Book Reviews

It seems that nobody is reading my blog and I have begun to wonder if I should continue writing posts. Is it because it is not interesting or because nobody knows about it? Please comment on anything that I post and feel free to suggest ways of making my blog better.

Although I haven't posted any book reviews recently I have been reading. Here's a quick summary of the last few books that I have read:

The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning: This book is all about the grace of God. No matter what we do (good or bad) God will always love us. This is a book that I will read over and over. It is filled with many life changing insights. Manning is going to be a speaker at the Thrive conference at Bayside and I look forward to hearing him speak.

Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France by Floyd Landis and Loren Mooney: Floyd Landis won the 2006 Tour de France and then lost the title after a urine sample came back testing positive for high levels of testosterone. This book is suppose to show how the lab's incompetence screwed up the test. The 2006 Tour was the first that I watched on TV from the start to the finish. I was a fan of Landis and cheered for him during his amazing comeback in Stage 17. Because of his scandal I didn't follow any of the 2007 racing season. The thing that struck me most about this book was how far Landis had turned from his Mennonite upbringing. This book is nothing more than part of the PR campaign that Landis has surrounded himself with to fight his disqualification.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin: This book is this year's selection for One Book Sacramento. I highly recommend it to everyone. Later this year the Sacramento Public Library will have programs centered around this book. Both authors have agreed to make an appearance. This book is the story of how after a failed attempt at climbing K2, Mortenson made a promise to a village that helped nurse him back to health. He promised that as soon as he could he would come back and build them a school. This promise has turned into his life mission of building schools throughout the Pakistan/Afghanistan region. What I liked most about this book is how he saw a need and sought out how to fulfill it. If you want to know more about how you can help click here.

Thrive 2008

Last night was the volunteer training dessert for Thrive 2008 at Bayside. Bishop Sherwood Carthen spoke to the group of volunteers to let them know how valuable they are to making this conference a success. Here are a few of his points:

• It takes all of us to make it happen.


• The value of a team's success is greater than an individuals success.


• On the importance of a good attitude: "Don't expect me to come in and make it better after you went and ruined their day."


• Fun has to be a priority


• If we don't have joy we won't have fun.


• Diversity has to be intentional, not accidental.


• Personal sacrifice is encouraged.

After last night I'm encouraged and look forward to volunteering for this conference. I expect God to do amazing things next week. If you aren't going I highly recommend you sign up now.

Here is the promo for Thrive 2008:

National Library Workers Day

Today is National Library Workers Day. It is part of National Library Week and according to the ALA-APA website, "NLWD is a day for library staff, users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers." If you are a library worker, how were you recognized today?

Thomas Jefferson's Library

For all you book lovers here is a link to an interesting article. For the past decade, a group of rare book experts have been recreating to Thomas Jefferson's library. The entire collection of more than 6,000 volumes will go on display tomorrow at the Library of Congress, looking much as it would have 200 years ago. One of the things that I found interesting was that Jefferson built his library in a U shape so that when you walked into the room you would be surrounded by books!