About Me

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I’m from New York but my driver’s license lists that my address is Ohio. My passport has a number of stamps in it. I’m the youngest of six, yet oldest son. I have a number after my initials, but not my name. I like music. I like coffee, beer and bourbon. I am a follower of Jesus. I watch bonus features on DVD’s. For four months each year my wife and I are the same age. “I pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians.” I am an ordained pastor, but don't currently have a church. I’ve eaten raw horse meat. I’m fifteen inches taller than my wife, but I look up to her. I still prefer buying CDs to downloading music. I’m a night owl, who doesn’t mind getting up early. I like to play games. I moved to another country nine days after my wedding. I sometimes quote random lyrics. I believe in miracles. I prefer desktops to laptops. I like listening to audio books. I watch Buffalo Bills and Sabres games. I have five sons. I'm living life mid sentence.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

100 Books in 2025 (41-60)

(Sorry about the formatting issues.  I tried to correct it a couple times, yet kept reverting) 


A Brief History of Intelligence:  Evolution, AI and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max S. Bennett

    An interesting take on how we got from primitive thinking to AII found parts of the        book interesting and helpful, and felt like other parts went over my headThis                 probably would be a better book to read in print form than to listen to as an audiobook (?).  

The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy by Michael Lewis 

This book examines how Donald Trump’s first administration was not prepared to lead our nationIt dives into how the administration had little knowledge of what many governmental departments even did (e.g. the man selected to lead the Department of Energy, which includes nuclear weapons, had said a few years before he wanted to eliminate the department completely).  Even as the previous administration was trying to prepare them for the difficulties to come, they ignored the warnings as Trump handed positions to his political donors.   

Who is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (Edited by Michael Lewis) 

A collection of essays about unsung heroes in the United States governmentThe individuals profiled have spent years, or decades, improving the quality of life of citizens, and yet I was unaware of what many of their positions even didA decent book on how the government helps its people.  

Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination by Brian Jay Jones 

A biography of how a mediocre college student became one of America’s most beloved authorsThe book had me smiling and crying at timesSeuss was a complicated man, who has left a lasting legacy. 

The Name of This Band is R.E.M.: A Biography by Peter Ames Carlin 

It sounded interesting when I read the previewThe book was OKIt covered how the band met, and very slowly progressed through their careerNot a book I see myself returning to. 

Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry by Beth Allison Barr 

As a historian and a pastor's wife, Barr talks about the state of white evangelicalism and how they treat pastors’ wivesAs a medieval historian, Barr shows that much of what we think is “biblical” is quite modernA good read, even if you don’t come to all the same conclusions she does. 

All My Knotted Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore 

A moving biographyFrom being a survivor of abuse as a young girl, to becoming a well-known speaker, to losing support for speaking out against Trump’s sexual braggadocioThe story is personal and is relatable in many ways.   

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Kerek Thompson  

This book looks at how the United States used to be full of visionaries, but has lost its focusIt’s a call to not abandon innovation or allow politics to be the weeds that hinder growth.    

The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John H. Walton  

Walton, an Old Testament scholar, looks at how a “literal” interpretation of Genesis 1 may be causing us to miss the point of the textWalton argues that the creation account, viewed through the context of the ancient near middle east, is less about origin (the creation of things) than about function (finding meaning in things).   

Warp Speed: Inside the Operation That Beat COVID, The Critics, and the Odds by Paul Mango 

An insider's account of how the Trump Administration was able to get multiple COVID vaccines created, tested and on the market in record-setting times—without cutting corners on the scienceThe book was interesting and answered many of the questions I’ve heard posed over the yearsDownsides: The book is dripping with partisan politics (basically anything GOP is great, all others are bad), and the author comes off quite sexist against women on the “Operation Warp Speed” team.   

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr 

The book was a fascinating look at the dark side of how we shop for food, and all of those trampled by the lower prices we payOne of the best books I’ve read this year. 

Make Sense of Your Story: Why Engaging Your Past with Kindness Changes Everything by Adam Young 

WowLoved this bookIt is a book I should either listen to when I can take notes, or read a physical book where I can highlight/underlineSo many nuggets I need to apply in my daily life. In a nutshell, until we come to grips with our past, we cannot effectively move forward.   

The Deep-Rooted Marriage: Cultivating Intimacy, Healing, and Delight by Dan Allender and Steve Call 

            A marriage book that encourages people to get to the roots of why they are the way                 they are in efforts to not continue to make the same mistakes. 

Becoming by Michelle Obama 

                  A memoir by the former First Lady.  This book covers her life from childhood until                       they left the White House in 2016.  Predictable at times, and yet personable at                          other times.  If nothing else, it shows the human side of someone in the political                       spotlight. 

Vaccinated: From Cowpox to mRNA, the Remarkable Story of Vaccines by Paul A. Offit M.D.             An interesting history of vaccinations, how they were developed, how they saved                     hundreds of millions of lives, and even how there has been some pushback in                         recent years. This book is almost a biography of Maurice Hilleman, one of                         the most prolific vaccine creators, and how personal tragedy in his life led him                      to dedicate his life to the creation of vaccines that saved millions of people. Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World by Simon Winchester             Winchester gives a relatively brief history of how humans have treated land, at                         least its ownership, over the past several centuries. He details how our mindset                      towards stewardship land has drastically changed, and the consequences of the                       change. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C Gibson PsyD             This book seeks to help people overcome the negative traits that come from                             having parents who, in one way or another, are or were emotionally abusive. It                         outlines different personality types that are abusive, and how to overcome                                 ongoing abuse and gain independence and self-confidence. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omer El Akkad             Akkad seeks to lay out how the horrors of the attacks by Hammas in 2023 have                         allowed Israel to carry out atrocities of their own, on a ramped up level, against                         the people of Palestine. The genocide that Israel is directly contradictory to the                         so called values held by the West, and yet most in the West have turned a                         blind eye to the actions of the state of Israel. I saw more of the teachings of                             Jesus laid out in the book, written by a Muslim, than I see from many who claim                         to follow Jesus. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll             “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical                         mind.” Noll’s book, written in 1995, lays out how the evangelical community has                     abandoned serious intellectual thought, and how forfeiting serious scholarship to                     non-Christians has hurt both Christians and non-Christians alike. Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World by Katharine Gerbner                A look at how the evangelization of slaves in the West divided communities.                           Some viewed the "Christianizing” of the slaves to be at the root of both                                       rebellions and calls for emancipation, while others argued that Christianity                              would make the slaves more compliant. In the end, the tension between the                          two groups, as well as the slaves themselves, transformed Protestantism in the                      Western world.