self-help critic

A guy names Steve Salerno wrote a book called SHAM: the Self-Help and Actualization Movement. I read the first chapter of it online yesterday. Steve is an outspoken critic of the self-help movement in America. He views this movement as having handicapped American society and talks about some of its ramifications. Interesting stuff. Steve also has a blog called SHAMblog.

Here are a some excerpts from the first chapter of his book:

Quote from comedian George Carlin: If you’re reading it in a book, folks, it ain’t self-help. It’s help.

Recovery, Victimization theory...the message became Your needs are paramount here. It’s all about you. Recovering a healthy sense of self entailed forsaking your excessive or unhealthy concern for others—for in the twelve-step universe, such excessive concern came to constitute the pitiable emotional quagmire of codependency....

In his brilliant book Fat Land, Greg Critser points out that more than a generation’s worth of faddish weight-loss programs have served only to produce the fattest generation of Americans on record (Not insignificantly, weight-loss programs have become, in essence, self-help programs...

Divorce in 1960 claimed about a quarter of all marriages. Today it claims about half. Although thankfully that statistic is trending back down, American marriages have the highest known failure rate in the world...But how many Americans walk out the door because they no longer feel compelled to suffer so-so marriages in silence? Worse, how many Americans has SHAM conditioned to think their marriages are so-so, when in reality they’re pretty normal?

Nowadays, young marrieds of both genders may be a tad too focused on their own fulfillment, with catastrophic effects for domestic tranquility. I first interviewed David Blankenhorn for a magazine assignment in 1988, and he told me, “I think people today are less forgiving in relationships, and more inclined to walk at the drop of a hat.” He made an interesting point about the famous JFK quote “Ask not what your country can do for you . . .” and its relevance to a wholesale change in society’s perspective on the institution of marriage...

pizza party

Our friends Mark and Abby had us over for a 'make your own pizza' lunch this past weekend. It was big fun and also a really great idea, especially for kids. Here's Adelle and me rolling out some dough. I have no idea what I was laughing at.

yes, no, and Don Miller

Yes: I voted for Obama.

No: I don't think he's the antichrist.

Don Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, has a fantastic post on his blog which deals with politics, Democrats v. Republicans, and Christians.

reading and listening to...

Before I switched from Xanga to Blogspot about a year ago, I used the 'Currently reading' and 'Currently listening to' tools all the time. Does Blogspot have something like that? If so I'm ignorant of it. In lieu of that here are just a couple plain old lists. Who needs fancy blogging tools anyways?

Books I'm currently reading
Duma Key by Stephen King - King continues to show that he's a master storyteller. His recent books have all been good, especially Lisey's Story. I've also been trying to read some of his older books that I've never read like The Dead Zone and The Shining. Along with Salem's Lot, The Shining is one of the 2 King books that I couldn't read parts of at night because they were so creepy/ scary.

How to Read the Bible for All its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart - the subject is evidenced by the title, but the book goes deeper into Bible reading and talk about things that help the reader understand the Bible as it was understood by its original authors and audience.

Power Healing by John Wimber - for anyone who's interested in healing in any form. The first few chapters are autobiographical. The rest (that I've read so far) is about specific types of healing and how to address them. Has lots of stories, many of which are firsthand events from Wimber's life and ministry.

Airframe by Michael Crichton - This book is not all that great so I'm reading it really slowly and might not finish it. It certainly doesn't compare to Jurassic Park, Sphere, or my favorite Crichton book, Timeline. I only learned today (or may be it was yesterday) that he died. He was a great American author.

Books I'm recently read
Neuromancer by William Gibson - Gibson originated the idea of the matrix which the Wachowski brothers used in making The Matrix films. He also coined the term cyberspace. A must read for sci-fi fans.

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind - this book was amazing. I may have blogged about it but if I did, I forget. If you like fantasy or sci-fi, I highly recommend this first book in the Sword of Truth series. There's actually a TV series called The Legend of the Seeker that will begin airing soon which is based on these books. It looks like a quality show.

Music
The newest songs by Norma Jean and mewithoutYou. 2 great bands who continue to put out great music. Not for everyone, but great just the same.

election day perspective

"It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes."
Psalm 118:8,9

Halloween 2008

I'm not a big fan of Halloween. Mainly because I can't get candy the way little kids can. Anyways, here are pics of our girls. Adelle and her best friend Carmen were both Cinderella and Evie was baby Tigger. They had lots of fun.

another reason to say 'No!' to Starbucks

I don't like Starbucks. One of my goals in life is not to go there which is really not a hard goal to accomplish. Apart from reasons like a profusion of waste (paper cups, plastic lids, plastic stirrers, napkins, etc), poor quality of their coffee, and a lack of cleanliness in most S'bucks I've been to, Jo recently told me another reason to not support S'bucks. Every S'bucks leaves their water running. In order to keep their water tasting fresh, they leave it running all day long. All day. Not 10 minutes or half an hour, but all day long. Jo confirmed this with her friend Mary who worked at S'bucks for a long time. Its common operating procedure. So she's decided to stop giving her money to them. She's not asking all her friends to boycott. She's not going to stand outside the nearest one with signs. But she is considering the big picture regarding how she spends her money and what she's supporting.

So Jo's not asking people to boycott S'bucks and neither am I. Its easy to blog "Boycott!!" or shoot off a mass email saying, "Boycott Starbucks!!" But instead I'd rather see us be people who think about what we do with our money. The latest Relevant magazine has several articles about this in its latest edition. It doesn't look like they've got the articles on their web site yet, but probably will have them there soon.