The Total Money Makeover

Author: Dave Ramsey
Genre: nonfiction, self-help
Publication info: Thomas Nelson, 2007 (originally published in 2003)
Pages: 223

You know what they say: the only thing better than a book on finances is a free book on finances. My sister and her husband sent copies of this book as gifts to everyone in my family. It had changed their life, and they were excited to see it change ours too. I think it has changed mine. Anybody surprised?

I think everyone should read this book and live by it. Now, Dave Ramsey isn't exactly the best writer. He uses the same expressions over and over again (I suppose with the aim of pounding them into the reader's head. He loves to use exclamation points! And once in a while he has some interesting mixed metaphors, which I can't help noticing after the last book I read.

Nevertheless, the principles Dave (everyone calls him Dave) gives in this book are wonderful. They are profound. They are simple. They are brilliant. They will change your life, if you let them. I haven't yet been able to put these principles into action, but I'm glad my sister gave me this book while I'm still young so I have the chance to make the most of it.

So what is this book about? It comes down to some basic things: get out of debt, become financially secure, invest for retirement, and build wealth. For none of these things does Dave give some magical formula or special trick. It's all common sense, which, in Dave's words, isn't so common anymore. It's all about dispelling myths about debt and wealth. It's all about investing for the long term. It all makes perfect sense.

I'm excited to get going on the things Dave talks about. It's never been a serious goal of mine to be rich, but I want to provide for my future family and be able to have a good retirement. However, it looks like anyone that really applies Dave's principles will eventually come off with a fair amount of money (emphasis on eventually). Toward the end of the book, Dave lists three things you can do with your money when you're wealthy. You have fun. Most people wouldn't have a problem with that. You invest. It's a little more work than the first thing, but by that time it should be a habit. And you give. That's the one that excites me the most. To be able to help other people substantially and not have to worry about my own well-being---I can't think of many things better.

Read this book. Yes, even you. No matter what your financial status is, you can benefit from this book. My sister told me I could read it all in one afternoon. It took me a little bit longer than that, but not by much. And all that time was worth it.

Metaphors We Live By

Author: George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
Genre: nonfiction
Publication info: University of Chicago Press, 2003 (originally published in 1980)
Pages: 276

I'm a nerd. I admit it. Reading this book began as an assignment for an English semantics class I'm taking. My professor asked us just to skim it; she had it on course reserve for us at the library. But I live a fair distance from campus and knew I wouldn't have much time to spend at the library, plus I was interested in the book, so, well, I bought it. And then, after reading the first few chapters in preparation for the class discussion, I went ahead and read the whole thing. And I liked it. There you go. I'm a nerd.

But seriously, this book provides some fascinating insights into our language and ways of thinking. Lakoff is a professor of linguistics and Johnson a professor of philosophy, and when they published this book, apparently they shook up their fields quite a bit. They caused people to take metaphor more seriously---not just as a feature of lyrical language but also as concepts by which we view the world.

The first several chapters are the most interesting. They talk about metaphors that are pervasive in our language and that I had no idea were actually metaphors. For example, many of us might use expressions like the following, under the general metaphor argument is war (and I quote):

• Your claims are indefensible.
• He attacked every weak point in my argument.
• Her criticisms were right on target.
• I demolished his argument.
• I've never won an argument with him.
• You disagree? Okay, shoot!
• If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out.
• He shot down all of my arguments.

Those are just a few of the examples they list, and if you're like me, you probably never thought of those as metaphorical before. But they are, because verbal argument is not the same as physical combat. However, the big point Lakoff and Johnson are making is that not only do we describe argument metaphorically as war, but we think about it and structure it like war. If that doesn't make sense, read the book; they explain it much better.

Later on in the book the authors depart from specific metaphors and go on to discuss the role of metaphors in our understanding of truth. It gets philosophical and rather abstract, and thus it's a little harder to get through. Philosophy isn't really my thing because it tends to get so abstract, but that doesn't mean I think it's never worthwhile. However, this book is pretty dense reading, and by the end I was eager to move on to other things. If I had been more willing to to give it more time, I'm sure I would have gained a lot more from reading it.

If you're interested in linguistics, philosophy, or cognitive psychology (I think that's what it's called), give this book a shot. If anything, it makes you look at things a little differently---things that are part of your everyday life.

If you don't believe me, go back and see how many metaphors I've used in this review. I used at least one in the last sentence.

Tennis Shoes among the Nephites

Author: Chris Heimerdinger
Genre: fiction, young adult, historical fiction
Publication info: Covenant Communications, 1989
Pages: 229

You know, now that I think about it, tennis shoes don't have very much to do with the story. That's a shame.

This was another book that was recommended to me to help me get back into the reading lifestyle I had fallen out of. I admit I was hesitant about this one; I feared it would be too cheesy and unfulfilling. But, heck, I've written about The Two Princesses of Bamarre on this blog, so what did I have to lose?

Turns out that Tennis Shoes is pretty cheesy, but it's also pretty fun when you don't expect too much out of it. The premise is that Jim Hawkins (who bears no apparent connection to the protagonist of Treasure Island), who is initially a jerk, finds an unlikely friend in the "nerd" Garth Plimpton (who is not a country music fan). One day, while they, along with Jim's younger sister, Jennifer, are exploring in a strange cave, they are suddenly taken to a place and a time very different from their own---that of the Nephites.

The Nephites were an ancient American civilization whose history is chronicled in the Book of Mormon. The three children (who, I suppose, are sporting tennis shoes), find themselves in the time of the so-called war chapters in the book of Alma. Before they know it, they are directly involved in a great war between the Nephites and the Lamanites. In the process, they mingle with famous figures who used to be just names on a page.

The fun thing about this book is that it provides a close-up look at some of the great Book of Mormon stories, along with plausible interpretations of certain characters. I admit that Heimerdinger's portrayal of Teancum is quite different from what I imagine, but it is still very interesting. I suppose this book is a good way to get kids more interested in the Book of Mormon. At the beginning, Jim knows virtually nothing about that book of scripture, but by the end he is vitally interested, and hopefully the reader is as well.

Still, the writing has many weaknesses. For one thing, Jim seems too witty for the type of guy he is. He always has a clever thing to say about a situation. Also, the plot is rather predictable, and not just because I am familiar with the Book of Mormon. You can see conflicts from a mile away. And then they are resolved too neatly. It seems that there is always a helpful person in the right place at the right time to keep problems from becoming too serious. I don't think I ever believed that any real harm could come to the main characters. A lot of tension is lost this way.

This is apparently the first book in a series. Each installment depicts a different part of the Book of Mormon. This is all well and good, but I don't think I'll be reading the next book any time soon. One book is a fun ride, and I recommend it to anyone who is curious. As I said before, it might be a good way of getting kids excited about the Book of Mormon. But it is not a replacement. If you want the real thing, read the Book of Mormon. That's where the good stuff is. That's the book that will really change your life. You don't have to go back in time for that.

Home to Harmony

Author: Philip Gulley
Genre: fiction
Publication info: HarperCollins, 2002
Pages: 220

I'm back! Finally. Not that I expect anybody to have missed me or to have missed reading this blog, but I have certainly missed writing it. Actually, I've missed reading for a while. Thanks to some factors not at all related to this blog, I haven't been able to do any recreational reading for quite a long time until just recently. It got so bad that one day I went to the library and had no idea (at all) what to read. I owe a lot to some loved ones who gave me recommendations and got me back on track.

The first of these is Home to Harmony, recommended by my mother and my girlfriend. The latter was especially vocal about how much she liked it, and now I know why. The fact is that you can't not like this book. Unless something is wrong with you, you simply must enjoy this book. It's just a delight. I might as well throw out another cliche while I'm at it: It's guaranteed to raise a smile.

Philip Gulley is an actual Quaker minister, and the narrator of his book, Sam Gardner, is also one. The first chapter of the book tells of how he returns to Harmony, the small town of his youth, and becomes the minister there. All the other chapters are basically vignettes about different inhabitants of the town, sometimes mildly poking fun at them (and not exempting himself from that treatment), sometimes using them to teach a powerful lesson (he is a minister, after all). I came to love each of the quirky characters and smiled at the strange situations they found themselves in. I really felt at home in this lovely little town.

Gulley is a talented writer, especially with his tone that feels light and easy but I'm sure took an awful lot of work to perfect. Of course, the book isn't perfect. Sometimes I wondered how the minister could know so much about the personal lives of these people. Granted, ministers probably know more than anything about their congregation, but sometimes it was a real stretch. Also, there were times when his end-of-chapter lessons felt a little excessive. I already got a profound message through the story, so I didn't need the narrator to explain to me what I should learn from it. That said, some of the lessons were very touching, especially the one in the final chapter.

I recommend this book to anyone. It's a feel-good tale, but not in an unrealistic way. It is a great escape from the pressures of life, but it is also a good teacher for how to deal with those pressures. Just as a minister's words should be.

No Contest: The Case Against Competition

Why We Lose in Our Race to Win
Author: Alfie Kohn
Genre: nonfiction
Publication info: Houghton Mifflin, 1986
Pages: 257 (including notes, bibliography, and index)

I have a problem with some nonfiction books. They tend to change the way I look at everything. Sometimes I call it corruption, but really most of the time I feel like they give me a more educated outlook and a broader perspective.

No Contest is an example of this. (That's partly the reason why I've taken so long to write this review, even though I finished the book a couple weeks ago. I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to say about it.) A friend at work recommended it to me, I read it, and it permanently altered the way I view many aspects of life. So I guess the book did its job.

The premise of the book is neatly summed up in the tagline on the cover: "Why we lose in our race to win." In short, competition, which is a pervasive and supposedly vital part of our society, is actually inherently destructive and unnecessary. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? Most of us, especially in America, take competition for granted or at least assume that it is a fundamental part of civilization. We need it in our economy, in our recreation, in our education. But do we?

In the first part of the book, Alfie Kohn systematically debunks four major myths surrounding competition: that it is an inevitable part of human nature, that it leads us to be more productive, that it makes things more enjoyable, and that it builds character. He does a pretty good job of it, citing results of actual experiments. Of course, things like this dealing with human behavior is difficult to prove, but his arguments are pretty dang convincing. I especially liked the chapter on sports and games. Once he described a few examples of cooperative games, I became convinced that cooperation is the way to go---it's much more fun!

The part I didn't like so much was his discussion on how to create a more cooperative society. I guess I can't expect one man to have all the answers, but I didn't like how he suddenly turns ironic in a section called "How to Prevent Social Change." As he says, "It is much easier to describe how change can be blocked than how it can be furthered" (189). But why not just be straightforward and tell us what you think we should do? If I were to give the steps he lists but without the ironic tone, they might run something like this:

1. Expand your vision.
2. Be firm.
3. Think about others.
4. Be optimistic.
5. Don't rationalize.

To get details on these steps (or their opposites, rather), you'll just have to read the book, but I hope you get the idea. We can create a cooperative society, but the changes have to come from the inside out. That's one thing I'd like to make clear. I'm sure many people would be afraid of the idea of a cooperative society because, on the surface, it sounds an awful lot like socialism. Capitalism, the competition-based market, is considered to be one of America's greatest strengths, and to turn that over to utter equality would be economic heresy. But I'm not talking about government control here. To have the government step in and force everyone to work together on the same level simply does not work, as we have seen many times. The kind of change we need works on an internal, individual basis. Each person should work to remove competitive tendencies from his or her mind and heart, to stop trying to one-up the other person, to lose the notion that our success depends on someone else's failure. Once people start getting into this mindset, then we'll be getting somewhere. We should cooperate with others not because the government or someone else forces us to but because we desire it.

I have many thoughts on this issue, and I hope the few I have described here make sense. Mostly I just think everyone should read this book. I don't take it as absolute truth---there are things I don't necessarily agree with---but the basic principles are good. As my friend told me, competition is not an eternal principle. Competing with others will not bring us the kind of success that really matters. Cooperation, on the other hand, will.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Author: Roald Dahl
Genre: fiction, young adult, fantasy
Publication info: Bantam, 1977 (originally published in 1964)
Pages: 160

Here's another one to add to my "why didn't I read this earlier?" category. It was always there on our bookshelf at home. My mom read it, my sisters read it, but for some reason I never picked it up until now. I can see now that I was missing out.

What prompted me to read this treasure of a book was finally seeing the recent film of the same title, the one starring Johnny Depp. I grew up on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the older musical with Gene Wilder (which I love), so I found the differences between the two movies striking. They told me the newer movie is closer to the book. I wanted to find out for myself.

My verdict: The newer movie probably is truer to the original story, but I read some things that only the older movie contained. Little bits of dialogue, features of the factory---stuff like that. Really, though, I should take the novel as a separate thing. It was a fun little adventure, very creative and very enjoyable to read, even for someone my age. I think it could go down as one of those timeless classics.

I find it interesting to compare the different Willy Wonkas from the book and films. The one from the book seems to be the nicest of the three. He's crazy, but he's also the most approachable. He reassures the group whenever a child gets "lost," something I don't remember the character doing in either movie. Gene Wilder's Wonka is eccentric and rather blunt, and Johnny Depp's portrayal seems almost sinister at times, so the character from the book feels friendly by comparison. The children and their families (except Charlie and Grandpa Joe) are the mean ones in the book. And they get what's coming to them.

One thing I particularly liked about the book was the songs the Oompa-Loompas sing every time a child messes up. There are great lessons to be learned from those. My favorite was the one about television. Not being a fan of TV myself, I thought this was a song that people today could do well to learn:

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, never, NEVER let
Them near your television set---
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.

Amen, I say!

Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: fiction, young adult, fantasy
Publication info: HarperCollins, 2002
Pages: 162

Creeeeeeeeepy. That's the best way I know how to describe it. This is my first exposure to the work of Neil Gaiman (author of Stardust), and I must say, the man has a very twisted imagination. It's marketed as a young adult novel, and I suppose it would be a good book to give your children if you want them to come running to you late at night complaining of nightmares. Seriously, I'm glad I read this book in the middle of the day, and I'm a college student.

Coraline is the name of the story's protagonist, a young teenage girl who gets annoyed whenever someone mistakes her name for Caroline. She and her family have just moved into a home comprised of several flats (Gaiman is British, after all). It's summer vacation, and Coraline doesn't know what to do with herself, so she takes up exploring her new home and the grounds surrounding it.

Unfortunately, she finds nothing exciting until she comes across a locked door inside the house. Her mother assures her there is nothing to see behind the door---even shows her the wall that was put up there---but Coraline's tremendous curiosity leads her to look again when her parents are away. This time there is no wall, and beyond the door Coraline discovers a strange place indeed: a replica of the home she left behind, complete with "other parents"! At first it seems wonderful. Her other parents pay more attention to her, and she seems to have everything she wants. But Coralline quickly senses something sinister going on. And once she realizes that, her life is far from easy.

I liked this book because, for one thing, it engaged me. Young adult novels have a way of doing that. Once I got started, it was hard to put down. I've discovered that I usually enjoy unconventional fantasy. I'm not so much into the "sword and sorcery" stuff, but I like it when the author creates a truly unique world, such as in this book and also Everlost. My guess is this novel was based on a bad dream. The whole thing certainly feels like one.

My only complaint about the book is that there were a few places where Gaiman threw in things that seemed to serve no purpose other than to add to the creepiness of the story (I don't want to give too much away, but one example involved an abnormally large spider). They certainly did the trick---I shuddered several times---but I wonder how necessary they were. Maybe we can justify it by saying that the villain was deliberately trying to scare Coraline (again, I don't want to give too much away).

In all, though, I thought it was a heck of an enjoyable book. I'd recommend it to anybody. It's not just a kids' book. In fact, maybe I wouldn't recommend it to kids. If you'd like to give it a try, be warned: you may want to read it in broad daylight. And be sure to stay away from black buttons.