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30 Minute Reviews

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Here is a list of books I have received over the past few weeks, but have been unable to read in full. Instead, I have given each of them at least 30 minutes and tried to get as much of a feel for the book as possible in that time.

Note to Self by Joe Thorn – This is a book dedicated to modeling the discipline of preaching the gospel to yourself. Joe Thorn has written a series of notes to himself–48 of them in total–to remind himself of the gospel and to remind himself how to live as if it is true and as if it has done a work of transformation in his life. It is quite a unique book and it beautifull suits the format. He divides the notes into 3 categories: The Gospel and God, The Gospel and Others and The Gospel and You. The letters have titles like “God Does Not Answer to You,” “Be Humble in Your Theology,” “Honor Your Parents,” “Don’t Be a Fan Boy” and “Suffer Well.” In every case, Thorn simply seeks to bring the gospel to bear on a particular area of life. With each letter just a couple of pages in length, it’s a good book to read at a pace of one chapter per day.

The Dragon’s Tooth by N.D. Wilson – I sat down with the family to read N.D. Wilson’s latest novel, The Dragon’s Tooth. After reading one chapter I saw that my daughters (aged 8 and 5) were not interested and that my son (aged 11) was too interested to wait for me to read it with him. So we abandoned the read-aloud project and my son went ahead and devoured the book in a day. Nick says it is, “Very, very, very good. A bit confusing at times. They definitely need to write another one.” We will take that as high praise. And, of course, this is only part 1 of the “Ashtown Burials” series, so his wish for a sequel will be granted. I’d recommend all of Wilson’s novels.

Absolute Monarchs by John Julius Norwich – I spotted this book, a history of the papacy, when it made its way onto the New York Times list of bestsellers. I made a valiant attempt at reading it, but in the end, found that it was, well, kind of boring. Norwich takes a look at the papacy, focusing in on some of the scandals that have always dogged the Roman Catholic Church. You’d think that would make for riveting reading, but the book moves at a snail’s pace as Norwich tries to take a look at just about every pope there has ever been. He looks at so many different men (and one woman, of course) that they all begin to blur together. After a couple hundred pages of this I moved on to something else. I guess I’m not sure where this book really fits; it’s too casual for the academic reader, but a little too focused for the casual reader. My guess is that 90% of the people who bought it didn’t ever finish it.

Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook – Here’s another interesting book that covers a rather niche topic–the tomato. Tomatoland answers the question, Why do grocery store tomatoes taste so bad? It turns out they taste so bad because they are all picked long before they are ripe and are then gassed to make them turn red. They never truly ripen. What’s more, they are grown in a soup of chemicals and pesticides and are often picked by what is essentially slave labor. I read this book almost to the end, but decided not to finish it or write a full-length review because of the niche nature of the topic. If you’re looking for some interesting and casual reading, you could do a lot worse than this.


  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 19)

    A La Carte: How to know if you’re using God / The soul-poison of the little word ‘should’ / True, false, or heresy? / Truthful thinking is greater than positive thinking / Unless the seed dies / and more.

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

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    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

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    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…