Just a note about this particular version of the book., 03 Nov 2008
It's a very interesting book and all, but I'm really just posting up this review to say that the version for sale on this page contains more than a few confusing spelling/grammatical errors. Also, anyone who judges books by their covers might not be surprised to find out that the editor likes to paint Hitler as an evil monster etc. rather than keeping his ideas to himself and letting the reader make up their own mind.



Appaling quality, 25 Oct 2008
This review is a warning regarding the actual physical quality of the book, rather than the content.

I ordered this very same version of Mein kampf off Amazon and just reading it was a battle (no fault of Adolf's!)

a) It is littered with typos. I lost count of the time I had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it because of basic errors; 'that' instead of 'than', etc.

b) Dozens (literally) of the pages were stuck together along the leading (opening) edge. I had to rip apart so many pages that hadn't been separated that the book now looks like it's been gnawed at by a rotweiller

c) Huge chunks of pages came away from the binding. My copy has about 15-20 sections that now protrude from edge when closed, because they came out. The first chunk of pages popped away from the binding when I opened it to look at the photos in the middle. Seriously, what was it bound together with, saliva?

If you want to read Mein Kampf I suggest you purchase a different copy to this. Reading it was a physical chore; tearing pages apart, holding chunks into the spine, etc. etc.

My copy of this book looks like it was hand-made by a one-armed blind man with no love for his craft.

an informative, dark read, 27 Sep 2008
I read Mein Kampf in the hope of understanding some of the madness of Hitler's actions and wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920s what can be found here is a sort of blue print for World war Two.Through the book Hitler exposes the dark side of the human race and tries to manipulate the reader into agreeing with him. Unlike the German people of the time the reader has the luxury of knowing the evil of his plan. An informative and dark book that gives history a slightly different slant

RRRRR-----ZZZZZZZ------RRRRR-----ZZZZZ, 08 Aug 2008
Well, may be I m going against the flow here, but this book, is one of the most boring, poorly written, waste of money and paper i ve ever read for ages.. Its full of hate, written by a guy who throw up his bitterness and hate of everything non German during pages after pages after pages..., like you would throw up when You re drunk....

It s brilliant to put you to sleep if you ve got insomnia though...

we all know about the context in which it was written and what it lead to. so, no need to make some fuss about it and call it a must read. when it s an absolute piece of human junk.and fuel for hate...
well. i read it.. did not like it, .. but that s my personal opinion.

ay-dolf : bad writer, decent fascist. (if there is such a thing), 30 Jun 2008
i stopped reading this book about a quarter of the way into it. i got extremely tired of the repetitive points..i know this is a way to emphasise something, but they seem a tad unneccesary if you know what hitler was all about already (obviously when this book was written, not so much). i also got tired of how poorly written it was...it seems like very often his point becomes lost, as if his attention span is that of a hyperactive child (which makes sense in re-iterating my last point.)
obviously this book is intersting just as prying into the mind of jeffrey dahmer is interesting, but these writings, like his paintings, are just plain artless. his inability to write well, combined with his inability to paint were quite likely part reasons as to why he had such an enormous inferiority complex.

Just a note about this particular version of the book., 03 Nov 2008
It's a very interesting book and all, but I'm really just posting up this review to say that the version for sale on this page contains more than a few confusing spelling/grammatical errors. Also, anyone who judges books by their covers might not be surprised to find out that the editor likes to paint Hitler as an evil monster etc. rather than keeping his ideas to himself and letting the reader make up their own mind.



Appaling quality, 25 Oct 2008
This review is a warning regarding the actual physical quality of the book, rather than the content.

I ordered this very same version of Mein kampf off Amazon and just reading it was a battle (no fault of Adolf's!)

a) It is littered with typos. I lost count of the time I had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it because of basic errors; 'that' instead of 'than', etc.

b) Dozens (literally) of the pages were stuck together along the leading (opening) edge. I had to rip apart so many pages that hadn't been separated that the book now looks like it's been gnawed at by a rotweiller

c) Huge chunks of pages came away from the binding. My copy has about 15-20 sections that now protrude from edge when closed, because they came out. The first chunk of pages popped away from the binding when I opened it to look at the photos in the middle. Seriously, what was it bound together with, saliva?

If you want to read Mein Kampf I suggest you purchase a different copy to this. Reading it was a physical chore; tearing pages apart, holding chunks into the spine, etc. etc.

My copy of this book looks like it was hand-made by a one-armed blind man with no love for his craft.

an informative, dark read, 27 Sep 2008
I read Mein Kampf in the hope of understanding some of the madness of Hitler's actions and wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920s what can be found here is a sort of blue print for World war Two.Through the book Hitler exposes the dark side of the human race and tries to manipulate the reader into agreeing with him. Unlike the German people of the time the reader has the luxury of knowing the evil of his plan. An informative and dark book that gives history a slightly different slant

RRRRR-----ZZZZZZZ------RRRRR-----ZZZZZ, 08 Aug 2008
Well, may be I m going against the flow here, but this book, is one of the most boring, poorly written, waste of money and paper i ve ever read for ages.. Its full of hate, written by a guy who throw up his bitterness and hate of everything non German during pages after pages after pages..., like you would throw up when You re drunk....

It s brilliant to put you to sleep if you ve got insomnia though...

we all know about the context in which it was written and what it lead to. so, no need to make some fuss about it and call it a must read. when it s an absolute piece of human junk.and fuel for hate...
well. i read it.. did not like it, .. but that s my personal opinion.

ay-dolf : bad writer, decent fascist. (if there is such a thing), 30 Jun 2008
i stopped reading this book about a quarter of the way into it. i got extremely tired of the repetitive points..i know this is a way to emphasise something, but they seem a tad unneccesary if you know what hitler was all about already (obviously when this book was written, not so much). i also got tired of how poorly written it was...it seems like very often his point becomes lost, as if his attention span is that of a hyperactive child (which makes sense in re-iterating my last point.)
obviously this book is intersting just as prying into the mind of jeffrey dahmer is interesting, but these writings, like his paintings, are just plain artless. his inability to write well, combined with his inability to paint were quite likely part reasons as to why he had such an enormous inferiority complex.

Worthwhile reminder of obvious life lessons, 20 Oct 2008
I did like this book a fair bit.

I think that it summarises important, but admittedly obvious, life lessons and sometimes re-stating the obvious to people with busy lives is a very worthwhile exercise. I disagree with other reviewers who have said that the book is badly written; I assume that the author has written in the style he has to make the book as accessible to as many as possible. There are many books around whose style is so dry and academic that, whilst they contain great ideas, they are so complicated in the way they are expressed that the idea is often lost.

That said, I agree that the book does no more than introduce fairly well known ideas of how to live. It does not dwell on them and I feel it would have benefitted from slightly longer chapters on fewer subjects. Also it makes the assumption that everyone has material security which is sometime a wrong assumption to make; it is all very well trying to sort out your spiritual well-being but that will be a far more difficult task if you don't have anywhere to live and no money for example. However, the book is aimed at a Western audience primarily and thnakfully most of us have met the lower of Maslow's (?) hierarchy of needs (physical and financial security etc) so Morrie is very right to criticise society's culture of 'keeping up with the Joneses' (as the English say!).

Overall a short interesting book which does remind us of some important truths. And Morrie was certainly an inspiring individual!

I'm Impressed!, 16 Sep 2008
Morrie was mentally strong, though he suffered from the terminal disease, ALS(=amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), I'd say. He was eager to tell the meaning of life to his ex-student, Mitch Albom, who is also the author of Tuesday's With Morrie. I would only worry about my terminal disease,if I were in Morrie's shoes. I mean, all I could do would be to be apathetic or pessimistic about my future. " The truth is once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." - that'd be the last thing I could say.
Certainly, it WAS sad that Morrie passed away because he was respected by lots of his students and graduates. However, every Tuesday when Morrie told Mitch the meaning of life must be very precious memories for Mitch, that's for sure!

For when you need to change pace a little., 31 Jul 2008
Although this book doesn't tell us anything we don't already know, it never does any harm to be reminded from time to time. It's a heartwarming and truthful account of a friendship between an older man in the last months of his life and a younger man who has always been inspired by him.

We're reminded of the importance of caring for one another in a world where we simply don't take time often enough (sometimes never!) to tell people how much we love and appreciate them.

It doesn't shy away from the 'ugly' side of illness and death which people wonder and worry about but hardly ever discuss. It's only human to be scared and to have self pity but we learn how Morrie turned his negative emotions into positive ones, and fear into acceptance and inner peace.

I found 'Tuesdays With Morrie' a refreshingly honest account of illness. Instead of being depressing it was insightful and moving.



One of my favorite "Alboms", 20 Jun 2008
Face it: this book is never going to be a classic, but it does have some immediate appeal to the world at large mainly because people are looking for hope, especially today. It's a quick read and I enjoyed it. If you've seen the movie, you've pretty much seen the book. I do have to say that it inspired me to get out and do more in the community I live in--sometimes this worked out, sometimes it did not. The point was, I learned for "doing" and the book helped me get into that frame of mind. I've read the other Albom books and this is by far his best. Second on my list would be "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

Another great book from Albom!, 17 Jun 2008
I picked this book up after reading Five People You Meet in Heaven and I must say I really enjoyed both immensely! Mitch Albom has an amazing talent in projecting his characters and messges through his personable writing skills. This book will give you little gems on how to love and live life and will make you appreciate things that you may take for granted. A really, really great book that I highky recommend.

Just a note about this particular version of the book., 03 Nov 2008
It's a very interesting book and all, but I'm really just posting up this review to say that the version for sale on this page contains more than a few confusing spelling/grammatical errors. Also, anyone who judges books by their covers might not be surprised to find out that the editor likes to paint Hitler as an evil monster etc. rather than keeping his ideas to himself and letting the reader make up their own mind.



Appaling quality, 25 Oct 2008
This review is a warning regarding the actual physical quality of the book, rather than the content.

I ordered this very same version of Mein kampf off Amazon and just reading it was a battle (no fault of Adolf's!)

a) It is littered with typos. I lost count of the time I had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it because of basic errors; 'that' instead of 'than', etc.

b) Dozens (literally) of the pages were stuck together along the leading (opening) edge. I had to rip apart so many pages that hadn't been separated that the book now looks like it's been gnawed at by a rotweiller

c) Huge chunks of pages came away from the binding. My copy has about 15-20 sections that now protrude from edge when closed, because they came out. The first chunk of pages popped away from the binding when I opened it to look at the photos in the middle. Seriously, what was it bound together with, saliva?

If you want to read Mein Kampf I suggest you purchase a different copy to this. Reading it was a physical chore; tearing pages apart, holding chunks into the spine, etc. etc.

My copy of this book looks like it was hand-made by a one-armed blind man with no love for his craft.

an informative, dark read, 27 Sep 2008
I read Mein Kampf in the hope of understanding some of the madness of Hitler's actions and wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920s what can be found here is a sort of blue print for World war Two.Through the book Hitler exposes the dark side of the human race and tries to manipulate the reader into agreeing with him. Unlike the German people of the time the reader has the luxury of knowing the evil of his plan. An informative and dark book that gives history a slightly different slant

RRRRR-----ZZZZZZZ------RRRRR-----ZZZZZ, 08 Aug 2008
Well, may be I m going against the flow here, but this book, is one of the most boring, poorly written, waste of money and paper i ve ever read for ages.. Its full of hate, written by a guy who throw up his bitterness and hate of everything non German during pages after pages after pages..., like you would throw up when You re drunk....

It s brilliant to put you to sleep if you ve got insomnia though...

we all know about the context in which it was written and what it lead to. so, no need to make some fuss about it and call it a must read. when it s an absolute piece of human junk.and fuel for hate...
well. i read it.. did not like it, .. but that s my personal opinion.

ay-dolf : bad writer, decent fascist. (if there is such a thing), 30 Jun 2008
i stopped reading this book about a quarter of the way into it. i got extremely tired of the repetitive points..i know this is a way to emphasise something, but they seem a tad unneccesary if you know what hitler was all about already (obviously when this book was written, not so much). i also got tired of how poorly written it was...it seems like very often his point becomes lost, as if his attention span is that of a hyperactive child (which makes sense in re-iterating my last point.)
obviously this book is intersting just as prying into the mind of jeffrey dahmer is interesting, but these writings, like his paintings, are just plain artless. his inability to write well, combined with his inability to paint were quite likely part reasons as to why he had such an enormous inferiority complex.

Worthwhile reminder of obvious life lessons, 20 Oct 2008
I did like this book a fair bit.

I think that it summarises important, but admittedly obvious, life lessons and sometimes re-stating the obvious to people with busy lives is a very worthwhile exercise. I disagree with other reviewers who have said that the book is badly written; I assume that the author has written in the style he has to make the book as accessible to as many as possible. There are many books around whose style is so dry and academic that, whilst they contain great ideas, they are so complicated in the way they are expressed that the idea is often lost.

That said, I agree that the book does no more than introduce fairly well known ideas of how to live. It does not dwell on them and I feel it would have benefitted from slightly longer chapters on fewer subjects. Also it makes the assumption that everyone has material security which is sometime a wrong assumption to make; it is all very well trying to sort out your spiritual well-being but that will be a far more difficult task if you don't have anywhere to live and no money for example. However, the book is aimed at a Western audience primarily and thnakfully most of us have met the lower of Maslow's (?) hierarchy of needs (physical and financial security etc) so Morrie is very right to criticise society's culture of 'keeping up with the Joneses' (as the English say!).

Overall a short interesting book which does remind us of some important truths. And Morrie was certainly an inspiring individual!

I'm Impressed!, 16 Sep 2008
Morrie was mentally strong, though he suffered from the terminal disease, ALS(=amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), I'd say. He was eager to tell the meaning of life to his ex-student, Mitch Albom, who is also the author of Tuesday's With Morrie. I would only worry about my terminal disease,if I were in Morrie's shoes. I mean, all I could do would be to be apathetic or pessimistic about my future. " The truth is once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." - that'd be the last thing I could say.
Certainly, it WAS sad that Morrie passed away because he was respected by lots of his students and graduates. However, every Tuesday when Morrie told Mitch the meaning of life must be very precious memories for Mitch, that's for sure!

For when you need to change pace a little., 31 Jul 2008
Although this book doesn't tell us anything we don't already know, it never does any harm to be reminded from time to time. It's a heartwarming and truthful account of a friendship between an older man in the last months of his life and a younger man who has always been inspired by him.

We're reminded of the importance of caring for one another in a world where we simply don't take time often enough (sometimes never!) to tell people how much we love and appreciate them.

It doesn't shy away from the 'ugly' side of illness and death which people wonder and worry about but hardly ever discuss. It's only human to be scared and to have self pity but we learn how Morrie turned his negative emotions into positive ones, and fear into acceptance and inner peace.

I found 'Tuesdays With Morrie' a refreshingly honest account of illness. Instead of being depressing it was insightful and moving.



One of my favorite "Alboms", 20 Jun 2008
Face it: this book is never going to be a classic, but it does have some immediate appeal to the world at large mainly because people are looking for hope, especially today. It's a quick read and I enjoyed it. If you've seen the movie, you've pretty much seen the book. I do have to say that it inspired me to get out and do more in the community I live in--sometimes this worked out, sometimes it did not. The point was, I learned for "doing" and the book helped me get into that frame of mind. I've read the other Albom books and this is by far his best. Second on my list would be "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

Another great book from Albom!, 17 Jun 2008
I picked this book up after reading Five People You Meet in Heaven and I must say I really enjoyed both immensely! Mitch Albom has an amazing talent in projecting his characters and messges through his personable writing skills. This book will give you little gems on how to love and live life and will make you appreciate things that you may take for granted. A really, really great book that I highky recommend.

a call to reckless generosity and selfless love, 03 Oct 2008
Shane Claiborne has found a different Jesus in the gospels than the mainstream church. He's found a Jesus who is homeless, a friend of the poor, who rails against authority and undermines the empire, who tells a rich man to sell everything he owns and give the money away. This is Claiborne's model, and he has done his best to find it, live it and prove such a life is possible.

The book follows his journey, from the disillusionment with the church of his youth, and the ambitious and wealthy `megachurches' where he trained. He talks about how he came to bond with the poor in Philadelphia, and then travelled to Calcutta to see if Mother Theresa offered a better demonstration of Christ than the ones around him. He visits Iraq in the middle of the war, testing Jesus' call to be a peacemaker. He helps stage a `re-distribution' on Wall Street and heckles George W Bush at the Republican conference. He is, in his own words, an `ordinary radical' - radically different, but rooted in real people and real situations.

Claiborne rejects the idea that Christianity has nothing more to offer than some distant and otherworldly heaven. It's a great reminder that the church is a missionary agency: we're meant to go to the poor and the hungry, not wait for them to come to us. There's loads of good stuff about power, simplicity, and community, that's worth coming back to. It's a call to reckless generosity and selfless love in a world of "big beasts and little prophets." It is hopeful, expectant, uncompromising.

'The Irresistable Revolution'is a provocative book, raising more issues than it answers. That's not an approach that everyone will appreciate, but for those ready to ask difficult questions of themselves and their faith, this is a challenge you'll want to take seriously.

An absolutely essential read, 17 Sep 2008
If Shane Claiborne keeps writing books like this he is going to get himself assasinated. I can think of no greater accolade then that.

refreshing, 07 Sep 2008
I found this book really encouraging. It gave me a lot to think about and reminded me of lots of things I believe are important in terms of the two principle commandments of the Bible "Love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Love your neighbour as yourself" 15 to 20 years ago I had read books by Jim Wallis, Ron Sider and Tony Campolo which seemed to call many Western Christians to thinking about justice and a simpler lifestyle.

Shane Claiborne starts to understand what God says about the poor and loving others almost by accident when he is studying theology at a US Bible school - one that I guess would be described as liberal rather than conservative in US terms. Some friends invite him to come and hang out with some of their friends who happen to be homeless.

The book is SC's story and the story of some of the people he meets along the way with whom he shares part of his life. It includes much of his struggles as he evaluates Scripture trying to see it afresh and not within all the confines of his background in church culture. He works a few months with Mother Theresa, was involved in living with the homeless, lives in a poor community in Philadelphia, went to Iraq with a group promoting peace and is astonished by the love and risks that Iraqi Christians would take to protect their American brothers.

It reminded me of the community that followers of Christ should be developing and not just with one another. It made me go back and read Matt 25 when Jesus talks about God's judgement involving the way we treat the poor, the sick, the foreigner, the criminal etc. It is uncomfortable.

I did not think SC was proposing everyone do what he does. He is not trying to recruit followers. He is prompting us to think about how we live as followers of Christ an to be more open to those marginalised in society, accepting people unlike us in our homes and lives.

There were parts of the book which annoyed me and I felt that he perhaps did some things just to provoke a reaction. I felt it possibly could have
been 100 pages shorter and still got the same message over. The style with frequent asides in parenthesis, which work if you are giving a speech, but are irritating when used over and over in a written work got a bit wearing. The style seemed written for students and early twenties, although the content should actually be for all ages.

However overall I found it deeply encouraging and challenging. I am reminded of how community with the poor is not just about justice or improving their situation, it is also about the rich getting the opportunity to know God more in profound ways through individuals who come into our lives. That seemed to be the way Mother Theresa saw it and I remember one incident in my own life of seeing God's image more clearly through a severly disabled, poor beggar who sat patiently waiting for gifts. He apalled me at first, until I saw the loving way some other interacted with him and despite the fact he could not speek his openess to others.

Community in the love of God is not a duty, it is a gift for all, but requires a lot of work.



Serious about being the change you want to see ?, 08 Jul 2008
One of the most powerful and engaging autobiographical works from a `frontline' Christian activist I've read in a long time. It's impossible not to like Shane Claiborne, whose infectious love for Jesus and total commitment to bringing his love to all, whether North Philadelphia's poor or the bombed citizens of Iraq, is plain to see. Claiborne is someone all Christians (and others) could learn from for sheer breadth of sympathy across the Christian traditions, sense of vocation, and depth of theological understanding blended with sassy political commitment to bringing about change. A must-read.

Where is the gospel?, 23 Feb 2008
I should say at the outset, I think I'm out on a limb here. Everyone else seems to raving about this book. But I'm not so sure.

First, the good stuff. I think Shane Claiborne (SC) writes boldly and strikingly about various topics. Much of the book is a wake-up call for those who have got used to dull, timid, worldly, 'big', Christianity. He is immensely quotable: "Most of the time when I see Christian superstars like Jerry Falwell or Al Sharpton, I feel I'm watching professional wrestling. There's a lot of shouting and sweating, but the people seem too superhuman, and I'm not convinced all the moves are real." (p27)
He has some excellent material on the value of singleness. (p109-111) That's humbled me, and reminded me that I need to try to promote that in a Biblical way. Then there's some good stuff about the worthlessness of "cool": "...we must be either hot or cold, because if we are lukewarm (an old-school way of saying "cool"), we will be spit out of God's mouth"! (p230) There are lots of other helpful areas too, mostly only a few pages at a time.
He has lots of great stories, many of which would be excellent sermon-illustration material!

Now the bad stuff:
1) It's *very* Ameri-centric. Big chunks of the book are spent critiquing the Christian Right. Most of that didn't resonate with my experience of the Church in the UK. We don't do flags on the platform, singing anthems, rallying our troups into war or party politics. All that felt a bit meaningless to me as a Brit - who am I to criticise Christians living in another country and culture?

2) Because it's the experiences of a single guy, living in community, doing some wild and crazy things, I just don't see how much of what he says relates to me. I mean, I have a wife and 3 kids. I can't exactly move to Iraq for a while, or open up my house as a homeless shelter (not that I think there's nearly so much need here anyway - see point 1!). What he has effectively done is to abandon his entire culture. Now that's great for him, because he was in a position to do it. But the huge, vast, majority simply aren't. I'm not prepared to because I don't see that there's anything inherently wrong with having a house, or a car, or a job, or food. Parts of our culture are good (schools, hospitals, homes). If you want to live outside popular culture, fine. But I'd rather live out the Christ-life within it. Which is equally as difficult, and arguably more so. He's advocating a form of monastic asceticism that I'm not convinced is Biblical.

3) He redefines well-established theological terms. What he means by words like "evangelical", "conversion" and "gospel" are simply not the same as orthodox, Biblical, Christianity. For example: "Conversion is not an event but a process, a process of slowly tearing ourselves away from the clutches of the culture." No it isn't. Conversion has nothing to do with releasing oneself from the bonds of culture. It's the act of repentance and faith, when we repond to the gospel. Forgive me if I can't see the link between historic conversion and SC's. I suppose "sanctification" would be a more correct word for what he's talking about.

4) He caricatures the church.
"...if someone had a heart-attack on Sunday morning, the paramedics would have to take the pulse of half the congregation before they would find the dead person" (p43) OK, very funny. But certainly not my experience of good, Biblical, modern church. He gives the impression that churches are all navel-gazing, introverted, holy huddles with no interest or ability to communicate with the outside world. Well, again, there are loads of churches that care for the poor, the lonely, the disposessed. In Ipswich, UK, we have "Street Pastors" who are out in the clubs and pubs at the weekend, looking after the drunks and the dropouts; there is a pregnancy crisis centre, a drug rehab centre is soon to open. There's work amongst prostitutes and the homeless. We do care. Perhaps not enough, perhaps we could do with being better resourced. But we *are* trying to live out a life of faith in our culture, and it hurts a bit to be told we aren't.

5) He minimises the importance of theology:
"I learnt more about God from the tears of homeless mothers than a systematic theology ever taught me" (p51) Now, I know the guy is a firm post-modern and that post-moderns like stories more than facts etc etc. But, that kind of statement calls into question the whole value of theology. What did the tears of homeless mothers *actually* teach him? That sharing is good? That we should care for each other? Great - but not much about God. What can those things *possibly* teach us about God? We are made in his likeness, not he in ours. We don't learn about God by looking at fallen sinners (no matter how vulnerable or holy); we learn about God from the Word. SC has it the wrong way around.
Again, "When people ask me if I am Protestant or Catholic, I just answer 'yes.'. And when people ask me if we are evangelicals, I...say, 'Absolutely, we want to spread the kingdom of God like crazy.'" Well, I'm sorry, but the differences between Protestant and Catholic theology *are* important. They espouse completely different ideas about how to relate to God, the authority of the Bible, the meaning of salvation etc etc. They're not just minor tertiary issues, they affect the central tennets of the faith. Theology matters!

6) I'm not sure what his "gospel" is. Throughout the whole book, I could find barely a mention of sin, salvation, or the cross. What there was a lot of is loving our neighbours. Which of course, is good. But surely it's not the whole picture? He seems to see Jesus as an inspirational figure, who showed us how to live and love well. But that's not the gospel of Paul, or of evangelicalism. One story will serve to illustrate the point: It was the time when a bunch of his friends slept on Wall Street, New York, as an act of solidarity with the poor. (p118-119) Then at a certain time, they unfurled banners which read, "Stop terrorism", "Share", "Love", and a quote from Ghandi about greed. They drew pictures on the pavements and blew bubbles, and hugged and laughed. And SC describes it as "bringing God and Mammon together". Forgive me, but, if you look carefully, where is God in that? Where is the Biblical gospel in there? Sure, it's a worthwhile enterprise to stand in solidarity with the poor, and to stand up against corporate greed. But don't make out that this was some sort of outreach with the gospel.

If the church adopted SC's ideas, then we would probably be more happy, more loving, more radical, and probably bigger. We would be nicer people. But would those things lead to more being saved from an eternity without God? I somehow doubt it. What we really need is to be motivated by the truth of the Jesus-filled, Biblical gospel, and to reach out to people with the saving message of the cross.

Just a note about this particular version of the book., 03 Nov 2008
It's a very interesting book and all, but I'm really just posting up this review to say that the version for sale on this page contains more than a few confusing spelling/grammatical errors. Also, anyone who judges books by their covers might not be surprised to find out that the editor likes to paint Hitler as an evil monster etc. rather than keeping his ideas to himself and letting the reader make up their own mind.



Appaling quality, 25 Oct 2008
This review is a warning regarding the actual physical quality of the book, rather than the content.

I ordered this very same version of Mein kampf off Amazon and just reading it was a battle (no fault of Adolf's!)

a) It is littered with typos. I lost count of the time I had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it because of basic errors; 'that' instead of 'than', etc.

b) Dozens (literally) of the pages were stuck together along the leading (opening) edge. I had to rip apart so many pages that hadn't been separated that the book now looks like it's been gnawed at by a rotweiller

c) Huge chunks of pages came away from the binding. My copy has about 15-20 sections that now protrude from edge when closed, because they came out. The first chunk of pages popped away from the binding when I opened it to look at the photos in the middle. Seriously, what was it bound together with, saliva?

If you want to read Mein Kampf I suggest you purchase a different copy to this. Reading it was a physical chore; tearing pages apart, holding chunks into the spine, etc. etc.

My copy of this book looks like it was hand-made by a one-armed blind man with no love for his craft.

an informative, dark read, 27 Sep 2008
I read Mein Kampf in the hope of understanding some of the madness of Hitler's actions and wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920s what can be found here is a sort of blue print for World war Two.Through the book Hitler exposes the dark side of the human race and tries to manipulate the reader into agreeing with him. Unlike the German people of the time the reader has the luxury of knowing the evil of his plan. An informative and dark book that gives history a slightly different slant

RRRRR-----ZZZZZZZ------RRRRR-----ZZZZZ, 08 Aug 2008
Well, may be I m going against the flow here, but this book, is one of the most boring, poorly written, waste of money and paper i ve ever read for ages.. Its full of hate, written by a guy who throw up his bitterness and hate of everything non German during pages after pages after pages..., like you would throw up when You re drunk....

It s brilliant to put you to sleep if you ve got insomnia though...

we all know about the context in which it was written and what it lead to. so, no need to make some fuss about it and call it a must read. when it s an absolute piece of human junk.and fuel for hate...
well. i read it.. did not like it, .. but that s my personal opinion.

ay-dolf : bad writer, decent fascist. (if there is such a thing), 30 Jun 2008
i stopped reading this book about a quarter of the way into it. i got extremely tired of the repetitive points..i know this is a way to emphasise something, but they seem a tad unneccesary if you know what hitler was all about already (obviously when this book was written, not so much). i also got tired of how poorly written it was...it seems like very often his point becomes lost, as if his attention span is that of a hyperactive child (which makes sense in re-iterating my last point.)
obviously this book is intersting just as prying into the mind of jeffrey dahmer is interesting, but these writings, like his paintings, are just plain artless. his inability to write well, combined with his inability to paint were quite likely part reasons as to why he had such an enormous inferiority complex.

Worthwhile reminder of obvious life lessons, 20 Oct 2008
I did like this book a fair bit.

I think that it summarises important, but admittedly obvious, life lessons and sometimes re-stating the obvious to people with busy lives is a very worthwhile exercise. I disagree with other reviewers who have said that the book is badly written; I assume that the author has written in the style he has to make the book as accessible to as many as possible. There are many books around whose style is so dry and academic that, whilst they contain great ideas, they are so complicated in the way they are expressed that the idea is often lost.

That said, I agree that the book does no more than introduce fairly well known ideas of how to live. It does not dwell on them and I feel it would have benefitted from slightly longer chapters on fewer subjects. Also it makes the assumption that everyone has material security which is sometime a wrong assumption to make; it is all very well trying to sort out your spiritual well-being but that will be a far more difficult task if you don't have anywhere to live and no money for example. However, the book is aimed at a Western audience primarily and thnakfully most of us have met the lower of Maslow's (?) hierarchy of needs (physical and financial security etc) so Morrie is very right to criticise society's culture of 'keeping up with the Joneses' (as the English say!).

Overall a short interesting book which does remind us of some important truths. And Morrie was certainly an inspiring individual!

I'm Impressed!, 16 Sep 2008
Morrie was mentally strong, though he suffered from the terminal disease, ALS(=amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), I'd say. He was eager to tell the meaning of life to his ex-student, Mitch Albom, who is also the author of Tuesday's With Morrie. I would only worry about my terminal disease,if I were in Morrie's shoes. I mean, all I could do would be to be apathetic or pessimistic about my future. " The truth is once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." - that'd be the last thing I could say.
Certainly, it WAS sad that Morrie passed away because he was respected by lots of his students and graduates. However, every Tuesday when Morrie told Mitch the meaning of life must be very precious memories for Mitch, that's for sure!

For when you need to change pace a little., 31 Jul 2008
Although this book doesn't tell us anything we don't already know, it never does any harm to be reminded from time to time. It's a heartwarming and truthful account of a friendship between an older man in the last months of his life and a younger man who has always been inspired by him.

We're reminded of the importance of caring for one another in a world where we simply don't take time often enough (sometimes never!) to tell people how much we love and appreciate them.

It doesn't shy away from the 'ugly' side of illness and death which people wonder and worry about but hardly ever discuss. It's only human to be scared and to have self pity but we learn how Morrie turned his negative emotions into positive ones, and fear into acceptance and inner peace.

I found 'Tuesdays With Morrie' a refreshingly honest account of illness. Instead of being depressing it was insightful and moving.



One of my favorite "Alboms", 20 Jun 2008
Face it: this book is never going to be a classic, but it does have some immediate appeal to the world at large mainly because people are looking for hope, especially today. It's a quick read and I enjoyed it. If you've seen the movie, you've pretty much seen the book. I do have to say that it inspired me to get out and do more in the community I live in--sometimes this worked out, sometimes it did not. The point was, I learned for "doing" and the book helped me get into that frame of mind. I've read the other Albom books and this is by far his best. Second on my list would be "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

Another great book from Albom!, 17 Jun 2008
I picked this book up after reading Five People You Meet in Heaven and I must say I really enjoyed both immensely! Mitch Albom has an amazing talent in projecting his characters and messges through his personable writing skills. This book will give you little gems on how to love and live life and will make you appreciate things that you may take for granted. A really, really great book that I highky recommend.

a call to reckless generosity and selfless love, 03 Oct 2008
Shane Claiborne has found a different Jesus in the gospels than the mainstream church. He's found a Jesus who is homeless, a friend of the poor, who rails against authority and undermines the empire, who tells a rich man to sell everything he owns and give the money away. This is Claiborne's model, and he has done his best to find it, live it and prove such a life is possible.

The book follows his journey, from the disillusionment with the church of his youth, and the ambitious and wealthy `megachurches' where he trained. He talks about how he came to bond with the poor in Philadelphia, and then travelled to Calcutta to see if Mother Theresa offered a better demonstration of Christ than the ones around him. He visits Iraq in the middle of the war, testing Jesus' call to be a peacemaker. He helps stage a `re-distribution' on Wall Street and heckles George W Bush at the Republican conference. He is, in his own words, an `ordinary radical' - radically different, but rooted in real people and real situations.

Claiborne rejects the idea that Christianity has nothing more to offer than some distant and otherworldly heaven. It's a great reminder that the church is a missionary agency: we're meant to go to the poor and the hungry, not wait for them to come to us. There's loads of good stuff about power, simplicity, and community, that's worth coming back to. It's a call to reckless generosity and selfless love in a world of "big beasts and little prophets." It is hopeful, expectant, uncompromising.

'The Irresistable Revolution'is a provocative book, raising more issues than it answers. That's not an approach that everyone will appreciate, but for those ready to ask difficult questions of themselves and their faith, this is a challenge you'll want to take seriously.

An absolutely essential read, 17 Sep 2008
If Shane Claiborne keeps writing books like this he is going to get himself assasinated. I can think of no greater accolade then that.

refreshing, 07 Sep 2008
I found this book really encouraging. It gave me a lot to think about and reminded me of lots of things I believe are important in terms of the two principle commandments of the Bible "Love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Love your neighbour as yourself" 15 to 20 years ago I had read books by Jim Wallis, Ron Sider and Tony Campolo which seemed to call many Western Christians to thinking about justice and a simpler lifestyle.

Shane Claiborne starts to understand what God says about the poor and loving others almost by accident when he is studying theology at a US Bible school - one that I guess would be described as liberal rather than conservative in US terms. Some friends invite him to come and hang out with some of their friends who happen to be homeless.

The book is SC's story and the story of some of the people he meets along the way with whom he shares part of his life. It includes much of his struggles as he evaluates Scripture trying to see it afresh and not within all the confines of his background in church culture. He works a few months with Mother Theresa, was involved in living with the homeless, lives in a poor community in Philadelphia, went to Iraq with a group promoting peace and is astonished by the love and risks that Iraqi Christians would take to protect their American brothers.

It reminded me of the community that followers of Christ should be developing and not just with one another. It made me go back and read Matt 25 when Jesus talks about God's judgement involving the way we treat the poor, the sick, the foreigner, the criminal etc. It is uncomfortable.

I did not think SC was proposing everyone do what he does. He is not trying to recruit followers. He is prompting us to think about how we live as followers of Christ an to be more open to those marginalised in society, accepting people unlike us in our homes and lives.

There were parts of the book which annoyed me and I felt that he perhaps did some things just to provoke a reaction. I felt it possibly could have
been 100 pages shorter and still got the same message over. The style with frequent asides in parenthesis, which work if you are giving a speech, but are irritating when used over and over in a written work got a bit wearing. The style seemed written for students and early twenties, although the content should actually be for all ages.

However overall I found it deeply encouraging and challenging. I am reminded of how community with the poor is not just about justice or improving their situation, it is also about the rich getting the opportunity to know God more in profound ways through individuals who come into our lives. That seemed to be the way Mother Theresa saw it and I remember one incident in my own life of seeing God's image more clearly through a severly disabled, poor beggar who sat patiently waiting for gifts. He apalled me at first, until I saw the loving way some other interacted with him and despite the fact he could not speek his openess to others.

Community in the love of God is not a duty, it is a gift for all, but requires a lot of work.



Serious about being the change you want to see ?, 08 Jul 2008
One of the most powerful and engaging autobiographical works from a `frontline' Christian activist I've read in a long time. It's impossible not to like Shane Claiborne, whose infectious love for Jesus and total commitment to bringing his love to all, whether North Philadelphia's poor or the bombed citizens of Iraq, is plain to see. Claiborne is someone all Christians (and others) could learn from for sheer breadth of sympathy across the Christian traditions, sense of vocation, and depth of theological understanding blended with sassy political commitment to bringing about change. A must-read.

Where is the gospel?, 23 Feb 2008
I should say at the outset, I think I'm out on a limb here. Everyone else seems to raving about this book. But I'm not so sure.

First, the good stuff. I think Shane Claiborne (SC) writes boldly and strikingly about various topics. Much of the book is a wake-up call for those who have got used to dull, timid, worldly, 'big', Christianity. He is immensely quotable: "Most of the time when I see Christian superstars like Jerry Falwell or Al Sharpton, I feel I'm watching professional wrestling. There's a lot of shouting and sweating, but the people seem too superhuman, and I'm not convinced all the moves are real." (p27)
He has some excellent material on the value of singleness. (p109-111) That's humbled me, and reminded me that I need to try to promote that in a Biblical way. Then there's some good stuff about the worthlessness of "cool": "...we must be either hot or cold, because if we are lukewarm (an old-school way of saying "cool"), we will be spit out of God's mouth"! (p230) There are lots of other helpful areas too, mostly only a few pages at a time.
He has lots of great stories, many of which would be excellent sermon-illustration material!

Now the bad stuff:
1) It's *very* Ameri-centric. Big chunks of the book are spent critiquing the Christian Right. Most of that didn't resonate with my experience of the Church in the UK. We don't do flags on the platform, singing anthems, rallying our troups into war or party politics. All that felt a bit meaningless to me as a Brit - who am I to criticise Christians living in another country and culture?

2) Because it's the experiences of a single guy, living in community, doing some wild and crazy things, I just don't see how much of what he says relates to me. I mean, I have a wife and 3 kids. I can't exactly move to Iraq for a while, or open up my house as a homeless shelter (not that I think there's nearly so much need here anyway - see point 1!). What he has effectively done is to abandon his entire culture. Now that's great for him, because he was in a position to do it. But the huge, vast, majority simply aren't. I'm not prepared to because I don't see that there's anything inherently wrong with having a house, or a car, or a job, or food. Parts of our culture are good (schools, hospitals, homes). If you want to live outside popular culture, fine. But I'd rather live out the Christ-life within it. Which is equally as difficult, and arguably more so. He's advocating a form of monastic asceticism that I'm not convinced is Biblical.

3) He redefines well-established theological terms. What he means by words like "evangelical", "conversion" and "gospel" are simply not the same as orthodox, Biblical, Christianity. For example: "Conversion is not an event but a process, a process of slowly tearing ourselves away from the clutches of the culture." No it isn't. Conversion has nothing to do with releasing oneself from the bonds of culture. It's the act of repentance and faith, when we repond to the gospel. Forgive me if I can't see the link between historic conversion and SC's. I suppose "sanctification" would be a more correct word for what he's talking about.

4) He caricatures the church.
"...if someone had a heart-attack on Sunday morning, the paramedics would have to take the pulse of half the congregation before they would find the dead person" (p43) OK, very funny. But certainly not my experience of good, Biblical, modern church. He gives the impression that churches are all navel-gazing, introverted, holy huddles with no interest or ability to communicate with the outside world. Well, again, there are loads of churches that care for the poor, the lonely, the disposessed. In Ipswich, UK, we have "Street Pastors" who are out in the clubs and pubs at the weekend, looking after the drunks and the dropouts; there is a pregnancy crisis centre, a drug rehab centre is soon to open. There's work amongst prostitutes and the homeless. We do care. Perhaps not enough, perhaps we could do with being better resourced. But we *are* trying to live out a life of faith in our culture, and it hurts a bit to be told we aren't.

5) He minimises the importance of theology:
"I learnt more about God from the tears of homeless mothers than a systematic theology ever taught me" (p51) Now, I know the guy is a firm post-modern and that post-moderns like stories more than facts etc etc. But, that kind of statement calls into question the whole value of theology. What did the tears of homeless mothers *actually* teach him? That sharing is good? That we should care for each other? Great - but not much about God. What can those things *possibly* teach us about God? We are made in his likeness, not he in ours. We don't learn about God by looking at fallen sinners (no matter how vulnerable or holy); we learn about God from the Word. SC has it the wrong way around.
Again, "When people ask me if I am Protestant or Catholic, I just answer 'yes.'. And when people ask me if we are evangelicals, I...say, 'Absolutely, we want to spread the kingdom of God like crazy.'" Well, I'm sorry, but the differences between Protestant and Catholic theology *are* important. They espouse completely different ideas about how to relate to God, the authority of the Bible, the meaning of salvation etc etc. They're not just minor tertiary issues, they affect the central tennets of the faith. Theology matters!

6) I'm not sure what his "gospel" is. Throughout the whole book, I could find barely a mention of sin, salvation, or the cross. What there was a lot of is loving our neighbours. Which of course, is good. But surely it's not the whole picture? He seems to see Jesus as an inspirational figure, who showed us how to live and love well. But that's not the gospel of Paul, or of evangelicalism. One story will serve to illustrate the point: It was the time when a bunch of his friends slept on Wall Street, New York, as an act of solidarity with the poor. (p118-119) Then at a certain time, they unfurled banners which read, "Stop terrorism", "Share", "Love", and a quote from Ghandi about greed. They drew pictures on the pavements and blew bubbles, and hugged and laughed. And SC describes it as "bringing God and Mammon together". Forgive me, but, if you look carefully, where is God in that? Where is the Biblical gospel in there? Sure, it's a worthwhile enterprise to stand in solidarity with the poor, and to stand up against corporate greed. But don't make out that this was some sort of outreach with the gospel.

If the church adopted SC's ideas, then we would probably be more happy, more loving, more radical, and probably bigger. We would be nicer people. But would those things lead to more being saved from an eternity without God? I somehow doubt it. What we really need is to be motivated by the truth of the Jesus-filled, Biblical gospel, and to reach out to people with the saving message of the cross.

Isn't life funny?, 19 Sep 2008
I too had to read it more than once...

What's the point of the author indulging in a 'Chautauqua' on 'Romantic' & 'Classic' 'Values', with the resultant (extravagant) soliloquy on the 'Value' of 'Quality', when the author can't even work out how to relate to his own child (who having spent the majority of his formative years in apparent mental turmoil - brought on by the behaviour of the author, as described in this book - was murdered in San Francisco 2 weeks before his 23rd birthday)?

This book is just another example of self-indulgence sold off as enlightenment...

What's the point? There is NO point.


I need 7 stars!!! ----->-->--,--'--@, 11 Jul 2008
Yeah, I am not very good at writting reviews but there you go...

This book is the kind that you borrow, read almost twice, slowly, and then you have to buy it to finish reading it the second time! The adventure, the trip is not just any trip, sprinkled with philosophy, sense of humour, and mechanics. I must say, that I never owned a cycle, and I probably never will, they scare me to death! Although I secretly love see them go past, and I would have so much enjoyed a trip like this with this guy in a classic Harley!! Oh yeah! hehe

Also, the amount of laughter and food for thought in it, and the glow of the main character made me love him dearly very early in the book, is a very caring, sometimes moody character, but his heart is real gold in powder.
I needed to have this book with me, besides my bed at night, or wherever; it is a reminder of how good is to be human after all (with or without greasy hands) ;-P

Summarising LOL, is entertaining, relaxing, and very well written. It is not only a book, for me it has become a friend.




A "Da Vinci Code " for the 1970s, 07 Jul 2008
I read this years ago, when I was studying Greek and Latin literature and Philosophy at university, and dismissed it more or less out of hand.

Coming back to it as a 40 year old father (the same age as Pirsig was when he made the journey depicted in the novel with his son)I found much more to enjoy and be affected by in the story itself. There is no doubt that the theme of the alienated son and father being reunited recalls that of the Odyssey and is genuinely moving, if clumsily resolved.

As for the philosophy, well, Pirsig admits without any embarrassment in his 1999 introduction to the book that, at the time of writing, he thought, quite incorrectly, that Phaedrus means wolf in Classical Greek. If you can't deal with a word like wolf, you won't exaclty handle mythos, logos or the technical terms in philosophical writing. If someone who clearly has no Greek at all wishes to pass himself off as an authority on the Pre-Socratics, or Plato, or Aristotle, that is just a bit embarrassing, really, and tells you all you need to know about how seriously to take his views.

Therefore the book strikes me as a (very superior, admittedly) Da Vinci Code for its day - a good story ornamented with some specious learning, and none the worse for that, as long as it is not taken seriously.

If Pirsig wants us to walk away thinking we should apply ourselves to our work a bit more and generally try harder, that is no bad thing, and as he admits himself, nobody would disagree with the message, but don't go looking for any great secret of life here. It is just a nice book.

The hallmarks of a good read, but...., 25 May 2008
This appears to have all the hallmarks of a good read for me: I'm very interested in philosophy, psychology, travel (plus a bit of a hippie so I'm sure there's a latent Buddhist in me somewhere). However, after trying this twice - and putting it down both times, never to be picked up again - I just can't see what the hype is about and am left wondering who this book actually appeals to. There doesn't seem to be anything vivid, interesting, or gripping about it. One of those books that I wanted to like so much, but found incredibly disappointing. Over-rated.

Over Rated., 18 Jan 2008
I bought and read this a few years back. The main reason was because it was highly recommended by some university types. I'm going to draw some flak on this review, because if you don't give it a 5, everyone thinks your a shallow pulp novel individual (which may be the case to a certain extent)...

The simple truth was that I couldn't really engage with the central character. Yes, there are a few moments of clarity - like when he discusses making parts himself. Unfortunately, the best elements become subsumed in a relatively dull life story. In other words, I found it dragged a bit. I didn't expect loads of action, but I did expect there to be a good deal more practical activity and a good deal less introspective discussion. I've got sympathy for the lead character (the author, as it turns out) - I just didn't enjoy his journey. The whole trip went nowhere and no-one seemed to have very much fun. Maybe I'm not supposed to have enjoyed reading it?

Just a note about this particular version of the book., 03 Nov 2008
It's a very interesting book and all, but I'm really just posting up this review to say that the version for sale on this page contains more than a few confusing spelling/grammatical errors. Also, anyone who judges books by their covers might not be surprised to find out that the editor likes to paint Hitler as an evil monster etc. rather than keeping his ideas to himself and letting the reader make up their own mind.



Appaling quality, 25 Oct 2008
This review is a warning regarding the actual physical quality of the book, rather than the content.

I ordered this very same version of Mein kampf off Amazon and just reading it was a battle (no fault of Adolf's!)

a) It is littered with typos. I lost count of the time I had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it because of basic errors; 'that' instead of 'than', etc.

b) Dozens (literally) of the pages were stuck together along the leading (opening) edge. I had to rip apart so many pages that hadn't been separated that the book now looks like it's been gnawed at by a rotweiller

c) Huge chunks of pages came away from the binding. My copy has about 15-20 sections that now protrude from edge when closed, because they came out. The first chunk of pages popped away from the binding when I opened it to look at the photos in the middle. Seriously, what was it bound together with, saliva?

If you want to read Mein Kampf I suggest you purchase a different copy to this. Reading it was a physical chore; tearing pages apart, holding chunks into the spine, etc. etc.

My copy of this book looks like it was hand-made by a one-armed blind man with no love for his craft.

an informative, dark read, 27 Sep 2008
I read Mein Kampf in the hope of understanding some of the madness of Hitler's actions and wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920s what can be found here is a sort of blue print for World war Two.Through the book Hitler exposes the dark side of the human race and tries to manipulate the reader into agreeing with him. Unlike the German people of the time the reader has the luxury of knowing the evil of his plan. An informative and dark book that gives history a slightly different slant

RRRRR-----ZZZZZZZ------RRRRR-----ZZZZZ, 08 Aug 2008
Well, may be I m going against the flow here, but this book, is one of the most boring, poorly written, waste of money and paper i ve ever read for ages.. Its full of hate, written by a guy who throw up his bitterness and hate of everything non German during pages after pages after pages..., like you would throw up when You re drunk....

It s brilliant to put you to sleep if you ve got insomnia though...

we all know about the context in which it was written and what it lead to. so, no need to make some fuss about it and call it a must read. when it s an absolute piece of human junk.and fuel for hate...
well. i read it.. did not like it, .. but that s my personal opinion.

ay-dolf : bad writer, decent fascist. (if there is such a thing), 30 Jun 2008
i stopped reading this book about a quarter of the way into it. i got extremely tired of the repetitive points..i know this is a way to emphasise something, but they seem a tad unneccesary if you know what hitler was all about already (obviously when this book was written, not so much). i also got tired of how poorly written it was...it seems like very often his point becomes lost, as if his attention span is that of a hyperactive child (which makes sense in re-iterating my last point.)
obviously this book is intersting just as prying into the mind of jeffrey dahmer is interesting, but these writings, like his paintings, are just plain artless. his inability to write well, combined with his inability to paint were quite likely part reasons as to why he had such an enormous inferiority complex.

Worthwhile reminder of obvious life lessons, 20 Oct 2008
I did like this book a fair bit.

I think that it summarises important, but admittedly obvious, life lessons and sometimes re-stating the obvious to people with busy lives is a very worthwhile exercise. I disagree with other reviewers who have said that the book is badly written; I assume that the author has written in the style he has to make the book as accessible to as many as possible. There are many books around whose style is so dry and academic that, whilst they contain great ideas, they are so complicated in the way they are expressed that the idea is often lost.

That said, I agree that the book does no more than introduce fairly well known ideas of how to live. It does not dwell on them and I feel it would have benefitted from slightly longer chapters on fewer subjects. Also it makes the assumption that everyone has material security which is sometime a wrong assumption to make; it is all very well trying to sort out your spiritual well-being but that will be a far more difficult task if you don't have anywhere to live and no money for example. However, the book is aimed at a Western audience primarily and thnakfully most of us have met the lower of Maslow's (?) hierarchy of needs (physical and financial security etc) so Morrie is very right to criticise society's culture of 'keeping up with the Joneses' (as the English say!).

Overall a short interesting book which does remind us of some important truths. And Morrie was certainly an inspiring individual!

I'm Impressed!, 16 Sep 2008
Morrie was mentally strong, though he suffered from the terminal disease, ALS(=amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), I'd say. He was eager to tell the meaning of life to his ex-student, Mitch Albom, who is also the author of Tuesday's With Morrie. I would only worry about my terminal disease,if I were in Morrie's shoes. I mean, all I could do would be to be apathetic or pessimistic about my future. " The truth is once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." - that'd be the last thing I could say.
Certainly, it WAS sad that Morrie passed away because he was respected by lots of his students and graduates. However, every Tuesday when Morrie told Mitch the meaning of life must be very precious memories for Mitch, that's for sure!

For when you need to change pace a little., 31 Jul 2008
Although this book doesn't tell us anything we don't already know, it never does any harm to be reminded from time to time. It's a heartwarming and truthful account of a friendship between an older man in the last months of his life and a younger man who has always been inspired by him.

We're reminded of the importance of caring for one another in a world where we simply don't take time often enough (sometimes never!) to tell people how much we love and appreciate them.

It doesn't shy away from the 'ugly' side of illness and death which people wonder and worry about but hardly ever discuss. It's only human to be scared and to have self pity but we learn how Morrie turned his negative emotions into positive ones, and fear into acceptance and inner peace.

I found 'Tuesdays With Morrie' a refreshingly honest account of illness. Instead of being depressing it was insightful and moving.



One of my favorite "Alboms", 20 Jun 2008
Face it: this book is never going to be a classic, but it does have some immediate appeal to the world at large mainly because people are looking for hope, especially today. It's a quick read and I enjoyed it. If you've seen the movie, you've pretty much seen the book. I do have to say that it inspired me to get out and do more in the community I live in--sometimes this worked out, sometimes it did not. The point was, I learned for "doing" and the book helped me get into that frame of mind. I've read the other Albom books and this is by far his best. Second on my list would be "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

Another great book from Albom!, 17 Jun 2008
I picked this book up after reading Five People You Meet in Heaven and I must say I really enjoyed both immensely! Mitch Albom has an amazing talent in projecting his characters and messges through his personable writing skills. This book will give you little gems on how to love and live life and will make you appreciate things that you may take for granted. A really, really great book that I highky recommend.

a call to reckless generosity and selfless love, 03 Oct 2008
Shane Claiborne has found a different Jesus in the gospels than the mainstream church. He's found a Jesus who is homeless, a friend of the poor, who rails against authority and undermines the empire, who tells a rich man to sell everything he owns and give the money away. This is Claiborne's model, and he has done his best to find it, live it and prove such a life is possible.

The book follows his journey, from the disillusionment with the church of his youth, and the ambitious and wealthy `megachurches' where he trained. He talks about how he came to bond with the poor in Philadelphia, and then travelled to Calcutta to see if Mother Theresa offered a better demonstration of Christ than the ones around him. He visits Iraq in the middle of the war, testing Jesus' call to be a peacemaker. He helps stage a `re-distribution' on Wall Street and heckles George W Bush at the Republican conference. He is, in his own words, an `ordinary radical' - radically different, but rooted in real people and real situations.

Claiborne rejects the idea that Christianity has nothing more to offer than some distant and otherworldly heaven. It's a great reminder that the church is a missionary agency: we're meant to go to the poor and the hungry, not wait for them to come to us. There's loads of good stuff about power, simplicity, and community, that's worth coming back to. It's a call to reckless generosity and selfless love in a world of "big beasts and little prophets." It is hopeful, expectant, uncompromising.

'The Irresistable Revolution'is a provocative book, raising more issues than it answers. That's not an approach that everyone will appreciate, but for those ready to ask difficult questions of themselves and their faith, this is a challenge you'll want to take seriously.

An absolutely essential read, 17 Sep 2008
If Shane Claiborne keeps writing books like this he is going to get himself assasinated. I can think of no greater accolade then that.

refreshing, 07 Sep 2008
I found this book really encouraging. It gave me a lot to think about and reminded me of lots of things I believe are important in terms of the two principle commandments of the Bible "Love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Love your neighbour as yourself" 15 to 20 years ago I had read books by Jim Wallis, Ron Sider and Tony Campolo which seemed to call many Western Christians to thinking about justice and a simpler lifestyle.

Shane Claiborne starts to understand what God says about the poor and loving others almost by accident when he is studying theology at a US Bible school - one that I guess would be described as liberal rather than conservative in US terms. Some friends invite him to come and hang out with some of their friends who happen to be homeless.

The book is SC's story and the story of some of the people he meets along the way with whom he shares part of his life. It includes much of his struggles as he evaluates Scripture trying to see it afresh and not within all the confines of his background in church culture. He works a few months with Mother Theresa, was involved in living with the homeless, lives in a poor community in Philadelphia, went to Iraq with a group promoting peace and is astonished by the love and risks that Iraqi Christians would take to protect their American brothers.

It reminded me of the community that followers of Christ should be developing and not just with one another. It made me go back and read Matt 25 when Jesus talks about God's judgement involving the way we treat the poor, the sick, the foreigner, the criminal etc. It is uncomfortable.

I did not think SC was proposing everyone do what he does. He is not trying to recruit followers. He is prompting us to think about how we live as followers of Christ an to be more open to those marginalised in society, accepting people unlike us in our homes and lives.

There were parts of the book which annoyed me and I felt that he perhaps did some things just to provoke a reaction. I felt it possibly could have
been 100 pages shorter and still got the same message over. The style with frequent asides in parenthesis, which work if you are giving a speech, but are irritating when used over and over in a written work got a bit wearing. The style seemed written for students and early twenties, although the content should actually be for all ages.

However overall I found it deeply encouraging and challenging. I am reminded of how community with the poor is not just about justice or improving their situation, it is also about the rich getting the opportunity to know God more in profound ways through individuals who come into our lives. That seemed to be the way Mother Theresa saw it and I remember one incident in my own life of seeing God's image more clearly through a severly disabled, poor beggar who sat patiently waiting for gifts. He apalled me at first, until I saw the loving way some other interacted with him and despite the fact he could not speek his openess to others.

Community in the love of God is not a duty, it is a gift for all, but requires a lot of work.



Serious about being the change you want to see ?, 08 Jul 2008
One of the most powerful and engaging autobiographical works from a `frontline' Christian activist I've read in a long time. It's impossible not to like Shane Claiborne, whose infectious love for Jesus and total commitment to bringing his love to all, whether North Philadelphia's poor or the bombed citizens of Iraq, is plain to see. Claiborne is someone all Christians (and others) could learn from for sheer breadth of sympathy across the Christian traditions, sense of vocation, and depth of theological understanding blended with sassy political commitment to bringing about change. A must-read.

Where is the gospel?, 23 Feb 2008
I should say at the outset, I think I'm out on a limb here. Everyone else seems to raving about this book. But I'm not so sure.

First, the good stuff. I think Shane Claiborne (SC) writes boldly and strikingly about various topics. Much of the book is a wake-up call for those who have got used to dull, timid, worldly, 'big', Christianity. He is immensely quotable: "Most of the time when I see Christian superstars like Jerry Falwell or Al Sharpton, I feel I'm watching professional wrestling. There's a lot of shouting and sweating, but the people seem too superhuman, and I'm not convinced all the moves are real." (p27)
He has some excellent material on the value of singleness. (p109-111) That's humbled me, and reminded me that I need to try to promote that in a Biblical way. Then there's some good stuff about the worthlessness of "cool": "...we must be either hot or cold, because if we are lukewarm (an old-school way of saying "cool"), we will be spit out of God's mouth"! (p230) There are lots of other helpful areas too, mostly only a few pages at a time.
He has lots of great stories, many of which would be excellent sermon-illustration material!

Now the bad stuff:
1) It's *very* Ameri-centric. Big chunks of the book are spent critiquing the Christian Right. Most of that didn't resonate with my experience of the Church in the UK. We don't do flags on the platform, singing anthems, rallying our troups into war or party politics. All that felt a bit meaningless to me as a Brit - who am I to criticise Christians living in another country and culture?

2) Because it's the experiences of a single guy, living in community, doing some wild and crazy things, I just don't see how much of what he says relates to me. I mean, I have a wife and 3 kids. I can't exactly move to Iraq for a while, or open up my house as a homeless shelter (not that I think there's nearly so much need here anyway - see point 1!). What he has effectively done is to abandon his entire culture. Now that's great for him, because he was in a position to do it. But the huge, vast, majority simply aren't. I'm not prepared to because I don't see that there's anything inherently wrong with having a house, or a car, or a job, or food. Parts of our culture are good (schools, hospitals, homes). If you want to live outside popular culture, fine. But I'd rather live out the Christ-life within it. Which is equally as difficult, and arguably more so. He's advocating a form of monastic asceticism that I'm not convinced is Biblical.

3) He redefines well-established theological terms. What he means by words like "evangelical", "conversion" and "gospel" are simply not the same as orthodox, Biblical, Christianity. For example: "Conversion is not an event but a process, a process of slowly tearing ourselves away from the clutches of the culture." No it isn't. Conversion has nothing to do with releasing oneself from the bonds of culture. It's the act of repentance and faith, when we repond to the gospel. Forgive me if I can't see the link between historic conversion and SC's. I suppose "sanctification" would be a more correct word for what he's talking about.

4) He caricatures the church.
"...if someone had a heart-attack on Sunday morning, the paramedics would have to take the pulse of half the congregation before they would find the dead person" (p43) OK, very funny. But certainly not my experience of good, Biblical, modern church. He gives the impression that churches are all navel-gazing, introverted, holy huddles with no interest or ability to communicate with the outside world. Well, again, there are loads of churches that care for the poor, the lonely, the disposessed. In Ipswich, UK, we have "Street Pastors" who are out in the clubs and pubs at the weekend, looking after the drunks and the dropouts; there is a pregnancy crisis centre, a drug rehab centre is soon to open. There's work amongst prostitutes and the homeless. We do care. Perhaps not enough, perhaps we could do with being better resourced. But we *are* trying to live out a life of faith in our culture, and it hurts a bit to be told we aren't.

5) He minimises the importance of theology:
"I learnt more about God from the tears of homeless mothers than a systematic theology ever taught me" (p51) Now, I know the guy is a firm post-modern and that post-moderns like stories more than facts etc etc. But, that kind of statement calls into question the whole value of theology. What did the tears of homeless mothers *actually* teach him? That sharing is good? That we should care for each other? Great - but not much about God. What can those things *possibly* teach us about God? We are made in his likeness, not he in ours. We don't learn about God by looking at fallen sinners (no matter how vulnerable or holy); we learn about God from the Word. SC has it the wrong way around.
Again, "When people ask me if I am Protestant or Catholic, I just answer 'yes.'. And when people ask me if we are evangelicals, I...say, 'Absolutely, we want to spread the kingdom of God like crazy.'" Well, I'm sorry, but the differences between Protestant and Catholic theology *are* important. They espouse completely different ideas about how to relate to God, the authority of the Bible, the meaning of salvation etc etc. They're not just minor tertiary issues, they affect the central tennets of the faith. Theology matters!

6) I'm not sure what his "gospel" is. Throughout the whole book, I could find barely a mention of sin, salvation, or the cross. What there was a lot of is loving our neighbours. Which of course, is good. But surely it's not the whole picture? He seems to see Jesus as an inspirational figure, who showed us how to live and love well. But that's not the gospel of Paul, or of evangelicalism. One story will serve to illustrate the point: It was the time when a bunch of his friends slept on Wall Street, New York, as an act of solidarity with the poor. (p118-119) Then at a certain time, they unfurled banners which read, "Stop terrorism", "Share", "Love", and a quote from Ghandi about greed. They drew pictures on the pavements and blew bubbles, and hugged and laughed. And SC describes it as "bringing God and Mammon together". Forgive me, but, if you look carefully, where is God in that? Where is the Biblical gospel in there? Sure, it's a worthwhile enterprise to stand in solidarity with the poor, and to stand up against corporate greed. But don't make out that this was some sort of outreach with the gospel.

If the church adopted SC's ideas, then we would probably be more happy, more loving, more radical, and probably bigger. We would be nicer people. But would those things lead to more being saved from an eternity without God? I somehow doubt it. What we really need is to be motivated by the truth of the Jesus-filled, Biblical gospel, and to reach out to people with the saving message of the cross.

Isn't life funny?, 19 Sep 2008
I too had to read it more than once...

What's the point of the author indulging in a 'Chautauqua' on 'Romantic' & 'Classic' 'Values', with the resultant (extravagant) soliloquy on the 'Value' of 'Quality', when the author can't even work out how to relate to his own child (who having spent the majority of his formative years in apparent mental turmoil - brought on by the behaviour of the author, as described in this book - was murdered in San Francisco 2 weeks before his 23rd birthday)?

This book is just another example of self-indulgence sold off as enlightenment...

What's the point? There is NO point.


I need 7 stars!!! ----->-->--,--'--@, 11 Jul 2008
Yeah, I am not very good at writting reviews but there you go...

This book is the kind that you borrow, read almost twice, slowly, and then you have to buy it to finish reading it the second time! The adventure, the trip is not just any trip, sprinkled with philosophy, sense of humour, and mechanics. I must say, that I never owned a cycle, and I probably never will, they scare me to death! Although I secretly love see them go past, and I would have so much enjoyed a trip like this with this guy in a classic Harley!! Oh yeah! hehe

Also, the amount of laughter and food for thought in it, and the glow of the main character made me love him dearly very early in the book, is a very caring, sometimes moody character, but his heart is real gold in powder.
I needed to have this book with me, besides my bed at night, or wherever; it is a reminder of how good is to be human after all (with or without greasy hands) ;-P

Summarising LOL, is entertaining, relaxing, and very well written. It is not only a book, for me it has become a friend.




A "Da Vinci Code " for the 1970s, 07 Jul 2008
I read this years ago, when I was studying Greek and Latin literature and Philosophy at university, and dismissed it more or less out of hand.

Coming back to it as a 40 year old father (the same age as Pirsig was when he made the journey depicted in the novel with his son)I found much more to enjoy and be affected by in the story itself. There is no doubt that the theme of the alienated son and father being reunited recalls that of the Odyssey and is genuinely moving, if clumsily resolved.

As for the philosophy, well, Pirsig admits without any embarrassment in his 1999 introduction to the book that, at the time of writing, he thought, quite incorrectly, that Phaedrus means wolf in Classical Greek. If you can't deal with a word like wolf, you won't exaclty handle mythos, logos or the technical terms in philosophical writing. If someone who clearly has no Greek at all wishes to pass himself off as an authority on the Pre-Socratics, or Plato, or Aristotle, that is just a bit embarrassing, really, and tells you all you need to know about how seriously to take his views.

Therefore the book strikes me as a (very superior, admittedly) Da Vinci Code for its day - a good story ornamented with some specious learning, and none the worse for that, as long as it is not taken seriously.

If Pirsig wants us to walk away thinking we should apply ourselves to our work a bit more and generally try harder, that is no bad thing, and as he admits himself, nobody would disagree with the message, but don't go looking for any great secret of life here. It is just a nice book.

The hallmarks of a good read, but...., 25 May 2008
This appears to have all the hallmarks of a good read for me: I'm very interested in philosophy, psychology, travel (plus a bit of a hippie so I'm sure there's a latent Buddhist in me somewhere). However, after trying this twice - and putting it down both times, never to be picked up again - I just can't see what the hype is about and am left wondering who this book actually appeals to. There doesn't seem to be anything vivid, interesting, or gripping about it. One of those books that I wanted to like so much, but found incredibly disappointing. Over-rated.

Over Rated., 18 Jan 2008
I bought and read this a few years back. The main reason was because it was highly recommended by some university types. I'm going to draw some flak on this review, because if you don't give it a 5, everyone thinks your a shallow pulp novel individual (which may be the case to a certain extent)...

The simple truth was that I couldn't really engage with the central character. Yes, there are a few moments of clarity - like when he discusses making parts himself. Unfortunately, the best elements become subsumed in a relatively dull life story. In other words, I found it dragged a bit. I didn't expect loads of action, but I did expect there to be a good deal more practical activity and a good deal less introspective discussion. I've got sympathy for the lead character (the author, as it turns out) - I just didn't enjoy his journey. The whole trip went nowhere and no-one seemed to have very much fun. Maybe I'm not supposed to have enjoyed reading it?

Sensational but thought provoking and 'authentic', 25 Apr 2008
Overall I found it a very readable but there were a few points where I wondered if it was an accurate reflection of what actually happened or the temptation of the publishers to sex up the story to get more sales (as was done with Bravo Two Zero, amongst others). Certainly it isn't a wholesale celebration of war or of the situation in Iraq, and there has been a lot of thought put into why we were there by the author. It certainly came across as being written by someone who had been there and who had taken the opportunity to understand what was going on and why it was going on, that in itself is enough to make it worth reading for all those that wonder what is going on. The news doesn't even come close to giving you the side of the story shown here, and it isn't entirely positive for those prosecuting the war or attempting to rebuild Iraq or maintaining the peace.

As mentioned by another reviewer, the section towards the end where he asks a load of US officers why they are fighting the war is priceless, and possibly the best discussion of the reasons behind the war and the management of its aftermath. Better to spend time reading this book than watching the news.

Awesome!, 20 Apr 2008
The book is a well written and covers the dramatic events in a very unassuming style.

The author's opinions and observations of the environment are well balanced and offer a good insight into the life of soldiers and contractors in Iraq.

There is action, there is humour and there is back story on Iraq. It really does have everything and I would recommend it highly - 5 stars!

Thoroughly compelling, 24 Jan 2008
Thoroughly enjoyed this books.
Charts the start of the iraq occupation, unfortunatley highlights that Iraq as the author says may take 10,00o years to resolve!

Fantastic!, 20 Dec 2007
Made it to my top of the year if not better! A fabulous read. It makes you laugh, it leaves you in sorrow. You get a view on the things people live in Iraq every day, on the cultural clash, on the political aspects, on the military side of things. EVERYTHINGS is there - and written in a way it is impossible to put this book down.

The title is provocative, but a bit misleading. There is killing in the book, as it is the war zone, there are military actions, there is trouble. But there is much, much more to that. And the whole book is very personal and extremely well balanced.

If you look for a book about Iraq, war, PSD - this is the book for you! 5 stars +.

Highly recommended.

Best book I have read in ages sikk, 08 Dec 2007
I read this book over the summer and finished it in 4 days. It is really well written and far more entertaining than any hollywood blockbuster. I would reccomend this book to anybody who has even the most vague of interests in the subject of private contractors and Iraq. Some great war tales and also fascinating insights into the world of mercenaries and the US army. Made me want to join royal marines even more (not because they are in the book, I just want to get out there). Can't wait to leave school.

Just a note about this particular version of the book., 03 Nov 2008
It's a very interesting book and all, but I'm really just posting up this review to say that the version for sale on this page contains more than a few confusing spelling/grammatical errors. Also, anyone who judges books by their covers might not be surprised to find out that the editor likes to paint Hitler as an evil monster etc. rather than keeping his ideas to himself and letting the reader make up their own mind.



Appaling quality, 25 Oct 2008
This review is a warning regarding the actual physical quality of the book, rather than the content.

I ordered this very same version of Mein kampf off Amazon and just reading it was a battle (no fault of Adolf's!)

a) It is littered with typos. I lost count of the time I had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it because of basic errors; 'that' instead of 'than', etc.

b) Dozens (literally) of the pages were stuck together along the leading (opening) edge. I had to rip apart so many pages that hadn't been separated that the book now looks like it's been gnawed at by a rotweiller

c) Huge chunks of pages came away from the binding. My copy has about 15-20 sections that now protrude from edge when closed, because they came out. The first chunk of pages popped away from the binding when I opened it to look at the photos in the middle. Seriously, what was it bound together with, saliva?

If you want to read Mein Kampf I suggest you purchase a different copy to this. Reading it was a physical chore; tearing pages apart, holding chunks into the spine, etc. etc.

My copy of this book looks like it was hand-made by a one-armed blind man with no love for his craft.

an informative, dark read, 27 Sep 2008
I read Mein Kampf in the hope of understanding some of the madness of Hitler's actions and wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920s what can be found here is a sort of blue print for World war Two.Through the book Hitler exposes the dark side of the human race and tries to manipulate the reader into agreeing with him. Unlike the German people of the time the reader has the luxury of knowing the evil of his plan. An informative and dark book that gives history a slightly different slant

RRRRR-----ZZZZZZZ------RRRRR-----ZZZZZ, 08 Aug 2008
Well, may be I m going against the flow here, but this book, is one of the most boring, poorly written, waste of money and paper i ve ever read for ages.. Its full of hate, written by a guy who throw up his bitterness and hate of everything non German during pages after pages after pages..., like you would throw up when You re drunk....

It s brilliant to put you to sleep if you ve got insomnia though...

we all know about the context in which it was written and what it lead to. so, no need to make some fuss about it and call it a must read. when it s an absolute piece of human junk.and fuel for hate...
well. i read it.. did not like it, .. but that s my personal opinion.

ay-dolf : bad writer, decent fascist. (if there is such a thing), 30 Jun 2008
i stopped reading this book about a quarter of the way into it. i got extremely tired of the repetitive points..i know this is a way to emphasise something, but they seem a tad unneccesary if you know what hitler was all about already (obviously when this book was written, not so much). i also got tired of how poorly written it was...it seems like very often his point becomes lost, as if his attention span is that of a hyperactive child (which makes sense in re-iterating my last point.)
obviously this book is intersting just as prying into the mind of jeffrey dahmer is interesting, but these writings, like his paintings, are just plain artless. his inability to write well, combined with his inability to paint were quite likely part reasons as to why he had such an enormous inferiority complex.

Worthwhile reminder of obvious life lessons, 20 Oct 2008
I did like this book a fair bit.

I think that it summarises important, but admittedly obvious, life lessons and sometimes re-stating the obvious to people with busy lives is a very worthwhile exercise. I disagree with other reviewers who have said that the book is badly written; I assume that the author has written in the style he has to make the book as accessible to as many as possible. There are many books around whose style is so dry and academic that, whilst they contain great ideas, they are so complicated in the way they are expressed that the idea is often lost.

That said, I agree that the book does no more than introduce fairly well known ideas of how to live. It does not dwell on them and I feel it would have benefitted from slightly longer chapters on fewer subjects. Also it makes the assumption that everyone has material security which is sometime a wrong assumption to make; it is all very well trying to sort out your spiritual well-being but that will be a far more difficult task if you don't have anywhere to live and no money for example. However, the book is aimed at a Western audience primarily and thnakfully most of us have met the lower of Maslow's (?) hierarchy of needs (physical and financial security etc) so Morrie is very right to criticise society's culture of 'keeping up with the Joneses' (as the English say!).

Overall a short interesting book which does remind us of some important truths. And Morrie was certainly an inspiring individual!

I'm Impressed!, 16 Sep 2008
Morrie was mentally strong, though he suffered from the terminal disease, ALS(=amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), I'd say. He was eager to tell the meaning of life to his ex-student, Mitch Albom, who is also the author of Tuesday's With Morrie. I would only worry about my terminal disease,if I were in Morrie's shoes. I mean, all I could do would be to be apathetic or pessimistic about my future. " The truth is once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." - that'd be the last thing I could say.
Certainly, it WAS sad that Morrie passed away because he was respected by lots of his students and graduates. However, every Tuesday when Morrie told Mitch the meaning of life must be very precious memories for Mitch, that's for sure!

For when you need to change pace a little., 31 Jul 2008
Although this book doesn't tell us anything we don't already know, it never does any harm to be reminded from time to time. It's a heartwarming and truthful account of a friendship between an older man in the last months of his life and a younger man who has always been inspired by him.

We're reminded of the importance of caring for one another in a world where we simply don't take time often enough (sometimes never!) to tell people how much we love and appreciate them.

It doesn't shy away from the 'ugly' side of illness and death which people wonder and worry about but hardly ever discuss. It's only human to be scared and to have self pity but we learn how Morrie turned his negative emotions into positive ones, and fear into acceptance and inner peace.

I found 'Tuesdays With Morrie' a refreshingly honest account of illness. Instead of being depressing it was insightful and moving.



One of my favorite "Alboms", 20 Jun 2008
Face it: this book is never going to be a classic, but it does have some immediate appeal to the world at large mainly because people are looking for hope, especially today. It's a quick read and I enjoyed it. If you've seen the movie, you've pretty much seen the book. I do have to say that it inspired me to get out and do more in the community I live in--sometimes this worked out, sometimes it did not. The point was, I learned for "doing" and the book helped me get into that frame of mind. I've read the other Albom books and this is by far his best. Second on my list would be "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

Another great book from Albom!, 17 Jun 2008
I picked this book up after reading Five People You Meet in Heaven and I must say I really enjoyed both immensely! Mitch Albom has an amazing talent in projecting his characters and messges through his personable writing skills. This book will give you little gems on how to love and live life and will make you appreciate things that you may take for granted. A really, really great book that I highky recommend.

a call to reckless generosity and selfless love, 03 Oct 2008
Shane Claiborne has found a different Jesus in the gospels than the mainstream church. He's found a Jesus who is homeless, a friend of the poor, who rails against authority and undermines the empire, who tells a rich man to sell everything he owns and give the money away. This is Claiborne's model, and he has done his best to find it, live it and prove such a life is possible.

The book follows his journey, from the disillusionment with the church of his youth, and the ambitious and wealthy `megachurches' where he trained. He talks about how he came to bond with the poor in Philadelphia, and then travelled to Calcutta to see if Mother Theresa offered a better demonstration of Christ than the ones around him. He visits Iraq in the middle of the war, testing Jesus' call to be a peacemaker. He helps stage a `re-distribution' on Wall Street and heckles George W Bush at the Republican conference. He is, in his own words, an `ordinary radical' - radically different, but rooted in real people and real situations.

Claiborne rejects the idea that Christianity has nothing more to offer than some distant and otherworldly heaven. It's a great reminder that the church is a missionary agency: we're meant to go to