Books (Paper and Electronic!)

I'm a pretty avid reader. For awhile I struggled to read volumes of good Christian books that people recommended or gave to me. A few years back, though, I read the book Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster. This is a great book, and I understand that it has recently been updated, so I'll probably get a recent copy and read it again. One of the questions Foster raised was, "when was the last time you read just for fun?" It really freed me up to get back to the memories of my youth when our family would spend Sunday afternoons at our cabin in Spearfish Canyon, SD. I remember chilly days with the fire blazing and all of the family sprawled out on chairs or couches reading intensely. My parents encouraged us to read. They didn't care what kind of books we read (as long as they were appropriate), and they knew reading encouraged our imagination and helped build our vocabulary. I had a real affinity for science fiction and read just about everything that Heinlein, Asimov and other science fiction writers published. Getting back to reading for fun has really gotten me back into the habit of reading.

One rule I try to follow is to read a book that feeds my soul for every novel I read for fun. Some of my recent "good" reads include books by Ken Blanchard, Richard Swenson, John Maxwell and others. Thanks to the Amazon Kindle, I can keep several books handy for the opportunity for one of those extended reading sessions, regardless of where I am. Right now I have about three or four "fun" books lined up, and the same number of "good" reads ready to go. Last weekend I finished a book by Clive Cussler, The Chase, which was based on historical events (a quick read you might enjoy). Then, I had to decide which of the other part of my book list I was going to tackle.

I opened up The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty by Peter Singer. I ended up reading the book in two sessions in a 24 hour period. This is not a book written by a Christian promoting missions organizations. In fact, there were a couple organizations that he suggested supporting that I personally take exception to. However, the case he makes for giving to alleviate world poverty is compelling. The statistics he documented should cause concern to everyone. He established the "extreme poverty" level at those surviving on less than $1.25 per day. That accounts for 1.4 billion people - 455 million in India alone - the majority who are women and children. He showed that Americans on the average give 2.2%, of their income, which is almost double the amount of the next largest giving prosperous nation. The largest share of giving goes to religious purposes; churches, synagogues, etc. Most of this is to allow those institutions to fulfill their purpose here in the US. After religious giving, educational institutions and the arts receive a great deal of our charitable giving. According to his research, only .07% of our income goes outside of our borders, and that amount includes international exchange programs and other giving that does not directly aid the poor. That's less than 7 cents of every $100.00 we earn that helps those in extreme poverty. That, to me, is a very sobering fact.

I started reading the book during the evening, and ended up reading it until after midnight (which is very late for me!). Then, I was awake thinking about what I had read for another couple hours. I finished the book the next day. I don't agree with everything in the book, but I was challenged to examine what we do with our money - and why. We've considered ourselves as strong givers - and we focus a lot of that on helping kids in poverty. But, I'll be chewing on this book for quite awhile. My next journey through the book will be to highlight certain areas and passages. Don't be surprised if you hear more about it in a later blog.

In the meantime, I highly recommend the Peter Singer book - and also the Richard Foster book. Seems to me they would be a good pair to read back-to-back. I'm not sure which to recommend as the first to read. Perhaps you can read both, and post a recommendation of the order of the books to read. I'd also welcome any other book recommendations. I'll probably need to stock up soon!