Review: CONTAGIOUS by Jonah Berger

If you want to be a communicator of ideas that spread widely and quickly, there's no better book that I can think of to help you package your ideas for sharing than the aptly titled CONTAGIOUS by Jonah Berger. Berger is a marketing professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Using a lot of research about the spread of ideas, Berger uncovers six characteristics that are likely to contribute to an idea's spreadability. They are:

Social Currency
Triggers
Emotion
Public
Practical Value
Stories

Berger shares stories throughout the book that serve to validate the ideas he presents for contagious content. An idea or product doesn't have to have all the characteristics to be contagious, but the more it has, the more contagious it is likely to be.

Some of the stories in the beginning were really surprising about the decisions people make and why. You'll likely run into many concepts that seem counterintuitive, but the book definitely helps to understand how to tap into human nature to make ideas more contagious.

I think CONTAGIOUS could be a very contagious resource for communicators and marketers. It was definitely a book I learned much from and enjoyed reading as well.

Review copy provided by Simon and Schuster

Photo Credit: Simon and Schuster

Review: A CAST OF STONES by Patrick Carr

Errol Stone is a drunk. Chased constantly by a tragic past, Errol lives each day to drown out his memories with ale. No one would ever suspect he would ever be someone important, but that’s all about to change. The kingdom he lives in is in trouble. The king is near death, and he has no heir. The implications of the king dying without someone to take his place are dire, threatening to unleash an ancient evil that will destroy everything. But there are some who have a plan. The new king will be chosen by a religious group known as the readers. The readers cast lots to tell the future, and they will reveal the kingdom’s new leader. But something mysterious is trying to stop them at all costs. When Errol discovers that he himself is a reader, it puts him on a path that will change him and the kingdom. Who will he become?

I decided to pick up A CAST OF STONES by Patrick Carr because it looked like an interesting fantasy novel from a Christian perspective. I didn’t know what to expect, but as I read, I grew to love this story. Errol’s character undergoes an incredible transformation throughout the story that really made this into a hero’s journey. The story is filled with action, as well as many suspenseful moments that kept me turning pages to find out what will happen next.

The stakes in this novel are great, and Carr does this brilliantly as he reveals his back story through dialogue as the story goes along. The descriptions helped me to imagine the world the story takes place in and the characters and creatures within it.

A CAST OF STONES is the first book in a trilogy, and as a story on its own, it is a brilliant redemptive story. But also as the first book in a trilogy, I’m left wanting more. I have a feeling this story is going to get better and better, and Patrick Carr will be an author I look forward to from now on.

Review copy provided by Bethany House Publishers

Photo Credit: Bethany House

Review: C.S. LEWIS: A LIFE by Alister McGrath

If I were to write that C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors and that his writings have shaped my thinking about God and the nature of the world we live in, I wouldn't be saying anything that countless others haven't already said. But how did C.S. Lewis become so popular? How did he become a voice that speaks into the lives of so many people about the Christian faith for so many years after his death? This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis, and Alister McGrath has given us a compelling narrative and rare look into the life of Lewis in C.S. LEWIS: A LIFE. 

My first introduction to C.S. Lewis was in college when I was required to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for a class I was taking. I enjoyed the story, but it would be a few more years before I really grew to appreciate the story and the series as a whole. Lewis became a favorite of mine when I decided to pick up Mere Christianity a few years ago. I love to think, and Lewis got me to thinking. The book made so much sense of so many things that I felt like I wanted to say myself. As I continued to read more and more of Lewis’ works, I always felt like I was reading the works of someone who understood the way my mind worked. I was intrigued when I heard that Lewis came to faith as a result of a conversation with J.R.R. Tolkien. All of this combined to make Lewis a compelling figure in my mind. Where did all this come from? 

That’s where McGrath’s book comes in. McGrath takes us on a journey from Lewis’ early beginnings in Ireland, through his development as an Oxford scholar, to his embracing of theism and then Christianity, to his rise as an apologist and author of popular works, to his complicated relationship with Joy Davidman, and finally to his death. Throughout, McGrath carefully intersperses where Lewis’ major works fall into the timeline of his life, including the possible driving forces and the implications of each. The book almost reads like a novel, revealing the hinge moments in the life of Lewis that shaped him into the man who would write such great Christian works, such as The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, and The Ransom Trilogy. 

One of the aspects of the book that I loved was the period of time focused on Lewis’ career at Oxford. I always knew that Lewis taught at Oxford, but McGrath’s book shows how foundational this was to Lewis’ life and thought. I also loved reading about Lewis’ relationship with Tolkien and his part in the success of Tolkien’s most famous work, The Lord of the Rings. I was left saddened however by the turn in Lewis’ and Tolkien’s relationship in the end.

McGrath’s book cleared up so much that I didn’t know or realize about Joy Davidman and Lewis’ complicated relationship with her. Joy Davidman was an interesting character in Lewis’ life, and I didn’t realize the impact she would have on him and the motivations that drove her in the beginning. I loved McGrath’s comparison between the similarities, yet different perspectives, of The Problem of Pain and A Grief of Observed.

McGrath clearly did an extensive amount of research to write this book, reading everything that Lewis had written, including all of his surviving letters, in chronological order. McGrath compiled a history of Lewis’ life based on all the evidence he could find, and one of the interesting aspects of the book is his critical look at the dating of Lewis’ conversion, challenging Lewis’ own dating for it. I have to say it seemed convincing. 

C.S. LEWIS: A LIFE is without question the best book I’ve read so far this year, driving me to want to go back and read Lewis’ works, including the ones I haven’t read. If you read this book, I think you’ll be pulled that way as well. Throughout the narrative, we meet so many people who impacted Lewis’ life: his father, his brother Warnie, the mother of a childhood friend Mrs. Moore, Owen Barfield, Arthur Greeves, Tokien, Davidman, and so many others. Therefore, if I had to some up the impression that I came away with from the book, I would have to say McGrath’s book is about the relationships in Lewis’ life and how they shaped him for better or worse. I can’t recommend McGrath’s biography of C.S. Lewis enough.

Review copy provided by Tyndale House Publishers

 

Photo Credit: Tyndale House

Review of START by Jon Acuff

In 2011 Jon Acuff released his book QUITTER, which was a book all about pursuing your dream. The trick was to not quit your day job, but to utilize your day job to fund the pursuit of your dream job, while also doing excellent work at your day job. Acuff’s new book START goes deeper into the process of actually pursuing your dream. For many people, there are plenty of excuses not to start pursuing their dream. We may be afraid, or we may fear we need a complete map for how things should go before we get started.

But Acuff says we just need to start. We’ll never get anywhere if we don’t start. Acuff says to punch fear in the face, abandon the path to average, and run hard on the path to awesome. So how do we do that? Acuff breaks down the process into five very practical phases:
1. Learning
2. Editing
3. Mastering
4. Harvesting
5. Guiding

The great thing about the process as Acuff outlines it is that it’s a very practical path of continual development. We all start with learning, and by learning we learn what we’re gifted for and what we’re not. By editing out what is clearly not for us, we can focus on mastering the thing that is for us. Then we can enjoy the harvest, even as we continue developing. Finally, we can guide others on their path to awesome.

I love this book for its practical wisdom and the humor with which Acuff communicates throughout. I’m currently “starting” down my own personal path to awesome by pursuing alternative certification to be a teacher. This book is going to be very beneficial as I go down this path. I can’t recommend this book enough if you really want to pursue your dream.

Review copy provided by Thomas Nelson Publishing

Photo Credit: Thomas Nelson

Review of DOMINATION by Jon S. Lewis

Sixteen-year-old Colt McAlister may be humanity’s only hope against the ruthless alien race known as the Thule. A prophecy concerning him, a human boy with Thule blood running through his veins, foretells that he will be the one to stop the Thule from overtaking humanity. But Colt’s not so sure. He worries the blood might be changing him? What if he becomes one of the Thule? With some of his closest friends around him training for combat in a Thule invasion, Colt must rise to the occasion and become the hero he was destined to be.

DOMINATION is the final book in Jon S. Lewis’ young adult C.H.A.O.S. Trilogy, and like most epic trilogies, the stakes are raised and everything is up for grabs in this story. I’ve really enjoyed this story because it’s been a true hero’s journey throughout, especially with the feel of a comic book superhero origin story. It’s a book that will appeal to young adults, and it tells a great story of God using a human being to be a rescuer of humanity.

DOMINATION has some surprises in it concerning the Thule which raise some interesting questions about our view of others not like us. The story progresses quickly, and the only drawback to it is that I felt like the ending happened too quickly. However, taken together, I thought Lewis created a unique and compelling story through the C.H.A.O.S. Trilogy.

Review copy provided by Thomas Nelson through the BookSneeze Reviewer Program

Photo Credit: Thomas Nelson

Review of THE INFINITY RING: DIVIDE AND CONQUER by Carrie Ryan

In the first INFINITY RING book, pre-teens Dak, Sera, and Riq are sent on an important mission to travel to "breaks" in the world's history, using the Infinity Ring, and repairing the damage done by the SQ. Dak's parents went missing in the timeline along the way, and now they must heal the breaks on their own and hope they run into Dak's parents again to rescue them. In INFINITY RING: DIVIDE AND CONQUER, the second book in the series, the three kids are thrust into the middle of a war brewing between the Vikings and the Parisians. Even worse, Dak manages to get himself separated from the other two and fighting on the side of the Vikings to survive. The break must be fixed, but they seem to only be making it worse. As the SQ's time warden closes in on them, they must find a way back together and a way to undo the damage they've caused. The future of the world depends on these three fixing history's timeline.

Each book in the INFINITY RING series is written by a different author. I worried how well the authors would be able to stay in one voice for each of the books, but as I read book 2 I felt like I was reading a book by the same author of the first book, James Dashner. DIVIDE AND CONQUER is written by Carrie Ryan. It's a middle-grade novel, but it packs some very intense situations into the plot. There's very real danger for the characters and very real emotional stakes as well. 

Dak is an interesting and somewhat frustrating character because he's always getting himself into trouble. And he never learns his lesson, which is very fitting for the age he's at. Sera's motivation to get rid of the painful remnants of her parents gives the story an added dimension of what's really at stake. The villain of the story, the organization known as SQ, is still a mystery I'm eager to learn more about as the story continues.

The INFINITY RING series is a unique approach to storytelling in bringing different authors together to each lend their hand to a chunk of the story. Carrie Ryan's contribution in the second book carried the story forward the story forward really well, and I'm eager to continue the journey with these three characters.

Review copy provided by Scholastic

Photo Credit: Scholastic

Review of CINEMATIC STORYTELLING by Jennifer Van Sijll

In the earliest days of filmmaking filmmakers had to come up with ways to tell a story without the use of dialogue because the ability to sync sound to film was still a thing of the future. This limitation forced filmmakers to be creative in how they conveyed a story on screen, considering such things as camera movements and transitions between scenes. CINEMATIC STORYTELLING by Jennifer Van Sijll looks at 100 ways to tell a story visually using techniques like camera angles, lighting, editing, sound, etc.

While dialogue is an important part of storytelling, filmmaking is obviously a visual medium and the author teaches writers and other filmmakers to keep in mind the conventions that the visual medium naturally encourages. The book includes excerts from scripts and screen shots throughout to help illustrate the techniques.

CINEMATIC STORYTELLING will help screenwriters become better visual communicators and filmmakers as a whole tell better stories.

Review copy provided by Michael Wiese Peoductions

Photo Credit: Michael Wiese Productions