven coming to earth began to peak my interest in the subject.  (Bell is quoted on the back speaking praise about Wright)  I think the view that many in the Christian faith have of heaven being a far off place we escape to is absolutely wrong.  The Bible speaks of a new heaven and a new earth coming together in the end.

I could go on but it wouldn't do justice to what N. T. Wright put together in Surprised by Hope.  Definitely go out and read this book and let it influence your thinking about eternity.  It will radically shape you.

Larry Crabb-Real Church:Does it Exist? Can I find it?

I recently received a copy of Larry Crabb’s latest book, Real Church-Does it Exist? Can I find it? I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. Larry is a well-known psychologist and Scholar in Residence at Colorado Christian University and so I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a book about the same old “relevant” and cool models that I’ve heard about a million times.

Thankfully it wasn’t.

The book addresses the fact that Larry, not unlike many Christians, has gotten to a point where he no longer desires to attend church. It’s not that he and others don’t love God or have somehow been “led astray” it’s just that the church is no longer helping them to become more and more like Jesus. He writes, “In most evangelical church services I’ve attended, (he talks about dissatisfaction with other traditions as well but since he has spent the majority of his life in evangelical circles it is about them that he writes) my hunger for truth that transforms, for love that liberates, is rarely satisfied.” I could not have said it better myself.

Throughout the rest of the book he wrestles through what he is in fact looking for in a church. “The church I want to be a part of, a real church, will teach spiritual theology that stirs a hunger for spiritual formation that surfaces the need for spiritual community that then marshals its resources for spiritual mission.”

One of the things I loved most about this book is that it is written from someone who has embraced brokenness and sees the church as the hope for total wholeness. I think often times books about churches are written by pastors, teachers, missiologists, and others who don’t view the church from a psychological, emotional perspective. In my opinion not all “successful” churches truly help their congregation embrace their own brokenness, share the hope found in Jesus, and allow that to drive their mission. I’ve seen too many programs, tricks, and other get big quick schemes in the church and this was refreshingly very not that.

Real Church is now on my stack to pass around to the church leaders and planters I know. I would recommend it for every church leader. It will help push you beyond what you thought church could be and articulates what I think so many of us feel.

Michael Pollan-In Defense of Food

If you've spent anytime with Tovah and I over the last year you've probably noticed how our opinions of food have changed.  Tovah has really lead the way in this and through our "pillow talk" conversations she continues to change my views.  The latest book she passed my way was Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.

Pollan argues that food is in need of a good defense from the onslaught of "food like products."  The American diet has become more and more processed and we're beginning to eat more food and getting less nutrition.  Now Pollan is not advocating just eating less fat or more of this or that, quite the opposite, he says we need to return to eating food, not too much, and mostly plants.

It's a well written look into the world of nutritionism and our fascination with finding the magic ingredient when really we need to say that food is complex and we need to go back to our roots and eat what our great grandparents did.

The first two sections were kind of hard for me to get through because I've been totally out of the nutrition loop and am unfamiliar with proteins, fats, and other things the average person is probably comfortable discussing.  The final section through is wonderful.  He dives in to what we can do to bring food back in to our diet and change our lifestyles.  It's really great stuff and worth getting to.

So I'm sure the next time you come over and have dinner with me and the wife you'll hopefully see our fridge full of food, hopefully locally grown produce, and not too much of it and if you stick around long enough we'll probably try to talk to you about Michael Pollans philosophy and his book, In Defense of Food.

Eric Bryant-Peppermint Filled Pinatas: Breaking through Tolerance and Embracing Love

For the last couple months I've been following Eric Bryant's blog.  And just over a month ago he posted something about belonging before believing in communities of faith and since that's the kind of environment I try and create around Axis I decided to drop him a line.  He was very gracious and answered all of my questions and pointed me towards some great resources, including his book, Peppermint Filled Pinatas.

This book is great!  It's one of the only books on ministry that I've actually enjoyed reading and what it said about ministry.  Full of stories from his own life, Peppermint Filled Pinatas talks about how to live as a Christian in a multi-cultural, multi-faith, urban environment.  It is a great mixture of theology and practical advice.  It covers everything from throwing parties to learning to embrace diversity.

I'm definitely recommending this book to the entire Axis team as a great one to read.  I was very surprised at how much I just enjoyed reading it.  Eric has a disarming way about him because he seems so comfortable in his own skin and with his own experiences.  He doesn't try to hide or minimize his failures or puff up his successes.  Peppermint Filled Pinatas is a definite must-read.

Bill Clinton-Giving: How Each of us can Change the World

I'm really fascinated by some of the current trends in philanthropy and I'm trying to read up on it as I get ready to go to school so I decided to pick up Bill Clinton's book, Giving, to hear some of the stories of their organization and others around the world.

I think one of the great strengths of this book is the stories that it tells.  It goes though various ways we can give; time, money, skills, etc. and in each chapter he tells the stories of people who have given that way both big and small.  That is one of the things I appreciated.  Not everyone is a Bill Gates who can give billions of dollars away so he tells stories of every day people doing what they can.

The main premise of the book is pretty straightforward, the world would be a better place if we all gave a little and there was nothing earth shattering in it.  But the stories he tells do deserve being heard and it is often good to be reminded that we should all be Giving.

Bill George-True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership

True North has been on the "To Read" list since I heard Bill George speak at the leadership summit last year.  Bill is an accomplished leader who is now passing down his wisdom at Harvard's School of Business.  True North dives into what creates a truly successful leader and says that it is authenticity.  Now Bill would say that there are "successful" leaders who live in-authentically but they usually end up at some point having their leadership fail or their organization decline because of it.  The ones that create lasting change live from a place of authenticity.

Bill looks at 5 areas where authenticity is neeed; self-awareness, motivations, support team, integrated life, and values & principles.  When those five things are working in harmony with your job you will find success and lead authentically.

I love hearing from older successful leaders who are no longer interested in the accolades or prestige but have found themselves and long to just pass down their wisdom to younger leaders.  Bill George is a prime example of someone longing to do that and True North is  must read for leaders of any age.

John Howard Yoder-The Politics of Jesus

I've spent the last week reading Yoder's The Politics of Jesus.  It's a wonderful book that dives into what Jesus' life looked like to his followers and how in fact he gave us a beautiful example of how to live socially and politically.  He merges theology and sociology beautifully and it is probably the greatest theological book on peacemaking ever made.

Yoder is one of the foremost Mennonite theologians, a strand of faith I've become increasingly interested in.  The whole Anabaptist-Mennonite tree of the Christian faith seems to resonate deeply within me in their view of social action, living differently than the world, while still not pulling away from society.  So it was exciting to finally read from one of their best theologians.

I definitely didn't pick up on everything that Yoder threw down.  The book is absolutely brilliant and is really meant to be studied but I enjoyed picking it up at night and definitely felt stretched and enlightened.  It's absolutely brilliant.

So if you're into social action and theology and enjoy the likes of Rob Bell and Shane Claiborne I would definitely recommend pulling out Yoder's The Politics of Jesus.

David Gergen-Eyewitness to Power:The Essence of Leadership Nixon to Clinton

I read David Gergen's book Eyewitness to Power in preparation for his talk at The Leadership Summit.  Gergen is a regular on CNN and is a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  It's a really interesting book looking back at his career through 6 presidents' White Houses.  He has been a speechwriter, communications director, and presidential advisor and has seen everything from Watergate to Whitewater.

Through the book he tells the story of the Presidents he has seen and looks at both the strengths and weaknesses of leadership they've brought to the White House.  Gergen has done a good job of being honest and treats all of his subjects very fairly.

It's an interesting book to read and for me it helped open my eyes to Presidential politics and made me very excited to hear him speak at Leadership Summit.

Malcolm Gladwell-Outliers: The Story of Success

Gladwell sees the world differently.  He has the ability to find unique connections between many varying stories and see the importance in them.  In his latest book, Outliers, Malcolm dives into what makes successful people successful.  We often think of their rare talents and innate giftedness as what leads to their success but Malcolm says, "Hold on a minute" and dives into their stories, their environment, and their history to find some other factors in their success.

In short Gladwell shows that environment has as much to do with success as hard work and skill.  He talks about how you're more likely to play professional hockey if you're born in January and how if you want to be one of the worlds wealthiest people you should have been born in 1835.

As a gifted storyteller Gladwell makes Outliers very engaging, I actually read the whole book in one sitting.  It's a fun book that is definitely worth checking out.

To see some vintage Malcolm Gladwell check out the below video of a talk he gave at TED.

E. Benjamin Skinner-A Crime So Monstrous

I flew through Skinner's A Crime So Monstrous over the last couple days.  This book does the best job of any I've ever read of telling the story of human slavery.  Skinner traveled all over the globe meeting with traffickers, victims, survivors, and advocates and has pulled together their stories to tell the grand story of modern day slavery.

I was immediately pulled in when the first chapter described, in detail, how a slave could be purchased a mere 5 hours from the time your flight left JFK.  Skinner was able to do this because he left JFK hopped on a plane for Haiti and proceeded to pose as someone interested in buying a human being to bring back to the states.

He tells the stories of sex slaves and child soldiers and points a much needed spotlight on forced labor which accounts for the vast majority of slaves today.  You will not remain unmoved as you read this book.  You will feel the uphill battle the US ambassador for human trafficking faced and the pain of the 13 year old Haitian girl smuggled into the US right past an unsuspecting border agent for rape and servitude.

This is a must read.  Take the time.  Pick it up at your library or buy a copy on Amazon.  You need to read A Crime So Monstrous.

Jim Collins-How The Mighty Fall

A couple days ago I laid in bed for a couple hours and plowed through Jim Collins' latest book, How The Mighty Fall:and Why Some Companies Never Give In.  First off I need to say I love Jim Collins' work.  If you haven't read Built to Last or Good to Great you need to right now.  He does an amazing job of performing great research to find out why organizations succeed and in his latest book, why they fail.

The book originally began as an article and after diving into it he found that the topic needed to be addressed more fully.  It really is an important thing to look at and the timing of the books release is quite interesting with the collapse of some of America's great institutions.

If you're the leader of an organization that has experienced some success this book will help you identify the beginning stages of descent and will help you counteract.  How The Mighty Fall is a fairly easy read and definitely worth your time.

Influencer

Several weeks ago my boss handed us all copies of the book Influencer.  It seemed to be one of those self-help we'll make your life better and you'll be unstoppable kind of books so I didn't really pick it up until a few weeks later.  While some parts were a little self-helpish for my literary tastes the book does contain some really good information.

Influencer unpacks some of the socio and psycho-logical traits and behaviors of influence.  We all exert influence in the world and so how can we learn to do that better.  How can we get our leaders to become more missional?  How can I enjoy training for the marathon?  All of these are things I want to do but am not always sure how but I actually found some useful ideas in the book.

It's not one of those read every word page turners but it is definitely worth picking up if you've hit a wall with your influence.  You can find a copy on Amazon here.  And don't watch the Amazon trailer, that's a big part of the reason I didn't want to read the book haha.

Muhammad Yunus-Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capatilism

Muhammad Yunus presents the idea of social business in his book Creating a World Without Poverty.  The basic idea is that man is driven by more than money so shouldn't our companies.  The current model of capitalism requires our business to only look to financial goals, what if we created a whole business community with social goals, such as providing health care to the bottom 20% of society or creating low cost agricultural solutions for household farmers.

Muhammad Yunus lays out this future by talking about a current venture between his family of Grameen companies and Danone of yogurt fame.  They came together to create a new company with purely social goals that didn't pay financial dividends to it's initial investors.  The goal was to create a cheap food source for children of impoverished families.

Muhammad Yunus is a visionary with a heart for the poor and his latest book, Creating a World Without Poverty again asks us to rethink our current ideas of what works and create a world without poverty.

Richard Stearns-The Hole In Our Gospel

If you have ever wrestled with what God expects of us then you better go out and pick up Richard Stearns' The Hole In Our Gospel.  Richard is the president of World Vision, one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world, and in this book he shares some of his story of coming to World Vision and why most of us are living with a hole in our gospel.

I often have wrestled through questions of what God expects of us regarding the poor.  I believe to my core that I should leverage what God has given me to benefit the bottom half but it is often a struggle.  I am easily drawn towards comfort, security, and wealth.  So as I read Richard's story I was at once deeply encouraged to see someone else wrestling with these issues and challenged at the decisions he was able to make.

Before coming to World Vision, Stearns found great success in the business world.  At age 33 he became the President of Parker Brothers and eventually went on to become the President & CEO of Lenox, the fine china company.  It was while he was at Lenox that he was approached by World Vision whom he had no interest in.  Through an amazing series of events chronicled in the book he eventually, and somewhat hesitantly, took the job of President at World Vision.

Beyond telling his story, The Hole In Our Gospel, speaks to all Christians abou missing the works side of our faith.  We have become so focused on being saved by grace that we have forgotten we have also been saved for good works.  If you have never read about poverty in our world this book will inform you and if you are already informed this book will help you live differently.

The Hole In Our Gospel will encourage and inspire you to live out your faith fully.  It will challenge you to sacrifice on behalf of the world's poorest and fully embrace all that God has for your life.  It is definitely a book worth picking up today.

Richard Rohr-Everything Belongs

So I finally finished Everything Belongs.  I've been reading it for a few months because literally every paragraph has some sort of gem I need to wrestle with.  Rohr has become one of theologians lately and I love the way He views God and spirituality.  Everything Belongs dives into meditation, mysticism, and contemplative prayer to help us identify the heart of God and see how Everything Belongs.

I'd definitely recommend the book to anyone who wants to learn more about the mystical view of the Christian faith.  It's something that has been lost in most evangelical circles and Rohr does an amazing job of opening our eyes to all that we're missing.