Do Hard Things Book Review.

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Title: Do Hard Things.

Author: Alex and Brett Harris.

Gene: Christian, Nonfiction.

Plot: In an effort to combat our culture’s low expectations for teenagers, twin authors Alex and Brett Harris set out to make a difference in the world we live in. Beginning with a simple blog, they soon had to upgrade to a full blown website as their revolutionary ideas took root and began to sprout and spread like wildfire across the globe.

This book was written by the authors when they were nineteen years old, a “book for teens by teens,” and it’s drawn a lot of attention to their cause, not surprisingly. But what is it about anyway? Dividing the book into three parts, the authors explain first how the idea of the Rebelution was born during the summer of 2005 when they were placed on an intense reading program by their father and began to notice the changes in the world around them that they hadn’t noticed before and felt called to do something about those changes. They started their blog and titled it The Rebelution because they were aiming for a new word for a new and different idea; combining ‘rebellion’ and ‘revolution’ they came up with the above and define it as “a teenage rebellion against low expectations,” a rebellion against rebelling so to speak. Then the challenges started rolling in: an internship at the Alabama Supreme Court, grass-roots directors for four simultaneous statewide campaigns for the same state court, starting up their website and now hosting national and international conferences while juggling homework at Patrick Henry College.

The second division of their book explains more about what the Rebelution is. After exposing the Myth of Adolescence and its result, they go on to cleverly illustrate how teens are trapped and fooled by the lies our culture daily tries to feed us and which many teens accept as truth. The first thing in their “list of five hard things that can start a rebelution” in the reader’s life is to step out of one’s comfort zone. First steps are always scary but necessary so it makes sense that this would be Step One. Step Two is raising the bar of one’s expectations and doing more than what is required of one to actually do. Step Three is to collaborate; some challenges are just too big to be tackled alone and besides, working together can often be more fun than working alone. Step Four covers the “small hard things” in life like chores; they don’t always seem to pay off immediately but give it a few years of routine and hard work and you’ll notice the benefit of being able to cook your own meals or wash your own laundry or get your homework assignments done ahead of schedule and such. Step Five is about taking a stand and doing the hard things that go against the crowd; some things that are right are often ignored or looked down on by the rest of the world but its not the world you’re trying to follow, its God.

Part three introduces us to several rebelutionaries who’ve taken the challenge in this book and put it to use, making a difference in their lives and in the lives around them for the glory of God. The last chapter concludes with an invitation to join the Rebelution, to band together with likeminded Christian teens and to work together through the big {and the small} hard things that God has put on each person’s heart. The real challenge is to worship God and follow Him in spite of the pressures put on us by the world that wants to pretend He doesn’t exist and which persecutes those who dare to be different and stand up for what they believe in.

Likes/Dislikes: This is a very well written book, it flows smoothly together yet each paragraph and chapter stand alone and its message is strong, bold and truthful. Defiantly a book to keep handy and have on the shelf.

Rating: PG-13 and up. Well, it is written for teenagers but families can and probably should read it together. Highly recommended.

Date Report Written: April 23, 2010.

1 Corinthians 13.

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“Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abieth faith, hope, charity, theses three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

~ 1 Corinthians 13. {KJV}.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

~ 1 Corinthians 13. {NKJV}.

Isn't it interesting how these two versions are so similar but different also?

Travel to Distant Lands Poem.

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Travel my son, travel

Over rock, sand and gravel

Across mountain and valley

Down main street and up alley.

Travel my son, travel

To the four corners of the Earth

View all of it’s worth

All of life’s mysteries unravel.

Travel my son

To the moon and sun

To distant planets near

And distant worlds far.

Travel my son

To lands unknown

Till the day is done

Over lands not owned.

Then come home, my son

And tell us all you have won

From distant lands

Both near and far.

The Lost World Book Review.

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Title: The Lost World.

Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Gene: Classic, Adventure, Fantasy.

Plot: Twenty-three year old Edward Malone is in love. Deeply, hopelessly in love. Only problem is that the girl of his dreams doesn’t love him, she loves an adventurous, stern man whom she has never met before and urges Malone to become that man for her. “There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done,” she says and with this ringing and dancing around inside his head Malone bounces down to his office at the Daily Gazette to ask his boss for a risky story to cover. He leaves the office with the assignment to interview Professor George Challenger, a black bearded man of great strength who just returned from a mysterious trip to South America and has lately gotten into the habit of assaulting ‘people who ask questions’ and throwing reporters down the stairs. Not a very pleasant person to interview on a normal bases but Malone is too young and dumb to know any better and hunts up his bacteriologist friend Tarp Henry who provides him with some more up to date information in the scientific world on Challenger and a letter requesting an interview is sent off almost at once.

Surprisingly to Malone’s friend, the letter is answered and the interview granted, unfortunately for Malone, however, Challenger sees right through his weak lie and throws him out the door, managing to give him a black eye at the same time. Challenger though, seems to take a liking to the foolish lad and drags him back inside to talk his ear off about his amazing adventure he had and tells Malone to show up at the Zoological Institutes’ Hall for a meeting being held there the next day. Malone agrees to go, reports to his boss and gets Henry to join him at the meeting all in one day. The meeting {mainly due to Challenger of course} is very loud and energetic, the goodly number of students in the audience providing most of the uproarious noise; Malone takes plenty of notes the whole while and when, at the climax of his speech, Challenger requests volunteers to accompany his skeptical colleague Professor Summerlee on a trip to South America, Malone pops up out of his seat and volunteers to go. Joining the group is Lord John Roxton, the cool-headed plucky sportsman who’s been to South America and up the Amazon before and who seems to enjoy a good adventure whenever he can get it. Roxton and Malone become good friends and spend a good amount of time during the entire trip in keeping the two Professors from canceling the expedition prematurely due to their frequent and rather amusing arguments.

When they reach their destination the four adventurers are unexpectedly stranded on top of an unexplored, completely unknown plateau when their bridge is knocked down. Undaunted the foursome deal with the land’s strange inhabitants, beginning with giant blood sucking ticks followed by nasty pterodactyls, huge carnivorous dinosaurs and weird, savage ape-men who capture two of their party. These are forever locked in frequent battles with the Indians who live in caves all the way on the other side of the above-ground-island and who, with the help of the adventurers’ deadly guns, drive a good many of the ape-men over the cliff edge to their destruction and kill off a deal more with spears before giving refuge to the foursome in one of their caves. The companions’ minds turn to the question of how to return to civilization at this point and Challenger’s scheme of hot air balloons is rejected over the more favorable course of a map given to them by a friendly young chief which shows the direction to a tunnel in one of their caves that leads straight through to the other side.

Safely back in England the findings of their expedition are published and a second trip is planned by Roxton and Malone, who’s Lady Love married another in his absence. A fine, well written adventure story filled with all the excitement one could wish for when one reads the title of The Lost World, this book is worth having on your shelf and you won’t be able to easily put it down till you’ve read it straight through.

Likes/Dislikes: The ape-men might be considered the “missing link” of the evolutionary mindset but as they are portrayed as the villains this shouldn’t be too big of a deal. Malone’s girl seems to be rather idiotic to me, saying that she’ll the adventurous man’s deeds, not the man himself and then ending up married to a clerk. All in all a very good book.

Rating: PG-13 and up mainly because of the reading level.

Date Report Written: April 16, 2010.

Persuasion Book Review.

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Title: Persuasion.

Author: Jane Austen.

Gene: Classic, Romance.

Plot: In this classic novel we meet Anne Elliot, the second of three daughters born to the vain Sir Walter Elliot who is a widower and never remarries by the way; his eldest daughter Elizabeth is as vain and self-centered as he is and his youngest daughter Mary is married to Charles Musgrove and is selfish and often jealous when others are getting more attention than she is, but Anne is humble, sweet and good though plain in looks. This interesting family associates with a colorful cast of characters such as Lady Russell, the neighbor of the family and good friend of Anne, cousin Mr. Elliot who was once picked out as an ideal husband for Elizabeth but who sadly disappointed everyone by marrying someone else {he’s a widower now and therefore is “up for grabs,” so to speak} and Mrs. Smith, a school-fellow and friend of Anne’s.

When paying a visit to Mary, Anne meets Captain Wentworth after having not seen him for eight years. He’s made his fortune in the navy and is a fine young man but Anne is unsure of what to make of him for eight years earlier, when she was nineteen, she’d fallen in love with him. But having been persuaded that he was an unsuitable match for her, she was forced to break off the relationship; now that he’s back old emotions are remembered as he first behaves rather coldly to her and then gradually begins to soften as he and she both realize that he stills loves her, Anne herself has always loved him apparently. Several minor mishaps to friends of theirs’ keeps the two apart for sometime and during that time Anne goes to Bath with her family and while renewing her friendship with Mrs. Smith, she gets to know her cousin Mr. Elliot better. That young man provides a rival for Wentworth when he arrives in Bath and he unsuccessfully courts Anne who isn’t paying the slightest attention to him because she is still trying to figure out the more interesting puzzle named Wentworth. A series of unexpected run-ins and several conversations plus a hastily written letter later and Anne, good old humble, dutiful, loving Anne, is happily married to her beloved Captain Wentworth who proves to be the best man around and Mrs. Smith, instead of losing one friend, gains two at the close of the book. Cousin Elliot hastily quits the field upon hearing of the engagement and with him goes the widow Mrs. Clay who would otherwise have married Sir Walter. All in all, Austen’s last novel is, perhaps, her best, for she created her sweetest heroine, one of the finest heroes and a most interesting background and cast of characters than in any of her other novels, in my opinion at least.

Likes/Dislikes: This book has nothing inappropriate in it as far as I could tell and it’s different from the other five for while Northanger Abbey has a lighthearted carefree tone to it and Sense and Sensibility a mature older-sister like tone, Persuasion has a calm, peaceful, unrushed tone to it, and the theme of a redeemed romance and second chance at happiness isn’t in any of the other books either; setting it apart from them as a rare gemstone and a treasure of words.

Rating: PG.

Date Report Written: March 26, 2010.

Forewarning. . .

Okay, once again I ran out of time to write a review so I'm just gonna forewarn you that spring fever has set in which means that we'll all most likely be out in the garden working so I probably won't be able to get a new review in for awhile anyway but I'm sure you'll forgive me. Perhaps I'll rattle off about our garden or something else instead! :) God bless!!