Week of August 21-27
Today in my weekly book review post, I am reviewing One of the Few by Jason Ladd.
But first, let’s answer the Book Blogger Hop question of the week..
Book Blogger Hop - Coffee Addicted Writer
According to the Book Blog Hop calendar, this week's question is:
Aug. 19th - 25th - Do you read via eBook and if so which one/ones and why? (submitted by Teri)
Years ago, we bought a Kindle Basic. I love my Kindle Basic. I can put about 880 books on it at a time. This means I have a lot of great books at my fingertips. Also, it connects via Whispernet. This means I can download books anywhere there is ANY cell signal.
Since I was so happy with the Kindle Basic, I bought a Kindle Fire. This was a terrible investment. It was a problem from the beginning. I went through several deregisters and reregister and rebooting and resetting and then I got a warranty replacement. This went from bad to worse. Now, you can’t even open a book on it. It makes a decent paper weight, but that is about as far as it goes.
Now let’s turn to the meme It’s Monday What Are You reading?
This week, I am discussing the book, One of the Few by Jason Ladd. Ladd is a Marine fighter pilot. Mr. Ladd sent an invitation to my child-bride Suzanne inviting her to review this book on her blog, Stitchety Do Da. He offered to send Suzanne a copy of the book free for review. Suzanne got to looking on our Kindle Device Manager and found that we had obtained a copy of this book free when Mr. Ladd offered it free as a promotion through Kindle (November 2015). He had given these books free hoping people would provide reviews for him.
Well, there are 52,394 books on our combined To Be Read (TBR) list. When we heard he is a Marine, of course his book went immediately to the top. When you are a Marine family, EVERY Marine is family. This is true in the Navy, too, but not as much as it is for the Marines. Our son has made it into the Marines and become one of the Select Few to make it.
Everyone dies. Young or old, whether by accident, murder, natural disaster, or illness, death comes to every human being, and only rarely does the dealer show his hand. When the flame of life is extinguished, we exit the realm of time and enter into eternity. For centuries, the great thinkers have labored to understand man’s purpose. Can there be true meaning and significance in our lives now if there is no ultimate, objective meaning and existence after death? If our species is just a cosmic blip of evolved energy and matter, then will it matter what we were when our energy runs out? Human beings are either very special or very deluded. What do you believe about God? Your answer will lead to a worldview that shapes your thinking about humanity, the world, and what exists beyond. This question is a matter of life and death. A life pursuing the answer is well spent. While this book will connect strongly with parents, it will benefit a wide group of readers. It will help the student struggling to make sense of the world. It will encourage men on a mission to find their faith and women desiring to share their convictions. It will help seekers exploring the concept of faith and Christians struggling with doubt. It will help older Christians understand the new generation of skeptics and the youth to understand the faithfulness of their elders. It will help anyone tired of floating through life without direction, purpose, or hope.
Jason B. Ladd. One of the Few (Kindle Locations 71-76). Boone Shepherd.
Now, let’s flip over to 56% on our Free Kindle Reader App” for Friday 56.
I think of how my high school football coach tied moral standards to team membership, and I think of a squadron commander who skillfully excised misconduct like a tumor while leaving his Marines’ spirit intact. I think of a Top Gun graduate who held Bible studies in his transient quarters while overseas. I think of business executives with the conviction to remain firm in the face of public scrutiny. I think of our nation’s Presidents, most of whom have been Christians (though obviously no less susceptible to sin). I think of the Apostles who kept their faith in the risen Lord in the face of certain death. According to church tradition, Matthew was cut down by the sword in Ethiopia. Mark breathed his last breath while being dragged through the streets of Alexandria. Luke’s neck snapped in a noose strung upon an olive tree in Greece, and Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. James the Greater was beheaded at Jerusalem, and James the Less was thrown from the temple roof and clubbed to death. Philip was “imprisoned, scourged, and crucified.” 9 Bartholomew was alive when his skin was peeled from his body. Andrew preached his last sermon from the cross. Thomas was impaled by a lance, and arrows pierced the body of Jude whereupon he gave up his spirit. Matthias was stoned and decapitated while John was boiled alive but managed to escape. He died in Ephesus at the age of 94. Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica, and the apostle Paul was beheaded in Rome.
Jason B. Ladd. One of the Few (Kindle Locations 2315-2318). Boone Shepherd.
Again as a way of a disclosure, the author offered a free copy of this book to my child-bride Suzanne in exchange for her unbiased review of this book. We already had a copy of this book in our To Be Read pile; we just moved it to the top. We are a Marine family and Mr. Ladd is a Marine.
So here is my review:
This book is great. As a boy, I consumed anything there was to read about fighter planes and fighter pilots. The first president of the Lion’s House Children’s Home was a former Air Force Fighter pilot.
Mr. Ladd tells many stories of his adventures as a fighter pilot in training and later on in engagement over Iraq. The book has been very interesting. When the book got to Chapters 13 & 14, my eyes kind of glazed over as Mr. Ladd got into a little more intellectual stuff.
The book is an account of how Mr. Ladd went from an unbeliever to being a Christian and why this came about. If you are a part of a military family, you will possibly appreciate that he uses military terms in his discussions and comments. If you are not a military person or part of a military family, you will probably still enjoy this book because Ladd explains the military terms in civilian terminology.
I have not completed this book yet, but I am enjoying it. So far, I would give it four paws up.
One of the Few: A Marine Fighter Pilot's Reconnaissance of the Christian Worldview by Jason B. Ladd
First of all, as a way of disclosure, our family is a Marine family. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Any part of a Marine family is family.
Mr. Ladd contacted us and asked us to review his book. He offered to send us a copy free for review. However, we already had a copy that he had given away free through a Kindle promotion.
I give this book five stars with a little reservation. Mr. Ladd takes his readers on a great journey as he goes from non-believer in Christ to a born-again Christian. The reservation comes from chapters 13 & 14 where the book got rather tedious and seemed more like a master’s level tome than a good read. Once we got past that, everything got better, for the most part.
Mr. Ladd takes on the Brony community and My Little Pony discussing things he clearly does not fully understand. Perhaps he is correct in some of his assessment, but not in all of it.
Other than that, this book is a great read. If you have ever read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book A Study in Scarlet, you are used to a surprise ending like the one in this book. If you are not familiar with that, you are in for a treat.
In spite of the two negative aspects listed above, I would have to suggest anyone who is curious about religion to read this book. It is a great read for someone who is already a Christian. It also uses some military comparisons to help someone who is questioning their faith, or lack thereof.
If you are questioning faith, or are just curious about religion, this book may help you.
View all my reviews
One of the Few: A Marine Fighter Pilot's Reconnaissance of the Christian Worldview by Jason B. Ladd
Book Review One of the Few by Jason Ladd
First of all, as a way of disclosure, our family is a Marine family. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Any part of a Marine family is family.
Mr. Ladd contacted us and asked us to review his book. He offered to send us a copy free for review. However, we already had a copy that he had given away free through a Kindle promotion.
I give this book five stars with a little reservation. Mr. Ladd takes his readers on a great journey as he goes from non-believer in Christ to a born-again Christian. The reservation comes from chapters 13 & 14 where the book got rather tedious and seemed more like a master’s level tome than a good read. Once we got past that, everything got better, for the most part.
Mr. Ladd takes on the Brony community and My Little Pony discussing things he clearly does not fully understand. Perhaps he is correct in some of his assessment, but not in all of it.
Other than that, this book is a great read. If you have ever read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book A Study in Scarlet, you are used to a surprise ending like the one in this book. If you are not familiar with that, you are in for a treat.
In spite of the two negative aspects listed above, I would have to suggest anyone who is curious about religion to read this book. It is a great read for someone who is already a Christian. It also uses some military comparisons to help someone who is questioning their faith, or lack thereof.
If you are questioning faith, or are just curious about religion, this book may help you.
View all my reviews
Also remember, we are in the process of preparing a course. Part of this course touches on how to stay on budget and frugal living. A part of the frugal living plan is cooking on a budget. If you have any frugal recipes, that is, recipes that don’t cost a lot to prepare, please send them my way. Thanks.
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Are you kidding about 52,000 books on your tbr list ? I have over 700 on my Goodreads to be read list and I thought that was a lot. It does sound like a good book.
ReplyDeleteYes, the number is right and all of those are actually on our Kindle. There are actually more. I have a large box with books in it waiting to be read. Those books aren't in the count. We also have some books on the bookshelf waiting to be read and those aren't in that count. Just the Kindle books are in the count. Most of these books were given to us. We are working hard to read through them and post a review to Amazon. For books we got free through Amazon, I will not review it if I cannot give it at least a three. That is unless the book is absolutely terrible. We used to get books through Book Sneeze. Now I have several from Tyndale Rewards waiting to be read. Business book reviews are among my highest rated videos, after Handcuff Your Kids. I do not understand why that one continues to do so well.
DeleteThat is such a powerful beginning! Sounds like a great read! Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteThank you. There are a lot of great high points in this book.
DeleteWhat an interesting beginning. I think my son would enjoy this book.
ReplyDeleteMY Friday 56 from Alpha Unleashed
It is a good book. There is a lull around chapter 13, but tell him to hang in there on that one.
DeleteThat's a great introduction, so thank you for sharing it on BBOF!
ReplyDeleteIt is a very interesting book. If one is trying to find where they stand on religion and does not know where to turn, this is a great book.
DeleteThis sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Thank you. It was a nice read.
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