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written with a light touch: Richard L. Sine, Stamp Collecting for Dummies

September 7, 2007 by David Baer

Full product information for this item, together with my review, my ranking of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

This volume in the ‘Dummies’ series is written with a humorous light touch that makes it especially attractive to the Dummy who knows he is one and doesn’t need to be reminded that he is one by being frog-marched through impenetrable jargon. In addition, Richard Sine or his editor have had the foresight to break the topics he treats up into very small sections and subsections. Continue Reading »

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the expectation of amity: Gordon P. Hugenberger, Marriage as a Covenant. Biblical Law and Ethics as Developed from Malachi (Biblical Studies Library)

September 7, 2007 by David Baer

Full product information for this item, together with my review, my ranking of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

As an example of classical biblical scholarship on a topic of ongoing concern for pastoral care, there is no better exemplar than this revised 1994 PhD dissertation, helpfully reprinted in affordable paperback in 1998. The author serves as the senior minister of Boston’s Park Street Church and as Ranked Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Continue Reading »

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embracing the pain: Proverbs 11

September 7, 2007 by David Baer

A morning email from a colleague points out slippage in my conduct. A crack has opened unnecessarily in my leadership of people whose lives and wellbeing matter more than one can know.

From across the globe, words of rebuke. No pulling rank, no shooting to kill, just the words of one straight-talker to his colleague and friend. Friend and colleague. Continue Reading »

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Two Hippos Make an Island: JFK International Airport

September 6, 2007 by David Baer

JFK is a terrible way to introduce a visitor to a very nice country. It’s a grimy, worn-out kind of place where many of the employees seem to wish they were somewhere else and you were too.

There is the occasional oasis. Take Delta’s Crown Room Club at Terminal 3, near gate 6. You can usually find outgoing and friendly staffers, always a wonder in New York City though hardly a feature that is entirely absent when sought out. This Crown Room Club would not be mistaken for expansive, yet it has a pleasantly laid-back what-you-see-is-what-you-get quality to it.

Given the alternatives outside, ducking in here is always a pleasant respite.

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His Friend’s Closet: Broad Ripple, Indianapolis

September 6, 2007 by David Baer

‘Ever see a bunch of straight guys who don’t know each other chortling and emoting about loud to each other about the clothes they’re getting for decent cash?

Me, neither. Continue Reading »

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wisdom’s table: Proverbs 9

September 6, 2007 by David Baer

Wisdom is no pauper.

To the contrary, the proverbialist portrays this elegant lady as possessed of—indeed of having built—a very fine house. Her table is laden with the weight of good stuff. Wisdom is no party animal. Neither is she a prude. Continue Reading »

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productive order: David Allen, Getting Things Done. The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

September 5, 2007 by David Baer

Full product information for this item, together with my review, my ranking of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

As a guy with a high-demand life and job, I have a hundred reasons to need a book with a title like this. But as a natural skeptic regarding techniques—especially one that promises `stress-free productivity’—I have a million reasons not to read it. You see, I think wisdom and courage have a lot more to do with stewarding the high demands and attractive opportunities that come our way than do `how to’s’ and `tips’. Continue Reading »

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cri du coeur: Edward W. Said, Orientalism

September 5, 2007 by David Baer

Full product information for this item, together with my review, my ranking of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

Ironically, the great Palestinian-American humanist scholar Edward Said wrote this essentially inaccurate book as a bold and pained cri du coeur two decades before the events of September 11th and the fresh entanglement by the West in the Middle East would render obvious its stature as required reading. One must not attempt to understand our world from the West without a careful listening to the late author’s cry. Continue Reading »

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the point of satiety: Arthur Agatston, The South Beach Diet. The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss

September 5, 2007 by David Baer

Full product information for this item, together with my review, my ranking of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

‘Eat up!’, the diet doctor might say. That’s the point of this short introduction to the diet regimen that Dr. Agatston-a heart surgeon-stumbled upon while trying to figure out how to help his patients enjoy healthier hearts. When he discovered that the plan worked for people whose main concern-unlike their cardiac surgeons-was to lose weight, he produced this rarity, a diet book that treats its readers with respect and makes the assumption we want to know how things work. Including our bodies. Continue Reading »

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why they go away: The Disappearing Donor. Where Your Ministry’s Lapsed Givers Went, and Why

September 5, 2007 by David Baer

Full product information for this item, together with my review, my ranking of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

This little book makes available the details of an extensive research project that investigated why donors abandon the non-profit organizations about which they once felt such enthusiasm. In addition, the author provides fifteen short chapters of interpretation and suggestions for the non-profit workers who find themselves on the losing end of this pilgrimage of the heart. Continue Reading »

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