Just recieved a new book to review from Stacy at Mind & Media. Brokenness: How God Redeems Pain and Suffering looks excellent. First impressions:
- Foreword by Tim Lahaye – well, Lahaye is currently known for his Left Behind books, so not sure if he’s the best guy for a forward – why not someone like Dallas Willard, or a cool pastor like Jack Hayford?
- Endorsements – having Joni Eareckson Tada endorse your book is certainly good, since her success despite paraplegia makes her a credible reviewer of a book on suffering. Dave Dravecky too has suffered (lost his pitching arm to cancer), but Jerry Falwell? I’d say Jerry is too controversial to use to help you market your book – unless you are marketing solely to Southern Baptists.
- Size – At a mere 140 pages, with 12 point or bigger type, this will be a quick read. That could be good – hopefully, he’s cut out most of the fluff and given us the goods without forcing us to read a lot of stories. One of my pet peeves is how "inspirational" books tend to dump cute example stories on you without giving very much analysis, or simple one liner summaries. Illustrations should be used sparingly and to support a well-developed thesis, and not the other way around. At least, that’s what I prefer.
- Table of Contents – Only six chapters, but chapter titles are descriptive, as opposed to cutsie titles that tell you little of their content. That bodes well. Looks like each chapter is broken down with subheadings.
OK, I’ll be diving into this one soon, and getting back to you.