Book It!

These are books I have recently finished with a short summary and my opinion on each. I am now off to Pizza Hut to get my personal pan pizza thank you very much...

Erwin Ralph McManus - 'Seizing Your Divine Moment: Dare to Live a Life of Adventure'...

I've heard many good things about Erwin's work. This is the first book of his I have read. The book centers around Israel's war with the Philistines, and mainly on King Saul and Jonathan. Throughout the text Saul is used to illustrate a life of apathy, while Jonathan illustrates a life of purpose. We, the readers, are encouraged to be 'Jonathans' rather than Sauls, and to stop waiting and start doing. McManus uses scripture and personal experiences and stories to drive his point home. I think it is an excellent read for anyone looking for a spiritual kick in the butt.

Stephanie Meyer - 'Twilight'...

Obviously I am not the target audience for 'Twilight,' but I needed to find out what all the hype was about. I'm also not a big vampire guy. With all of that being said I thought the book was okay. The first half of the book moved slowly and focused on Bella and Edward getting together. I could have done without a lot of the drama, and reading about how beautiful Edward is on every page, but I realize that is directed at the target audience. The book picks up steam when Bella meets Edward's family. I enjoyed that chapter along with next several. The most interesting part of the book to me was learning about the Cullen family, their history & interactions. I am undecided about reading the next three books in the series. There were parts of this one I really enjoyed, parts I didn't enjoy & parts I probably thought too much about.

Bob Smiley - 'Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for all 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season'...

How entertaining can a book about following Tiger Woods as he plays every whole of the season be? The answer is very entertaining and engaging. Bob Smiley is an out of work writer who decides to follow Tiger for an entire season. Smiley had very limited connections to the PGA and no connections to Tiger at all. He attended almost all the events as a fan with no special media access and paid his own way. Half the fun of the book are the author's stories about his travels and the people he meets along the way. The other half is his following of Tiger. Even though he never actually talks to Tiger he provides a lot of insight on his game, his relationship with his caddy & other excellent Tiger nuggets. I enjoyed this book a lot.

Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow - 'The Last Lecture'...

It is a great read and very inspirational. If you aren't familiar with the story I'll let Amazon provide the background -

"A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living."

The book is all about his life, his family and how he is spending the last months of his life. He talks about how he gave that particular lecture so one day his kids could watch it, learn how to love and live life and also to get to know their dad. It is an incredible read and I recommend it to everyone. It took me about two days to finish. Randy's actual last lecture is available on YouTube...