Ian Cron - Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me

This is a book review of Ian Cron's, Jesus, My Father the CIA and me, that I got through Booksneeze.

In the book Jesus, My Father, the CIA and me; Ian Cron tells a remarkable story of how what it is like to live with an alcoholic father. He starts out the story while his family is doing well in England and ends it off where he is married an living in the United States with his own family. Ian tells of the struggles and trials that a person has to go through living with an alcoholic parent. He outlines the different approaches of trying to get close to his father by first being a good upright Catholic, then a party goer, and then a great student. This shifting of personalities helps him in no avail in getting close to his father. He starts living a life filled with parties as well, and becomes an alcoholic himself, while also addicted to drugs. When he finally finds religion through one of his friends he makes a slow recovery and ends up becoming a priest and gives up alcohol.

Even though the issue that Ian deals with in the story is alcoholism I found myself thinking of many different things that can create a rift between children and their parents. Many of the stages and struggles that Ian deals with can be found in many other situations as well. Ian’s coping methods, drugs and alcohol, can relate to many people and how they deal with their problems. Seeing how Ian struggled, Ian showed how even the largest struggles can be fought with a proper focus on the Lord. Written as memoir the book is truly enjoyable to read.

Elemental Journal

The Elemental Journal by Tammy Kushnir, is a beautiful step-by-step illustrated guide on making keepsake journals using items that many people would consider as “junk” and even toss aside. I got this book as a book-review blogger for Booksneeze. Taking the time to look for items, and using the inspiration from the book, you can use the guide to make wonderful little journal that will give cast-aside items a new life. The book details wonderfully how to make a variety of different journals from materials that can be found laying around the house or the back yard.

Even though I knew that this book wouldn’t have as much Christian content as many others I decided to review it as an art teacher and as an enthusiast. I found myself thinking of ways to reproduce the items mentioned in the book and also adaptations that I could make to the ideas as well as how to incorporate them into my art lessons. Often all one needs for inspiration is a few examples and ideas and this book does a great job of offering them.

Galileo - by Mitch Stokes

Galileo, by Mitch Stokes, a book from the Christian Encounters series printed by Thomas Nelson that I received to review from Booksneeze. The book is written as a biography of the philosopher and mathematician Galileo and his life discoveries and how they impacted his life and the society he lived in. Using scholarly references, the book allows a look at Galileo’s personal and academic life and tells how one affects the other. The book also gives us a glimpse at how Galileo’s religion, Catholicism, influenced his works to an extent and how finally the religion that he practised condemned him and his works as heretics.

As I was reading this book I found myself having to reread sections because of them being hard to understand. Without some background in science I feel that this book would be extremely hard for a reader to understand. Also, the book tends to repeat itself a number of times elaborating on the same hard to understand ideas a number of times making the story more difficult to read. Enough is gathered from the book about Galileo himself, as well as his discoveries to make it an enjoyable read.

Max Lucado - Max On Life

“Max on Life” This is a book that I received for review from Booksneeze. The book is exactly what the title says, Max’s (Max Lucado) answers from scriptural reference to questions about everyday life. He uses scripture to answer questions from every aspect of life, from family issues, to parenting issues, to work issues, religion issues and issues with death. He provides all insight in the form of answering questions posted to him by different people over a number of years. Reading this book can have you finding answers to questions you hadn’t even realized you wanted to ask. As I was reading this book I found myself reflecting on my own life and experiences and reading as if I was the one asking the question. While some questions may not pertain to my lifestyle and work, the answers still provide insight that I found myself thinking about. After reading the book, whenever a problem arises throughout the day I find myself thinking about the way Max answered a question about a similar circumstance. The biblical references provide the insight that a person can take and further learn to deal with the issues. While the book gives the subtitle “Answers and Inspirations to Today’s Questions” I find that the Inspirations is more what the book is about, it will not solve the problems that lead to the questions, but it will give you inspiration on how to approach the problem and solve it with spiritual insight.

Book Review: The Story of the Bible The Fascinating History of Its Writing, Translation & Effect on Civilization; By Larry Stone

This is a book I received free from Thomas Nelson as a member of their book review bloggers partner, Booksneeze. The books gives a glimpse at the history of how we came to have the different versions of the bible that we have today. It gives a background on the authors and the time periods in which each of the different books were written. After giving a background on how the bible was written and who wrote it, it details how each of the different versions and translations came to be written. Complemented with inserts showing what the original documents looked like, this book is a great way to learn about a book that many have read.

When I first glanced at the book, I was truly intrigued at what I saw. I found myself wondering about whether or not I had made a good decision in requesting the book as I’m not much of a history buff. However, from the first page onward I found myself not being able to put down the book. At first I also wondered if I would be making use of the inserts provided, but as I was reading through the book, and came across each of the different versions mentioned I enjoyed being able to take a picture insert and looking at what a page in the document would have looked like, even when it was written in a language that I couldn’t read. Overall, I’d recommend this book to anyone who has ever read or reads a bible as it gives a wonderful look at how the bible came to be published.

Living in the Zone - Book Review

A book that takes you on a 40-day spiritual journey that makes you look at your life from a spiritual perspective. Reading through this book you see how professional sports personalities can live spiritual lives even with the busy schedule they have with their professional careers.
Not being "into" sports should not deter a person from reading this book. Even though you may not be a sports fan you can still relate to many of the ideas put forth in this book. I found myself looking forward to reading about each of the different sports personalities mentioned in the book.
This book offers a true inspiration for any reader.

New Year

Happy New Year's from Manitoba.

It's hard to believe we're almost halfway through the first month of 2011. The days seem to fly by with little being accomplished (maybe not little, but definetly not as much as we'd like).

Nevada has grown and keeps growing every day, seems like there is some little thing that changes about her every day. I especially have enjoyed seeing her change in reactions to people she knows, how she responds differently when Cheryl Lynn or I are watching as opposed to when she thinks she's alone.

With this New Year, I've decided to embark on a new adventure, teaching computer workshops for adult students. We had to cancel the first session due to stormy weather, but hopefully today, the 13th of January, we can make it.

I'll try and have a blog post for how well, or how flopped the workshop turns out being.