In his debut, Jacob takes readers on a journey through six Old Testament books—and nearly 80 pages of questions—to find the answer to the question of whether they follow the ways of God or the ways of men.
Jacob bases this work on the teachings found in the biblical books 1 and 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings. Over the course of 45 “lessons,” his topics range from questions about families to life lessons to setting new goals, among others. (He also includes a warning chapter entitled, “Learn and Turn or Fail to Learn and Burn.”) All along the way he demonstrates how he believes God sets up learning opportunities for every person. Each chapter provides highly focused lesson plans that begin with a short introduction, followed by up to 20 questions and numerous biblical references under the headings of “Consider It,” “Comprehend It,” and, finally, “Connect It.” The author also includes plenty of space for readers to write their own answers in an easy-to-follow format. Although each question is very specific, there’s no grading scale or answer sheet; readers are largely left to their own interpretations. Of particular note is Lesson 29, A Tale of Two Nation[s], featuring an exercise in which the reader examines the kings of Israel and Judah; the intense lesson addresses the kings’ relationships with God. One overarching motif of the book is its examination of various Bible characters and the specific characteristics of each; readers can ponder the highlighted characteristics and compare them to those in their own lives.
A wonderful tool for spiritual self-examination.Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-1462718603
Page Count: 234
Publisher: CrossBooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION
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The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.
Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88146-5
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
Categories: GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | PSYCHOLOGY | HISTORICAL & MILITARY
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This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
Categories: PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION
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