Books I've Read Recently . . .And You Should, Too

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.
A great read, this book turns conventional wisdom on its head, which is always fun. He addresses cool questions like, what is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? How much do parents really matter? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? Not the usual stuff you see from economists.



The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown.
I know, I know, devoted Christians are supposed to be seriously offended by this book because of its conclusions about the life of Jesus and Mary Magdeline. But it actually is a fairly interesting mystery and a good thriller (remember this is a fiction book!). I believe it is a must for anyone wanting to engage with popular culture.



Death on a Friday Afternoon, by Rev. Richard John Neuhaus
Probably one of the best I’ve read on the last words of Jesus. He takes a traditional view (Neuhaus is a Catholic), but unpacks it in a way that causes you to think quite differently. "If what Christians say about Good Friday is true", Neuhaus writes, "then it is, quite simply, the truth about everything."



The Last Word . . . and the One After That: A Tale of Faith, Doubt and a New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren.
Brian has done it again with a psuedo-fictional book addressing the issue of hell and the grace of God. The third in his New Kind of Christian triology, it is not for the faint of heart for it may cause you to actually rethink the conclusions you've made (heaven forbid!).