The Book Reviews

I have read an odd collection of books recently and I thought I would discuss some of them. This is a pretty random collection so there should be something for everybody.


The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose
Kevin is a sophomore at Brown University who goes undercover at Liberty University for his 2nd semester. Based on what he knows about the Founder and President(Jerry Fallwell) he anticipates a semester of anti-abortion rallies and hazing homosexuals. Upon arriving he tries to navigate the christian college subculture(ring by spring,DTR) while learning more about Falwell. The author acknowledges going in his view of Christians has been shaped by the liberal media but he he is honest about finding out what Christians are really about. If you went to a christian college I guarantee you will like this book.


The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
I picked this up just because the author wrote Bringing Down the House which is a book I really like. The movie 21 was based on that book and was your usual smart move of changing a great book to make a very average movie. This book however is about how the founders of facebook who started it to meet girls on campus who wouldn't talk to them face to face. The drawback to the book is Mark Zuckerberg(brains behind the operation) refused to be interviewed so Mezrich "recreates" conversations. There is a lot of mystery behind who had the original idea as a couple different Harvard guys later sued Zuckerberg. At the same time Zuckerberg becomes a rock star in the among college kids and business investors when he leaves Harvard to land in Silicon Valley. The ending leaves you hanging and overall the book sucked. Moving on......


King Raven Trilogy(Hood, Scarlet, Tuck) by Stephen Lawhead
The series is a retelling of the Robin Hood story with a different perspective. They have a bit more of a sci-fi feeling, Robin Hood meets Lord of the Rings. Fortunately they are not 500 pages a piece and good writing always makes for good reading. Too many sci-fi books are encyclopedias on steroids and I am not great at finishing every book I start . Lawhead has written a number of series with a Celtic background and he incorporates that here. This series is a good one and I recommend it. A quick piece of advice, I felt like Hood started slow and actually stopped reading it until I was told it gets better quickly.