Lego Space, by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard

Fans of Legos will love this book, especially those who like to break away from the pre-packaged Lego selections.  Peter Reid and Tim Goddard have put together a sort of future history, chronicling man's forays into space exploration and colonization, starting from Sputnik ranging centuries into the future.  The future history lesson is illustrated with scenes built from Legos, and accompanied by instructions on how to build many (though certainly not all) of the ships and robots featured in the story.

The story isn't ground-breaking sci-fi, but it's fun to have a story to go along with the fabulous Lego creations.  Your Lego builders will be inspired to try out some of the projects in the book, and maybe add some ideas of their own.

(A word on the version viewed: On my black-and-white Kindle, I could not see the building instruction pages.  I was able to view using Adobe Digital Editions on my iMac.  I don't know how well the book could be viewed on a color Kindle or iPad.)





Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City, by Bradley Garrett

Does everyone have a longing to go past those "restricted entry" signs, "authorized access only" barriers, the "no trespassing"signs?  Maybe not everyone, but it seems like there is a basic human desire to cross boundaries, to explore unknown and forbidden places, and to find untouched locations.  However, most of us, either out of respect for private property and the rule of law, or out of timidity and caution, stay safely within prescribed boundaries.

Bradley Garrett, a researcher at the Oxford University School of Geography and the Environment, spent several years hanging out with urban explorers, guys (mostly guys; there are a few female urban explorers), sneaking into closed down buildings, sewers, abandoned Tube stations, construction sites, skyscrapers, and other closed off and forbidden locations.  He tells the stories of their adventures, discoveries, and misadventures in Explore Everything: Place-Hakcing the City.

For Garrett and his UE buddies, urban exploration, or place-hacking, is not a juvenile thrill-seeking, but "taking back rights to the city from which we have been wrongfully restricted," protesting the "increased securitisation"of public places, about "going places you're not supposed to go, seeing places you're not supposed to see."  They see urban exploration as a "more tantalising option"than "the mall and the television screen," and a way to find alternatives to "state-mediated historical interpretation."

One the one hand, Garrett's tales of UE make me curious, not just about the places he visits, but about my own city as well.  What might I discover underground, or in some abandoned buildings, or in a construction site?  How difficult would it be to on top of Fort Worth's tallest buildings?  On the other hand, I believe that private property should be respected, that liability in the case of injury of death should be acknowledged, and that sometimes doors are locked and "No trespassing" signs are there for a very good reason.

Garrett does take pains to point out that urban explorers do not damage property, do not steal from or vandalize places they hack, and as a rule follow a "leave no trace" ethic similar to hikers.  The one thing they do take is a lot of pictures.  The pictures are awesome, mostly from the tops of buildings or underground.  They looked OK on my basic kindle, but I would encourage to get the physical book, view them on a color reader, or visit his web site (http://www.placehacking.co.uk) where he posts pictures of his explorations.

Even with Garrett's academic, philosophical descriptions of the activities and motives of urban explorers, I still saw a bunch of thrill-seeking young guys thumbing their noses at "the man." For all of their "working to create more democratic relationships to space in the context of an often dehumanizing global capitalist system," they come across as kids getting a kick out of going where they know they're not supposed to go.  But they do take great pictures, don't damage or destroy the places the visit, and, I have to admit, tempt me to do some sneaking around myself.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Die Trying, by Lee Child

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Jack Reacher just happens to be in Chicago and runs into an FBI agent just as she is snatched off the street by some mysterious bad guys.  She's the target of the kidnapping.  Besides being an FBI agent, she also happens to be the daughter of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces.
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.  Jack Reacher is kidnapped along with an FBI agent, and as a result, infiltrates a radical militia group and saves the day, thwarting the plans of the insane militia leader.  If you know Jack Reacher, you know that he overcomes impossible odds, outwits the cleverest foes, shoots like the best marksmen, and manages to hook up with the most beautiful women.  So it won't surprise you that he does all that in more in Die Trying.

Even after reading only two Jack Reacher books and seeing the movie Jack Reacher, I am coming to see Lee Child's formula.  But just because something is formulaic doesn't mean it doesn't work.  Child puts together a somewhat implausible plot with Reacher's quite expertise and determination to create a page-turner.  The action is well-written, with lots of technical and strategic detail.  The Montana Militia theme seems sort of dated, even though this was just published in 1998.  Are those guys still around?  And does Child unfairly depict them as sociopathic megalomaniacs?  Well, it is fiction after all.

Pick up Die Trying, or any Reacher novel for that matter, for a fun-to-read, action packed tough guy novel.  A guaranteed testosterone boost.

Saving Casper, by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper

A few years go, former pastor Jim Henderson recruited Matt Casper, a self-described atheist, to join him in visiting and reviewing churches.  The product of those visits, 2007's Jim and Casper Go to Church, offered some insightful and amusing reflections on church and why Christians do what they do.  Since the time of those visits and the publication of the book, Jim and Casper have been traveling to churches, colleges, and other venues, taking the "Christian and atheist" in dialogue show on the road.

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation captures some of those dialogues in book form, in a light-hearted but thoroughly challenging discussion of Christian approaches to evangelism.  The strongest theme of Saving Casper is the foundation of Jim and Matt's friendship.  Jim prays that Matt will become a Christian (spoiler: as of this publication, Matt is still an atheist).  Yet they continue to work together, continue to be friends, continue to love each other.

As they point out, too many times Christians' conversations and friendships with non-Christian people end if they reject the message of the gospel, making it seem that the goal is not friendship, but making a "sale."  When we view others as an objective in our quest to convert people, we don't value them as people, but merely look at them as potential trophies.  Jim reminds us to love people as people, not as targets.

As strong as this message is, many readers will be uncomfortable with a seeming willingness of Jim to leave theological questions unresolved.  Matt refers to himself as "currently" an atheist, which is refreshing, as he contrasts his position with the "fundamentalist atheism" or "anti-theism" that we have been hearing more about in recent atheist books and public statements.  But Jim leans toward embracing the "currently" label for himself.  Although I appreciate his intellectual humility--absolute certainty is a sure path to arrogance--I wish he would be a bit more certain about what defines Christian faith.

But that is really the point of the book.  It is not Jim's desire to simply tell Matt, or any other non-Christian, "This is what you must believe."  His desire, for himself and for the reader, is to enter into dialogue with others, listen to their stories and humbly tell your own.  Jesus did a lot of listening, loving, and serving.  Jim and Casper both endorse that sort of life.

Thanks to the Tyndale Blog Network for the complimentary review copy!

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

I don't know that I can say much to add to any conversation about To Kill a Mockingbird, surely one of the finest novels of the 20th century.  Harper Lee's courtroom drama has been an inspiration to some of my favorite writers of legal fiction, like Mark Gimenez and John Grisham.  But the bulk of the novel is life in small town America, race relations in the South, and learning about class and wealth and poverty, all through the eyes of a little girl.

This is perhaps a story that could only be told from the perspective of a child.  As Scout and her brother Jem grow up, watching their father stand as a voice of reason and justice in a world of unreasonable injustice, we are reminded of what we lose as the innocence of youth slowly wears away.  Atticus is what we should aim to be: fair, patience, selfless, and humble.

I was delighted that Elliot will be reading this for freshman English later this year.  I have enjoyed getting to know the story again.  Even as the racist attitudes of the South in the early 20th century seem more and more dated, we don't have to read the news or even listen to our neighbors very long to realize that Harper Lee's story is as important and powerful as ever.

Forever Friday

I'm not usually one to pick up a romance novel, but Timothy Lewis's Forever Friday was offered through Waterbrook/Multnomah's Blogging for Books program, so it had the magic word "free."  Plus, the author is a Texan and the novel is set in Texas, so that's a plus.  And, heck, I've been married 21 years, so it wouldn't hurt to read about a couple who keeps their love vibrant through decades of marriage.

When an agent is going through an estate preparing for a sale, he runs across an album filled with postcards, on each of which is a short love poem.  He realizes there's a card sent each week for over half a century.  His curiosity leads him to the couple's housekeeper's daughter and the unraveling of this life-long romance.

Gabe and Pearl meet randomly, and instantly fall in love.  They build a life filled with romance together, sharing in and overcoming adversity but mostly just growing old together, deeply in love.  Early in their marriage, Gabe commits to sending Pearl a postcard every Friday, and sure enough he does.  Adam, the estate agent, tells their story, intermingled with his own romance with the housekeeper's daughter.

Of course, the story is pretty sappy.  If you're a fan of Nicholas Sparks's stories, Forever Friday will be right up your alley.  But lest you think it's far-fetched to imagine someone sending his wife a love poem on a postcard every Friday for sixty years, Lewis says the inspiration for the idea came from his great-uncle, who did send Lewis's great-aunt a poem on a post card every year for sixty years!

Finally, this novel is published by a Christian press, but the Christian content is rather thin.  Other than allusions to prayer, off-hand mentions of church attendance, and recurring appearances by a possible angel, the story makes little mention of Gabe and Pearl's faith or how it inspires their lives and romance.  I don't say that as a criticism, just an observation for readers.

I have no plans to start sending my wife a postcard every week, but reading about Gabe and Pearl's romance did inspire me to focus more on her and think about romancing her.  Forever Friday is a sweet story for the romantic in you.

Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Amish Vampires in Space, by Kerry Nietz

Winning the prize for goofiest title of the year is Kerry Nietz!  Nietz has become a favorite of mine, with his imaginative, highly original sci-fi with a Christian message.  When Marcher Lord Press editor Jeff Gerke mocked up a fake book cover with a fictional author and the silly title Amish Vampires in Space, he meant it to be a joke, mocking the proliferation of Amish fiction among Christian publishers and of vampire fiction in secular presses.  However, Kerry's imagination took over and he actually came up with a story!  No joke about it, this is a great sci-fi novel.

Here are some thoughts, one word at a time.

Amish:
An Amish colony on a terraformed world gets picked up by a trading vessel, who will relocate them to another planet, since their planet's sun is about to go nova.  It seems a bit counter-intuitive, but Nietz makes a good case that the people best suited for colonizing a new world are people like the Amish: self-sufficient, able to build a community without an infrastructure in place, committed to cooperative efforts in community building.  I thought of parallels to Westward expansion in the U.S.  Those pioneers had to know how to live off the land, how to build a house from scratch, how to farm and raise livestock, how to make their own clothes and furniture.  Similarly the Amish, in Nietz's future, can relocate to a recently terraformed planet and thrive, without the support of advanced technology.

Nietz further reflects on the Amish people's resistance to technology as a matter of their faith.  They shun technology, yet advanced communication and space travel save their colony, which otherwise was doomed.  Nietz did a nice job of capturing the tension the Amish face when confronted with technology, contact with "Englishers" (non-Amish), and the use of violence.

Vampires:
I don't want to give away any of the story, but these are not your vampires of Bram Stoker and Bela Lugosi (or, I suspect Twilight, although I've never seen those movies or read those books).  Although Nietz's vampires may have common characteristics to other vampires of fiction and film, the origins are different, and perhaps more insidious and disturbing than other vampire stories.

In Space:
Nietz tells a good story about the vampires and the Amish people, but I particularly liked the background against which he tells it.  Other than the first scenes, based in the Amish colony, all the action of the story takes place on an interplanetary cargo ship.  Nietz doesn't dwell on the history, culture, and technology of this particular future, but he reveals enough that the reader begins to feel that this future is tangible and plausible.

The Christian message of AViS is not as explicit as in Nietz's DarkTrench saga, but the faith of the Amish, as well as some of the crew members, plays an important role in the story.  A major theme is faith and works.  The Amish in Nietz's story place their hope of salvation in their works, their adherence to the Ordnung, the rules of community.  Some of them begin to question that, risking a break with their community in hopes of a deeper truth.

Any sci-fi fan will enjoy AViS.  It has the feel of those sci-fi movies which feature a claustrophobic spaceship, lurking aliens, and a crew distant from any source of help.  Fans of vampire fiction will, I believe, feel at home with Nietz's take on vampires.  Fans of Amish fiction would probably be put off by the sci-fi/horror element, but who knows. . . .  Go ahead, laugh at the title, Kerry won't mind.  But after you judge the book by its cover, give the story a chance.  You won't be disappointed.