Reading like it's my job #6 - Paul: A Biography; The Fifth Risk; The Little Prince
It was a good week for reading. I'm loving the books I'm working on and the ones waiting on deck. I feel like I should be taking notes while I read - has anyone had success with that? If you have tips, please share. There's a lot of great quotes or passages that I need to remember so perhaps a reading journal is necessary. Here's what I've been reading this week:
Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright
No, not McCartney, Walker or Simon, Paul, the apostle, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus. Mr. Wright is a New Testament scholar who has published several religious books and a handful are about Paul. But this one, as he writes in the introduction, is a biography and "we are searching for the man behind the texts."
When we try to understand Paul, we must do the hard work of understanding his context - or rather, we should say, his contexts, plural. His Jewish world and the multifaceted Greco-Roman world of politics, "religion," philosophy, and all the rest that affected in a thousand ways the Jewish world that lived within it are much, much more than simply a "frame" within which we can display a Pauline portrait...It is part of the portrait itself.
I'm 4 chapters in and it's a fantastic book so far. N.T. Wright writes effortlessly. The words seem to flow out of the page and into my brain where they make connections with what I already understand and believe. It creates context for biblical stories, Old and New Testament alike, that I’ve never had before.
I go to church, but not to be a biblical scholar. I’ve never really cared to be one, but I’m already glad I accepted the invitation from my friend Jared to read this. It may only appeal to me because I happen to be a Christian studying Paul in Sunday School, but it's possible that in the same way the life of Muhammad would fascinate a Christian, this could fascinate a non-Christian. Lots of powerful lessons about perseverance and zeal. Paul strikes me as a genius in some sense of the word. I'm excited to continue reading and write more next week.
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis is a bestselling writer. He could write about a seemingly mundane topic (cough baseball cough) and get me interested. You’ve probably seen the movies based on his books (Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short). This book was published last year and covers the transition period between the Obama and Trump administrations. It peeks into the inner workings of government departments (Energy, Agriculture, Commerce) and explains what they do and why it is important. Lewis attempts to create a feeling of respect for government workers whose efforts mostly go unnoticed behind the scenes. It worked on me and I realized there's a lot I take for granted in this country.
Lewis also emphasizes that many of these government employees aren't as concerned with the politics as they are with the work itself. Many are passionate scientists trying to solve tough problems. So now I'm really liking these government employees who don't seem to be part of the problem with the fractured political landscape today. Michael Lewis is winning me over yet again! After this succinct and enlightening set up, Lewis proceeds to outline the approach of Donald Trump and his transition team in taking over the management of those government departments. And all the good feelings go away.
I won't spoil anything here. This is a quick, engaging read and if you're curious about what went down (or, if you don't trust the reporting of Michael Lewis, a "version" of what went down) I recommend checking it out.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
My son and I both enjoyed the Netflix movie adaptation of this story, so I had high hopes when I checked it out from the library. In the movie, an over-scheduled little girl under pressure by her mother to get into an elite school meets her new elderly, eccentric neighbor who tells her a story about a time when he crashed his plane in the desert and met a little boy (the titular prince). The man learned life lessons from the boy, who passes them to the girl, who passes them to her mom. The message is sweet and the visuals are appealing.
The movie took creative liberties with the book which makes sense considering the book is only 93 pages and the movie is 106 minutes. The book is the narrator/pilot telling the story of his encounter with the prince to the reader. The stuff with the girl is gone, but the journeys of the prince and the essential lessons he passes on are identical.
It was still sweet, but felt heavy handed to me. It didn't feel "classic." It might be the translation that I had (Howard vs. Woods) or the fact that it was too late at night and I was fighting to stay awake. At any rate, I plan to read the Woods translation just to see how it compares.
Thank you for subscribing and reading! Next week I'm hoping to get through more of Paul as well as another book about data privacy. What are you reading?
-Kyle