Super Bowl Sunday Review: Tebow’s Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes: A Quarterback’s Journey by Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker (Young Reader’s Edition)

YA Nonfiction, Published December 2011

Challenges: NetGalley Month (Jan)

Read January 2012, 216 pp

4/5 STARS

Book Blurb:

For children ages 8 & up

Meet Tim Tebow:  He grew up playing every sport imaginable, but football was his true passion. Even from an early age, Tim has always had the drive to be the best player and person that he could be. Through his hard work and determination, he established himself as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of college football and as a top prospect in the NFL. Now, in Through My Eyes: A Quarterback’s Journey, he shares the behind-the-scenes details of his life, on and off the football field. Tim writes about his life as he chooses to live it, revealing how his Christian faith, his family values, and his relentless will to succeed have molded him into the person and the athlete he is today.

Thoughts:

I am not a huge football fan, and if I were one I am definitely a Cowboys girl.  No matter your level of football fandom, it is hard to miss the success of Tim Tebow.  If you love football, you are sure to love all the details and plays from his early high school football days through college at the University of Florida to his draft with the Denver Broncos.  I highly recommend Through My Eyes for all young Christians and athletes. What I found most fascinating, however, were all the details that were not about playing football – so even if you’re not a huge football fan, like me, you will still love this inspirational story.

About the Young Reader’s Edition: The sentences are simple and the structure of the chapters seemed to skip around a lot – I’m assuming this is where it is glossing over some of the more detailed parts that younger readers might find boring.  The biggest emphasis was on his activeness with his brothers as a kid, always running around and never sitting idle, his homeschooling lessons – always with an emphasis on the Bible and Jesus, honoring his parents and doing as they tell him, always learning and growing as a Christian and athlete, his triumphs through sports and mission work, and even overcoming dyslexia.  He includes a lesson or Bible Study in every story. 

Reading this Young Reader’s Edition, as an older reader, made me want to reader the “adult” version, in which I’m hoping for even more details about his childhood, his parents and siblings, and their mission trips.

Quotes:

Anyone who talks to others about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is doing mission work.

My dad always tells us that faith is like a muscle.  You trust God for the small things and when He comes through, your muscle grows.  It grows whether He comes through in ways that you hoped for or not – you learn that He’s always there through good or bad.  This enables you to trust God for the bigger things, in fact, for all things.

“Just like a small spark can cause a big fire,” Dad said, “the smallest part of the body, the tongue, can cause great damage when we do not control it.  A wrongly chosen word can hurt a reputation, alienate a friend, or break a heart.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Zondervan for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: Anderson Cooper’s Dispatches from the Edge

Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper

Non-Fiction (Memoir/Current Events), Published 2006

Challenges: Audio Book

Read Feb 2011, Unabridged Audio – 6 hrs

4.5/5

From the Cover:

Anderson Cooper’s groundbreaking coverage on CNN has changed the way we watch the news.  Few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict around the world.  In this gripping, candid, and remarkably powerful memoir, he offers an unstinting, up-close view of the most harrowing crises of our time, and the profound impact they have had on his life – from the tsunami in Sri Lanka to the war in Iraq, from the starvation in Niger to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi.

Striking, heartfelt, and utterly engrossing, Dispatches from the Edge is an unforgettable story from on of America’s most trusted, fearless, and pioneering reporters.

Thoughts:

First off, can I say how I LOVE all the commas in the descriptions! No, seriously, the fact that there’s a comma before “and” in the title really makes me happy because I know this is how I learned it in elementary grammar and people just disregard the use of commas these days.

Also, I had no idea Anderson Cooper was Gloria Vanderbilt’s son until he says so in the introduction.  That has major clout, or at least I think it would, and yet it seems that Anderson has never used the Vanderbilt name to get ahead in life. He lives on the edge of the major news stories, waiting and needing to be on the front lines of the action. This definitely gets a thumbs up from me.

Secondly, he had me at page 2 of the introduction:

“As a boy looking at the globe, I grew up believing, as most people do, that the earth is round.  Smoothed like a stone by thousands of years of evolution and revolution.  Whittled by time.  Scraped by space.  I thought that all the nations and oceans, the rivers and valleys, were already mapped out, named, and explored.  But in truth, the world is constantly shifting: shape and size, location in space.  It’s got edges and chasms, too many to count.  They open up, close, reappear somewhere else.  Geologists may have mapped out the planet’s tectonic plates – hidden shelves of rock that grind, one against the other, forming mountains, creating continents – but they can’t plot the fault lines that run through our heads, divide our hearts.” (pp. 4-5)

Just beautiful!  His personal story is truly heartbreaking and I have heard him talk about it more on his talk show now (2012), but he says in the book that so few people knew his real story.  I loved his writing and  the fact that he narrates his own story.  I hope he continues to publish in the future!

More quotes:

I’ve been a journalist for fifteen years now, and have reported on some of the worst situations on earth: Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq.  I’ve seen more dead bodies that I can count, more horror and hatred than I can remember, yet I’m still surprised by what I discover in the far reaches of our planet, the truths revealed in the dwindling light of day, when everything else has been stripped away, exposed, raw as a gutted shark on a fisherman’s pier.  The farther you go, however, the harder it is to return.  The world has many edges, and it’s easy to fall off. (pp. 5-6)

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Review: Darwin in a Nutshell

Darwin in a Nutshell written and narrated by Peter Whitfield

Nonfiction – biography/science/history, Published 2009

Challenges: Audio Book Challenge, Science Book Challenge, Summer Reading Challenge

Read Aug 2010, 2 hrs (unabridged)

4/5

Book Blurb:

“In a little over an hour, Whitfield presents a biography of Charles Darwin and an overview of his life’s work.”
Charles Darwin, father of evolution, was one of the greatest pioneers in science. His five-year voyage on The Beagle, his visit to the Galapagos Islands, his careful work in noting small differences of fauna on different islands – all led to the concept of natural selection, which radically changed the way mankind and the animal world was viewed. But what kind of man was Darwin, and why did he keep his conclusions secret for so many years? In this clear but informative account, Peter Whitfield sets Darwin in the 19th-century society from which he sprang, and considers the effect of his ideas on the 21st century.

My Thoughts:

As a student of geology, I thought this short synopsis of Darwin’s life was very enjoyable, especially learning about his growing up years and how he landed the job on the Beagle.  The main point that is stressed by Whitfield is that despite mainstream beliefs of Darwin, he was in fact a devout Christian, who certainly never stressed the idea of man evolving from the ape.  He in fact avoided this radical comparison, not wanting to upset his readers.  His journeys as a naturalist, focused mostly on the geology, having taken Charles Lyell’s Principle of Geology, instead of the islands’ biology  It was not until he noticed separate species living on the different islands that the idea of natural selection came about.  This is definitely a very broad based biography, but a good starting off point if interested in Darwin’s life and works.

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How Abraham Lincoln Created His Team of Rivals

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, narrated by Richard Thomas, abridged 9.5 hours

Non-fiction/Biography/Memoirs/History/Politics, Published 2005

Read March 2010

Challenges: Audio Book Reading Challenge

Awards: Lincoln Prize in 2006

Source: SimplyAudiobooks

3.9/5

From the Cover:

Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln’s political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago.  When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.  That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a charachter that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals.  He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet.  He overcomes these obstacle by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

Review:

I find it hard to review audio books, especially non-fiction, because I feel like I miss SO much information, but I’m not sure if I would have been able to keep up the momentum and finish it if I were actually reading the book.  I enjoyed the narrator.  This was the abridged addition and I feel like much of the personal information about his family and home life were left out.  I don’t know this for sure, since I haven’t read the whole book, but the main focus was on Lincoln’s political maneuvers and the reasons behind his decisions.  I think the special touch that this author adds to the history is researching Lincoln’s peers: their letters and diaries, to see how they truly felt and reacted to the President.  Lincoln had a lot going on at home, yet he also put his nation first.  There were several illnesses and one of his children died during his time in office.  I think I would have liked to hear Mary’s view of things, how things were at home with Lincoln so focused on the policies at the time.

This book ranged from when and how Lincoln arrived to the Presidency to the day he was assassinated.  It is amazing that his name was even in the presidential election and that he actually won.  Just think how different our American history might be if Abraham Lincoln had not been President!  One major point driven over and over again was that Lincoln always looked at both sides of an issue.  He had several cabinet members who did not share the same visions and policies, yet Lincoln always made them feel important and needed to balance all political decisions, thus creating a “Team of Rivals.”

Quotes:

“Very few public men in history had possessed it – none have ever shown the popular mind as Abraham Lincoln.”

“In democracy, every step he took must seem wise to the public mind.”

These quotes were taken from the end of the audio book and I have no idea which chapter…

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Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

Frank Abagnale with Stan Redding

NF – True Crime/Memoir, Published 2002

Read April-May 2008

3.5/5

From the Cover:

Frank Abagnale, alias Frank Williams, Robert Conrad, Frank Adams, and Robert Monjo, was one of the most daring con men, forgers, impostors, and escape artists in history. During his brief but notorious criminal career, Abagnale donned a pilot’s uniform and copiloted a Pan Am jet, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a license, passed himself off as a college sociology professor, and cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks – all before he was twenty-one. A hilarious, stranger-than-fiction account of his sumptuous life on the lam, international escapades, and ingenious escapes, Catch Me If You Can is a captivating tale of deceit.

Why did you choose this book?

I’ve wanted to read this book ever since I saw the movie and I borrowed probably close to 2 years ago from my cousin Mel. I’m pretty sure she’s already read it and has enough books in her own TBR pile that she hasn’t missed it too much since I “borrowed” it. =) Anyway, back to the story…I was really intrigued by the idea that someone so personable and lovable as Frank, at least when viewed as Leonardo DiCaprio, could commit so many crimes and have it come across as fun.

Overall Opinion:

What I found to be the most impressive thing about Abagnale was how he studied for every con. He went in knowing his subject. He studied to be a pilot, a doctor, an attorney, college professor and convincingly pulled it off. Frank never actually had to fly a plane, thank goodness, he just deadheaded from one city to another, staying for free in the payed for pilot amenities. His main scam included cashing checks from real bank accounts, just without the funds, then later cashing Pan Am checks. He also forged his degrees from Columbia and Harvard. He let the nurses and resident doctors handle the patients, and even taught class by the books. And he did all this before he was 21!

After spending only six months in the harsh French prison were Frank says he lost track of time in the dark and dank “hole”, Frank was expedited to Sweden. The Swedish prison system really let Frank off easy. After serving only a few months in the Sweden’s prison system, which Frank described as more than lenient, a judge revoked his American passport so he had to return to the US, without going to any of the other dozen or so countries who wanted him to serve time. He was then sentenced 12 years in the US prison system but only served less than 3 years. Frank is now one of the world’s leading experts preventing bank fraud.

To me, this fun run-about story seems unrealistic, but then again, much of the security and technology was not present during the time of Frank’s scams. Frank really had nerve. He convincingly lied his way through nearly 2.5 million dollars in the late 1960s. And he got off so easy! Even though many of his scams have been made nearly impossible because of today’s technology, it’s amazing how so many people took Frank at face value. I’m definitely going to have to re-watch the movie now to compare.

For more info…

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Eat, Pray, Love

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Elizabeth Gilbert, Published 2007

Read Dec 2007-Feb 2008

3.5/5

 

 

From the Cover:

“In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want – husband, country home, successful career – but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.”

 

Overall Opinion:
I enjoyed the author’s witty writing style, however, I have to disagree with the many reviewers on Oprah using this book as their so-called spiritual guidebook. I do think it’s important for people, especially women, with their numerous roles today to find balance in their lives. However, the author’s whiny excuses and reasons why her marriage wasn’t working annoyed me. I ultimately felt bad for the husband, instead of sympathizing with the author.

I read this book over a course of about two months, reading it probably only once or twice a week. After I got past the first third of the book where she explains her relationship and life failures…I really became interested in the people she met along the way, especially once she arrived in India and Bali. It’s fascinating how the people that come into our lives, at any point, help steer us in our own life journeys.

There are many good tidbits to take away from this book. One major point in the book that I like is that there is more than one way to find yourself, to find balance, and to find your way to God.

 

Book Quotes…

“People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that’s holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with your soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave.” – Richard from Texas

“To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver.” -Ketut from Bali

 

 

 

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I’m Proud of You

I’m Proud of You:

My Friendship with Fred Rogers

Tim Madigan

Non-Fiction, Published 2006

196 pages

 

http://pbskids.org/rogers/songlist/song12_ra.html

Read Oct. 2007

4.0/5.0

 

 

Why did you choose this book?

This book was given to me as a gift from my cousin. I grew up watching Mister Roger’s Neighborhood and even wrote to him for an eighth grade English assignment. The assignment was to write a persuasive letter to someone asking for something and if we got something back we were awarded extra credit points. So I decided to write to Mister Rogers, telling him what a great impact he had on my childhood. When I wrote, I never expected to get something back, thinking it was Mister Rogers! and surely he had better things to do than write me back…well he did and it stuck with me that he truly loved hearing about the differences he made and was not at all in it for the money. He sent me a nice personal letter along with an autographed picture and some things to give to my sister. This book follows Tim Madigan, a journalist from Ft. Worth, and his unlikely friendship with Mister Rogers.

 

 

What did you like most about the book?

I like the fact that the author emphasizes the fact that Mister Rogers was truly an unique soul and that he truly cared about the children and families that his show reached.

 

 

Book Quotes…

Fred hugged me at the front door of the television station when we finally said good-bye, telling me I was welcome in his Neighborhood anytime. By then it was mid-afternoon, another brilliant autumn day in a beautiful, bustling section of Pittsburgh. I walked slowly toward my nearby hotel through the sunshine, feeling almost disoriented by what I had experienced the previous three days. Throughout my life, I had been blessed by the love and friendship of many extraordinary people, but somehow, this man was different, a person possessed of an otherwordly purity and goodness. My newspaper assignment had thus become a pilgrimage, of sorts, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, or so I assumed, to experience that sort of historic kindness. I knew it was a time I would always remember. (p.27)

My mother was praying in the basement one morning that weekend when the telephone rang. When she answered, she heard that soft, wonderful voice at the other end of the line.

“Is this Mrs. Madigan?” the voice said.

“Why, yes, it is.”

“This is Fred Rogers, calling from Pittsburgh.”

“Oh, my goodness,” my mother stuttered.

“I’m so very glad to meet you,” Fred said.

My mother stuttered again.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Mister Rogers,” she said. “Thanks so much for your call. Would you like to talk to Steve?” [Steve is Tim's, the author, brother who is diagnosed with and later dies from cancer.]

“Yes, I would, but only if he’s able.”

Mom dashed the wireless receiver upstairs and handed it to Steve in his bed. “It’s Mister Rogers!” she whispered. (p.131)

 

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