Catching up on Reading
Sep 23, 2008 Uncategorized | Print This Post
I am just starting a two week break from teaching at Riv, which means I am finally catching up on my reading pile. Usually, when I am in a teaching season, I find myself working slowly through a few books but I have a hard time digesting anything too “meaty.”
For instance, I have been reading “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) for more than a month. This is a book that deserves serious time and attention, but alas, I have been denying it.
But I digress.
This morning, I grabbed the book that was on the top of my pile. It was an advanced copy of “Achievement IQ Moments” by Stanley F. Bronstein, who I follow on Twitter. Immediately, I realized this should have been the book I was reading through my teaching season. It’s a super easy read and there are some inspiring stories in there.
Basically, the author travelled around interviewing a bunch of people who had achieved amazing stuff in their lives. The main thing he looked for was some sort of trigger moment that got them moving. Some of the people he interviewed are decently big names, some you have never heard of. He then took 50 of them around wrote out their stories in this book.
It’s always inspiring to read stuff like this and it made me think of two things:
- I can’t wait to one day get to heaven and see how God has woven billions of people’s lives together into the one big story he is working on.
- I wish someone would travel around and do interviews like this with Christ-followers in different arenas. They could interview pastors, business leaders, grandmas, little league coaches, etc. about how they leveraged their lives for Jesus and what the trigger was that got them moving.
Of course, one of the quotes in Bronstein’s book was this one:
“Anything one person can imagine, other people can make real.”
- Jules Verne
So I guess what I’m saying is if you want to write that book, go for it. Just thank me in the front somewhere. :)
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Not exactly what you’re looking for, but your second point reminded me of this research being done at Boston University: http://www.bu.edu/cura/programs/SpiritualNarratives.htm
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I want a copy of that book too..it would be so amazing…good idea.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:53 am
“All the stools, goatees, and emo glasses in the world cannot make the preaching office cool.” Ouch dude, that must’ve hurt… ;)