In full disclosure, I only read this book because it was the only one available that even remotely interested me from the choices made available for review.  It turned out to be very timely, though, because Paleo has intrigued me for some time and this was a great chance to read about it from “The Caveman” himself (a moniker that John Durant picked up from his friends when he first went on the Paleo diet back in 2006).

One important observation right up front: this book is steeped in a faith-based assumption about evolution.  I say “faith-based” because no matter how many big words and quotes Durant throws into the book from scientists and experts, his entire worldview was summed up in one quote from geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky at the beginning of the book: “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”  That’s quite a statement of faith, and I would make the same statement, only in the reverse.  “Everything in biology makes sense in the light of creation.”  He would accuse me of simple faith, and I would accuse him of the same.

But as the book progressed, his understanding of the human body and the progression of our culture through the major eras was fantastic, and at every turn I found myself wondering how he could write about all the intricacies of the the body and still believe that he was “nothing more than a bunch of cells and chemicals sloshing around in a big, leaky sack.” (p. 3)

At any rate, whether or not Durant and I would ever agree about origins, his writing style was engaging and his stories were inspiring.  At various times during the book I found myself on Google trying to find a Polar Bear club near me and also wanting to book an excursion into a remote location to see if I’d survive.  I whipped out a pair of minimalist running shoes and took a 2 mile jaunt after reading one of the chapters, and I often read snippets to the B99.  All in all, I’d give this book 5 stars, mainly because it is so well balanced between the theory behind the fad that we know as Paleo and the practical “how-to’s” that so many of us need if we’re going to consider making this change in our lifestyle.

And that is why this book – and this author – is so much more than just about being a caveman or eating like a caveman.  It is more about a call to adopt a new way of living than it is a call to adapt to a new way of eating.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Usually, these types of books drive me crazy, mainly because they’re filled with stories that seem unattainable to the average Joe.  But Rick McKinley did a great job of balancing what we know with what we’ve done that even when I found my life coming up short, I still felt the irresistible pull of grace into a life of total abandonment to “practicing the presence of the Kingdom of God.”

A couple of the highlights that really resonated with me:

1.  The Kingdom of God is.  McKinley says that we don’t have to achieve it, attain it, or build it.  We just have to accept it and learn to live in it.  Thinking of Kingdom living less as steps to achieve and more as dimensions to be aware of really rang true with me.

2.  The practical section at the end called “Kingdom Shifts” really helped to put some handles on the concepts he’d been writing about throughout the book.  I won’t give them away here, but just suffice it to say that you’ll want to make sure you get the revised and updated version of the book so that you’ll be able to chew on the practical as well as the inspirational.

Overall, a fantastic book that I’ll probably be picking up again from time to time to re-read.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

What do you get when you take a crazy, witty speaker and author and combine him with a crazy challenge of not lying for an entire year?  You get  the best book I’ve read in a long time, To Be Perfectly Honest, by Phil Callaway.

Basically a journal that Phil kept during the year-long challenge, this book  has one good turn after another, and is written with a fast-paced style that makes it very hard to put down.  As a Christian, Phil found himself in quite a few sticky situations that required a lot of wit and courage.  One of my favorite one was when he got into an email exchange with a spammer who kept wanting him to send money in order to get the 25 million or so dollars that was waiting for him in a foreign country.  It was the kind of exchange that makes you wish you’d thought of it first!  Hilarious!!

My guess is that when you read the book, you’ll find yourself challenged to see all the ways – big and small – that we fail to live honestly in the situations in which we end ourselves.  One thing’s for sure, though.  You’ll thank me for recommending this book, and you’ll realize that I wasn’t lying about how awesome it is!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

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