Singing the praises of science fiction
My new post at ThinkChristian.
Earlier this summer, NPR asked listeners to select the top 100science fiction and fantasy novels of all time. By some chance, the final list began and ended with the two most acclaimed Christian novelists of the twentieth century. J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy came in at No. 1, while C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy rounded out the list at No. 100.
Read the whole thing and join the conversation.
Or, at least, my favorite current fantasy series. A few weeks ago, I picked up The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V. S. Redick from my local library. I was looking for something decently distracting to read after being terribly disappointed by the third Thomas Covenant series, and Terry Pratchett had given Redick a very nice blurb, so I figured, “What the heck.” I read through the first one, checked out the second in the series as soon as it was available, and now anxiously await the 2011 release of the third.
What’s so good about the books? Well, the original and interesting concept certainly helps — more on that in a second — but the writing is what I really appreciate. A major part of my frustration with the new Thomas Covenant series was the overwrought writing style and the lack of distinction between a large cast of characters. Redick’s epic contains at least as many characters, maybe more, but they’re so well-imagined and visualized, there’s never a problem keeping them straight. I also never feel like I’m reading about American suburbanites in an exotic land — they truly seem like people from completely alien cultures.
As for the concept, Redick certainly echoes great fantasy and sci-fi novels, yet there’s no one fantasy world that seems to be the model. Further, most of the series (thus far) is set on board a massive ocean-going merchant ship, the Chathrand, a centuries-old vessel, the last of its kind remaining from a long-passed Golden Age. The first two novels take place in “the North,” made up a large continent, divided between two rival empires, and numerous islands and archipelagos. Humans share the world with several other intelligent species, such as the faerie-like ixchel, the glow-in-the-dark flikkermen, and a growing number of “woken” animals that have gained sentience. Once, centuries before, commerce and traffic flowed between the North and the South, but a mysterious “Worldstorm” destroyed that existence and cut the world in half.
Redick’s world is also a delight. Well-conceived, diverse, richly textured, the world feels like a unified whole with a full history. Redick doesn’t pursue languages like Tolkien — who could? — but language and culture play a central role in the story. The main character, a young sailor named Pazel Pathkendle, has been magically gifted with the ability to learn any language upon encountering it once. Divisions between nations, tribes, cultures, tongues, etc., form a central theme throughout.
I haven’t even touched on the plot yet. I won’t say more about the book, except that I’m waiting for the third book eagerly.
Chip and Dan Heath, the brothers behind the great book Made to Stick, have a new book coming out next month — Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. The topic excited me, because my work with the Emerging Scholars Network tries to change an entrenched academic system I was lucky enough to score an advance copy. Like I expected, this book has strong advice that will help ESN change the university; I did not expect how much it would help me change my own bad habits.
The book’s basic concepts build from the idea that our brain has two distinct systems: an impulsive-but-powerful emotional brain and a clever-but-weak rational brain. The Heaths call these the Elephant and the Rider, borrowing an image from University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt. According to the Heaths, meaningful and lasting change happens by:
I found the idea of bright spots to be especially helpful. Instead of focusing your attention and analysis on problems, focus on the “bright spots” where things seem to be going right. The Heaths give an example of a young boy who is constantly in trouble at school, except for one class. His counselor figures out why that one teacher in the whole school can get the student to behave, then maps out the critical steps for other teachers to follow. I’m looking forward to identifying bright spots within ESN.
I’ve already decided to apply the ideas of Switch to my two most vexing work problems: making my fundraising calls and writing on a consistent basis.
For fundraising, I’ve identified a couple of ways to shape the path so that it’s easier for me to make my calls. I will prepare my list of people to call the day before and print it out ahead of time, so that my emotional energy can be spent on my calls, rather than on figuring out who to call. Then, because it’s difficult for me to get motivated to start my calls, I’m going to set an action trigger: in this case, a kitchen timer that I’ll set when I enter my office in the morning. When the timer goes off, I’m going to drop whatever I’m doing, pick up my pre-prepared list, and start my calling.
If that sounds simple, that’s the Heaths’ point. Change happens through (apparently) simple adjustments. I’ve not yet figured out a Switch-style solution to my writing problem. Perhaps a move to the library or a coffee shop to do my writing, where it’s harder for me to log on to the internet and where I feel more “wasteful” if I’m using my “special writing time” to check Facebook? That might be a good solution: I experienced a bright spot with writing when I was in graduate school by working on poetry in the school’s atrium, and the change of environment might trick my brain out of its “easily distracted” mode.
As you might imagine from guys who specialize in sticky ideas, the book is filled with great stories and easy-to-remember concepts. I found it to be an enjoyable read, not too challenging intellectually, but extremely challenging personally.
What do you want to change? What are the bright spots that are already working? How can you create more bright spots in your life?
For more information about Switch, check out the Heath Brother’s website. You can also read an excerpt online from Fast Company.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog, and some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
A while back, I asked for your recommendations for the best books for undergrads, and you came through with a pretty impressive list. Let’s advance a few years.
What books do you recommend to graduate students, on God, on academia, or just about life in general?
There will probably be some overlap, but here are some common graduate school situations that might affect the list:
What are your suggestions?
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I’ve started my monthly tally of books I’ve read in 2010. Two down so far, and another on the way!
I’ve just posted a list of all the books I read in 2009, and I hope to make this a monthly habit in 2010. A few highlights:
Christian Smith and Patricia Snell – Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults The second in a planned three-book series, Smith follows the teens he surveyed in Soul Searching into their early adult years (ages 18 to 23). Smith looks at how their religious lives change, as well as the factors (parents, friends, church) that affect their religious attitudes and beliefs. A must-read for anyone working this age group.
Augustine – City of God I’ve been reading Augustine’s 1,000 page masterpiece a few pages at a time for something like a year now, and it continues to reward. Written in response to the fall of Rome, Augustine takes on accusations that Christianity weakened the Roman Empire, then goes on to describe the “two cities” that coexist in history: the city of man and the City of God. I’m up to Book 13 (out of 22).
N. T. Wright — Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church What does the resurrection of Jesus tell us about our ultimate destiny? What does the resurrection tell us about our life in the present? Wright combines world-class scholarships with a pastor’s tone.
Stephen Carter The Emperor of Ocean Park New England White One of my new favorite authors. Carter, a leading legal scholar who teaches at Yale, started a new career as a novelist several years ago, with a specialty in complex mysteries set among upper-middle class African American families involved in higher education and politics.
David Halberstam – The Breaks of the Game Recommended by sportswriter Bill Simmons as the best sports book ever written,it did not disappoint. David Halberstam follows a year in the life of the Portland Trailblazers, illuminating both the individuals who play, coach, and manage basketball and the larger forces of race, money, and fame that shape their lives.
Here are a few starting points if you are interested in the place of Christians at colleges and universities. These books are excellent for either those with a concern for Christians at colleges and universities, or for Christian students who are starting to feel the tension between their faith in Christ and their life in the university.
These books make the case for Christian involvement in higher education. They have each been influential to many Christian ministries, including my own, the Emerging Scholars Network.
A Christian Critique of the University
The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
The next three books are excellent choices for either students heading to college or in their first year or two. Each of them will help students think about their Christian faith in the context of being a college student and, if they have ears to hear, will guide them in developing a well-grounded, well-educated faith.
How to Stay Christian in College
Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower’s Guide for the Journey
Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness, The: A Guide for Students
This final selection of books will help students (and others) bridge the gap between their faith and the rest of their life: their vocation, their career, their family life, the day-to-day routine of living. These books are excellent choices for juniors, seniors, recent graduates, or anyone seeking to love God with their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life
The Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief And Behavior
Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life As a Christian Calling
Chris Ware, one of my favorite comics artists (he wrote absolutely brilliant – BRILLIANT – Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
(HT: Culture Making)
I have just started reading Andy Crouch’s new book Culture Making, and, for some unknown reason, I decided to start at the back, in the acknowledgments. Among the people thanked:
Keith Blount, an unapologetic English atheist, [who] created the marvelous cultural artifact call Scrivener, a program which justifies the existence of the Macintosh computer all by itself and which made completing this project an unexpected joy.
Amen, brother. Amen.
In addition to Jayber Crow, our Faculty Ministry Leadership Team is also reading Under the Unpredictable Plant by Eugene Peterson. I’m pretty excited about both this book, which uses the story of Jonah as a framework and its central idea of vocational holiness. If I had space and time, I would quote the entire introduction. Instead, here’s just a snippet.
Peterson begins by describing a crisis he faced when he was 30 years old (a symbolic age, by the way – it was the age when Hebrew priests traditionally began their service, and the age when Ezekiel and Jesus began their public ministries) and just a young pastor. He felt a chasm open between his life as a Christian and his life as a pastor, and Peterson, after a page or two, concludes that this chasm was not unique to him. One reason is the uncapitalized vocations of the pastorate.
Spiritual leadership vocations [pastors, missionaries, teachers, deacons, etc.] in America are badly undercapitalized. Far more activity is generated by them than there are resources to support them. The volume of business in religion far outruns the spiritual capital of its leaders. The initial consequence is that leaders substitute image for substance, satisfying the customer temporarily but only temporarily, on good days denying that there is any problem (easy to do, since business is so very good), on bad days hoping that someone will show up with an infusion of capital. No one is going to show up. The final consequence is bankruptcy. The bankruptcies are dismayingly frequent.
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