My Best Books of 2012

During 2011, I read a total of 111 books. I saw a definite drop off during 2012 where I only read 87 books. There are several reasons for this: first, the books I was reading were much longer than the ones in 2011 and my counseling load almost doubled from the year before, making it much more difficult to read. But in some ways I feel like the books I read during 2012 had much more impact than the 2011 slate of books.

Many of the books that I read during 2012 were not necessarily written during 2012, and therefore this is not a list of the best books of 2012. Most of these books were written within the last three years, but a good number were written many years before and I’ve just become aware of them during this last year. A few of them I’ve read before and I was coming back to them this last year.

Best Psychology Book-”The Brain That Changes Itself”by Norman Doidge. This is a groundbreaking book related to the theory of the plastic brain. This theory proposes that our brains are not static organs unable to change or make significant adjustments. The “plastic brain movement” has proven that almost any area of the brain can be reconditioned for a different purpose. This book is a crowning achievement of many different plastic brain endeavors.

Best novel-”11-22-63″ by Stephen King. King is the world’s best-selling novelist and his latest work may be one of his two or three best books ever. The premise of this book is based on the question “What would happen if someone went back and prevented Pres. Kennedy from being killed?” The answers will surprise you.

Best Reread from Days Gone by- “White Fang” by Jack London. Though I had read all of the books by Jack London related to the gold rush into the northern part of Canada and the United States when I was a boy, reading this book again after all these years gave me a new appreciation for the story writing abilities of London.

Best Science Fiction- “Blackout And All Clear” by Connie Willis. Willis is clearly one of the greatest science fiction writers of our day, but she also likes to write historical fiction. This book (the two books actually function as one) combines both her science knowledge and her love of the history of World War II.

Best Sports Book-”Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. In some ways this is so much more than the sports book. Is a book about survival, about the human condition, about God’s working in difficult situations and how young man’s love of running and staying in shape kept him alive when most would have died.

Best Self-Help Book-”Strength Finders 2.0″ by Tom Rath. The Strength Finders survey is given much more latitude in this book. As you work through it to find your strengths and your dynamics of achievement, this book will put it into a matrix that will help you find a job; perhaps even your best job.

Best Crime/Mystery-”Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn. This devolves into one of the most brutal and honest account of what can happen when two people love themselves more than each other and they are too smart for their own good.

Best Christian/Devotional-”Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young. This is a day by day diary which uses Scripture portraying it as God speaking directly to the ones reading the book. It is one of those books that calls to mind the best devotional books of the early 20^th century.

Best Hard Science Fiction-”Rule 34″ by Charles Stross. As a science fiction fanatic, I make a distinction between regular science fiction, fantasy and hard science fiction. Hard SF focuses on the scientific principles involved in story, whereas regular science fiction is more concerned about the plot. This book by Stross is a tremendous example of a well-written science book set in the near future.

Best Fantasy Book-”Name Of The Wind/The Wise Man’s Fear” by Patrick Rothfuss. I read these two books in 10 days-they were that infectious. Rothfuss has sneaky habit of writing extremely slowly and this is going to make the third book so tantalizing and frustrating to those who read the first two.

Best Sequel-”A Dance With Dragons” by George RR Martin. Martin’s work is an acquired taste and very few people liked the first two books of the series. But each one seems to be getting better than that last.

Most Disappointing Book-”Telegraph Avenue” by Michael Chabon. I’ve loved the work of Chabon for many years since I read his book the Yiddish Policeman’s Union. But this one failed to move me in any way. It is the story of a West Oakland neighborhood falling into disrepair, unable to rescue itself from the inevitable destruction. I wish I could say there was a plot twist that makes this easy to read, but there just isn’t. I was very disappointed at this work by very good writer.

Best Historical Book-”Killing Lincoln” by Bill O’Reilly. Though O’Reilly probably did not write the majority of this book (co-writer Martin Dugard did), his well-known name added a lot of new readers who would have passed by this historical account. This is the first in a series of books highlighting some of the great presidents, especially those who were assassinated. At every turn, there are surprising and enlightening facts about Lincoln’s life that will inform even the person who does not like history.

The Best Books on Spiritual Formation

There are thousands of definitions of Spiritual Formation, but here’s what I mean by it:

“The activity involved with becoming more intimate with God through disciplines, practices and knowledge, with the goal of becoming more Christlike”

In my 41 years as a Christ-Follower, I have read many books that sought to help me in this process of Spiritual Formation. Many of these were written centuries ago and some show up from year to year. When I find a book that impacts me, it is usually because it shows me a path to God that is both challenging and accessible.

I realize a list like this is subjective. I have not read a lot of Eugene Peterson, Henri Noewen or Timothy Keller, so their books are not on this list. Also, as a spiritually oriented counselor, I have added more books on how to have a healthy inner man than most other people. I tried to include books from every age.

My criteria for choosing books on Spiritual Formation include the following four characteristics:

1. Good theology, but not too much

2. Biblical basis but not a lot of quotations

3. Practical elements, but not a how-to

4. Personal reflections, but not a biography.

So, without further explanation, here is a list of the books I consider essential for any disciple of Christ.

The Bible: Because it shouldn’t go without saying this is THE BOOK.

Is That Really You, God? by Loren Cunningham. This is the foundation for a missionary movement greater in scope than any other. And a simple book on Hearing God

Hind’s Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. This is the only allegory on the list, but it propels the reader to greater understanding of suffering and joy.

I Found the Key to the Heart of God by Basilea Schlink. Most North Americans need to delve into what one of the world’s greatest souls found as she lived out her Christianity in a rugged culture.

Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness by Jerry Cook. Jerry understands those things that we have to have to live for God in a broken world.

Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets. He understands how to pray for others and expresses it more clearly than any other book on prayer. And I’ve read a lot of them.

God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis. If you have never fasted, or never got much out of it, this is the quintessential book on the subject. I love books of less than 100 pages that say this much.

How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit by A. W. Tozer. Another short book that delivers what it promises.

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe. Many people will be shocked to see this one on here. But when you read it, the cost of what it means to follow Christ becomes clearer and clearer.

Ordering Your Private World by Gordon McDonald. This book has changed the lives of so many people.

When I Relax I Feel Guilty by Tim Hansel. Every intense follower of Christ needs this one to balance out Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.

Between Heaven and Earth by Ken Gire. This is the best book by a man I consider to be one of the most thoughtful writers alive.

How to Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur. No one presents the principles of Inductive Bible Study better than Kay Arthur.

Healing Life’s Hurts by Ed Smith. This is a simple to read explanation of just about every mental and spiritual problem we face. And it lays out the simple solution.

Transformation of the Inner Man by John Sandford. The tri-fold nature of man needs to be understood and this book does a thorough job.

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Boenhoeffer. This is actually  not high on my list because it is difficult to read and not well written. But the concepts are foundational and may make this one of the greatest books in Christianity along with…

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. Okay, here is another allegory, but it is so much more. Get a modern translation of it if you can.

The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. The greatest mind of Chinese Christianity and some of the simplest and profound practices of getting closer to God.

The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. If you ever wondered how the Enemy of our souls carries out his business, this might be the best book on the subject.

The Bait of Satan by John Bevere. This explains why most of us have trouble getting along with other people and shows how God can solve that.

The Divine Romance by Gene Edwards. When I first read it, I thought it was heresy. I have changed my mind and now consider it a great book. Read it more than once for full effect.

Don’t Waste Your Sorrows by Paul Billheimer. Have you ever grieved and mourned? Was it worth it? That strange question is the foundation for a powerful truth.

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. In this unique set of daily prayers the Bible comes alive in a semi-private conversation between Jesus and you.

Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. You need to understand real holiness and Bridges delivers in this simple book.

When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson. Though perhaps not as well written as some of the rest (from a technical standpoint), it is rich in a subject most Christians ignore: The power of God

The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. The so-called master of spiritual formation, this book is his best.

The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. A good explanation of all the spiritual disciplines. Please don’t let this be the only one you read (as is true of most of these).

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. The scene about washing dishes radically changed my view of the sanctity of work.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I caution the reader to see this is one man’s passion and may not be every person’s calling. That said, this is a great depiction of God’s love for us and how we can live that out.

The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer. A classic understanding of the intricate levels of our relationship with God.

Wild At Heart by John Eldridge. Like many of the books on this list, this one launched a movement of men to get closer and more intimate with God.

The Autobiography of Madame Guyon by Jeanne Guyon. This is a deep and reflective look at God by a woman literally locked up most of her life. This is not an easy book to read, but is extremely valuable.

Holiness and the Spirit of the Age by Floyd McClung. This is a glimpse in how to read our culture with a focus on how the people of God should live in that culture.

Open Source Church – No Copyright

For those who follow my teachings on the podcast, in person or this blog, you’ll know I’ve been hawking the idea of Open Source Ministry for about 14 years.

I knew I should have written a book on it. Too late now.

At least someone wrote it. I will have to get a copy of it for my own edification. I will let you know when I am ready to review it.

Review of Chapter Two – “Radical” by David Platt

Synopsis of the Chapter: Platt returns to another group of Asians in an underground church. His point is to show how they commit themselves to the Bible by listening to it for 12 hours a day over a 3 day period. He uses this scene to show that North American Christians have a limited commitment to God because we don’t want to spend more than an hour and a half in church. He is trying to show how radical commitment affects our time and our loves. In addition, he is contrasting the person who makes a “decision” to follow Christ and the person who lives this out daily in their lives. He mentions that many people will come to the Judgment Day and claim they had a relationship with God, but find out they really did not.

Strong Points of Chapter: After hearing about the way Asian Christians devote themselves to the Word of God, the reader comes away with a sense of their own lack of passion for the Scriptures. Several times a year, I teach at a Youth With a Mission base in Montana where they put on a course called “School of Biblical Studies”. In this course, the students study the Bible, book by book for 8 hours a day (and 4 to 6 hours of homework each night) for up to nine months. I am sure we can find other groups that study it even more. His key strength is pointing out that the common Soteric view of the Gospel (i.e. That we just need to make a decision to follow Christ and that is enough to get into heaven) is inadequate. I completely agree.

Weaker Points of the Chapter: Platt continues to make the mistake of taking verses out of context. Unfortunately, this chapter contains the most egregious of these. He claims that the Book of Habbakuk chapter one builds a case that “God actually does more than hate sin, he hates sinners”. The author is trying to hard to re-cast God and his desire for holiness and his place as Moral Judge of the Universe. God is the judge and He does hate sin. But in no sense does God hate us. This one statement will turn off many people wanting to go further. He also seems to claim later that we really don’t have salvation unless we continue to grow into that faith through works. This is consistent with the other “Lordship” teachers of the past twenty years (typified by the Master’s College and Multnomah grads…though Platt attended other schools than these). He tries to modify this position by claiming that grace will still be extended to those who mess up, but after the harsh rhetoric of the beginning, he makes a less than compelling case for grace. Also, I am starting to get annoyed as he compares “apples and oranges” with people in third-world agrarian societies and urban office workers. Does he really expect that those who work 12 hours a day (counting commutes) in an office are going to come every day to study the Bible for six hours. Even the farmers he mentions in this chapter can’t do that. We should take a few days out of every year to study the Bible intensely, but to even leave the suggestion that this is to be the regular habit of every Christian for the rest of their lives is unrealistic and no one in the Bible lived up to it. Not even Jesus.

What I learned: Lately, I have committed myself to seeing new converts focus on living as healthy as they can and to continue growing every day and not just the first days of their faith.

How to Read a Christian Book

Years ago, I read the biography of David Brainerd. Brainerd was the son-in-law of Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher of the Awakening and President of Princeton University. Brainerd was also a missionary to the native peoples of the Northeast and was a prodigious prayer-warrior. He mentions in his journals that he would rise at 4:30 most days and pray until noon . As I read this, I was struck with my own prayer-less life. So I devoted myself to begin rising at 5 a.m. to pray.

I distinctly remember the first time I did this. I answered the call of the alarm eagerly, bringing my list of prayer items to the place where I would pray. My wife rolled over and went back to sleep and I felt a certain sense of accomplishment having arisen to pray as she slept. Okay, there was a degree of pride there as well. I went into the room I had set aside as a prayer space (it was our storage closet. Since we had only been married for seven months, we didn’t have a lot of stuff to store). At 5:05 I started to pray

Greatest Kids Books for Adults

Just as Sesame Street had as much appeal to adults as to kids, so too there are many books written for children that cannot be fully appreciated until one has reached adult years. There are perhaps three reasons there are so many of these. First, all these books are written by adults and therefore have at least some adult thought patterns built into them. Second, it is almost impossible for an author to think concretely (as a child does) when your brain has entered the abstract world. Third, nothing grips the mind of an adult more than the realization they are seeing more than is there. Notice the fascination with “Hidden Pictures” and listening to music backwards and this will be obvious.

This list is not in any particular order. I get annoyed by book lists that try to put their findings in any kind of order, because the subjectivity of it all just screams for renovation. So this list is purely a group of children’s books which most adults would admire and enjoy.

1. The House at Pooh Corner: As much as the other Winnie-the-Pooh books are wonderful, this book deals with interesting themes the others don’t. Tigger, the ADHD child bounces into our hearts. Homes are lost and found as are friends. Christopher Robin shows the first signs he is about to leave childhood behind; a realization that only an adult can note with wonder and sadness.

2. Charlotte’s Web: When Wilbur asks, “why did you do this for me?”, Charlotte’s answer informs the reader of one of life’s greatest motivations – Sacrificial Love. Though humans are interlaced with the story, we feel more for the animals and their dilemmas. Even a rat and his thieving, hording ways is not without pathos.

3. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day: if you have not read this book, then you are in for a treat. Every book by Judith Viorst is a classic, but none more so than this beauty. Alexander is petulant and angry because every thing that can possibly make his day go badly is happening to him. What adult has not thought there was a sign on his back that says “Kick me”. Alexander shows that these signs exist….even in Australia.

4. Where the Wild Things are: Max doesn’t get dinner and he imagines himself running away and being carried to a world where someone must care. Except they don’t. In reality, Max is dealing with much deeper pain than anyone suspects. But through this even wilder world, Max learns that all living beings deal with pain and he shall not ever see himself the same way again.

5. A Wrinkle in Time: The Austin family sees the world a little differently than the rest. But that’s okay because we view the end result with wonder and delight. Since reading this, I have wondered what it would be like to Tessaract and fold reality to my bidding. So far I have only added wrinkles to my face in the folding process, but I will get there.

6. The Bridge to Terebithia: Another book where children face the sense of loss and grief that come to most children when they are least ready for it. Yet in the midst of pain comes the wonder of discovery. A charming book so well written that it may be put in the category of Classic Literature (with Charlotte’s Web of course).

7. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: I vowed I would abstain from Roald Dahl. He has a dark demented side that I cannot fully reconcile with children’s stories. But the unconquerable Charlie stands for all time as the childhood hero with flaws and emotions of real people. For this reason I include the book as the only Dahl novel to make my list.

8. The Chronicles of Narnia: Are they for children? I am not sure they qualify since the themes which dominate cannot be truly grasped by anyone under the age of accountability. But there is an innocence and wonder to Lucy which grabs the child-like reader and won’t let go.

9. The Secret Garden: What child doesn’t go looking for secrets, passageways, things that go bump in the day. It seems this list of children’s books have themes as dark as mankind and as bright as heaven. This book explores all of them and ends where a children’s book ought to end: At Truth.

10. Alice in Wonderland: This book was never intended as a children’s book. It was political satire and leaned toward the drug culture when that culture was almost unheard of. Yet Disney brought it to a child’s eyes and perhaps they were right. In any case, Tim Burton probably was closer to the original intent of its author.

11. The Giver: What child can discern the difference between an ideal world and a false Utopia. Yet this book desires to do just that. And if the child is precocious enough, they may see glimpses of reality shining forth.

12. Holes: “If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, you will make him a good boy.” This reform school classic will never go out of style. Although after reading this book (or the first part anyway) I did convince my wife it would be a good punishment for the kids. After reading the end, I changed my mind.

13. The Cat in the Hat Comes Back: The spreading stain is just the first thing that sticks to everything. The characters and wording of this book are monumentally stupendiferous.

14. Love You Forever: Other than the disturbing break-and-enter scene, this book touched my heart just as much as the kids. Maybe more. They wanted it read over and over, and I always acquiesced.

15. Island of the Blue Dolphins: This is the first book I read more than once as a child (A Wrinkle in Time was second). This is really a coming of age, Robinson Crusoe and discovery of California book all wrapped up together. I never got enough of wanting to live where she did. And now I almost do.

The Value of the Book “Love Wins” by Rob Bell

Can a book have value, even though most people reading it don’t agree with its philosophy or conclusions?

Can a book have value, even if the writer is flawed in his writing skill, his debating skills and his rhetorical approach?

When people read books they don’t agree with, they react in several ways. First, they don’t recommend that others read the book. Second, they find as many people as possible who also don’t agree with the book and trash it. Third, they refuse to see any value in the individual parts because they reject the book as a whole. This is a dangerous thing to do with books. The most insidious viewpoint to hold onto is one you will never challenge or allow others to challenge. That implies you are not willing to be wrong or to be shown how you are wrong. The greatest false beliefs are those which go unchallenged for a long time.   Truth can always withstand the scrutiny of examination. That’s why the Bible has been around for so long.

Rob Bell is a pastor in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is claimed by others, but not by Mr. Bell, that he is part of two movements within Christianity: the Postmodern and the Emerging Church movements. I cannot confirm or deny either of those claims. He has written a book called “Love Wins”, which has been challenged and vilified in many places on the Internet. The book is an examination of the belief in Hell, and in God’s punishment for sin. Here is a good place to start with a critical evaluation of it. Here is a much longer – perhaps more thorough – examination of the book. I expect there will be thousands of such book reviews coming. The book was marketed in a controversial way (as you can see here) and as such was already condemned even before it was published.

I’ll be clear. There is much I don’t like about the book myself. But I will leave the critical examination to others. I want to be that ‘other’ voice in this sea of opinion. I want to list what I believe are the best parts about this book. I do this so that even those who disagree with Rob Bell will stop for just a moment and consider that God may have prompted him to write it. I don’t mean it is inspired or even full of truth. But God can still nudge along someone to write something, even if that person is not completely accurate. Who of us are?

The Most Valuable Parts of the Book, “Love Wins”

1.    He asks great questions. He asks the kind of questions that church leaders hope non-believers never ask. These are thoughtful, direct and well-crafted questions. They are designed to attack the doctrines of hell and God’s wrath in such a way that we have to start from scratch in deciding why we believe the things we do. Here are some examples of the hundreds of questions he asks:

• Why does God tell us we have to forgive everyone, including our enemies, and then He doesn’t do the same with sinners going to hell?
• Does God punish people for infinite amount of years with eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life?
• How does a person end up being part of the lucky few who don’t go to hell? Chance? Luck? Random Selection? Being born in the right place at the right time in history in the right family, speaking the right language?
• Is there no hope for someone who dies and is not a believer?
• What is the age of accountability? What happens if a person dies a day before that age? Does he go to heaven? What happens if he dies the day after that age? Does he go to hell?
• What EXACT prayer does one have to pray to get into heaven? What if we get the wording wrong? What about people who have prayed some version of the prayer? Or any prayer? Do they get in for making an effort to talk to God?
• Is Hell the best God can do with the unbelievers?
• So does the kind of person you are not really matter as long as you have prayed the right prayer or believed the right things?
• Can a good person who doesn’t pray the prayer and a bad person who keeps doing bad things after the prayer go to heaven and hell respectively?
• Do we have to care about this world if it’s just going to be destroyed anyway?
• What if the only person who ever shared Jesus with you was the man who beat you up every day and then sang hymns while he did it? Do you get to escape hell because the example of a believer was so bad?
• Can you do anything to receive God’s grace? If you have to believe, is it really grace?
• What about the guy whose sins were forgiven because of the faith of his friends who let him down through the roof with a rope? Does the faith of someone who knows you count? If it doesn’t, why did Jesus tell him his sins were forgiven?

2.    He Doesn’t Believe Hell is a Single Issue: For instance, there is no doubt that Rob Bell believes in hell. He says it three times in the book that he believes there is a hell. But then he separates the issue. His questions (and perhaps his own struggles) relate to issues like “Who will go to hell” and “how long will hell last?” and “Will God ever give those in hell another chance?” For a long time in the Christian Church, these issues were all wrapped together in one package and we were told that if we mess with one part of the package it spoils the whole lot. But some of the current beliefs in the evangelical church about hell owe more to teachings in Dante’s “Inferno” than the Bible. Bell makes the case that these ideas need to be discussed and challenged.

3.    He Shows us the Value of Dialogue alongside Systematic Theology: Modernists are those who like to have neat and tidy categories for everything. Postmoderns believe that it is always premature to decide on what truth really is until we have all the facts. Since we are never sure we have all the facts, we need to be careful about being overly dogmatic. In this book, his stated intention is to throw open the discussion on hell, heaven and divine punishment so that all the implications and questions can be asked and the answers dissected for accuracy. Most modernists like to have their beliefs wrapped up and decided upon so they are not open to challenge. Debate perhaps, but not challenged. It used to be that several doctrines were considering too sacrosanct to ever question. The doctrine of Atonement (the belief about what happened on the cross to our sin and how it affects us now); the doctrine of the Bible (i.e. whether it is God’s Word or man’s invention); The doctrine of the Trinity (a belief that God is one being in three persons) and the doctrine of the church (i.e. its legitimacy and form). If one questioned or differed on these doctrines, then they could be dismissed as wrong and heretical. Added to that list is the doctrine of Hell. Without a proper understanding of hell, the atonement, the trinity, the church and the Bible, one is considered outside the barriers of good theology. But if you study church history, you’ll come to realize that all these doctrines were debated in their day and survived. The earliest was the Trinity. Then came Atonement. Then the Church (it’s still being debated), and then the Bible. The only one that has not been seriously discussed by the most conservative elements of the church is Hell. Why? It is strongly believed if there is any softening of the position on hell, it will destroy the last reason we do evangelism. After all, if there is no hell, then why witness to someone? Yet, witnessing to people has almost become extinct in today’s church. Few individuals do any evangelism and we still maintain a conservative view on hell. So perhaps Rob Bell’s book will foster enough reaction so his questions will not be swept under the carpet.

4.    The discussion on the word “Eternal”. Bell focuses much of his thesis about hell on the interpretation of one word: aion. It is the word often (though not always) interpreted “eternal”. In John 3:16 when it says those who believe in him will “not perish, but have eternal life”, the Greek word there for eternal is aion. Even though I think he does a less than acceptable job interpreting this word, he does right to question our understanding of it. The primary meaning is not “forever”. It does mean eternal, but not in the sense of time. More in the sense of permanency. Eternal life is also a quality of life and not just a reference point in time. God has eternal life with him and not just in the sense that he is eternal. We can never be eternal like God since we have a beginning point. So, I applaud Rob Bell for bringing this word to our attention. I await better scholars and more able communicators to tackle that word before I feel satisfied what it means.

What I don’t appreciate about the book can be summed up in two ideas.

First, he starts with what he considers the logical end game for God (i.e. God’s love will win everyone over) and then figures out how the Bible can end up there. That is turning the issue on its head. His logic and hermeneutics (the study of how we learn from the Bible) are not skilled and what comes out is a very complicated end-product. Most people reading this book will get lost in the vagaries of the theological machine he is riding.

Second, his Narrative viewpoint is not consistent. Mainly, he interprets the parables of Jesus as if they are part of the story being told by God to man. The Narrative approach believes that we must understand where the story was when Jesus taught and not where it is today. God is not telling the story the same way today. I understand that approach. But then, in a number of places in the book, he stops interpreting narratively and uses different Bible verses as “proof-texts”, reverting back to a modernist way of proving a point. I wish he had stuck with one approach or the other.

By all means, read the book. Tell me what you think.

Rethinking the Value of the Internet

The brochure claimed there were 32 bookstores in the Harvard Square area. Nothing makes me drool more than strolling through delicious rows of books, picking a few to consume and digest later. My wife and I caught the subway and rode it out to Harvard.

One store was devoted to Law books, another to medical textbooks and one store just had travel journals. But I saved the most enthusiasm for a rare bookstore in the basement of one shabby chic walkup. It was way too organized – this threw off my

“I have an idea for a book” he said.

I can honestly say I have heard the phrase “I have an idea for a book…” at least 100 times. Probably more. Most people think that writers love that phrase. Truth? It is one of the most loathsome phrases in existence.

When people say this, they usually mean one of three things:

1. I can’t write well, but this is what I would write about if I could.

2. I would love to start writing this some day when everything works together perfectly.

3. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could just skip all the work of writing and get to the part where it is published and I make money and people think I’m interesting and have ideas (well, at least one idea).

Don’t imagine that only non-writers utter “I have an idea…etc.”. When a writer says this, it usually means they have become emotionally constipated and may never write anything. You never hear a painter say they have an idea for a painting or a sculptor say they can visualize what they want to sculpt. They just paint or sculpt and it comes as it comes.

In her pithy book “Chapter after Chapter” Heather Sellers tells the story of the Perfect Rose. A man finds a perfect rose and he steals home with it to smell and admire it as long as he can. But as soon as he gets home, he realizes the rose will soon whither and he will lose its fragrance forever. So he sticks it in a vault and hides it away. A year later, he comes to the rose in the vault. As he opens the door, he doesn’t see a rose, but ashes that used to be his perfect flower. According to Sellers, this is a picture of a writer who has an idea and loves the idea but does not write.

Stop making endless outlines and write; give up on endless pining and write; stop wanting the book to be done and enjoy writing it instead. Just sit down and write. Write on napkins and in journals and with word processors. After you have written, don’t edit – just write some more. When the project is done, there will be time to edit. Stop saving the book for another day. Write down the bones and flesh out the meat later. You’ll never get it perfect, but you will have the opportunity to smell the fragrance of real words instead of wishing on them and creating ashes instead.

Should I Read This Book?

I read about 70-100 books a year. Some of them are given to me to read, some I must read, others I want to read and still others I think I should read (Note: I “guilt” easily when it comes to books. All you have to say is “Have you read this one Mike? Why not?, and I’m pretty much going to give it a look. After all, that’s what Google Books are for, ne c’est pas?). But there are those dangerous moments when I pick up a book and I wonder, “should I read this?” Reading a book for me is like committing to a very short but meaningful relationship with the author at ‘that’ stage in their life. “That” meaning, the stage they were in when they wrote the book.

For instance, I love “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle and almost anything else