Good Thinking by Denise Cummins

How do we think? Or to ask a slightly different question, how do we know? If you take the IB/TOK jokes literally, the answer will be "we don't". But apart from deconstructing the various ways of thinking, I'm still not quite sure how our minds work. So tada! Good Thinking to the rescue. It's suppose to integrate the various types of thinking taught across the different disciplines - rational choice, game theory, morality, logic, causality and hypothesis testing.

Looking at the bibliography at the back, I get the sense that I'm reading the condensed version of many many studies. And being the lazy person I am, that makes me very happy. Plus, when I read official stuff (like annual reports), I have a tendency to zone out. But, this book is written in an engaging and easy to understand style, so there are no problems.

Now that I've mentioned the good things, there are some problems I have. One is the inherent evolutionist view that the book contains. In one section, the book discusses why we cooperate and goes into this explanation about kin selection. But I think it'd be because we are created, which kind of nullifies the "evolution-teaches-us-to-look-out-for-ourselves-only" problem.

The other problem was when they talked about Copernicus and "the Biblical view of the position and status of the earth as the centre of the universe."Um, no. Galileo was "fighting against" the contemporary views of the earth which was influenced by Aristotelian philosophy, not the Bible (there's a really good article here). You could say that it was the position of the Church, but it's not a Biblical view at all.

But overall, the book is excellent. Let me end by listing some of funniest analogies from high school students (incidentally, the book ends with this too):

"17. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

18. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35mph"

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Conversational Evangelism by Norman and David Geisler

I don't know if I can say this is a habit, but the handful of times that I've been to the Embassy of Japan normally ends with a visit to my aunt and uncle. That's actually because their house is within walking distance but nonetheless, most visits normally end with me borrowing books like Hard Truths, G.A. Henty, etc. The last and latest visit ended with me borrowing Conversational Evangelism.

Conversational Evangelism focuses on "pre-evangelism". And that is sorely needed. I noticed that people tend to jump into sharing the gospel, and following that, chasing after people/arguing over apologetics. Pre-evangelism is focused on understanding the other party and their worldviews, getting them to be receptive to the Word of Christ.

And a lot of what they say makes sense. What's the point of shoving down the gospel at someone who doesn't understand where you're coming from? What may make perfect sense to us may be complete nonsense to someone with a different worldview.

The book divides the conversational evangelist into 4 persona's - the musician, the artist, the archaeologist and the builder. The musician hears the "sour notes" or discrepancies in what people are telling us, the artists gets a clearer picture of the worldview, the archaeologist finds the reason why and finally, the builder builds common ground.

Although the book sounds serious (and it is!), the book is easy to read. It has a lot of examples, taken from conversations the authors had with others, which makes the points very clear and easy to understand. The book is helpful in pointing the way, such as the appendixes which recommend good books for the beginner, intermediate and advanced (depending on how much you know of apologetics, doctrine, etc)

In conclusion, this book is a must read. If you're a Christian, you really need to read this to find out how to spread the Gospel. And, it may show you that it's not as scary as you once thought!

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

I'm not sure where I heard of this book, but it a moving, disturbing read. I'm glad I chose to wait till day to read it (as opposed to reading it before bed) because I didn't want to put the book down. Plus, I might have gotten nightmares.

Living Dead Girl is written in a way that reminds me of the flow of conciousness (only in coherent sentences as opposed to fragments and made up words). Alice, the protagonist, is a defeated teenager. Ever since she was kidnapped by Ray five years ago, she has been broken and re-formed into the perfect doll. Her whole life is on survival mode, and she is so badly broken that you'd think she has forgotten her conscience.

While it would have been interesting, albeit disturbing, to simply just read about her attempts at surviving, Little Dead Girl creates conflict. You see, now that Alice is 15, Ray is getting tired of her and he wants her help to find a new Alice. And the scariest part is that Alice will help, because it means that she won't get hurt anymore - and she knows she will probably be killed after that.

I think that the fact that the book doesn't have a happy ending, unlike Room (which is also very good) makes it more impactful. And I suppose that the fact that Alice was very realistic (almost morbid) about her future was, I don't know, unsettling yet oddly real.

Basically, although this book is fairly short, you should give it a read. The subject matter is dark but deep.

Teaser Tuesday - Conversational Evangelism

I managed to find a book! My aunt and uncle lent it to me, and it's called Conversational Evangelism by Norman and David Geisler :D

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading~

And on to the teaser:

"Love is a more persuasive force than fear, and though many people are seemingly untouched by reason and argumentation, they are truly moved by our love for them. Jesus Himself confirmed that loving others was the second greatest commandment." (page 99)

See you next week! (hopefully)