Thursday, February 26, 2015

Disarming Scripture by Derek Flood

Derek Flood brings an interesting approach to comparing the Old Testament with the New Testament. It deserves to be read and critiqued.


I read Flood as a kind-of progressive revelationist: that God gradually reveals his will to humanity over time. (Kind of)

He speaks about reading Scripture with a sort of questioning fashion. He claims Jesus practiced this by looking at His Sermon on the Mount and how Flood interprets what Jesus said about Elijah in particular and others.

This book is blatently liberal in its approach to Scripture so if you're a fan of the "fresh/new/reimagined" interpretive fad going on in the book world, you'll dig into this book like candy corn.

If you are a fan of Scripture and enjoy to debate with ideas that differ from your own, you will also get a boost from reading this book.

If you are a fundamentalist Christian and have no desire to explore different ideas, you will be greatly bothered by some of the presentations inside.

Were the Israelites wrong in attacking all the "ites" of the Canaan world? Was Elijah wrong for calling down fire upon his enemies? Flood says Jesus said YES.

If you believe Jesus is the fullest example we have of God, then how do you reconcile his call to love enemies with the Old Testament's call to leave none alive?

This book attempts to answer that question in a fascinating way. I enjoyed reading it even if I didn't agree with everything Flood proposes.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Metanoia Books.

Friday, February 13, 2015

The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks by Bruce Feldman

This is not a How-To book that teaches you how to be a modern quaterback.


This is a behind-the-scenes look at how quarterbacks are primed, honed, and raised. (It's also a little peek into has-been quaterbacks remaining relevant to the next generation)

Feldman has a lot of information that he throws at you.

The beginning was very boring to me. He takes us to Columbus, Ohio where a few young QBs and trainers have gathered to discuss the next steps in their careers and who's going to mentor whom.

That part was very boring.

Then we get snippets of inside information about how QB gurus select "the next big thing". Wondered what they thought of Johnny Football? How about Wilson?

At the end of this book, you'll basically get a look at the difference between QBs from years ago to the QBs of this era (and maybe what's to be expected in the future).

This would be a great book for any football fanatic. But the average fan might not quite dive in enthusiastically.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Crown Publishing.

The Beginner's Bible: Come Celebrate Easter Sticker Book by Kelly Pulley

As soon as my five year old son saw this book, he was engaged.


The pages are made of sturdy material, the stickers can be used and reused, the activities keep the young minds activated for some time.

I found this book an excellent resource to talk about Easter and everything that took place with my growing son. He was very inquisitive and the activities kept him curious to learn more.

We have fun making silly scenes with the stickers and the typical Beginner's Bible illustrations are fun.

I would recommend this book for any parent/Sunday School teacher.

Simply Excellent.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Zondervan Publishing.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever graphic novel

This is the graphic novel of how the popular Star Trek episode was set to go before they changed some of the characters around.


It's pretty much the same as how you remember the City on the Edge of Forever episode except that Bones is not the person who travels back in time to screw things up. It's a random officer.

Spock and Kirk still go back to fix things. Kirk still falls in love with the girl and all that jazz.

The artwork looked like they took pictures from the show and "artisized" them. It makes the graphic novel look like it was pulled from the tv show. The detail on the facial expressions was very nice.

I enjoyed the novel. But I didn't understand why they felt the need to make it. Is this a new series for how scripts originally looked?

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by IDW Publishing.

Star Trek: The Q Gambit graphic novel

I have been a mild fan of the new Star Trek graphic novels. I've enjoyed how they surround the new films and add a layer to the mystery.


This volume continue to quality of the previous novels however I wasn't a big fan of the story.

Q is back. This time he's with the re-imagined crew but he's up to his typical shenanigans.
The story begins with Q visiting an aging Picard (who has a new career) which I thought was a pointless plug.

Then Q sends the new crew to the Deep Space Nine world. I understand the nastalgia of what these writers do. I remember reading the beginning and ending of the Star Trek Countdown and liked how they enclosed it with the Next Generation crew.

But this one didn't work as well for me. I'd say it's because I wasn't a big fan of the Deep Space Nine show. But those fans will get a kick out of this story.

The artwork was great and the pacing is top notch. I think I'm just ready to read more stories of the new crew on their own; without having to rely on previous point of references.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by IDW Publishing.