Jason Cox

I started the new edition of this tome as part of the 2021 reading challenge, trying to follow the reading plan provided by the author. I read it along with my wife (she read our physical copy and I read the kindle version).

My first thought was “why would I read through a reference book cover to cover? Isn't it more for looking up things as I have questions?” But with the challenge set, reading it cover to cover is just what we did. Thinking back to my ownership of the previous version, which has only rarely been cracked open, I'm so glad I made the investment in reading this book. It has been a long journey, but I've learned so much along the way.

Brief takeaways:
1. Reading the Bible is essential if you call yourself Christian. Constant, regular reading of a reasonable translation. So few Christians have ever done this. But it truly is essential because “common knowledge” is so flawed.
2. Systematic Theology is so helpful in understanding what the Bible actually says, as most of us have serious misconceptions or just have never thought about some aspects.
3. Expect your understanding on many areas of doctrine to be challenged. This is a very good thing. That challenge sharpens your understanding and puts you on better footing when discussing your faith.
4. After reading through this, it has changed my understanding of some major doctrines. And that's great too.
5. It's also made me more understanding of the diversity of thought within Christianity and honestly makes me more flexible in dealing with so many areas where there is disagreement. A lot of this is clarified in S.T. and even why differences have merit.
6. Other areas are solidified in a way that makes it clear that there is rampant apostasy within certain circles of Christianity and this errant teaching is seriously hurting the Christian Church in America (and the West) because modern western values are so clearly against Biblical teachining.
7. SO MANY things in this book have and will continue to change my daily walk with Christ, encouraging me to be bolder, more forgiving, more patient, and have more faith.

Finally, reading through an excellent source of reference like this makes it FAR more useful for the future because I know exactly what's covered and how to reference it quickly.

If you are a Christian and haven't made the investment in reading Systematic Theology, I strongly encourage you to do it. It is a sizable investment, but is likely to change you for the better in innumerable ways and make you a stronger Christian at a time when it is needed.

I also recommend you check out the 1-year reading plan, as well. Mostly it is 1 chapter a week, though some weeks it is 2 chapters. Some chapters are quick and easy while others are 60+ pages, but it's definitely doable. I started on Jan 10 and finished Dec 21, and I'm a slow reader. I also recommend the Kindle version to read because the physical book is larger than most of my med-school textbooks. Finally, I recommend taking notes with Obsidian, Notion, or RemNote. I started that 1/2 way through and it helped tremendously.

The doctrine of Election is a difficult concept to contemplate for most Christians, including myself. For this reason, many completely ignore it. In so doing, there are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings about Election and that can make for deeper errors of doctrine if one isn't careful.

I found this book by Sam Storms to be very informative and clarifying to me on this topic. It was rather dry, however, as topics go, so it's going to mostly be for those who have a high degree of interest in the topic covered and not just a light read in any shape or form.

First off, I'd just like to say that I could kick myself right now.

Why? Because this book started showing up on my “to-read” and suggested books lists in various places like Shelfari, Goodreads, and Amazon about 2 years ago. Maybe longer. I actually bought it over a year ago with a credit in Audible (unabridged and read by Will Wheaton, yes that Will Wheaton. And I started listening to it/reading it about a week and a half ago.

WOW! I've just completed this and I feel that near-gut-punch feeling of having finished a GREAT book. One with no sequel. If you're a reader, you'll know what I mean by saying “it feels like I've lost a close friend.” This book is instantly in my top 10 of all time and probably in my top 5.

RPO is set in a dystopian 2044 where the real world is ravaged by poverty, food shortages and economic collapse. But most people don't care because they spend the majority of their “lives” in The OASIS, which is a virtual reality universe. Because of the instability of the economies of the real world, the credits of the OASIS are actually more valuable than those in the real world.

Into this milieu is dropped our protagonist (Wade Watts, essentially a high-school senior) who is a self-proclaimed gunter. The creator of the OASIS has died and left his vast fortune as the prize for the first person to find the ultimate game Easter Egg in the OASIS. Millions of people spend their lives as egg-hunters (hunters) trying to find that egg. Wade has very little in the real world, but he has a good friend “H” and a much-better-than-average grasp of the knowledge needed to find the Egg.

The twist is that the creator, James Halliday, was obsessed with 80's culture and geeky pastimes. Video games like Pac Man, Zork, and the like, awesome 80's music and movies. You name it and it's probably references in Ready Player One.

Through an incredible set of discoveries and adventure, Wade makes new friends, falls in love, nearly calls it quits, nearly gets killed (several times) and takes us, the readers along for an incredibly fun, fast-paced ride into the future AND the past.

If you're a geek of the 80s (like me), jump in the way-back machine and pick up this book immediately. Just do it. Don't waste your time waiting. This is a FANTASTIC book.

And if you enjoy audiobooks, I highly recommend the audiobook. Will Wheaton's performance is fantastic. There's nothing distracting about it whatsoever. He's simply the perfect choice for narrating this one.

Rating: 3.5 stars

For whatever reason, when I was a teenager, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books were always books that I had on my “to read” list but it's only now that I've actually gotten around to reading them. There must have been a lot of talk amongst my friends about them. 25+ years later, I'm finding these pretty enjoyable light reading.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe takes up immediately after the end of Hitchhiker's Guide and involves the same main characters. They're on a galactic road trip, essentially caught up in the whirlwind of Zaphod's drama wherein he is trying to figure out a personal mystery that lead to him stealing a spacecraft in the first book. Along the way, you get to know a very little more about the characters, see some pretty interesting planets, and almost get to watch the end of the universe.

Honestly, the most impactful thing about this book is all of the cultural references that I had seen previously, but never knew the origin. Much of those are found in other science fiction (movies, etc) but also randomly in other places. There is some always-fun British humor, of course. Dry wit and sarcasm galore.

Overall, the story didn't go much of anywhere. The character development is pretty glacially slow. Towards the end there was some ironic time travel (for some reason, I find that I loathe time travel stories and elements... not sure why). Thankfully, it was a pretty short book and a “quick” read. I have all 5 books in a Kindle collection, but this one made me wonder if I'll get through them. Maybe I'll save it for when I'm needing some sarcastic dry wit or British humor. I'm still glad I've read the book, though.

This book was packed with useful information. It covers topics that include Treaties and how they trump U.S. law and potential our nation's sovereignty, the World Bank and IMF and how they may affect our financial future, our relationship with Pakistan and Afghanistan, Financial aid given by the world bank and by the U.S. and how corrupted it is. Finally he discusses the lobbying trade that so strongly affects our country in ways you probably haven't realized. It's pretty damning of our political system and professional politicians, yet receives so little attention.

All of that has the potential to be good, useful reading. The problem is the way it is presented. Although the writing style keeps the book flowing well, it also comes across as very... biased. Maybe “snarky” is the better term for it. The information in this book is the kind of stuff that every American should learn about. It is important. But, much like anything Ann Coulter writes, the way this is written essentially precludes anyone reading this who is not a regular Fox News watcher. Which is sad and disappointing. I'm straight-up libertarian, so I can handle it. But anyone less than a 7 out of 10 on the “conservative” scale is probably going to read this book and refute the data they present just based on the presentation alone (again, just like Coulter). What's the point in that?

I give this book 4 stars because the information is critical and extremely timely. If you can get through the propaganda, you'll probably see that too.

If you're looking into chairmaking as a hobby (or necessity!), this is an excellent place to start. Jeff Miller goes into detail regarding the fundamentals of making chairs from wood. This books is beautifully illustrated throughout, mostly with black-and-while illustrated drawings, but also with greyscale photos and a gallery of color photographs in the front of the book. This book primarily focuses on upright sitting chairs (such as you might use at a table or desk) and doesn't include discussion of lounging chairs or upholstered chairs (like you might find in a living room). Starting off with dimensions and proportions as well as discussion of different styles of chairs. Critical discussions about the forces the chair will encounter during it's life as well as wood movement you'll need to consider in designing and constructing your joinery. He includes excellent discussions and explanations of various jigs that will make the process easier and more repeatable (as rarely does one make a single chair... mostly you're going to be making a set of them, after all) and more successful. He includes detailed design, jig details and construction instruction on 8 different styles of chairs.

This is an excellent visualization of the state of our country's finances and why you should be concerned about it. While I actually “read” it in the unabridged audible version, I ended up buying the paper version as well because it is absolutely laden with graphs, charts, and pictures that visually illustrate the discussion and are extremely well done.

Make no mistake, this is a Glen Beck book and therefore there is a considerable amount of bias. But just as the leftward bias of many authors shouldn't keep conservative-minded individuals from reading some of those books (The World is Flat; Hot, Flat, and Crowded), the same should be true for liberal-minded individuals when it comes to reading a book like this.

We, as a country, are long past the point at which we can continue to put our heads in the sand and continue to dole out entitlements without concern for the budget or where the money is coming from.

Rating: Five Stars (out of 5)

Snow Crash is a book I've had on my to-read shelf for a long time. I think I bought this book in the 90's when there was a ton of buzz about it and when I was reading Science Fiction and Fantasy regularly. Why it took me so long to actually get around to reading, I'm not sure. It probably had something to do with a combination of high expectations and the size of the book. Finally, though, I bit the bullet and actually got to it through my Audible.com account. I love audiobooks.

Brief Synopsis:
A fast-paced adventurous romp in the near future. The cast of characters include a 15-year old skateboarding delivery girl, a nuclear harpoonist, a mafia kingpin, an advanced librarian AI, a religious hacker, and the main character Hiro Protagonist. The story revolves around Hiro, who turns out to be the second-baddest dude on the planet, though he starts out as a sword-wielding pizza delivery guy and part-time hacker. Along the way he partners up with YT (the delivery chick) and encounters all the other main characters while he discovers and tries to foil an intricate plot that endangers everything they hold dear.

Deeper Discussion
World Building
One of the great things about this book is the world that Stephenson “creates” in his near-future dystopia. Though the book was written in 1992, it still reads well in 2012 (20 years later). It has a great not-too-distant future feel. The concepts used involve the breakup of law and the corporatization of essentially everything. Sometimes it has a Mad-Max feel and at other times it feels like Gibson's seminal cyberpunk works (Neuromancer et al.) In this book, there are not one, but two worlds created. And done well. The Metaverse is Stephenson's online habitat, where users “jack in” to a computer-generated otherworld in which is greater in scope than the real world, but which still has programmed “rules” that make it interesting. Both the near-future and the metaverse are remarkably plausible and make for great plot devices. Needless to say, the author puts them to great use.

Metaphysics and Religion
While the beginning and end of the book are mostly fast-paced adventure, the middle of the book gets a lot deeper with a venture into metaphysical concepts of language, religion, and viruses (computer and biological). I found it to be extremely interesting as a plot concept. Clearly there was a lot of research done by Stephenson, which allows him to put it all together nicely while not derailing the whole book. Briefly, he explores the idea of vectors (see the medical terminology) including biological viruses, thought concepts as vectors, language as vectors, and religion as vector and infected state. He takes this all the way to the hacker world by analogizing the way software viruses work (essentially these are language programs, after all). Bringing in some ancient-world religion and quite possibly real research into religion and tying it all together on three separate levels (biological, religious, and metaverse) gets pretty “deep.” I can see this being offensive to some people. It was borderline offensive to me.

But just as you start to get worried about the discussion crossing the line, the author gets back to the adventure and finishes things up with a mad dash to the finish line.

Thoughts
This was a super-fun book to read. It seems rare to find a book that will successfully build worlds these days. Maybe that's just because I'm not reading a lot of science fiction anymore. But this book is exceptionally good in that regard, in my opinion. It's equally rare to see a book where the author will even attempt to touch on deeper subjects such as religion and metaphysics in what is a fun adventure. Honestly, this book reminded me of Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code in that respect. Maybe not quite as well researched, but with a similar “feel.” I would highly recommend Snow Crash to anyone who enjoyed The DaVinci Code.

For some reason, I got the feeling that the wrap-up was a bit abrupt. Somehow it felt like the author would have liked about 30% more space to write in the book. Maybe to go a little deeper in the middle section. Maybe to flesh out the ending a little differently. I could be wrong. Despite this, it was still very satisfying and makes me eager to read Cryptonomicon.

Who should read this book?
• Anyone who enjoys science fiction or dystopian fiction. This is a key book in the genre of cyber punk. For that reason alone it is required for SF readers.
• Anyone who enjoyed The DaVinci Code or that general type of fiction (adventure with some research) or even those who enjoyed the Indiana Jones flicks.

This was a very well done short piece by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
Tells the tale of a 4th daughter who seeks the assistance of an ancient ally, a sorcerer in a distant tower, in order to save her kingdom from a demonic threat approaching in kingdoms nearby.

The twist is that the “sorcerer” is actually an anthropologist who is supposed to be simply monitoring these people, who are descendants of colonists from Earth many generations past. He's not supposed to intervene or help. He's already broken his strict creed before, so why is he getting involved again?

Good story with a good ending.

4.5 stars. Eye-opening!
Extremely informative rundown of the recent changes that are transforming Europe. Living in America, this is completely ignored on our news services. I have heard of some of this stuff on the internet, but assumed it was condoned through referendum of the citizens of the various European countries. The truth was eye-opening and a bit frightening, to say the least. And I can see the leadership of this country doing the same thing here in the U.S. if given the opportunity.

Interesting look at elements of the political right from a very libertarian viewpoint. Though I consider myself libertarian, Michael Malice always seems to take things to an entirely different (Rothbardian?) level, but also does it in an “in your face” style. I definitely learned a number of things that I wasn't expecting. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Rating: 4 stars

What I liked about this book: Generally good writing style that allowed it to flow. Interesting take on the concepts of globalization and how it will effect the choices our children will have to make in regards to their education and future jobs. Good examples of the effects of globalization with interesting people, places and situations coming into the new economy.

What was not so great: This book is very much an “overview” and almost seems more targeted towards non-Americans with a very hopeful tone for certain regions and political regimes (which is great, just that I am not that target audience). There was a fair amount of political pushing toward traditional American Democrat agendas. It wasn't so heavy-handed as to be offensive, though.

Discussion:
As a man in my mid-forties now (sigh), there has been profound change in the world over my adulthood in a way that really alters my outlook for the children of Gen-X'ers such as myself. If you watch the news, it's almost always portrayed as a bleak future with little hope for our children. This is a huge change from when I grew up - there seemed no end to the optimism about our future and the never-ending opportunities that were before us. Work hard and the world would be your oyster. Now, it seems kids are wary of the world and the opportunities seem few and far between. Not only that, but you can work harder and somebody in India will still be available to work twice as hard at half the price.

So, going into this book, my thought was there is still opportunity out there. It is likely just harder to find. And best to ignore the media on what your future is likely to be like. But where is that opportunity for America's youth? Where should I be pointing my kids' efforts and how can I help guide and prepare them so they can realize the opportunities that are out there?

In many ways, The Industries of the Future ties in with The World Is Flat (and Hot, Flat and Crowded) by Thomas Friedman. In summary, for those of us here, we are best served by avoiding traditional old-school jobs and careers that put a premium on doing one thing well. Work to be broad in your knowledge and skill set. Learn languages. Look for opportunities to combine your specific knowledge with new technology and possibly even emerging markets. Be quick on your toes and expect change.

Overall, I found this to be a thought-provoking and well-reasoned book. Interesting examples of technologic change and how it has effected certain regions and industries are found throughout the book and are fairly engaging. Definitely worth the read if you are a young person or have young people in your life that you will be influencing.

My rating: 3.8/5

This is an interesting and original story that falls into both the fantasy and science fiction genres, which is a bit unusual. Set mostly in the San Fransisco area, this book has a little bit of everything - geeky references, awkward teenage angst and “coming of age” story, futuristic tech references, magic (even with a wizarding school) and just a touch of romance. Whew, that's a lot, especially for what feels like a pretty short book.

A few things to note (spoilers!):
1. This book has that “good feel.” I'm not sure how else to describe it, but you probably know what I mean. It is fun to read and you like the characters. And you want the characters and world to keep on going so you're sad when it comes to an end.

2. Although a lot of books in this genre are good YA books, I don't think this is one of them. There's too much sex in it and it's handled pretty flippantly. If that fits with your morals and you're OK with your teenager reading that, so be it. But be informed. Also, it's generally darker.

3. Not a real happy ending. In fact, it's abrupt. Like the manuscript deadline hit and there was an all-nighter to get it finished.

Pros:
• Interesting characters where you get to see real character growth and that growth actually makes sense.
• Extremely interesting events and plot topic(s)
• Much better than average world-building (like I said, it's a comfortable & fun place to be while you're reading it)

Cons:
• The crux of the book is that both the tech side and magic side are worried that a great ecological disaster is coming. But this is just “assumed” to be the case without bringing the reader into this “understanding” through plot-building. It makes it feel like a hollow threat.
• There are a couple of “big battles” that are very momentous but essentially glossed over.
• The book essentially “builds” all the way to the end and then when you actually get there it ends pretty abruptly (as previously mentioned).

Overall, I enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky. But I think it would have been better as a 2 or 3 part series (300ish pages each).

Also, I “read” this as an audible unabridged audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing the book to life.

Struggling to understand why there is seemingly endless unrest in what should be a time of peace?
Start here. Simply fascinating book originally written in 2014 and updated in 2018 with additional material covering Trump. Even though this doesn't cover the time of COVID, you can almost predict some of the stuff going on with it based on what came before.

Pretty good book overall. Definitely start with the previous book - QBQ, which discusses the fundamental concept of making sure you're asking the right questions to make forward progress.

Flipping the Switch takes it to the next level, though, discussing Application Principles that add to the QBQ. The application principles are Learning, Ownership, Creativity, Service, and Trust. Each section gives a relatively brief discussion of the principle, how it relates the the QBQ concept, and an entertaining anecdote to visualize the concept in action.

This is a brief book with simple concepts that should still help keep you more focused and productive in your work and personal life. Well worth the read.

Last August I was provided a complimentary copy of Gabriela Taylor's book Google: The Ultimate Guide to Building and Marketing Your Business With Google. It's been a busy several months but I've worked my way through the book and would like to put it to review.

The Set Up
The first thing you should know is that I went into this review with the mindset of finding out how best to utilize Google to help my wife's direct sales business. I've heard at various meetings that other girls with Thirty-One have been using Google ads with success in driving their business and recruiting and desperately wanted to discover the key to this for her business. The title of this book seemed to be directly in line with my goals. The subtitle: A Step By Step Guide To Unlocking The Power Of Google Tools And Maximizing Your Online Potential cinched the deal. This has to be a must-read book for someone in my position.

Review
In the introduction, Gabriela sets up a 10-point plan for maximizing your success in your internet endeavor. She ties each of the 10 points together with the appropriate Google product to help accomplish each step.

First 2 chapters are a brief history of the internet followed by a brief history of Google itself. This serves to set up the bulk of the book which covers Google's specific tools. After this, however, the bulk of the book (2/3 or so) goes through a description of many of the Google apps and services that apply to the 10-point plan laid out in the intro.

I will admit that this is where I got entirely bogged down in the book. Going back over things again for the review, I can better see the author's intention than what I gathered from my initial reading (keep in mind the Set Up above... I was reading for specific information to help me make something happen). During reading, even though the “chapters” are arranged in a way to promote the Step By Step Guide promise of the subtitle, it simply read as a list of the various services offered by Google and their subsidiaries.

Amplifying that problem is that the book started from such a basic place, it started bogging down early. As a die-hard geek, there was little benefit to me having a run-down of the history of the internet and Google along with descriptions of all those Google “apps.” If this were covered in the first quarter of the book, I think it would have been easier to work through to get to the meat.

The good news is that there is actual meat to the book for me. It's the last 20% (roughly) where she talks about the Google Affiliate Network, Adwords, Adsense, Monitoring your brand and competitors, and Google Analytics.

The bad news is that these sections are still written in a way that makes them seem like a “manual for Google.” It's not very practical.

I would have liked seeing some real-world scenarios. Giving examples of the process used for an individual or company making use of these products. And using that approach to illustrate how the various services can be used together powerfully. Or setting up problem scenarios and going through steps with which a user is likely to need to become familiar to overcome them. What are the common workflow tasks for internet entrepreneurs? Bloggers? Again, some of this is covered, but it is spread out in descriptions of Google services and isn't particularly descriptive of common use.

Thoughts
I think this is a good book for the author's intention. Specifically, I believe this book is intended for that person who is not very internet-literate, but who has heard about Google and YouTube and AdWords. Maybe someone who is highly involved with business, but who never really dealt with “the online presence stuff,” but who now has an interest in becoming more involved in that area for some reason. This is definitely not a book for geeks who are intimately familiar with most things internet. I can also see this being something of a useful resource for someone who is overwhelmed with all of the services offered by Google and just wants to learn more about them and perhaps get an idea of the one or two apps they can utilize (likely for free!) to accomplish something specific.

So, really, it comes down to the question: what do you need from this book?

If your answer is an overview of services and features, then this is a good place to start. If the answer is something along the lines of “I want to learn how to put it all together and make something specific happen,” then there's a good chance you'll be left cold.

Folks, This Ain't Normal is an excellent exposition on what is wrong with our nation's farming and food infrastructure system. If you participate in big agriculture (the industrial agriculture complex), you'll probably hate this book.

But if you're an individual who is focusing on feeding your family. Raising your children to be healthy. Providing SAFE food for them, then reading this book is not only essential, but is a call to action in the political realm.

The first step in the process is becoming educated. Being enlightened to the fact that there is a problem, a major problem, with the way the food system in America works. Just knowing that there is a problem opens one's eyes to see what comes next. The problem is that “the system” in America is set up for the profit and benefit of big agriculture. NOT for the benefit of the consumer (which is the mistaken understanding that most people have). And that creates a false sense of safety and therefore compliance in the sheeple of America who just buy what's available in the supermarket, assuming it is safe and of high quality.

The second step in the process is to learn more about WHY there are problems, the nature of those problems, and how we got there in the first place. Learning about the evens of the past century or so which resulted in the U.S. Government creating oversight of America's food production. And the way those regulations severely hurt the American farmer while padding the profits of big agricultural business. The way the federal government has actually set legal precedent that says you, an individual, do not actually have the right and freedom to choose what you eat. And how regulations limit both the quality of food available to you and prejudicially infringe on the ability of small farms and farmers to enter the market.

The third step in the process is to see that there is an emerging movement to create change. Once educated, we the people still have in our power the ability to reclaim this government for the good of the people (as opposed to the good of big business). And this book is definitely a call to action to that goal.

Joel Salatin writes with an excellent easy-to-read style. There is plenty of fact and tons of humorous real-world examples to illustrate exactly what is going on in our food system. This book is genuinely a fun read.

As you can tell, I'm fired up about the content of the book. I don't see how anyone could read this (unless they are part of Big Ag) and NOT be fired up in the same way. We all want good food. Safe food. Healthy food. And after reading Folks, This Ain't Normal, your eyes will be forever opened to the fact that our very own government is set up against this very goal, while claiming they are doing us a service. And the lack of personal responsibility that pervades our culture HAS TO CHANGE. Maybe a little education will do the trick.

Read this book!

The content of this book isn't bad. But take this as more of a pamphlet than an in-depth workout guide. Sometimes that's all you need.

The concept is pretty simple and I think reasonable as well. There are 3 exercises that you'll do 10 repetitions of each with minimal breaks basically as often as you can in 30 minutes. Of course, you'll have to build up to 30 minutes. And there are examples of “easier” variants for when you are learning the program along with harder versions for when you need more of a challenge.

Rating: 3.5 stars. I wish there were more photos (with better lighting) and maybe more “variations” options to help with muscle confusion, which helps you get more out of your workouts.

*This is a Kindle Unlimited Title, so if you have KU, you might as well “check it out” it is literally a 20 minute read.

A beautiful book that gives a brief tour of some of the wonders of the universe and explains things at the level of a non-scientist. Excellent photography. With each concept he explains, he tries to tie it with something he has experienced in travels here on earth. (I thought much of that aspect was a bit hokey and felt like an excellent excuse to travel to some pretty exotic locations and deduct the trips... not that there's anything wrong with that!).

If you have an interest in science but don't have a lot of background knowledge, this book will be interesting to you. There is precisely ZERO math discussed or involved. If you are well versed with these scientific principles, I suspect you'll find nothing new here, but the photos are beautiful and it's worth flipping through at Barnes and Noble to see if it would make a nice coffee table book for your living room.

Briefly, this was an interesting book and a fun read. But it still only gets 3 stars.

It's fun to think about the future and the things that may be coming technologically to change our lives. That said, this book seemed to have a pretty narrow focus. A few specific examples, but not nearly enough and not reaching far enough into the future. It seems like the focus of Tomorrowland is on the next 5-10 years and not that much farther into the future.

For that reason, if you're planning to read this book, I'd suggest you go ahead and read it now. In a few years it's likely to be out of date.

The writing style was fine. There wasn't an overt political agenda. It just overall lacked enough ideas of what's going to change in the future with examples to back it up.

Beautiful art book filled with gorgeous full-color artwork. Nivanh Chanthara's style is super futuristic with a creepy edge and I love it. Almost exclusively (roughly) humanoid robots or cyborgs. Many spreads have both the pencil sketch in B&W along with the fully rendered final model. There are a couple of cool tutorials at the end to give you an idea of Nivanh's process. The quality of printing is impeccable. On par with Design Studio Press stuff. Nice, thick pages. Full color artwork, often full bleed which just looks and feels luxurious.

Some artists will try to squeeze in a story to explain things, but there's no time wasted on that here. I don't know that that makes much of a difference, though, because this type of book is eye candy. Buy it to flip through and take inspiration. Drive you to put a little extra time/effort into your own sketches and/or final pieces.

Very interesting and worthwhile read given the current sociopolitical climate for those of you who are Christian. Personally, I think this is totally worth the time. This is NOT a politically correct book, and if you adhere to those beliefs, your beliefs will be challenged. Remember that Jesus is God. And He has existed forever and exists in all times simultaneously. His definition of sin does not change and has not changed. Our society cannot understand this and things that are socially acceptable are still dire sin in God's view.

If you're curious about what to expect moving forward in regard the Christian church, this is an excellent place to start. There are so many “churches” that claim to be Christian, but do not teach sound doctrine. This is going to continue to become more and more common, as will the falling away from Christianity of American society.

This is a book I've read at least 4 times, and honestly, every time has been totally worthwhile. I'd recommend this to anyone who feels there is any way at all that they could possibly get more out of their life than they currently are.

Getting Things Done (GTD) is the definitive time management book. There are tons of other options out there, but this is definitely the place to start. Even if you don't feel every part of the GTD system is “for you,” there are still going to be quite a few “nuggets” that will make it well worth your time. Most people will be able to immediately implement some part of the whole system, which focuses on utilizing lists to unload your brain of all the things you should be doing. Nuggets like “the 2 minute rule” and “what is the next step?” can absolutely change your life. Even teenagers would benefit from the knowledge here.

The writing style is very easy to follow and feels very “friendly.” No business knowledge or other specialized knowledge is necessary. This also isn't just for “big business executives” in any way. I honestly feel everyone could significantly improve things in their life from the busiest of doctors to school-age teenagers during their summer months.

It all comes down to a few questions:
1. What do you really want to achieve on a short-term, medium-term, and long-term basis?
2. What things need to happen to help you achieve those things?
3. Is what you're doing right now getting you closer to achieving your goals?
4. What is the very next step you need to take to make progress?
And then make sure you write these things down in a way that you frequently review it, add to it, mark off your steps.

Personally, this is a book I return to every few years and I try to read it early in the year. It helps with not just goal accomplishment, but also with reminders to look not just at the here and now, but also looking at your 1 year, 3 year and even longer-term trajectory of your life.