When Ideas Have Sex

I’m a TED junkie, and I love watching videos from some of the most brilliant minds today. Here is a recent talk from a British author named Matt Ridley that I absolutely loved, with one of the best titles for a talk I’ve ever seen. This is a profound 16 minutes if you take the time to watch it.

Dante’s Purgatorio

Dante Alighieri - The Purgatorio, The Divine ComedyI recently finished the 2nd installment of our summer reading of Dante’s Divine Comedy called the Purgatorio. After Dante travels through hell, he passes through purgatory on his way to heaven.

This part of Dante’s journey is a bit confusing as I’m not sure why he put certain people in this point of eternity. I’m excited to read his depiction of Heaven. Nonetheless, here are some of the passages that stood out to me:

“Horrible were my sins, but infinite
is the abiding Goodness which holds out
Its open arms to all who turn to It.”

“For when a man lets his attention range
toward every wisp, he loses true direction,
sapping his mind’s force with continual change.”

“When we had crossed the threshold of that gate
so seldom used because man’s perverse love
so often makes the crooked path seem straight,”

“Let come to us the sweet peace of Thy reign,
for if it come not we cannot ourselves
attain to it however much we strain.”

“Thus you may understand that love alone
is the true seed of every merit in you,
and of all acts for which you must atone.”

5 Ways to Become a Better Reader

5 Ways to Become a Better Reader

Most Americans struggle with regular reading. Harry Truman once said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Ideas like these remind us that we should probably work at it no matter how much we falter in it. But for many people, it ranks right up there with losing weight or getting out of debt. Thankfully, it doesn’t need to be this way.

Understand that successful reading—like much of life—is about creating and sustaining momentum. It all boils down to this in my opinion. In his book titled Rework, Jason Fried puts it this way: “Momentum fuels motivations. It keeps you going. It drives you. Without it, you can’t go anywhere.” So how do you create and maintain momentum in reading? Here are five ideas that have made all the difference for me:

So how do you create and maintain momentum in reading? Here are five ideas that have made all the difference for me:

Focus, focus, focus – As a general rule I try to only read one book at a time (excluding the fact that I’m always reading through the Bible). When you start 3 different books because they all interest you, you quickly lose momentum when you don’t make much progress in any of them. The quickest way to establish reading momentum is finishing a book, not starting a book. Tackle one of the three first, and you’ll have speed going into number 2 and then number 3. (Coincidentally, this is also the best way to tackle debt). The caveat to this is that I always have one book on my kindle (or print) and one going on Audible. I don’t double up on either of them at one time though.

Pick the right books – Buy a book called The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership and start by reading chapter four. It will completely change the way you pick what you read. The author lays out something called the 50-year rule that has totally changed how I pick my next books, and I’ve seen his advice pay dividends over the last few years of practicing it. This is probably the single most profound chapter of any book I can remember reading.

Don’t let books become bullies – We’ve all experienced the feeling of adrenaline that comes from tackling that difficult book, and then the subsequent shame of defeat when it derails us and stops us from reading for months at a time. There are three solutions to this: 1) don’t read any difficult books; 2) discipline yourself more and push through it; or 3) find a way to keep your momentum. The problem with books like this is how they halt your reading speed. When I feel myself slowing down because of the difficulty of a book, I modify idea number one on this list (focus) and add a second book that I know will be an easy read. By supplementing this book, I get my momentum back and it gives me the confidence to push through the difficult book without relying on superhuman discipline.

Take baby steps – Make a goal of reading at least a chapter of a book a day. I aim to do this right before I go to sleep for the night, but it may be a different time for you. If you do this when you are motivated to read, and especially when you are not motivated to read, you’ll never lose momentum. Unless of course, you stop doing this. For some reason, we usually try to take out big chunks of a book at once, and this can be overwhelming and ultimately momentum-draining. If a chapter seems like too much, try giving yourself a time goal of 15 or 20 minutes a day.

Finish what you start – Like I said in the first idea, the quickest way to establish reading momentum is finishing a book, not starting a book. Conversely, the quickest way to lose momentum is to give up on a book. Yet I’m amazed how many people do not finish books. Every one of those failed books sits on your shelf, mocking you the next time you consider which book to read. Shut them up by finishing them, even if they are bad. If they are so bad that they are slowing you down then practice idea number three. If the book is a complete waste of time, then, and only then, abandon it. I only do this with a book every few years or so. I’ve heard other solid readers argue against this, that we should be quick to abandon bad books. Yet consider two challenges against this: 1) how do you know whether you’ve given the book a fair reading by the time you quit? And 2) what happens to your momentum when you start having as many or more books you’ve stopped reading than ones you’ve actually finished? Finish them and enjoy the momentum in the tank to propel you forward.

Want to become a better reader? Start by building a bit of momentum today and see what happens. Click here to see my current reading list for this year or click here to see my lists from previous years.

*Post updated September 2016

What is the Purpose of the Church?

Here are Michael Frost’s thoughts on the purpose of the church. I love his movie trailer analogy.

Hipster Christianity

hipster christianity - brett mccrackenI’ll admit up front, my respect for Brett McCracken is growing quickly. After reading his answers to my interview with him, and having just finished his first book, Hipster Christianity (due out August 1st), I’ve realized that this is a guy who is a remarkably challenging voice for Christians and the Church. He avoids relying on “shock and awe” to communicate, he speaks from a position unabashedly sold out to Christ and His Church, and he articulates himself well.

In this book he asks the question if Christianity should be cool. As part of the Church, what is our role in making it cooler or abandoning it as simply uncool?

I’ve read his book in just a few days. I knew it would be good when he started his introduction with a C.S. Lewis quote. Brett speaks for my generation with insights that I’ve rarely seen communicated so efficiently and accurately, but he also tackles the tough questions that I continue to wrestle with. This is probably the best book about making sense of the Church in America that I’ve seen. Because of his position as managing editor of Biola Magazine, and probably because of his love of reading, you feel like you are reading twenty books by simply reading his. He does a great job of bringing other voices into the discussion and giving his opinion on how to make sense of it all.

Here are a few quotes from the book that stood out to me:

“And looking back, this only proves to me just how instinctual and natural the drive for cool is in humanity. We want recognition and elite status; we want to occupy places of invidious distinction. Quite simply: we want to be the people everyone else wants to be.”

“If, as I argued earlier, the desire to be cool stems from the desire to be free, then America was ripe for a hip revolution. Nowhere has the desire for freedom–for unshackled, self-made sovereignty–been stronger. We are indeed the country that was born to be hip.”

“We should simply focus on our craft, on making the best art we can. We should understand that people will and should resonate with our work not because it is Christian but because it is good. Above all, Christians should make good art, true art; art unafraid of exploring mystery, portraying evil, and looking for truth wherever it appears. Which is exactly what the best secular artists are doing.”

“The church is not our creation; it is prior to creation. We must have confidence that we are the body of Christ and not just some transitory means to an end. We are the end.”

“True relevance, for example, does not fear unpopularity. Because it clings to eternal truths, relevant Christianity doesn’t feel hurt when people don’t smile and nod affirmingly at everything it says. It doesn’t flinch when accused of being ‘out of the loop’ or ‘behind the times.’ Accusing something eternal of being behind the times is, of course, laughable.”

What Your Twitter Tells Me

Twitter LogoWhenever I get notified that someone new is following my twitter account, I look at their Twitter stats and I draw some conclusions.

  • To begin with, you might assume I’d check how many Tweets you’ve actually posted yourself… but I don’t care about that as much as how many people you are following.
  • If you follow more than 100 people, you don’t actually read your tweets. At least not with any sense of efficiency. You probably view Twitter more as a networking connection tool than a source of intentional influence. If I see that you are following me now, I don’t get all that excited by this as you are probably just hoping that I’ll follow you too and add to your number. (100 isn’t a magical number, so there are definitely exceptions to this, especially if you spend A LOT of time reading other people’s tweets – your number would be higher.)
  • If you follow less than 100 people, you are either newer to Twitter, or are intentionally trying to keep up with the people that you have subscribed to. If I see that you are following me now, I like this, as I am one of the voices you’ll actually be able to listen to.
  • Granted, by this point you are looking at your own follower list and either agreeing with me or getting annoyed by this logic (if you follow a lot of people). Obviously, there are many different ways to approach making the most out of Twitter. I’m simply giving you my approach. Which leads me to…
  • Only follow the people that you actually want to be influenced by because they have something unique to say. Using Twitter as a popularity tool ensures you won’t get the most out of it. Just as we are influenced by the people we hang out with and the books we read, in this day of technology we are influenced by whose Tweets we actually read on a regular basis. Pick a few people you respect/admire, follow them at the exclusion of others, and keep up with reading their thoughts. You should be able to learn a lot about someone by looking at who they follow on Twitter. Currently, I’m following 52 people. The less people you follow, the easier it is to keep up with what they are saying so you’ll need to find a number that allows you to hear enough unique voices efficiently.