Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
What to do with footnotes has been a problem since Gutenberg. To some they are an aggravation on par with elevator music and cable company service. To others they are the glory of the published word.
For those who want to be able to follow an author’s sources, and for authors who want to make comments that don’t interrupt the flow of the main text, notes are indispensible.
Continue reading “Take Note”
up on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, a must read is April 1865: The Month That Saved America by Jay Winik. An historian and diplomat, Winik had the opportunity to see first-hand how civil wars around the world so often end so badly–either in the genocide of the losing side or an interminable guerrilla insurgency. Neither happened in the United States. This the remarkable story of why.
Troglodytes like myself have been slow to pick up on technology. You’ve heard of “early adopters” and “digital natives.” I proudly consider myself to be a digital dinosaur. Years after the Kindle arrived, I got one. And just recently I went over to the dark side of a smart phone.
I do find my Kindle handy for carrying around a raft of proposed manuscripts IVP is considering for publication–as well as books we’ve already published. I generally am happier reading my Kindle when it is light reading. If the book is something I want to slowly study and digest, it’s print for me.
Continue reading “Is Print Better?”
The history of evangelicalism and the life of the mind is both well-chronicled and checkered. While Jonathan Edwards is hailed by some as the greatest intellect (not just evangelical intellect) in American history, suspicion and anger has often boiled over from within evangelicalism against the university world. The 1925 Scopes Trial, for example, set off decades of distrust that affected generations of Bible-believing Christians.
Richard Mouw,
former president of Fuller Seminary, is one such believer. He admired those who voiced simple faith in the face of intellectual challenges. Today Mouw is still sympathetic to those who think that being educated can draw one away from being holy. But he knows too that this is a false choice. One can also be a godly thinker or a sinful dimwit.
Continue reading “The Life of the Mind”
“The movie is never as good as the book,” so the saying goes. As always, there are exceptions; for example The Hunger Games and Tuesdays with Morrie were both better on the screen. Having read Unbroken when it first came out and now having seen the movie, I feel that the question is somewhat irrelevant. Both are excellent–and different.
Laura
Hillenbrand’s book tells an astonishing true tale. Louie Zamperini had a half dozen amazing episodes in his life–and if only one had happened, the book would have been a remarkable account of perseverance and strength in the midst of adversity. But all six episodes happened–to one man.
Continue reading “Better Than the Movie?”
Full Disclosure: Our rights manager pointed out to me this article by Tom Chalmers in Digital Book World on the value of a publisher’s rights department. But that doesn’t make the point any less valid.
Authors,
publishers and the general public all benefit from making sure a book gets the widest use in other languages, in various digital formats, in periodicals (yes, they still exist), permissions of various kinds, and so forth. Even if your books don’t lend themselves to movie adaptations, there is plenty of exposure to be had and revenue to be generated.
Continue reading “Defending Your Rights (Department)”
The Christmas story always bothered me.
It just never made sense. No, not the virgin birth. Not the angels singing to shepherds. Not the star in the sky. Not the wise men.
Consistently when I have taught the Gospel of Mark to college students over the last ten years, the “Aha” reaction comes when I ask them to look up Old Testament passages related to a puzzling verse.
Why does Mark describe what John the Baptist eats and wears but not anyone else? Not Peter. Not Pilate. Not even Jesus.
When Jesus is walking on the water, why does Mark say Jesus intends to pass by the disciples struggling to row against the wind? Doesn’t he see them? Doesn’t he care?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by David Haddon has sold millions of copies, and is now a Broadway play. The book takes us into the mind of Christopher, a high-functioning autistic fifteen-year-old in contemporary Britain. Inside that mind, behavior that seems so odd if not down-right crazy actually begins to make sense.
Continue reading “The Curious Incident”
I met David Skeel just before the New York Times article came out earlier this month about his friendship with an atheist colleague at the University of Pennsylvania.
Continue reading “Different Questions”