book reviews
Book Review: Flyboys by James Bradley
This book was painful to read.
The first 8 chapters are basically the same first 8 chapters in his other book The Imperial Cruise. It’s all the historical backstory of how the Japanese became Imperialist war-mongers = they learned it from the British and the Americans. America’s hypocrisy is plainly exposed but apparently Bradley wanted to make sure we got the point. The book drags along with no real movement to the supposed point of the book – the story of the American flyers that found themselves as POWs in the hands of the Japanese.
I put down the book twice. I kept coming back because Flags of Our Fathers was one of the best books I’ve read so I knew that Bradley could tell a great story. Plus I had a friend tell me how wonderful this book was. This is the same friend that sings John Denver songs on a ski life so take it for what it is worth.
As bad as the first 8 chapters are – the last half of the book is outstanding. It’s as if Bradley found the overdrive button. We hear the stories of the POWs, the atrocity of their captors, the hypocrisy of the US bombing runs, the moral dilemma the Air Force found itself in concerning the atomic bomb. We hear the horror from the Japanese perspective as they endured the burning of Tokyo to the ground, their complete ignorance of what was really going on in the war.
Bradley handles the hypocrisy of the United States quite well. You will cringe and be revolted at what the Japanese soldiers do to the American flyboys. There is no word to describe this kind of savagery. However, as soon as our moral superiority kicks in, Bradley reminds the reader that the American treatment of Filipino POW’s decades earlier was eerily similar.
The issue of bombing civilians is another example. The United States historically preached against such a practice. They would publicly chastise any government that would partake of such villainy. However, the U.S. had no such qualms in Doolittle’s attack against Tokyo or in subsequent bombing runs. One might argue that Japan practiced total war, putting strategic military targets in the middle of the civilian population. And that Japan was getting ready to arm women, old men, and children as the U.S. military approached Japan. But the U.S. still made the decision to bomb civilians with Japan but did not with Germany.
The decision “in the moment” to bomb Tokyo to the ground was about saving lives in the long run. The thinking was when the Japanese see the kind of destruction that the US could rain down on their cities, they would surrender and the war would be over. When Japan didn’t surrender, the decision was then made to drop the atomic bombs. That decision was about saving US soldiers lives. I agree with Bradley assessment – while the theory of civilian bombing is atrocious to me, in the case of Japan – she made it impossible to avoid.
The book ends with some nice epilogue moments. The family members getting closure on what really happened with their sons, George Bush returning to the island where he was shot down, as well as the ‘rest of the story’ for the Japanese soldiers involved in the story.
So what to do with this book? If you’ve read Imperial Cruise, take warning. The first half of the book is going to be a re-read and a painful one at that. In Imperial Cruise, it fit. In this one – it felt forced. If you haven’t read the Imperial Cruise, this may read just fine.
To be clear – I am glad I finished the book. The book is a graphic reminder of what price the Greatest Generation paid for our country. It’s a price that I pray no other generation has to pay. It’s a reminder of the legacy of compassion and courage we have as a country as well.
Book Review: A Table In The Presence by Lt. Carey H. Cash
One of my congregants put this book in my hands. I’ll be thanking him when I get back.
Before I brag on the book – and there is a lot to brag on – I do have a suggestion for Cash and his editors. Put me, the reader, in the story. Don’t just relay the facts to me. I want to hear and experience the pauses, the stillness, the conversations. For the first half of the book, this doesn’t happen. It reads like an officer brief. It’s not bad but it’s not good either. Only when Cash starts speaking of the battle for Saddam’s Palace does this change. Then it’s good…very good. He takes us and puts us in those AAVs and soft-sided humvees.
If you ever wondered exactly what a military chaplain does – this book will answer all of those questions. I actually wanted more. Having been a platoon leader for a combat engineer company as well as an XO – I’ve heard men cuss like a Marine in one breath only to pray like a pastor in the next. For those on the outside – it sounds like hypocrisy. But it isn’t. It’s the perfecting of a faith in front of your eyes as these young men – many with no church or religious background at all – figure out how to make Jesus a vital part of their lives. And it is a process starting with the inside parts first. Those outside parts – language included – are often the last ones to get polished up. And that’s okay. I’m guessing that Word publishers couldn’t exactly put in print half of what is said in a line platoon. But I wanted that because I think it more vividly paints the miracle of salvation that Cash talks about.
Cash spends a little time talking about the concept of just war and why we were right in going to Iraq. I think his insights here are well-spoken and well thought out. I also agree with him. While most of the media harp on how there were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, they seem to miss the larger picture. And some of that is squarely on the politicians shoulders. It was foolish to use the WMDs as the trump card as to why we were going to Iraq. How about to get the man who attacked civilians on 9/11? Or to bring democracy and safety to a country being ruled by a tyrant? Or to final answer the call of a dictator who continued to harass and attack American citizens? What about the good that our military has done? I’m proud to have served with a military that leaves the places they occupy in better condition than how they found it. What other military can say that?
There are faith traditions that refuse to pick up arms for any reason. I have incredible respect for those traditions and am glad they are a part of the fabric of body of Christ. We need them. We need them to remind us that over all other things we are called to be ministers of the peace of Christ. While I respect them and gladly worship with them, I also believe there are times when it is just and right to pick arms to fight. How much of that is my family tradition versus the scriptures? I’m not sure. Cash does an excellent job of pointing to Joshua and David as warrior leaders of God. He does an outstanding job in outlining his reasons for belief in a just war. I can’t do any better than what he wrote on that subject.
Cash tries to end the book dealing with the difficult subject of God’s sovereignty in the area of life and death on the battle field. Why is that some are given a reprieve under the most ridiculous of circumstances while others die? If God “chose to save” some, is He not then responsible for the death of others?
Cash uses the the two very different stories of Daniel and Stephen. Daniel was saved from the lion’s den, Stephen was stoned to death. I appreciate the stories but I think Cash misses a very important point in regards to the military. We signed up for this. It’s not that everyone in a combat unit has a death wish – far from it. We just know that death is part of the gig. We are going to do all that we can to minimize that risk but it’s there…always there.
In fact, all of our training is focused on two harsh truths of war. First, a war is won by killing the enemy. As fast and as ferocious as possible. Second, a war is won by staying alive to accomplish point number 1. All combat training can be categorized into one of these two purposes.
Cash’s story is compelling and despite my two minor complaints above – I really enjoyed the book, especially the back half. It’s worth the read.
Book Review: 206 Bones by Kathy Riechs
Author Kathy Reichs created the character Temperance Brennan and is the inspiration behind the TV show Bones. Fans looking for those same characters of the Jeffersonian Institute crew are going to be a bit disappointed. There is a witty detective that resembles Seely Booth but he’s called Ryan. And that is pretty much all that this book has in common with the show.
The story is written as a flashback…which sort of works…mostly.There are just a handful of chapters written in ‘real time.’ So few that I wonder why it was used. Maybe Reichs was bored and wanted the challenge? Personally, I am not a fan of the flashback. Just tell the story. But this one works with only a few hiccups. The biggest one being in how the book ends.
The story itself is good. Multiple murders that somehow are connected. Great science and good detective work. It is a quick read and entertaining but not something that I would read again. I’m even debating recommending it at all.
Spoiler Alert:
It’s not exactly a family-friendly book. Language and situations are adult. So it’s definitely a PG-13 read.
The larger issue is that it felt like the book was written with an agenda for the science community. In short: there needs to be a board process for forensic professionals because so many people are being wrongly incarcerated. I appreciate the passion. I’m just not convinced that those who need to hear that message are sitting down to read Kathy Reichs’ books. I also think that this agenda got in the way of telling a better story and being a better read.
Lastly, the ending is a huge letdown. Instead of this big reveal, we get the clouded memories of Tempe. We get told what happens by Ryan in a hospital room. Very stoic and matter of fact. Reichs spends hundreds of pages setting up this great story and then blows the delivery of the conclusion. Very, very anticlimactic and it all means that if they had board certified forensic professionals – all of this could have been avoided.
I love the show and it’s obvious that Reichs can write but this one did not deliver the goods. Not sure if I will pick up another one.
No promotional considerations were given for this review. I bought this book myself.
Book Review: When The Mob Ran Vegas by Steve Fischer
Summer and vacations are my time to catch up on my reading in genres other than theological/religious books. Military history, space race, fiction, biographies – I am a sucker for a good story. My favorite way to find a book? Wandering thru Barnes & Nobles – especially the bargain books. That is how I found this book.
Steve Fischer knows how to tell a story. He first tried selling some Vegas memorabilia online. He would tell the backstory of the item and then people would visit his site not to buy the item but to read the stories. So he put them in this book.
If you are a mobster/Godfather story kinda of person – you are going to love this book. (By the way, Fischer thinks the movie Casino is the best picture about mobsters.) It’s written as if you were drinking a cup of coffee with the author as he spins story after story. It doesn’t really matter if you know the characters or not…they are just fun to listen to. Fischer writes with an understated sarcastic sense of humor even when covering topics like who exactly was the best hit man in Vegas. Which according to Fischer, the safest place in the world actually was inside the city limits of Vegas. The Feds were cranking up the heat in the 40′s after all the bloodshed. Plus the Mob knew that gamblers were not going to drop their money in a place they could get killed. So the Mob collectively decided to quit killing inside Vegas. Of course, they did not have that same kind of restraint outside of Vegas.
The book is not all mob hits and jail time. Fischer covers the who’s who of Vegas entertainment back in the 50s and 60s. Like the night Frank Sinatra went to see Buddy Hacket perform and Buddy came out on stage with nothing on except his tall black dress socks and black shoes. He literally had half the audience , including Sinatra on the floor laughing so hard. The other half was in tears.
Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr get high marks in the book. Two of the geniunely funny, friendly guys. It was not uncommon for these guys to chat up guests in the lobby or over dinner. Sinatra does not. Part of the reason was his mob connections. But most of it is because Sinatra was every bit of a jerk. Apparently he was a huge prima donna.
My only issue with the book is that it isn’t written in chronological order. Fischer jumps back and forth, between decades, hotels, and characters. There is no set pattern to these stories. I wish the editor would have either reorganized the book thru one of these ways or at least made Fischer do it. It is only a minor distraction for a good read.
There are some PG-13 parts to the book. A little language, a lot of violence, and some showgirl stories. But very fun read for history buffs.
I am not recieving any promotional favors for this review. I’m not against accepting any if anyone out there can do that. However, for this review I bought this with my money at a local bookstore.
Book Review: Rocket Men
I finished this book on the Brazil trip. It’s one of the few benefits of having 24 hours of travel one way. You can get a lot of reading in. (Or catch up on Burn Notice, Season 4. Which we did that as well.)
Craig Nelson’s Rocket Men is more focused on the particular men that first landed on the moon – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. This book really uncovers the layers of the two men, the conflict of who was supposed to get out first, the simulator crashes, the stress of being seconds away of aborting the landing and then life after the moon visit. It’s an easy read, an entertaining read as Craig Nelson knows how to tell a complicated story in a way that most will understand.
Kudos to him for that.
However, for the serious NASA buff…my hunch is that this book will be too full of “minor” discrepancies (errors?). The ones that I noticed were these:
Apollo 4 did NOT do a U-turn after launch and head for the ground, MR-2 and Ham did NOT hit 2,298 miles per SECOND and his discussion on the reliability of the Saturn rockets. The big rockets of Saturn were the most reliable NASA has ever seen. The secondary rockets was where they had their problems. Plus, I’m not sure how Armstrong logged 4,000 hrs in the X-15 in just 7 flights.
The funniest comment I can’t decide if it is an error or if he’s just trying to be funny. He claims that one of the reasons the astronaut wore gold-plated visors was just in case they ran into aliens. It would keep them from seeing their faces.
It was an entertaining read and I got more out of the back story of the men of Apollo 11 than anything else. If you are really interested in NASA and the Apollo missions, you must read Andrew Chaikin’s A Man On The Moon as well as Chris Kraft’s Flight: My Life In Mission Control. These are two of the best books ever on the subject.
Cooper’s Review of Power Up! All-Star Devotional
I blogged my viewpoint on this book back here, then handed it to Cooper. Told him to let me know what he thought. This is what he wrote me. (Yes, I made him write it out! I’m that kind of dad…I also play Xbox with him so that should even it out.)
From Coop:
This is a great devotional resource for sport fanatics who want to relate sports to God. It has four sections: hockey, basketball, baseball, and football. They are written by miscellaneous authors connected to each sport – Matt Stover, Ron Brown, Deb Patterson, and Frank Reich are a few. This book includes in each section the top 25 games in sports history. This is really cool because it relates what you’ve just learned to the greatest games in sports history.
For instance, perseverance was David Tyree and “the catch” in the Super Bowl that beat the Patriots.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves sports. This is a great book.
Great job, Coop. Thanks for doing this.
Book Review: Power Up! All-Star Edition: Devotional Thoughts for Sports Fans
Click on image for Amazon.com link to book.
Let’s start with a basic overview. The book is divided into 4 major sections – each one covering one of the major sports in the US – hockey, basketball, baseball, and football. Each sport is given 25 devos. Each devo has a Game Plan nugget, a fast fact about the vignette or story, a key verse, the actual vignette/story, then a “Follow Through” question with instructions to read a larger section of scripture.
The last part of the devo is a snippet about one of the 25 greatest games played in that sport. It’s a nice touch but I wish they had pushed the envelope a bit in this area. In the introduction, the editor tells us he didn’t want to cause controversy by ranking the games. He just wanted to point out great games. Well…I for one wish he had ranked the games then told us why he ranked them where he did. Then invited us on a website to debate, dialog and contribute further.
At any rate, the book is well laid out. Each devo takes up two pages but both pages are open to the reader at the same time. Typeface is easy to read. Plus there is a key verse reference guide in the back as well as a short bio on each of the writers.
The Not So Good
Let’s start with the obvious – most devotional books smack of Hallmark Christianity with enough cliches and pithy sayings to make us all sick. It’s the nature of the beast, I guess. I’m fairly skeptical when it comes to devotional books, especially sports devotional books.
The good news is this book doesn’t drop to that kind of writing. Your hands will not get sticky (sap) while reading this book. It’s not going to exactly exactly challenge you either.
It leaves me fairly conflicted as to how to review the book. It’s mostly a good resource, but it’s not great. If we are going to stick with the sports metaphor – it’s a stand-up double. A lot better than striking out, much better than a single, far from a home-run.
The stories were great examples of basic, simple spiritual truths. The vignettes will be great illustration material. But there just wasn’t enough of those “slap you upside the head, put the book down and seek God’s face” kind of moments. Lots of motivation, not a lot of challenge.
Those that are looking for the next “My Utmost For His Highest” will be disappointed. And yes — it is completely unfair to compare any book to Oswald Chambers but I do think it is fair to expect more scripture than story, more spiritual truth than vignette. And on this front, the book did not deliver. It had a great set-up to deliver this kind of material, but it is obvious that is not the kind of book they wanted to write.
So You Hated The Book?
No. Not at all. There is much good about the book. In fact, I think there are some specific people that are going to get quite a lot out of the book.
A pre-teen sports buff.
A middle-school sports fanatic.
A coach that needs a quick banquet story with a spiritual principle.
An athlete leading a pre-game devotional.
A new believer who needs a “first” tool to help them get in the Word.
There are enough great stories and fast facts in this book that a coach would be wise to have it on his (or her) shelf as a quick resource of stories to inspire their teams as well as teach some spiritual principles. My sports fanatic son is going to love this book. Any young, new believer who needs a guide in getting into the habit of reading God’s word will find this resource extremely helpful and easy to use.
So if you fit into one of those categories – grab it. I know I’ve got a couple in my own house.
Disclosure: Discovery House Publishers sent me a free copy of this book to review. I was under no obligation to give a favorable review.
Invasion by Jon Lewis Book Review
My kids are ridiculous readers and I try to keep up with them. I’ve read the Harry Potter books, the Hunger Games trilogy, and all of the 39 Clues books. When I saw the opportunity to read and review this, I figured it would be a great opportunity to put another good book in the hands of my kids.
Invasion is the first in a series of books on the adventures of Colt McCalister and the CHAOS organization. Colt discovers that his mom was in the middle of uncovering a plot by aliens posing as humans to destroy the earth when she died, that his grandfather was the inspiration of a comic book hero, and that he has been specifically chosen and gifted to help CHAOS save the world. Think of CHAOS as MIB – Men In Black, a super-secret organization whose mission is to save earth from aliens.
While there is plenty of action and cool gadgets, there are not a lot of twists and turns to the story. And while the characters are likable and easy to follow, they don’t hold the depth that other books in this genre provide. The characters are who they appear to be and the story reads fairly straightforward from there.
It’s a fun, entertaining read but by no means a “stay up the whole night so I can see how this ends” kind of book.
My rating – 3 stars.
Why? I think most teenagers would not find the story intriguing enough to stay with it. It reads better for preteen/tween audiences – along the same lines of the 39 Clues series. It would not be a series that I (as a parent) would follow along with my kids like I have done with other series.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Wisdom Chaser by Nathan Foster
I have read quite a few books this summer — at some point, I’ll do quick reviews on them all but this one deserves its own post. Nathan Foster is the son of world famous author Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline, Streams of Living Water). The subtitle of the book really tells the arch of the story – Finding my Father at 14,000 feet.
Being from Colorado, I read with delicious envy his descriptions of Long’s Peak, Mount of the Holy Cross, Mount Quandry, and other adventures in the Rocky Mountains. What ambushed me about the story was the relationship mess that Nathan and Richard had and how something as simple (and dangerous) as climbing a mountain could be the tool God used to heal that mess.
There is nothing more complicated, precious, and delicate than a father-son relationship. As sons we expect our dads to be better than what they really are. As dads we hope our sons don’t find out how clueless we are at parenting. Nathan exposes this reality in a tender, humorous, honest way. And in the midst of figuring out their own relationship, they both teach the rest of us something important about the human condition and the relationships we hold as sacred.
For Nathan – the risk of the ask, the risk of trusting, and the risk of pushing deeper. I’ll let the book fill in how each of those risks looked like.
For Richard – the grace of forgiveness, the humility of being truly humble, and quiet desperation of loving a son enough to do something he’d never thought he’d do.
There is much in each person to relate to and I have a feeling I’ll come back to this book again.
The Imperial Cruise
Finally finished this book – The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley, author of Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys.
Not sure really where to start with this book. The premise Bradley starts out with is that this publicity cruise taken by Taft and Roosevelt’s daughter Alice was really a secret mission to solidify a secret, illegal treaty that Teddy had entered into with Japan. Furthermore, that this treaty led to Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States entering World War 2.
Bradley does an outstanding job in illustrating the racist agenda of turn of the century politics, Teddy Roosevelt in particular. Bradley adequately points out the United States failures in diplomatic relationships concerning the Philippines and Korea as well. As to the extent as to how these events directly led to Pearl Harbor and World War 2, he didn’t make as clear of an argument. Besides that, the cruise seems to be just a prop to the actual story going on between Teddy and the Japanese.
Not his usual outstanding writing but still good. It’s a harder read than his other two books.
Leadership Lessons:
Teddy Roosevelt was more concerned about his image than anything else. He played tennis but refused to have his picture taken while playing. Image will only take one so far and last so long.
He also surrounded himself with ‘yes-men.’ While that protected his image (somewhat), it was incredibly short-sighted and as a result, Teddy made some huge international diplomatic blunders. Did it lead the US into World War 2? I can see how it didn’t help, I can see how it destroyed the Philippines in the early 1900′s. I’m not convinced it completely is THE reason.
Teddy handcuffed his leaders. I use that term loosely. He withheld information from his key leaders. Many times he just used them as puppets for his hidden agenda. But full-disclosure and empowerment of leaders never happened with Teddy Roosevelt. It’s a pretty significant warning for us all.
Book Review: Alcatraz: The True End of the Line
I got to meet Darwin Coon on my trip to Alcatraz. It was a very short and uncomfortable conversation. After reading the book, I understand why.
The book has less to do with Alcatraz and more to do with Coon’s life. He starts off robbing banks, eventually gets caught. He escapes, get caught again, sent to Leavenworth. It’s at Leavenworth he’s accused of stealing tools from the shop and is sent to Alcatraz.
The book is a quick read, fairly well written. Coon’s opinion is that it is possible to retrain and change a person’s behavior. He doesn’t think prison has to be JUST punishment. To that end, he was glad when Alcatraz was closed. Alcatraz existed to punish and punish only. It’s purpose was not to rehabilitate. After taking the tour and reading his book – that much is clear. If you were sent to Alcatraz, it was basically a death sentence.
The book doesn’t just take you on Coon’s wild ride but introduces you to some of Alcatraz’s more famous prisoners. Al Capone, The Birdman, as well as the Anglin brothers – subject of the Clint Eastwood movie “Escape from Alcatraz.” Coon was an unknowing accomplice to the “Escape from Alcatraz” saga. He got a tool for one of the Anglin brothers. He had no idea at the time what they were planning.
The fact that the Anglin brothers were never seen or heard from again has led many to assume they died. Coon disagrees. According to Coon, the Anglin brothers were Bayou Boys. They loved the water, knew how to live off the land. They were also extremely intelligent. Coon believes that Jon Anglin was one of the smartest men he has ever known. Plus, they were quiet. They didn’t like attention, knew how to keep their mouth shut. The fact they had planned and worked on the escape for almost 2 years proves that fact.
The surprise of the book comes when Coon is released. After spending over 20 years in prison, what would he do with his life? He meets Jesus, gets married and starts foster parenting. Now he sits at Alcatraz a few days a week telling others not just his story but His as well.
Book Review: Into The Wild
After reading Into Thin Air, Robert encouraged me to read more of Krakauer’s works. Into the Wild is the story of Chris McCandless and his journey towards an “examined life.” He graduates from college, gives away all his money and sets across the country – into the wild.
The shocking thing about the book is that you know how it is going to end after the first 3 pages. Krakauer tells you the end picture of Chris McCandless. I was half tempted to punt the book at that point. “What kind of author tells you how the story is going to end within the first 3 pages??”
But Krakauer isn’t trying to tell just WHAT happened. He’s more consumed with the HOW and the WHY. And on that level, he does an excellent job. Where Krakauer stumbles a bit are the three or four nostalgic chapters on his own adventures and a few other characters that had some parallels to Chris McCandless. Were they boring or over the top rabbit trails? No. But I’m not sure what was gained by them either other than it took up more pages. You’ll be entertained and informed at the end of those jaunts but I’m not convinced they were necessary either.
Where Krakauer is excellent is in telling the arc of the story of Chris McCandless and his family. He has laser sharp insights into family dynamics. It’s these insights that save Into The Wild from becoming another vehicle to bash the dysfunctional family. Chris learns that his dad not only divorced his first wife, but had an affair and was married to his mom BEFORE the first divorce was final. He learns this as an adult by investigating his parent’s past. It’s doubtful Chris EVER forgave or got over that incident on top of the value conflicts he had with his father.
Krakauer was careful in the book to point out that while Chris put many of his ideals in practice, he had his own huge blind spots of inconsistencies. The very past and family roots that Chris was trying to unshackle from, he wouldn’t allow his dad that same freedom. The men that Chris idolized – Tolstoy, London – led much worse private lives and lives that were completely at odds with the ideals they wrote about. The Great Alaskan Adventure that McCandless was so focused on not only ended tragically, but hardly in the “great wild.” He was 6 miles from a US Forest outpost, 1 mile from another set of cabins, and stayed for much of the adventure inside an abandoned bus.
There’s some time taken in the book to evaluate McCandless – was he an idiot? Did he have a death wish? Was he just another stupid young man who underestimated the Alaskan wild? What if he was none of those options? What if he was just a guy who was trying to find out who he was and he just made one mistake in the middle of that process? McCandless wasn’t stupid nor was he suicidal but the strength of the book isn’t in how Krakauer answers these questions.
The strength of the book is found in Krakauer insight of human relationships. The greatest sin of his father – in Chris’s eyes – was his insistence of doing what he wanted when he wanted to do it regardless of how it effected others. The son was guilty of the same sin but at a much higher consequence. It’s this insight that Krakauer nails exactly.
Book Review: Yeager
My knowledge of Chuck Yeager went something like this – the guy that sold AC Delco batteries, then I learned he first broke the sound barrier. I watched the movie “The Right Stuff” to learn how influential he was in the testing of rocket engines.
Stuff I’ve learned since then? He was a World War II fighter pilot who was shot down, escaped, then got right back in the air. He led squadrons in Europe during the cold war ready to nuke Russia if it ever got to that. He led a squadron in Vietnam. He was the best test pilot the Air Force ever had, flying over 100 experimental aircraft. The minute the U.S. got their hands on a MiG jet, they flew Yeager out to a hidden location in the Pacific to test out the capabilities of the plane. He established and ran the school that provided over half the astronaunts to NASA.
All in all – the man was a stud. His story is absolutely incredible as he followed one creed – Love what you do, do what you love. When what you’re doing isn’t fun anymore or gets you amped, go do something else.
The book is good for is giving an intimate look at the Air Force during the Golden Age of Flight – moving from props to jets to rockets. Yeager was in the middle of the transition. He talks about the hardship of being in the military and the risks they took. Lots of great stories and escapades.
The big takeaway for me – nothing worth having is safe. Yeager took the risks he took because he loved flying. He loved it. He didn’t take stupid, unnecessary risks but he didn’t just look for the safest route in the world either. If you are going to be the best in what you do, you will have to take some risks. Unavoidable.
Good read.
Book Review: The Bourne Legacy
I thought I stray over into some fiction this time around. I almost wish I hadn’t. Eric Van Lustbader tries to pick up where Robert Ludlum left off and while he doesn’t do a terrible job…it’s not a great one either. Ever seen a great movie that did so much better than anyone could have thought so they decided to make more without really thinking through it? This is the book form.
We find David Webb/Jason Bourne teaching at Georgetown University. He’s married, got a couple of kids but we never see them during this story. An attempt is made on the life of David Webb which launches Jason Bourne back to the forefront and what ensues is an around the world jaunt to find the terrorists who’ve made this super weapon of mass destruction.
What made the Bourne trilogy so appealing was that he wasn’t James Bond. He’s not going to get the girl because he doesn’t really know who he is and we are on the journey with him. There may be some devilish bad guy who is set on ruling the world but that’s not Bourne’s problem to solve. He is his problem to solve. And most of the time what he finds, he doesn’t like. Neither do we but at least we feel the conflict of that with the character and we get to watch him make sense of it and resolve it. We like the story because we see a character who doesn’t like who he has become and he’s desperately trying to change that.
The other thing was even though the escapades and action sequences were incredible – they were at least in the realm of possible.
This book never seems to capture that. It’s not a bad book. It’s just reads more like James Bond than Jason Bourne.
Overall, a decent book but not great. 2.5 out 5 stars.
Book Review: Flight: My Life In Mission Control
Flight is the autobiography of Chris Kraft, NASA’s first flight director. I know what you’re thinking – NASA + rocket science + an administrator as the author = boring book. Wrong. Kraft tells you how it was and what he thought through every step of the program AND he names names. It’s not a politically correct look at our space program which is part of what makes this book so good.
The other part is the incredible insight on leadership and risk.
Some nuggets from Kraft:
Ruthlessly evaluate everything. After every mission, exercise, test and simulation he gathered all the principles and had a “Sweaty Palms Session.” It’s a no-holds barred critique of every aspect of the activity. No one is immune from criticism and there are no job titles or position once the session begins. EVERY SINGLE PERSON got held under the microscope.
Even the Flight Director – who is basically God on space missions. No one can question his authority or orders during a mission. He is the final say of every single issue. Once the mission is over, he sits in the Sweaty Palms Session just like every one else and takes his medicine. If you couldn’t handle that kind of honesty and evaluation, you weren’t needed at NASA. Instead of alienating co-workers and creating a cut-throat culture, it did the opposite. They had an atmosphere of utmost trust and purpose. The focus was on getting better, not stroking egos. “The mission is more important than me.”
Simple is better. This was about both rocket-design and the leadership structure of an organization. Kraft notes that most of the fixes on spacecraft were simple. It’s not that they were opposed to big, extravagant fixes. It’s just that the more extravagant the fix, the more new problems it seemed to create.
This same principle applied to the leadership structure at NASA. Kraft notes that the early years of NASA were so effective in terms of time and money because they flatlined the authority structure. There were no levels of buerocracy to fight through or politicians to please. The mission was the job and whatever advanced the mission was quickly implemented and adopted. As NASA grew and added more committees and more politicians, they not only lost their effectiveness but their vision and purpose. You can sense Kraft’s hatred of what NASA had become after Apollo. He hated it because vision was replaced with politics.
Kraft noted that the lower down the hierarchy an idea originates, the better it is. The higher up the chain of command, the more out of touch it is. Kraft was adamant that front-line personnel make flight policy and procedures, not administrators. The higher-ups tend to make policies for themselves, the front-line people tend to make decisions for the betterment of the mission.
There is safe, then there is too safe. Kraft noted many times in the book that there was a limit to being safe. The very mission was to explore space, put men on the moon. None of that is safe and anyone who signed up to be a part of that knew that. In fact, the risk was part of the reason they were signing up in the first place. Kraft walked the line of not being afraid to take risks versus putting yourself needlessly at risk. The US could have beat the Russians into space but politicians made things too safe – like sending multiple missions of chimps into space. Kraft notes that now we know that the US was technology ahead of the Russians in every aspect of the space race since Sputnik. The difference was the Soviets took risks – some would argue needlessly.
Kraft points out a couple of missions where they were being too safe and it almost ended up being more dangerous.
Vision is what drives people. Not policies. Kraft ends his book with a series of questions that probably critique current space exploration more than any diatribe. He asks when will we being going to Mars? What’s the big goal of NASA and space exploration right now? The silence screams more than anything else. When asked about the justification of spending the money on that in light of wars, homelessness, poverty, and other social needs, Kraft cuts to the core. With out the space race, there would be no remote monitoring of health patients, laptop computers, countless other technological advances that have helped our world. The residual of the space race was good for all. Kraft said he couldn’t imagine living through the ’60s without the space race. It seemed to be the only good, unifying, constructive thing occurring in that decade.
If you are a space-geek, loved Apollo 13 and From The Earth To The Moon – get this book and read it.
Book Review: Band of Brothers
Stephen Ambrose’s passion for World War II has gifted the world with some of the best books ever written. D-Day, Citizen Soldier, and this one – Band of Brothers. The book follows one company – Easy of the 506th Airborne Infantry – from training in Toccoa, Georgia to the end of the war.
The leadership lessons alone make this book a must have. Major Winters ends up being the hero of the story. His steady influence, example, and leadership made this unit one of the best in the world at the time. My favorite line comes from Winters while he is chewing out another lieutenant for gambling with the men. The young LT can’t see how gambling is all that bad. Winters asks him what would have happened if he’d won. In the silence, Winters reveals his guiding principle of leadership – “Never put yourself in a position to take from these men.”
And Winters doesn’t. He gives, he sacrifices, he leads, he demands the best, he cares for them but he never takes from his men. He’s there to serve them and the mission – a balance that at times gets hard to achieve but he does it.
It’s a value I’ve tried to communicate in ministry. We (leaders, volunteers) exist to serve others, not ourselves. We make decisions based on what is best for the mission and the ones we are called to serve. I’ve been fortunate to never have on my own teams someone who was there more for themselves than the students but I’ve met youth pastors who were. They don’t get it and often times end up doing more damage than good.
Winters did the best that he could to make sure the leaders of the men in the 506th understood that principle.
Book Review: Climb to Conquer
This was a hard book to finish. First, Peter Shelton’s account of the 10th Mountain Division is thorough and impressive. What these men accomplished in the short amount of time they were activated plus the losses they suffered is astonishing. The men of the 10th not only served their country well but when they came home, they committed to making it better.
Most of the ski resorts today have a direct link to someone from the 10th Mountain Division. The rope tow and chair lift were used in battle to first save men. Great insights and stories.
However, I do have to be honest and say that the initial excitement I had in learning about the 10th Mountain quickly faded. Shelton’s first two and last chapters were amazingly well written with a story-tellers heart. Something happened in the middle and it began to read like a… well… a history book. And I don’t mean that in a good way.
What’s frustrating is that all the pieces are there, the research, the personal stories, how they fit in the whole of the 10th Mountain story, even the epilogue. But for whatever reasons, it doesn’t flow like a story. It’s a great resource and well researched. I just wanted more story out of it.
My Favorite 10 Books
Darrin asked me for my favorite 10 books. I hope he doesn’t abandon his Halo practice to start reading (he really needs it) but these are the books that I’ve read over and over and each time I get something new out of it.
Messy Spirituality, Mike Yaconelli
Actually anything by Mike Yaconelli. You can’t go wrong by reading Yaconelli but this is my favorite one. You can check this out to see what I mean. Messy Spiritually was probably the single most influential book on my life. It forced me to rethink biblically what spiritual transformation is and what it NORMALLY looks like and to be okay with that.
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Another author that I have every one of his books and YES…I’ve actually read them. Only a one of his books gives me grief – Till We Have Faces. I’ve yet to finish that book with a clear understanding of what the heck is going on and a sense of enjoyment. Fortunately, this book is the exact opposite of that. It’s written clearly and plainly. In fact, the content of this book was lifted from conversations Lewis would have about Christianity in pubs and lecture halls across England.
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
I have 4 different sets of these books. I don’t really have a great reason why. My son has a set. I have two. Then there is the big family book that has them all in an illustrated coffee table book. Any book that a family has 4 copies of must make the list.
Into Thin Air, John Krukauer
I wrote a longer review here about the book. Tons of leadership lessons and incredible writing. It’s rare to get an author be so vulnerable with who they are and yet maintain a clear perspective on the subject. Krukauer does this. I’m actually going to pick up a couple of more his writings…thanks, Robert.
Instant Karma, Wayne Sheldrake
Here’s another author who has that rare gift of being incredibly vulnerable without being myopic. I wrote a longer review here. I’ve actually had the privilege of having a long e-dialog with him as well as meeting him face to face. We hit it off immediately. I can’t wait to read more of his stuff and he actually invited me to go skiing with him…both on snow and sand. I will do both…and wear a helmet and depends when I do.
D-Day, Stephen Ambrose
Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose
I could have listed a few more of his books here. Undaunted Courage was spectacular (Lewis and Clark expedition) as well as his treatise of Eisenhower. Ambrose wrote history as story and made it personal. We often get an unvarnished look at our heroes, heroes that were broken but resilient. There is no better book on the Normandy invasion than Ambrose’s D-Day and I’ve read about all of them. There is no better narrative blend of history and story than Band of Brothers.
The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning
How does Jesus REALLY heal? What does Jesus REALLY look and sound like in a room full of alcoholics who are trying to get sober? Does Jesus really love the poor or is he only reserved for middle-class white America? After reading Manning’s insight, I doubt you’ll ever be the same.
Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
Miller didn’t set out to write the theology of twenty-somethings across America. He wrote to figure out his own journey to Jesus and to wonder out loud if the Jesus he was introduced to as a child was anything like the real one. I promise you’ll laugh out loud. I promise you’ll find something you completely disagree with.
Endurance, Alfred Lansing
Shackleton’s story of “failure” in the end becomes one the greatest stories of survival and leadership. I’m actually going to re-read this book this year so I’ll save my longer review for later.
Yes, I could have list more but I’ll stick with these right now. Any thoughts? Any you would add?
Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince
I love these books and last year after I read the 7th book, I decided to reread the whole series. It’s great story telling although by this book, you would have think that Harry and his mates would have learned a few lessons of perspective and trusting their friends. They haven’t and that’s part of what makes the book enjoyable and partly true to the teenage world.
Snape’s character is probably one of the greatest characters ever written. You’re lulled into hating him because Harry does. Although by this time in the series I found myself on multiple occasions wanting to chastise Harry for his complete lack of perspective. I guess that’s a sign of good writing – you find yourself arguing with the main character of the book.
These are just fun reads and reminds me of when I was a kid, staying up late with a flashlight under my covers reading the Chronicles of Narnia.
700 Sundays
A memoir by Billy “You Look Mahhvelous” Crystal. Crystal’s dad died when he was 15 years old and he figured out he only had 700 Sundays with him. Sundays were the family day – the day at the beach, to play baseball, to see the Yankees, to eat Chinese food.
Crystal will have you laughing at his description of his family – aunts and uncles that seem larger than life and you will immediately recognize as part of your own family. He’ll have you crying the night his dad died and the funeral that follows.
A fun read and a great reminder that kids pick up more than we think and have a great capacity for humor.
Into Thin Air
Ever notice how one bad decision can snowball into about 15 more? Now put that theory to test on Everest at over 29,000 feet in the middle of a blizzard. That’s this book.
Jon Krakauer tries to make sense of the tragedy on Everest in 1996 with this book. That task alone is complicated by the fact he was in the middle of it at 29,000 feet above sea level where the mind and body are not just taxed to limit but beyond it. Every minute above 25,000 feet is a minute closer to death. The body begins to destroy itself, the brain is deprived of precious oxygen and decision making is confounded by both cold and confusion.
Krakauer wrestles with his responsibility on the mountain. He writes the story from his perspective then revisits this perspective later once he’s off the mountain and begins to talk to other climbers who were there. He acknowledges the mistakes that were made but the book isn’t written to blame anyone.
What I got out of the book is how you train is how you will perform. The guides on Everest trained their climbers to trust their judgment only, no arguing, just follow orders. They trained their clients to be passive on the mountain, only listening to their guide. They didn’t train their clients to read the ‘signs of the mountain’ for themselves. The clients were not trained HOW to climb Everest, they were trained to follow their leaders.
While some of this mentality is understandable, what happens when the leaders are in trouble? What happens when the leaders are suffering from hypoxia and can’t think straight? There were no alternate plans if things went wrong or markers for the climbers to know when their leaders were in trouble.
For those of us in ministry – that lesson is directly applicable. Train your leaders in HOW to minister to youth – not just follow the leader. Sure, there is a place for ‘follow the leader’ but training them all to be able to read the signs of trouble and doing ministry in community with mutual accountability is a much better way to tackle the mountain of student ministry.
Quite honestly, it’s a miracle that more of them didn’t die on that mountain. Due to the quick thinking and courage of a few men, more walked off that mountain than probably should have.
I missed this book when it first came out. I’m sorta glad I did because in the years that followed it, there were corrections and additions made by the author as well as a book that came out disagreeing with it and finally the author answered those critics. All of this was included in this version of the book I read.
First Book of the Year
I’ve got to get better about reading. Up until last year, I read on average around 24 books a year. For every ‘contemporary’ book, I forced myself to read a ‘classic.’ Reading the Brothers Karamazov about did that in. Yes, I finished it but it was painful. Russians write like their weather…I leave the punchline to your imagination.
Today I finished Instant Karma: The Heart and Soul of Ski Bum by Wayne Sheldrake.
It’s a memoir…of sorts. It’s a story of a man and skiing and wrecks. Lots of wrecks. Both on and off the slopes and he dealt and is dealing with them.
I found the book by complete accident. The kids were scavenging the public library for their books and I wandered over to the ski section. I read the forward and the intro. Laughed out loud, then teared up. I read it all in 4 days…I could have read it one but wanted to savor it a bit more. Wayne’s story of how to deal with life centers around skiing. Skiing is both his balm and his bane. His mother’s multiple attempts at happiness, his own struggles of identity often find him wrestling it out going downhill at 70 mph, often out of bounds, never wearing a helmet.
Wayne says early on how he likes to deal with the junk of life – “No goggles. No helmet…All I needed was a pair of skis. I didn’t stop for food. I didn’t stop for water. I didn’t use sunscreen. (Only [expletive] wore sunscreen.) I never worried about getting hurt.”
He talks about breaking his legs…twice. On the mountain where it took them 4 hours to get him to the hospital. The only thing keeping his foot on his body was his skin. He allows us inside the healing process. It’s messy, funny, real. He meets Jesus sometime during his open heart surgery phase…he was 32 years old then. But the book isn’t about Jesus…at least overtly. It’s about healing and hope and living in the moment with people who are just jacked up as you are but somehow together with the skiing…there is hope…and laughter…and healing.
At the end of the book, I felt like I knew Wayne. I’d like hanging out with him. I want to ski with him. Not because I could keep up with him…but because I’d want to hear more of his story.