Tag Archives: Reading

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Digital Minimalism

Takeaways From The March LeaderBooks Selection

I recently joined a book club designed for leadership building called LeaderBooks. The book selected for March was Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport. Here are a few of my thoughts concerning the book, and my reactions to it.

Digital Minimalism

Our culture is noisy, and a voice of reason in the midst of that noise is needed. Cal Newport strives to be that voice with his book Digital Minimalism. The subtitle seems highly appropriate for the culture we live in: Choosing A Focused Life In A Noisy World.

The premise Newport begins with is that we have been hooked by the digital conglomerates that operate in our world, and we are no longer the user being targeted with need to fulfill. No, we are the product being sold, and our consistent tapping, clicking and swiping is an addictive habit that is designed to keep our attention focused in on the apps we use. Because, the longer we use them, the more money they make.

In response to this, Newport calls for a heavily moderated digital detox. His approach is simple. First, remove all optional digital use from your life for thirty days. After that time, as you allow certain products back in, evaluate just how effective they are at meeting your needs, and if there is a better tool, use it instead. Then, finally, you set the parameters that it can operate under. The digital product no longer has mastery; you do.

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Your Money, Your Marriage by Cherie & Brian Lowe

A Book Review for The Randleman Review

Your Money Your MarriageOne of the areas I love to read about is the area of marriage and family. I have quite an extensive library on these subjects, and am always looking for more great resources in both areas. So when I saw a book that dealt with finances, and how it impacts a marriage, I was instantly interested.

However, I was in for a disappointment. Your Money, Your Marriage had all the potential of being a great asset and help, but it fell far short of that mark. The book was full of what I’m sure were supposed to witty remarks, but felt more like inside jokes and sly innuendo. It got to the point where I dreaded picking it back up, fearing what I might find as I read on.

However, I hate to leave a book unfinished, in the hopes that it might turn around and offer something beneficial, so I plodded on, continuing to read along. I’m sure that some people will love the style in which this is written, probably even gaining a lot from it. I found nothing that I felt was inaccurate or wrong, I just could not relate to the manner in which it was put forth.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book. There are better books and programs out there, on the subjects of both money and marriage. I’d begin with those, and go from there. In fact, I’d venture that there are even some books that wed the two topics together well.

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Why LeaderBooks May Be The Best Book Club I Have Found

Building Leadership Skills Through LeaderBooks

I read a lot. I enjoy it, and it helps spark my personal growth in several different areas. I also review a lot of the books I read. But now, I want to review not just a book, but a book club.

LeaderBooks

I have been a follower of Michael Hyatt’s blog and his work as an innovative leader in the blogging community. When he branched out into the realm of helping others develop a platform from which to operate, I was intrigued, but wasn’t able to really participate. It was pretty expensive. One area which I did invest in was his presentation theme for blogs and websites. This website is built upon his platform, in fact.

Several months ago, he released a new program called LeaderBox, in which he curated and sent out two books on leadership each month, creating an online community where discussion could happen as people sought to grow through those books. Again, it was pretty pricey, and I declined to participate in it.

However, quite recently, he has revised that program into a new entity called LeaderBooks, and I decided this was a level at which I could jump in and participate. And I am glad that I did. (This is not an affiliated post in any way; I am simply passing on to you a tool I have found to be immediately helpful.)

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Chosen People by Robert Whitlow

A Book Review for The Randleman Review

Chosen People by Robert WhitlowI am a big Tom Clancy and John Grisham fan. I enjoy the legal aspects the Grisham brings, and the action and political thrillers that Clancy writes are spellbinding. So when I was first introduced to Robert Whitlow, I compared him to a mixture of those two authors. After reading several of his novels, I still think that’s the case to a large degree.

Whitlow definitely has his own writing style, even though it may be reminiscent of other authors. And because of that I have thoroughly enjoyed every novel I have had the chance to read by Whitlow. And the more I read, the more I enjoy his work.

That’s the case with the latest novel to come from his pen, Chosen People. Whitlow takes a look at the Jewish/Arab cohabitation that exists in Jerusalem, with the threat of antagonistic neighbors in the surrounding nations, and creates a storyline that is compelling and captivating. His main character is a young Arab women who is an attorney in the US, who takes on a civil case representing a family that suffered during a terrorist attack. As she researches the claim, along with the help of a Jewish American lawyer, they get wrapped up in the underground world of terror and espionage, unsure of who they can trust.

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Boundaries For Your Soul by Alison Cook and Kimberly Miller

A Book Review for The Randleman Review

Boundaries For Your SoulWe are an emotional culture. We might even be an obsessively emotional culture. And with such a wide and volatile range of emotional thoughts and feelings, we are in desperate need of establishing control in this area of our lives.

Unfortunately, this is something that many people don’t realize, or if they do, they have a vague and indistinct understanding of the need for something more in their inner lives. That is why a book such as Boundaries For Your Soul is so critically needed by so many people. Because of the range and depth of our emotions, we can become overwhelmed easily and feel like we are sinking in over our heads with no hope of help.

What authors Alison Cook and Kimberly Miller have done is create a blueprint of what we need, how we can find it, and what it can do for our emotional inner life. With their insights, we can stop allowing our emotions to control us, and begin to exert more control over those emotions instead, and use them to our benefit. And by placing God at the foundation, they offer a solution to our emotional problems that so many other “self help” book fail to do, because such help can come from no other place than the one who created us and our emotions.

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Devotions For Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas

A Book Review for The Randleman Review

Devotions For Sacred Parenting by Gary ThomasAs a parent of a large family, I see the need for spiritual guidance in the life off my family as a key element. Because of this, I am always looking for resources that can help my wife and I lead and train our children to be the best that they can be, and all that God desires them to be.

Over the years, we have gathered quite a collection of great parenting resources, from inspirational books, to DVD based curriculum. But we haven’t really found a devotional that focuses on parenting that really impacted us where we felt like we needed it.

That changed when we found Devotions For Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas. This book is a phenomenal resource that we have found to be very useful. I have been through the book more than once over the past couple of months, and my wife is excited by what I have shared with her. She is looking forward to utilizing it in the coming days and weeks.

Most devotional books seem to be brief and shallow. But Gary Thomas has created a book full of devotions that are more than a brief snippet of inspirational thought. They have meat to them, and leave you with a few questions to consider afterward. The book is not a daily devotional, but a weekly one, with only 52 devotions included. But that doesn’t present a problem, since we have found that it takes more than a few days to fully digest the topic that Thomas sparks in our thoughts and prayers.

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Formula Of Deception by Carrie Stuart Parks

A Book Review for The Randleman Review

Formula of DeceptionMost of the time, I read books that create an opportunity for growth and give me things to think about. But occasionally, I feel the need to throw a fictional novel or two into the mix and simply enjoy a good story. That is what I have done for the past couple of weeks, and especially so with this book, Formula Of Deception, by Carrie Stuart Parks. I have only read a couple of her books, this one and When Death Draws Near, which I reviewed in the fall of 2016. And so far, I have enjoyed them both.

Formula Of Deception is a story set in Alaska in modern times, but with a family secret that has been lurking under the surface since World War II. Murphy Anderson is trying to survive life after the death of her twin sister, and is having trouble getting her feet underneath her. When she falls into the opportunity to use her artistic skills as a forensic artist, she stumbles upon a secret that has been buried for more than half a century.

As she discovers more and more, she falls deeper into the grip of a family determined to keep the truth hidden, and begins to question her own sanity in the process. With several plot twists and turns that will catch you off guard, the story that Murphy Anderson unravels will keep you riveted to the point that you won’t be able to put this book down.