Relentless Forward Progress, by Bryon Powell

My measure for what makes a great running book is whether after I read it, or, better, in the middle of reading it, I'm ready to head out for a run.  Byron Powell's Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons hits that mark.  Runners may know Powell from his web site, https://www.irunfar.com/.  He's been a fixture in the ultrarunning and trail running communities for years.

I have run 11 ultras myself, and have picked up bits and pieces of tips from Powell and others over the years.  Many experienced runners won't find much of anything new in Relentless Forward Progress, but it's useful to me to have this information all together in a handy resource.  Like any book, the information is static, but Powell frequently references his web site, where content is regularly updated.

One of the strengths of RFP is the logistical planning.  If you have only run road races, and/or have only run races of marathon distance or shorter, you have to be aware that trail ultras are a different animal.  What do you bring, what do you wear, how do you deal with the variety of weather and lighting conditions you might encounter, what kind of support do you need to have?  These and other questions are answered (some in more detail than others).  Obviously, learning from your own experience is invaluable, but Powell distills his experiences, as well as many others who contribute short selections, and puts it all together here.

While he offers guidance on eating before and during an ultra race, and presents a variety of training plans for ultras, these two areas are, in my opinion, the most questionable to put in a book like this.  Every runner is so different that no plan can adequately meet the needs of all.  Powell clearly agrees with this sentiment, and presents enough information that most any runner can take the raw material here and develop his or her own successful training plans and race strategies.

It's been a few years since I've completed an ultra, but reading Relentless Forward Progress put a little fire in me to up my weekly mileage and sign up for a run.  Let's hit the trails!

God's Big Plan, by Elizabeth F. Caldwell and Theodore Hiebert, illustrated by Katie Yamasaki

Like many people, I have always thought of the Genesis 11 story about the Tower of Babel to be an account of God's punishment for man's pride.  The people said, "Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves. . . ."  God notices the tower and notes that if they can accomplish this, all speaking the same language, "then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."  So he "confused their language" and "scattered them from there all over the earth."

Elizabeth F. Caldwell and Theodore Herbert take exception to that interpretation.  In their children's story book, God's Big Plan, they write, "The people who were building Babel had a little plan to stay together.  But God had a bigger plan.  God wanted to fill the world with different languages, different people, and different ways of living."  The story, with illustrations by Katie Yamasaki, has a good message, but is out of synch with the scriptural account.

When they write (in the notes for parents and educators) that "interpreters throughout history have read this story in a way that presents difference as a problem" they set themselves above the consensus of Bible scholars.  That is problematic.  They go further, saying that this interpretation leads to a view that "the world's diversity is God's penalty for sin."

I don't think one necessitates the other.  I think you can affirm diversity as a gift from God and celebrate the many ways we are different, while not butchering and jettisoning a traditional interpretation of a Bible story.  God's Big Plan has a good message marred by faulty biblical scholarship.


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

Colored, by Èmilie Plateau

Before Rosa Parks, another young lady refused to give up her seat on a bus, was arrested, and helped spur the Montgomery bus boycott.  Her name was largely lost to history, but Èmilie Plateau has done her part to keep her memory alive in Colored: The Unsung Life of Claudette Colvin.

When she was only 15, Claudette got on her regular bus to go home from school.  When she was asked to give up her seat for a white passenger, she refused.  She was arrested, thrown in jail, and charged.  Rosa Parks and other local leaders talked about a bus boycott, but they thought Claudette wasn't an appropriate public face of the boycott: immature and pregnant out of wedlock, they didn't want to invite additional criticism.

When Rosa Parks took her stand on the bus, she was 43, and as anyone who has heard her story knows, she was a saintly community leader, respected by both black and white citizens.  So she became the face of the bus boycott.  Claudette was forgotten.

Colored, simply illustrated and told, clearly reminds us of the deep sickness of segregation in the South.  Even though it was just a generation or two in the past (Claudette and other figures in this story are still living), it seems like another world.  Plateau reminds us of this history, while also pointing out the leading role that Claudette and other women had in the Civil Rights Movement.  Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., and others were certainly inspiring, but while the called for equal rights for blacks, they certainly did not consider equal rights for women.

Plateau does Claudette a great service by telling her story, and does the rest of us a great service by reminding us of these heroes who risked so much to work for equal rights.



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

Three Felonies a Day, by Harvey Silverglate

Attorney Harvey Silverglate has been in the mix in a variety of high-profile cases.  In Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent, I was reminded of the old line from Soviet days: How do we know they're guilty? The secret police never arrests an innocent man.

Silverglate covers example after example of people in business, politics, and other fields who have found themselves on the unwelcome receiving end of federal prosecutors' attentions.  This book was frustrating to read.  In cases which which is was a little bit familiar, I had to face the fact that I have bought the media's superficial reporting.  (E.g., Martha Stewart is clearly guilty of insider trading, and Michael Milken is a crook.  Neither is true.)  But Silverglate descibes the cases of people whose convictions are nebulous and the "crimes" they are accused of are vague or nonexistent.  Federal law enforcement has a bad habit of slapping the "wire fraud" label on any activity they don't like.

And that's the theme of the book.  The feds find some activity they don't like, and they poke around looking for a crime.  Again, like the Soviets used to say, Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime.  Silverglate shows that living clean, following the rules, and having personal integrity is not enough.  If they feds see you doing something they don't like, they will, one way or another, find a way to charge you.

(By the way, this book was published in 2011, so Silverglate, obviously, doesn't address the Trump era.  But I couldn't help thinking of all the Trump associates who have been convicted of one thing or another.  Surely some of them were legitimately guilty of something, but I couldn't help thinking that many of them have been targeted in the manner Silverglate describes.  On the other hand, it's remarkable that Trump himself hasn't been convicted of something, not because he's a criminal but because so many in government want him to go down for something, anything!  Maybe Silverglate will write a new edition. . . .)

Transhumanism and the Image of God, by Jacob Shatzer

Chances are, you haven't given a lot of thought to transhumanism.  Theologian Jacob Shatzer has, and writes about it in Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today's Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship.  First of all, don't get distracted by the term transhumanism.  By this he simply means the modern technology that moves us toward "a future created by the next stage of evolution (the posthuman), moving beyond what it currently means to be human."  He discusses social media, smart phones, wearable technology, virtual reality, and more arcane subjects like whole mind uploading and artificial intelligence.

The first half or so of the book explores these technological ideas and how we interact with them.  He points out that "humans make tools, but tools also make humans."  Technologies like computers and iPhones are tools, but they have altered the way we live, think, and interact with others, perhaps irreversibly.  The "brain's nonconscious mapping changes and redefines action and the relationship between the agent and the world."  The tools of modern technology "are more powerful [than earlier tools] and therefore create great change in the self-world boundary." 

In the second half of the book, Shatzer explores how our relationship with technology affects our sense of place, our relationships with others, and our self-image.  After a rather technical (but accessible) discussion of the technology, Shatzer comes to a low-tech solution.  We may think we are connected to others via technology, but to truly connect we need to recapture the age-old tradition of sharing meals.  Homemade food, engaging story telling, and strong fellowship keep us connected in ways that social media never can.

Further, he recommends incorporating "practices into our lives that give us space away from and formation in the face of encroaching immersive technology" primarily by practicing a Sabbath rest.  Shatzer tackles technological issues thoughtfully and in such a way that the average American reader won't have much trouble recognizing and relating to the discussion.  His solutions are rather obvious, but welcome and no less important in their application.  The first step to recovering Christian discipleship in a technological age is recognizing how technology shapes us.  Shatzer gets us on the path to do so.


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

Legislated Rights, by Paul Yowell, et al.

In Legislated Rights: Securing Human Rights through Legislation, an eminent international team of legal scholars have collaborated to make the argument implied by the book's subtitle: that legislatures, not judicial bodies, have "a special role and responsibility . . . in securing human rights in positive law."  By examining the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other similar documents, the authors demonstrate that while the courts play a role in interpreting rights, the legislature has a primary role in establishing human rights in society.

In the American context, for instance, much is made of Supreme Court decisions during the Civil Rights movement.  However, the legislation passed during this period of time had a greater impact on actual changes in racial equality.  (Arguably, the courts perpetuated racial inequality and segregation.)  The Civil Rights era in the US demonstrated that "human rights are most effectively9 secured not by looking to courts to be their guardians, but by the painstaking, everyday work of legislatures seeking to craft laws to promote and protect the full range of rights and freedoms in the Universal Declaration."

Judicial review has a rather revered status as the arbiter of human rights.  While not rejecting the importance of judicial review out of hand, the authors of Legislated Rights present a solid argument for legislatures to promote and protect human rights.

Jesusfreak, by Joe Casey

When you have no idea what to expect, you won't be disappointed.  That describes my experience with Jesusfreak, by Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra.  This graphic novel is a sort of retelling of Jesus' life and ministry.  That said, it has very, very little connection to the historical and scriptural accounts of Jesus' life.

I am a follower of Jesus, and I think he had a sense of humor, so I'm not completely opposed to literary presentations that take liberties with truth.  Thus, I won't go so far as to call Jesusfreak sacrilegious.  But it's neither very entertaining nor particularly inspiring.  They present a Jesus who is more Eastern mystic and kung-fu master than teacher, rabbi, or savior.

I was mildly interested, sometimes wondering if they were stretching for some crude allegories, but mostly I was just perplexed as to why they told the story they way they did.  In case you were wondering, don't buy this to give to the kids in your Sunday school class.  (Don't get me wrong, they in no way present this as a graphic novel version of the gospels.)

Jesus is Lord.  The details of his life and his interactions with the Romans during his life make for some interesting reflections about power and oppression.  Jesusfreak doesn't add to that conversation.

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