Review: God on the Streets of Gotham by Paul Asay

"I'm Batman." It's a phrase that I'm not ashamed to admit, I've uttered a time or two (each month). At two years and two months the The Little One is potty-training like a champ and I'm certain his new "big boy" Batman undies are a big part of it.

I look forward to the day that both he and his little brother (The Squeaky One) are old enough to watch Batman: The Animated Series with me. (And the movies, of course, but those would be later.)

The Twitter² Summary:
Batman has delighted and thrilled fans of all ages for more than seventy years. In God on the Streets of Gotham, Paul Asay traces the history of Batman in all his manifestations and how we may find something greater than we expect in the story of a Dark Knight protector.

The Low-down:
It was with great excitement that I opened God on the Streets of Gotham. I found myself looking forward to Asay's take on the connection of Batman and faith through the lens of culture. I was not disappointed.

Asay's take on the Caped Crusader is an interesting one. He sees parallels to the Christian faith in the mission Batman chooses, the armor he wears and the support he receives from those with whom he partners. Batman is not portrayed as a Christian by Asay or even as a symbol of the Christian faith. Instead, Asay shows that both we and Batman are facing a world darkened by the damaging effects of sin.

The book is an interesting and throughly enjoyable read. Asay's writing is insightful and quick-witted and the concepts are explored with acute understanding of the faith and cultural lenses we view them through

The Rating:
5 of 5 Stars (An awesome book that I will want to read again and again.)

The Author:
Paul Asay is the associate editor at Plugged In, a ministry that reaches more than 6 million people with movie reviews that help people understand popular cultural trends and how they intersect with spiritual issues. Paul is an award-winning journalist who covered religion at The (Colorado Springs) Gazette and whose work has been published by such outlets as The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Youth Worker Journal and Beliefnet.com. Paul has a special interest in the unexpected ways that faith and media intersect. He lives in Colorado with his wife, Wendy, and two children.

The Links:
The Intro and First Chapter

The Publisher’s Website

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received this book free from Tyndale House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

I've never been much of a fan of biographies. It's not that I haven't liked them when I've read them (John F. Love's book on McDonald's is one of the first I really liked - I know, it's not really a biography, but it's close enough for my purposes). The problem with the genre is that I never seem to be able to overcome my hesitancy at the heft of the biographical tomes that tweak my occasional interest. They just seem so incredibly long. 

Instead I head to the lighter end of the personal history shelf for the quips and anecdotes of the memoir. In addition to their comparative brevity, memoirs have always stuck me as more approachable. A biography must have as its subject a person of particular interest to me to overcome my natural inclination to avoid reading one.

If you know me well or, actually, if you now me even a little bit, you might have observed that I'm a Mac guy. I like to think that I'm not one of those "glassy-eyed stare while reciting all of the features" kind of a Mac guy, but a Mac guy none-the-less. The combination of a college roommate who was very into Macs, a ministry that used them exclusively and a college job that taught me the ins and outs of many Mac-only programs set me on the Mac-specific path I walk today. Frankly, I'd have a difficult time even operating a windows machine, as I haven't used one with regularity since Windows 98.

All that to say, Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs broke through my normal reticence.

The Twitter² Summary:

Walter Isaacson’s account of the whirlwind life of Steve Jobs captures the scope of a world-changing visionary, but doesn’t miss the intimate details of his personal life. At times exciting, tragic, frustrating and moving Isaacson’s riveting account is nothing short of epic.

The Low-down:

Isaacson’s detailed biography was written with Jobs' help. Jobs went so far as to encourage (and this being Jobs, cajole and bully) others to be interviewed for the project. In spite of his clearly close connection to the project, by all accounts Jobs didn't try to control what Isaacson discovered and used during the more than 150 interviews for the book. That in itself is remarkable and eases many worries that this "authorized" biography is the result of Jobs' personal "reality distortion field" or a PR puff piece. Of all the things this book is, a puff piece is certainly not one of them.

Isaacson’s narrative captures Jobs in four seasons of life, his youth, his years of exile at NeXT and Pixar, his return to Apple and his role in the post-pc revolution. Those searching for an in-depth history of Apple will get only those glimpses and pieces that are germane to Jobs’ story. This is not the story of Apple, but that of the life of Steve Jobs.

Isaacson details Jobs’ temperamental personality and binary view of the world (“a person was either a hero or a bozo, a product was either amazing or shit”) that could frustrate and infuriate those around him. Also found is Jobs’ tendency to be hindered by the fine distinctions in life, being “stymied by things that were more complex, shaded or nuanced: getting married, buying the right sofa, committing to run a company”.

All in all, this book is a captivating narrative of a disturbed, disconcerting and driven man who significantly influenced the intersection of technology and liberal arts and who left a lasting impact on the world. Whether you are an Apple fan or not, this is a book you’ll find to be a worthwhile read.

The Links:

The Publisher's Book Page

Amazon's Book Page

The Rating:

5 Stars (An awesome book that I will want to read again and again.)