I have just returned from an extended family vacation to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. It was a wonderful time for 12 members of our family--on my wife's side. We tend to take these trips about every three years, and have done so with 8 to 14 people since 1995.
Unlike previous trips, we went to one general location and stayed there. We had a wonderful house looking out on the Caribbean Sea. It had six bedrooms, a pool, a great porch looking out over the sea, and came with a full-time cook and housekeeper--all for less than a beach house on the ocean in South Carolina.
But then, we had to get there. How we got there and got home is another story for another day.
I determined to spend a lot of time reading. Here is my list of completed books:
1. Philip Jenkins. God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis. Oxford University Press, 2007. [I have read two other books by Jenkins, and found all of them extremely informative and challenging.]
2. Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Random House, 2007.
3. Christopher Hitchens. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve [Hachette Book Group], 2007.
4. Barbara Brown Taylor. Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith. Harper San Francisco, 2006.
5. Mark Chaves. Congregations in America. Harvard University Press, 2004.
6. Rochelle Melander. A Generous Presence: Spiritual Leadership and the Art of Coaching. The Alban Institute, 2006.
It was quite a week of reading. With Taleb and Hitchens books I have determined part of the making of a best seller is knocking down most of the ideas and the people you have ever known or read. Writing paragraphs of at least 300 words that fill an entire page. Using words people have never heard. Saying the same thing over and over again in different ways. And, having a GREAT marketing campaign.
Other than that, writing and producing a best seller is a piece of cake.
Perhaps later I will share some other thoughts about the trip and the books.
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