I just finished reading The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life by Steve Leveen, and I have to say it’s a nice little volume.  It will probably take most readers less than three hours to get through, but despite its brevity, it is full of inspiration and useful advice for getting the most out of your books and your reading ritual.

I offer here some of the points that I found most interesting and useful.

• Choose books deliberately (Keep a “list of candidates”)

• Don’t feel guilty about not finishing books that you aren’t enjoying

• Take notes on books, non-fiction especially (write in the margins or in a notebook)

• Read books that relate to your current life circumstance, situation, or even location

• Keep an annotated bibliography of books you read for future reference

• Be open to audiobooks - 1 per month could mean 12 extra books read per year!

How do you get the most out of your books?

Star Trek in almost all of its  forms is special to me. Star Trek: The Next Generation and the original series movie franchise played particularly important roles in my childhood; many good times were had with my family watching Kirk, Picard and company save the universe episode after episode and movie installment after movie installment. I have great memories of watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn in great suspense, laughing at the silliness that was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and discussing the ethical quandaries that always seemed to plague the crew of Starfleet’s flagship vessel in each new episode of ST:TNG. So it was with both ancipiation and nervousness that I waited for J.J. Abram’s (the guy behind Lost, Alias, and Cloverfield) re-interpretation of what is probably my absolute favorite entertainment franchise of all time.

I’m pleased to be able to report that this new Star Trek excels in virtually every area, and would undoubtedly make Gene Roddenberry (the original creator of the concept and characters, now no longer with us) very proud.

The story takes us back to the beginning, before even the very first 5 year mission from the Original Series, and in so doing opens up a whole new world of character exploration. In the first television episodes, we met the crew of the starship Enterprise well into their mission…they were a seasoned and mature team that seemed to work together seamlessly. In this film, we get to see all the first meetings, conflicts, and romances that were barely hinted at in previous storylines. We observe the crew members as they are thrown into epic, life threatening circumstances–after having just barely met–and are molded into what we already know they can be. Not only is this story great for fans (we get to witness stuff of legend) but it provides a starting point for anybody to jump in and enjoy the movie…no prior ST knowledge required.

All of the actors do a bang-up job at capturing the essence of their iconic and beloved characters, while lending fresh perspectives. Zachary Quinto (Heroes) is particularly effective as the logical half-Vulcan Spock. While no one will ever completely fill the shoes of the original cast, these new representatives  are certainly worthy bearers of the proverbial torch.

Despite being a self-proclaimed “reboot” of the franchise, I was incredibly glad to see how much of Trek is still present. Everything’s gotten a visual refresh, for sure, and of course in its attempt to be more mainstream-friendly we’re going to have a more action-heavy plot, but the little things that make Trek familiar are still there: swooshing sounds as doors open, the ambient electronic chirp on the bridge of the Enterprise, and of course clever back-and-forth banter between the central trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. And even though J.J. Abrams is blatantly changing established “history,” he still ties it in with the rest of the franchise in a very Star Trek way (hint: time travel is involved ;).

One last thing that makes this movie great: in the end, it chooses substance over style. While Abrams could have very well have made a generic space-action flick with the Star Trek moniker slapped on for marketing effect, he and his writing team chose to keep deeper and familiar themes like emotion vs. logic, the makings of real leadership, and the inner workings of friendship at the forefront. And in my opinion, nothing is more Star Trek than that.

I was listening to podcasts today as I did some household chores, and I was really, really moved by this episode of the Internet Monk podcast entitled “Garbage and Baggage We Put With The Gospel.” Working from Matthew 23, “post-evangelical” pundit Michael Spencer talks about the things we (yes, you and me) often require along with the Gospel for people to be considered “good Christians.”

Spencer’s subject is a familiar one for those of us immersed in evangelicalism, but he turns it around a bit. To him, the story in Matthew 23 isn’t Jesus vs. bad guys, it’s Jesus speaking to misguided peers, working within the same religious assumptions that he was. Spencer takes a hard look at what it means for us to be Pharisees in today’s world, and you might be offended at what he suggests…but I think he makes good points, the main one being: It’s not about whether or not you have tattoos, listen to rap music, or love Harry Potter–it’s about your relationship with Jesus and the spirit with which you go about your making your decisions.

What really got me thinking were Spencer’s concluding thoughts about how we might be driving people away from Christ with all of the extra “requirements” for being truly accepted into the Christian family. He said he could think of several people who would love to follow Jesus, they just don’t want all the extra drama and expectations that aren’t really biblical. What stopped me in my tracks was that I could think of several people as well.

Spencer doesn’t say we don’t have an obligation to be obedient (quite the opposite), just that we sure tend bring a lot of our own rules to table when we start telling people how to be a “good” Christian and forget the most important things: loving God, loving people, and sharing the good news about Jesus.

I think it’s high time we stop pointing at our Christian brothers and sisters and at other Christian traditions, and start a little self evaluation here. Too often we imagine Jesus as the poster boy for our brand of Christianity, and the Pharisees as everyone else. But you know what? I bet you have a little Pharisee in you…I know I do. We need to take a look at how we approach discipleship and how we we engage our culture, and take stock of ways we might be Pharisaical in our approach…remember, in large part it’s likely that the Pharisees’ traditions were well intentioned, but in the process they lost the essence of God’s teaching.

I can’t articulate this nearly as well as the Internet Monk. Take a moment to go and listen to his “Garbage and Baggage We Put With The Gospel” and let me know what you think.

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I recently wrote and recorded a new song called “Things I Never Want to Say,” which I humbly offer here for your listening enjoyment. I recorded everything in my home “studio,” and while my vocals aren’t really up to par on this track (at least IMHO) Amber really sings well and it was fun to work with my new Yamaha PSR 310 keyboard to add drums, bass, and synth parts. Despite some of my pitch issues, I think it ended up being a good song and a half-way decent demo recording…although I’m severely tempted to redo the vocals some time soon…

• download recording in mp3 format (higher file size, high quality, works with every player)
• download recording in ogg format (lower file size, high quality, What’s Ogg?)
• download chord sheet in pdf

Lyrics:

Things I Never Want to Say
by Nathan R. Hale

I never want to say
That I never did try
‘Cause I’m afraid I wouldn’t get by
I never want to say
That I never did live
‘Cause I’m afraid of what I couldn’t give

Every day seems a little busier
than the one that came before
Even now I’m a little older
and asking what’s in store

I don’t the know the future
and I don’t care to know
I just don’t want to be left
putting on an empty show

I never want to say
That I never did hope
‘Cause I’m afraid of a hopeless cause
I never want to say
That I never did help
‘Cause I’m afraid of helplessness

Every day could seem a little brighter
If I could manage to to follow the light
Every day could seem a little longer
If only I wouldn’t fall away

Every moment we give to something we hate
Is a moment we’ve thrown away
Every single little step that I take
Is something I can never get back

Things I Never Want to Say by Nathan R. Hale is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Can we really claim ownership over information? Maybe only as long as it’s a secret. This is an idea I’m always thinking about–this thing called “intellectual property.” A friend recently asked me,  should artists get paid? And I said “yes!” As an artist, I like to get paid.That being said, I struggle with the idea of retaining absolute ownership over even my own creations once I’ve released them to the public.

Is it right for others to make money off my hard work, my creativity? It doesn’t seem like it. Nevertheless, these words from Thomas Jefferson got me thinking:

If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.

So if someone takes the art I create (but still have a copy of…e.g., music) have I really been robbed? What are your thoughts?

I’ve been pretty vocal in the past regarding my dislike for personal blogging…in all reality , most people don’t really care what I had for breakfast, what I’ve been “up to,” or even my latest personal crisis, for that matter.

That being said, I find myself wanting to write about certain things that really don’t fit in at my main blog, ProductiveLinux. Every now and then I have thoughts about productivity, faith, and even technology that beg more than a quick Facebook update or forum post.

I’m not planning on making a special effort to post regularly or anything (PL gets a lot of attention), but this will help me get some stuff off my mind and will record it for my own future reference. I’m also importing into Facebook, so friends and relatives that are interested can take a look.

So, while I will be (hopefully) avoiding the boring stuff, I think I’m going to take some time to post some long-form thoughts here.

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