“The Case for Christ” and “The Real Benjamin Franklin”
Last night, I bought a couple books that I’ve been hearing about for a while now, and I figured it was high time I read them…or at least had them in the house to be available when I felt like reading them.
The first is “The Case for Christ,” by Lee Strobel. I’ve heard it’s really a fascinating book about an atheist’s (Lee Strobel, himself) investigation into who Christ was and whether or not Christianity actually had its facts straight about Him. I flipped through it and read a couple paragraphs. It seemed like he went to several religious scholars and teachers and interviewed them about who Jesus was and challenged them with some of the questions that come up about Jesus. It seems like it will be an interesting read that moves along fairly quickly.
The second book I bought is “The Real Benjamin Franklin,” by Andrew Allison. This book — and the others in the American Classic Series: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, etc. — come highly recommended by Glenn Beck. I’ve recently been kind of awakened to the political state of our country in recent days, what with my brother running for Congress and all the turmoil in Washington right now and all that. It’s really made me realized that I don’t have a very good handle on how the country was started and who our Founding Fathers really were. So, I picked up this book about Benjamin Franklin, because I’ve heard it’s one of the more accurate portrayals of who he really was.
I was going to pick up the one about George Washington, but it’s massive and a bit intimidating. That one will be next. Anyway, this book about Ben Franklin is pretty much a compilation of his own writings and well-known facts about his life. The author really doesn’t add anything to the story, except to create smooth transitions from one part of Franklin’s life to the next. I’m only about 30 pages into the book (which, having only bought it last night, is an accomplishment for me, a slow reader) and already enjoying it immensely.
Already, I’m learning that his success didn’t begin when he was an adult. He was building his success long before that when he was a child. And, really, his father’s character, which was developed long before Ben was even around, had a huge influence on who Ben became. The book recounts Franklin’s memories of how his father would invite men of stature and wisdom into their home for dinner so that his children would be exposed to their conversations. It’s really an interesting concept. I would expound on my opinion of how people underestimate the mental capacity of children today, but that’s another post for another day. 
Anyway, This book is really very well done, and I am really looking forward to reading the rest of it.
Well, I just wanted to give you a little heads-up that I’ll be posting my opinion of these books when I’m done with them, but I’m expecting both of these books to be excellent. So, don’t wait for me to tell you about them, you can go ahead and buy them. Oh, and if you’ve already read them, let me know what you thought in the comments.
