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A dear friend sent me a short email today. In it she asked me to post more blog entries. She was particularly interested in what I am reading these days. There are two books that have my attention today.

 I am reading Janet Evanovich's Two For The Dough(out on DVD May 15). This is part of a series of books featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. Each book in the series has a number in the title. Others in the series are One For The Money, Three To Get Deadly, Four To Score, High Five, Hot Six, Seven Up and Hard Eight. There are 18 in the Plum series...so far. I enjoy, immensely, reading outside the field of theology, as "secular" writers often do a better job at developing a character than preachers do.

The other book that has my attention is Jonah Lehrer's Imagine. The subtitle is How Creativity Works. Lehrer presents a fresh perspective on how we generate new ideas. He writes,
The first thing this new perspective makes clear is that the standard definition of creativity is completely wrong. Ever since the ancient Greeks, people have assumed that the imagination is separate from other kinds of cognition. But the latest science suggests that this assumption is false. Instead, creativity is a catchall term for a variety of distinct thought processes(The brain is the ultimate category buster.)


I fancy myself to be a highly generative person and as I read both the academic and anecdotal parts of Lehrer's work, I am both affirmed and challenged. This book makes me want to run out and develop an idea, create a work and challenge a long-held tradition or two.

The book opens with the story of how Procter and Gamble came to develop the Swiffer disposable mop/floor cleaner.
That story is almost worth the price of the book.

What are you thinking these days? Could you use a fresh jolt and shot? Tea drinker that I am, I need no cups of coffee. Just give me a book. :)

Spring Break

As I write, I am in the passenger seat of a rented car which we three Farmers drove to Atlanta. My beloved son is driving and, obviously, Rosemary is in the back. We spent three all- too- short days in Atlanta, visiting my twin sister, nieces, nephews and dear friends.
I take for granted neither safety on interstate 20 nor positive times with family. Yet, I experienced both. This morning I read, and shared with my son and wife, the verse in Psalm 68:6, which says that God sets the solitary in families. What a privilege it is, to be delivered from the solitary navigation of life.During this brief road trip, I celebrated the reality of being part of a large extended family. I hope you will do the same. Do our families have some people in them who frustrate us? YES!! Do we have members of our clans who make unwise decisions? YES!! However, we are stuck with each other and we are gifts to each other.
This week, I dare you to take time to consider how different your life would be if you had not been set in families.And...be nice to the knucklehead(s) in your family. :-)