George's profile

A simple and powerful plan for building healthy relationships, October 26, 2009

Thanks first to Thomas Nelson, who provided me this review copy of Love & Respect.

In this book, Dr. Eggerichs attempts to provide a framework by which married couples can get off a cycle of destructive relational behavior and replace it with a powerful and rewarding alternative. The main thrust of the book is that men and women approach relationships with different core needs. This then provides the framework to illustrate three "cycles" that reflect relationship health. These are (1) the Crazy Cycle where failure to recognize core differences builds friction, (2) the Energizing Cycle, where respect and love are used as tools to build healthy and growing relationships that can… Read more

Powerful and dark, with hints of hope, October 10, 2009

This is a powerful book. I had already read The Kite Runner, but had not felt compelled to take up Khaled Hosseini's second work. However, after numerous people suggested to me that it was much better, though harder to read, I decided to take it up. The commentary on the back of the book describes it as "big-hearted"; that "[Love] is the emotion...that suffuses the pages". I didn't see that as much, to be honest. This book is a statement of the endurance of people whose lives are bound up in their homes, who cannot escape the pain their homes are built upon. While love is a partial backdrop, solidarity and suffering are the themes. It speaks to the basic human need to look for hope, to… Read more

It grew on me., September 7, 2009

First, thanks to Thomas Nelson ([...]) for this review copy of Fearless!

This book attempts to put life in perspective, helping believers realize that fear destroys life rather than increasing its joy. Max Lucado addresses a number of key areas that can (and often do) cause us to fear. They are so commonplace that they all hit home in one way or another. The book is a call to individuals to live outside fear of the day to day, trusting in Christ who has given us every reason to throw off fear, and hope in him.

Lucado is able to bring together a number of stories and a lot of Scripture to make a book that is very encouraging for those fighting fear. I read the first… Read more