Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World [Paperback]

N. D. Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2009

What is this World? What kind of place is it?

“The round kind. The spinning kind. The moist kind. The inhabited kind. The kind with flamingos (real and artificial). The kind where water in the sky turns into beautifully symmetrical crystal flakes sculpted by artists unable to stop themselves (in both design and quantity). The kind of place with tiny, powerfully jawed mites assigned to the carpets to eat my dead skin as it flakes off . . . The kind with people who kill and people who love and people who do both . . .

This world is beautiful but badly broken.

“I love it as it is, because it is a story, and it isn’t stuck in one place. It is full of conflict and darkness like every good story, a world of surprises and questions to explore. And there’s someone behind it; there are uncomfortable answers to the hows and whys and whats. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through Him were all things made . . .

Welcome to His poem. His play. His novel. Let the pages flick your thumbs.”

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

N. D. Wilson is a best-selling novelist, professional daydreamer, and occasional screenwriter. He enjoys hilltops, callouses, and the smell of rain on hot asphalt. He and his wife have five children, and he is currently a Fellow of Literature at New Saint Andrews College, where he teaches freshmen how to play with words.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; Original edition (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849920078
• ISBN-13: 978-0849920073
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book of 2009 June 25, 2009

By Jared Totten

Format:Paperback

In the span of one paragraph, N.D. Wilson made me break out in goosebumps then made me laugh and cry at the same time. His writing in Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl from Thomas Nelson Publishers evokes emotion like the best fiction, scratches the brain like the best philosophy, and stirs a love for Creator and creation like the best theology.

His bursts of thought are not always clear-cut and linear, rather they seem to be confusing and unrelated at times. As his ideas shape the chapters, however, and the chapters form the book, a step back reveals a beautiful piece of work.

And this, I think, was no accident. Wilson's premise is that the universe we live in is a work of art and the masterpiece of The Artist. It is a drama, a play, and God is the Author. And so, just as his writing style reflects, there are surprises, twists, and turns. It doesn't progress in an uneventful, gradual incline.

The best dramas have real tragedies, the best paintings have both shadow and light. Thus it makes sense that the best of all possible worlds made by an Artist/Author will have real tragedies, both shadow and light.

My favorite book of the year, hands down.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars TILT July 22, 2009

By Alexis K. Wisniewski

Format:Paperback

I'm not sure where to begin with this one, or how to communicate everything I'd like to without re-typing the entire text here.

I laughed - both that genuinely amused kind of laugh and that startled out of my comfort zone awkward laugh. I teared up - both from heartache and gladness. I underlined and bracket-ed and read pages at a time out-loud to my poor, unsuspecting husband. I gushed and I quit writing before I ever really began because Wilson has captured everything that is both horrid and beautiful in the world in every perfectly-crafted phrase I could have ever dreamed to pen.

So let's start here: buy this book.

Wilson uses words like Rembrandt used hues to establish himself as the 21st century's C.S. Lewis. The 21st century's C.S. Lewis, with an extra shot of eccentric. Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl presents life and creation as God's greatest masterpiece by evaluating the work as a whole, musing on the Artist Himself, and analyzing every colorful or dreary detail. Wilson's Notes will expand your view to appreciate creation at large, and focus your gaze to relish the details - soft and fuzzy, or dark and painful - at the same time.

And the language is wonderful. The whimsical cover and first taste of the Preface combined to make me wonder if this wasn't going to be a little pretentious, self-important, and/or exhausting. If this wasn't just a guy who likes being a little silly and a little random trying to use his gift with words to justify an entire book. That fear was quickly relieved. Substance upholds immaculate style, without waivering, for 200 pages.

Wilson confesses early on that he writes to believers. He references scripture and theology without much explanation or hesitation, but the book may still be a delight for spiritually-minded non-Christians who enjoy good art. My only regret is that he does not make a stronger, clearer case for salvation in Jesus in the one chapter that does address eternity. Admittedly, that's not his aim with the book, but part of me wonders if it isn't a missed opportunity. (The other part of me wonders if his gentle, almost vague approach isn't exactly what some people need to hear, so I hand Holy Spirit His job description back.)

I started this book on Monday evening and finished it Wednesday. And I think I might just start at the beginning again. It's encouraging, amusing, and heart-warming. Notes makes me want to live louder, love deeper, and laugh harder - to throw back my head and let go of the safety bar because we all know it's just for show anyway.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rembrandt and Van Til have a baby...it is ink on a page. July 21, 2009

By C. Schneeberger

Format:Paperback

'Notes' is truly a small slice of heavenly art; a picture of what is and where it is going. As a doctoral student in philosophy, a minister, and resident of the whirling ball I can honestly say that this book captures something of the unity and diversity of God's glory that many others do not.

Unlike other commentators (and no offense) I take Nate at his word that there is intention in every page. The work is like a tapestry, not a scratch and sniff. One must dig, wait, watch the thread, hold on, and not let seeming confusion confirm suspicions of incongruity.

The book is a mirror to redemptive history: many stories, one great purpose and goal and God. I enjoy Don Miller, but this is no wannabe. Nate brings a fresh brush stroke, a wisely used artists' pallet to the exposition of the beauty of a universe where God is utterly huge...and you...dear reader, are not. Read this book for a feast of the fantastic.