From Nate's Bookshelf, May 2004

Summer in Texas. School's out, thankfully clearing much of the rush hour traffic, and our lives assume a more relaxed cadence. Reclining in the shade, dissipating a morning in air-conditioned comfort, or on a plane journeying to what a travel agent would call a "destination", summer graces us with the opportunity to read often and for pleasure, freed from the tyranny of teachers testing our knowledge. To help you, my faithful readers, share my joy in reading this summer, I now introduce to you what I hope will be a periodic feature on the Nateblogg - "From Nate's Bookshelf". Very simply, I will recommend books that I read and enjoy to you, appraising great reads over the provocative premises preferred by publishers presently. The recommendations will no doubt prove as eclectic as my taste, so take them as you will - I own no stock in Doubleday or Simon and Schuster, and therefore have nothing invested in you buying the books I mention here...

The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All, edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson - J.R.R. Tolkien, in weaving his myths of Middle Earth (including the Lord of the Rings trilogy), infused into his writings philosophies influenced by his Catholic faith and living through two World Wars. This book, comprised of a series of essays written by contemporary philosophers and described by the editors as a "Lord of the Rings for smart people", sets out to explain these philosophies and ideas. Themes discussed include Environmentalism, the nature of Evil, Nietzche's philosophy versus Tolkien's, and the way to Happiness. For those who watched the movies or read the books (or both), I highly recommend this book as a way to gain some lasting perspective on the Lord of the Rings experience.

John Adams, by David McCullough - David McCullough is America's Historian Emeritus, with such achievements as The Johnstown Flood and Truman puncuating his impressive career. The Pulitzer Prize-winning John Adams is his crowning achievement, meticulously researched, accessibly written, and a great read. The book tells the complete life story of the underappreciated John Adams, a well-fed Boston lawyer who, through amazing determination and with rock-solid character, acted as the driving force for American independence in 1776, and became our second President. Thanks to thousands of pages of correspondence with his wife Abigail and others, we see an intensely personal picture of Adams, who was honest about his flaws (a quick temper and bullheadedness with his convictions among them), yet still was as good a man as our country has ever known. He was a loving husband, good father, wise with his money, and made tough choices at great personal expense for the welfare of the fledgling nation. I like to tell people that John Adams is the best book about leadership that I know of. I gave my old youth pastor and dear friend Randy Templeton (who bears an uncanny resemblance in many ways) a copy of this book for his 50th birthday. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker - Imaginative and gripping gothic novel that laid the groundwork for the modern Dracula of pop culture. The story unfolds organically through letters, journals and news clippings, creating an inherent believability to the accounts of supernatural phenomena. Memorable characters include the wise Dr. Van Helsing, the courageous heroine of the novel, Mina Harker, and the evil yet melancholy Dracula. The first 50 pages are as scary as anything I've ever read. A classic, and a great read. (Aside: DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE DONE BY COPPOLA! The story of Dracula reads like a great adventure movie screenplay. Armed with the perfect Mina Harker in a young Winona Ryder and the perfect Van Helsing in Anthony Hopkins, Coppola managed to turn Dracula into an incomprehensible borderline-soft-core porn film, with an out-of-nowhere love story between Mina and the Count. Though the presence of Keanu makes for some nice Unintentional Comedy, Coppola's vision constituted nothing short of an outrage.)

Bush at War, by Bob Woodward - A detailed insider account of the actions of the Bush Administration in the aftermath of 9/11 by the Washington Post journalist that broke Watergate. In a world where the level of rhetoric in political nonfiction is pitched at the level of "Conservatives have Coodies" and "Liberals are Poopypants", Woodward's book is notably balanced and impartially reported. Bush himself was interviewed at length by Woodward. A fascinating perspective into our government's response to 9/11 and the initial stages of the War on Terror.

That's all for now...