Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Book Review: The Butterfly Effect

Since I started doing book reviews through Booksneeze, Thomas Nelson Publishing's free books for blog reviews program, I've read some books I would have never considered reading, and I've come to like some authors I've never heard of, or would have never heard of.
Some of which I really like.  One of those is Andy Andrews.  What was then the Thomas Nelson Publishers Book Review Bloggers program (and is now Booksneeze, a little icky sounding but easier to type!) offered his book The Noticer and I requested it, read it, and loved it.  Since then, I've read his books The Traveler's Gift, The Lost Choice, and Island of Saints. (I then posted a review when that was re-released as The Heart Mender).
I've given each of those books as gifts to others, including last year's graduates at the church I was pastoring.  My hope is they'll grasp the idea behind The Traveler's Gift and take ownership of their lives and change the world.  The Lost Choice was given to a young lady who was showing a tendency to drift rather than choose, and one copy of The Heart Mender was given to a dear friend who I hope will continue to allow forgiveness to help her grow forward in life.
So, you see, I'm responsible for any changes the world sees through these people, because I gave them the book, right?
Or maybe Andy Andrews gets credit for writing the books.  Perhaps credit goes to Michael Hyatt for being the CEO that suggested the blog review program.  Maybe it goes to Lindsey Nobles for doing the actual work of making it happen!
And so on, and so on….Actions have consequences.  Good ones and bad ones.  This is the point of Andy Andrews' little book The Butterfly Effect.  It's not big, it's not long, and it's not new.  If you've read The Traveler's Gift and The Lost Choice, you've read more details of the history given in this book than you'll see in this book.
Don't let it stop you from reading this, though.  In fact, don't let it stop you, if you have the resources, from buying a box and handing them out to groups of people that think they don't matter.  Use this book to challenge people that they do matter, and what they do matters.
Now, we could haggle out the issues of theology and causation all day long with this book.  I will say this: For me, as a Christian, the only book completely accurately reflecting theology is the Bible.  Nothing else will accurately give the whole picture, and I shouldn't expect it to.  Andrews doesn't stop and give credit to how it was God at work in the lives of Chamberlain or Borlaug.  He talks about their actions.
This is how it should be.  We cannot be responsible for the actions of others, even the Almighty, unless we know our actions will provoke a specific result.  We are responsible for our own actions, and Andrews is striving to challenge us to go ahead and act.
In all, this is worth the read, and worth the giving.  It will probably go out from my shelf and sit where someone can just pick it up and peruse it when they've got a few minutes.  Hopefully, that flap of the wing will be a good change…

Doug

I've also noticed several reviews decrying the shortness and "gift-book" style format.  While it's legitimate to dislike the style genre of "gift-books" keep in mind: this book is marketed as one.  It's not meant to be a long read, it's meant to be a short inspirational moment.  That's the apparent purpose, and it fills that purpose.

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