Jun 15 2010

Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War by Matt Gallagher

In my continued quest to better understand the Iraq War from the perspective of the foot soldiers, I decided to read Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War by Matt Gallagher.  Gallagher was a company grade officer in Iraq from 2008 into 2009 – while in-country he was promoted from lieutenant to captain.  He chronicles his experiences as a scout platoon leader in the armored cavalry and then as an infantry officer.  During his time, the Surge was in full effect and was turning the war in our favor.

This book is a memoir of what officers and men should expect in the new wars of counterinsurgency that our country will be fighting.  For the foreseeable future, we will not be meeting massive armies on flat plains in open combat.  Our adversaries will be sneakier and less willing to fully expose themselves to American firepower.  Gallagher wonderfully describes what this new type of warfare looks like and how our military is handling these new circumstances.

Keep Reading

By Jeff Grim • Reviews • 1

Jun 13 2010

Gripped by the Greatness of God by James MacDonald

For Sunday School this past session I was in a class that featured video from James MacDonald based on the book Gripped by the Greatness of God. I enjoyed the class a great deal and decided to read the book to review and reinforce the lessons.

I highly recommend both the book and the video series.

It is an engaging and challenging study based on the book of Isaiah. It helps you comes to grips with the foundational character of God and how that should and will impact your spiritual growth if you truly believe what you read and learn.

Here is the publishers blurb:

When was the last time you were really and truly gripped by God’s greatness? Most Christians recall heartfelt resolutions around a fire at bible camp as children, and perhaps a revival meeting or two. But what causes the fervor of those experiences to translate into a consistent life pattern? Pastor and author James MacDonald believes that the better we understand God, the better we understand ourselves, and the less likely we are to favor our own will over God’s. He writes: “God is not safe and He will not be squeezed into some neat, respectable Sunday discussion..No. To Know God at all is to watch Him explode any box we put Him in with His terror, majesty and indescribable wonder.”

Expounding upon Isaiah’s encounters with God, MacDonald prods snoozing saints to rediscover the wonder of God’s attributes. He also shares candidly from his experiences in life and ministry where God proved Himself to be the Great I AM. This book will spur new and seasoned believers alike to detest mediocrity in their spiritual walks. Ideal for individual or small group study.

MacDonald has a lighthearted yet serious style and while the book is an easy read that does not mean the issues and ideas addressed our easy to apply in your life. It moves from the character of God to how our understand of that character, and or willingness to truly act on this knowledge, can change the way we experience God.

A great read for anyone interested in taking their faith deeper.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 1 • Tags: , , , ,

Jun 11 2010

The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer

I am a big fan of Steinhauer and was really looking forward to this second book in The Tourist series The Nearest Exit. I usually read them in ARC format before they are released but I have been so busy that I actually bought this one weeks after it had been released.

Booklist had a nice recap/review

Since the events of The Tourist (2009), Milo Weaver has served time in prison, worked in administration, and tried to reconnect with his wife and daughter. But talk therapy is hard when you’re trained to keep secrets. When asked to return to the field, he agrees, although, because of his disgust with the Department of Tourism (a black-ops branch of the CIA), he plans to feed information to his father, Yevgeny Primakov, the “secret ear” of the UN. But his handlers don’t trust him, either, giving him a series of vetting assignments that culminates in an impossible loyalty test: the abduction and murder of a 15-year-old girl. Ironically, Weaver is then tasked with finding a security breach that threatens the very existence of Tourism—and the lives of the Tourists. Seeing his own brutal compatriots as humans, he does his best to save the thing he despises, a conundrum that pretty much sums up the shades of gray that paint this modern-day espionage masterpiece.
The Tourist was impressive, proving that Steinhauer had the ability to leap from the historical setting of his excellent Eastern European quintet to a vividly imagined contemporary landscape. But this is even better, a dazzling, dizzyingly complex world of clandestine warfare that is complicated further by the affairs of the heart. Steinhauer never forgets the human lives at stake, and that, perhaps, is the now-older Weaver’s flaw: he is too human, too attached, to be the perfect spy. His failure to save the girl he was told to kill threads the whole book like barbed wire.

My quick take? It was great – I expected nothing less from Olen of course! -  an intelligent and literary thriller. This one seemed even more focused on the psychological and emotional (Milo’s marriage, what it means to be a Tourist, etc.) even as it explored the complicated world of Post Cold War espionage and foreign affairs.   Just as you think you have a handle on the plot there is a twist at the end that keeps you guessing.  There is a depth to the emotional and moral element however, that gives the spy thriller aspect added heft.  I think I might need to re-read this one to fully appreciate it.

So if you are looking for something to read this summer and for some bizzare reason haven’t yet read Steinhauer I suggest you rectify that as soon as possible.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Jun 9 2010

In the Mail: What Would Rob Do?

What Would Rob Do: An Irreverent Guide to Surviving Life’s Daily Indignities by Rob Sachs

Publishers Weekly

A producer, reporter and director for popular NPR programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered, Sachs found a personal connection to his audience through his quirky advice podcast series, “What Would Rob Do?” Expanding on that series, Sachs presents a guide to dealing with daily dilemmas and embarrassing snafus, from parenting (“Annoying Kids’ Music”) to dating (“Avoiding a Chick Flick”), socializing (“Underdressed for a Party?”), personal hygiene (“Combing the Coif”), and the places they intersect (“I Clogged the Toilet and I’m at a Party! What Would Rob Do?”). In addition to his own funny, direct take on a myriad of issues, Sachs also consults with experts (or whatever one would call Fabio), and manages some genuinely useful advice (his take on emailing is especially timely and on point). Though it loses something in the translation from audio to print, and fans may find it more of the same, readers should find this a funny and (more often than not) helpful take on the common pitfalls of modern life.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Jun 8 2010

In the Mail: Such Men As These

Such Men as These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea by David Sears

Kirkus Reviews

Quality military history of naval aviation during the Korean War. Historians traditionally bemoan America’s enthusiastic disarmament after World War II, and former U.S. Navy officer Sears (At War with the Wind: The Epic Struggle with Japan’s World War II Suicide Bombers, 2008, etc.) does not rock the boat. Budgets shrank, both draftees and skilled career men were discharged, ships were scrapped and vital military-technology research-jets, helicopters, new carrier designs-was shelved. North Korea’s 1950 invasion of the South found the United States with only a single, old aircraft carrier in the Pacific. After a scramble to refurbish the ships, recall reservists and spend generous new appropriations, Navy leaders assembled an impressive fleet that rained destruction on the North. As with Vietnam, North Korea was a poor, agricultural country with few of the key industrial targets bombers prefer, so airmen concentrated on railroads, bridges, tunnels and road traffic, which provided only occasional dramatic destruction in exchange for a steady stream of casualties. Sears does not shy away from politics and technical developments, but he focuses on an almost day-to-day account of carrier ground-attack missions. He follows the lives of a dozen Navy airmen, painting a vivid picture of their background, flight training and problems flying obsolete propeller aircraft, rudimentary early jets and the first futuristic but alarmingly dangerous helicopters. The author includes the moving story of the first black naval aviator, as well as the horrendous experience of several pilots taken prisoner. Military buffs will enjoy the nuts-and-bolts battle details, but Sears also offers a solid general history of naval air warfare.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

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