My mother-in-law sent me a copy of this book for my birthday and I finally got around to reading it this last fall. Economics is a fascinating field and von Hayek's work "The Road to Serfdom" is incredibly relevant today even though it was originally published in 1944. The book was not intended to be an economic treatise but rather an application of economic theory to political reality. Hayek saw what happened in Europe between the wars and felt compelled to write a book to his fellow Britons
author: Matt | posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 10:17 PM | Feedback (0)
Jonah Lehrer's book "How We Decide" is an interesting traipse through the field of decision theory from the perspective of cognitive psychology. He touches on a number of cognitive biases as well as digging into the physiology of the brain. Most of what he writes isn't brand new research but he does put it on a level that mere mortals (such as myself) can comprehend the subject.
author: Matt | posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 9:56 PM | Feedback (0)
For some history reading over the summer I listened to the audio book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. The book is a massive (something like 36 CDs) and present an incredibly in-depth view into the political atmosphere surrounding Lincoln's rise to the Presidency.
author: Matt | posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 9:18 PM | Feedback (0)
Rob Bell's book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Ever Person Who Ever Lived, has sparked some controversy in the evangelical world. This review is simply one person's perspective on the book and is more my opinion than an actual review.
author: Matt | posted @ Monday, March 21, 2011 9:25 PM | Feedback (0)
The author of Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian, was a lawyer for the Justice Department working in the Civil Rights division in the 1990's. He also was the director of the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda. In 1997 he left all that behind to step out in faith to start a non-profit organization to seek justice around the globe. International Justice Mission now has 14 field offices around the world and over 300 people on staff, 90% of whom are nation
author: Matt | posted @ Monday, February 14, 2011 10:22 PM | Feedback (0)
Those who know me well are aware that I lost my sister to cancer a few years ago. While this loss isn't the same as the loss of the fictional character Mack in The Shack, I strongly related to The Great Sadness he struggles with in the story. In addition, the spiritual journey that he traveled during his sojourn at the shack closely mirrors many of the thoughts and revalations I have experienced in the past two years. For me, reading William Paul Young's novel was a very personal experience.
author: Matt | posted @ Sunday, February 13, 2011 7:17 PM | Feedback (0)
Son of Hamas is the gripping story of a young man who is the son of one of the founders of Hamas. He tells his own story, going all the way back to his grandfather and his father as imam's in the Muslim faith all the way through his seeking asylum in the United States because of his work for Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security force tasked with finding terrorists within the homeland. The amazing transformation of his life from son of a Hamas leader to working for the Israeli intelligence c
author: Matt | posted @ Saturday, February 12, 2011 11:20 PM | Feedback (0)
The Love & Logic method of parenting can take a lot of the stress out of parenting. Foster Cline and Jim Fay apply their principles of parenting to the ever scary teen years in Parenting Teens with Love & Logic. The basic premise of Love & Logic is that children should be raised to be responsible yet most parents take actions that keep this from happening. By ensuring that kids feel loved and by applying logical thought to situations, Cline and Fay believe kids can learn from their own mistak
author: Matt | posted @ Sunday, February 06, 2011 10:12 PM | Feedback (0)
The Man Who Lied to His Laptop is a fascinating look into the world of human computer interaction. Clifford Nass has done extensive research into the concept of computers as social actors. For several decades he has explored the idea that people interact with computers in much the same way as they interact with other humans. This goes far beyond just the simple anthropomorphization that we witness when a frustrated user says his computer is stupid or when a bank customer yells at an ATM for n
author: Matt | posted @ Sunday, February 06, 2011 9:48 PM | Feedback (0)
Steven Johnson explores the phenomenon of emergence in Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Emergence theory is the study of how disparate local knowledge and local decisions can lead to higher level (or global) intelligence and global structure. We are programmed to think that without an overseer or man-in-charge, groups cannot self-organize. Drawing on examples as diverse as ant colonies to the rise and structure of the city of Manchester, UK, Johnson shows h
author: Matt | posted @ Wednesday, January 05, 2011 9:51 PM | Feedback (0)
A recent visit to the library reminded me that I haven't been reading many biographies lately. Having read a number of books dealing with game theory and decision theory, Pascal's name was on my mind and when I saw this book I picked it up. James Connor looks at the life of Blaise Pascal through the lens of theology in his book, Pascal's Wager: The Man Who Played Dice With God. Pascal, who only lived to 39, is widely known for his mathematical work in probability theory. He is less widely kn
author: Matt | posted @ Friday, December 31, 2010 5:44 PM | Feedback (0)
Dan Ariely is one of my new favorite authors. Probably because he delves into the field of behavioral economics which is my new favorite field... but still, I will give Ariely credit for writing absolutely fascinating books. The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home is an attempt to further the thoughts presented in Predictably Irrational. There is some overlap with the previous book but just enough to make this book able to stand on its own with
author: Matt | posted @ Tuesday, December 28, 2010 8:04 PM | Feedback (0)
Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet is the product of three psychologists from different fields. Howard Gardner is a cognitive psychologist best known for his theory of multiple intelligences. Csikszentmihalyi is a social psychologist best known for his concept of "flow", a state in which an individuals skills and challenges mesh and completely absorb the mind. (See his book Flow) William Damon is the author with which I am least familiar but he is a developmental psychologist who foc
author: Matt | posted @ Saturday, December 18, 2010 10:05 AM | Feedback (0)
Tim Keller leverages his many years in the ministry in the writing of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Redeemer Presbyterian is located in Manhattan and has a young, urban attendance. For many years Keller took time after the Sunday service to answer questions and many of those questions reflected urban youth. "How can there be one TRUE religion?" "How could a good God allow suffering?" "Why is the church responsible for so much injustice?" "How can a loving God send people
author: Matt | posted @ Friday, December 03, 2010 7:29 PM | Feedback (0)
I wanted to enjoy Jared Diamond's book, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, and it started off well. He details a conversation he had with a New Guinean who asked a simple question, "Why was it the whites that invaded New Guinea and not the other way around?" This book is Diamond's answer to the question. No, it's not that white people are smarter, faster, stronger and better than everyone else. In a nutshell, it's because of geography, climatology and agronomy.
author: Matt | posted @ Friday, November 19, 2010 11:10 PM | Feedback (0)
Mathematics is a fascinating field but alas a field in which I am not an expert. Nevertheless I enjoy reading books like Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea. Charles Seife is the interesting author of another book I read, Decoding The Universe. In Zero he manages to pack an amazing amount of history of math, mathematicians and their effect on the world into a relatively short book. He does it with an engaging narrative and brings it down to a level just low enough where a mere lay person
author: Matt | posted @ Sunday, October 24, 2010 9:24 PM | Feedback (0)
Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road is the work of the Presbyterian pastor and church planter, Timothy Keller. The opening chapters of this book are a vivid reminder to those of us living behind our white picket fences and enjoying the middle class life that while times are tough these days, there are plenty of folks far worse off. After planting the seed of the burden in the readers heart, Keller goes on to lay out an intensely practical and biblical approach for dealing with th
author: Matt | posted @ Wednesday, October 06, 2010 10:30 PM | Feedback (0)
Bridges out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities is an insightful and yet practical look into the world of poverty. The premise of the book is that the culture of poverty is so different from the middle class and wealthy cultures that it is difficult for people living in the latter to help people out of the former. Much of the content resonated with me and reminded me of my experience years ago in the Little Village area of Chicago. Having the benefit of hindsight, I can se
author: Matt | posted @ Wednesday, October 06, 2010 9:29 PM | Feedback (0)
Priceless: A Novel on the Edge of the World is a powerful story about a man whose life is changed when he becomes embroiled in a plan to rescue young orphan girls from forced prostitution in Russia. The author, Tom Davis, brings to light an enormous and growing problem in the world: human trafficking. While the story is a novel, much of the story is accurate in its depiction of this sordid underworld.
author: Matt | posted @ Sunday, September 12, 2010 4:14 PM | Feedback (0)
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience is the attempt by positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to explain and encourage the idea of enjoying life. Much of the field of psychology is concerned with why people don't enjoy life; positive psychologists want to understand why some people do enjoy it, even though in many cases they have similar situations to those who don't. The concept of Flow is used to describe a state of enjoyment which people in all walks of life can reach regardles
author: Matt | posted @ Sunday, September 12, 2010 12:51 PM | Feedback (0)