WestBow Press

Steveo's books

Blink
Outliers: The Story of Success
Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy and the New Science of Desire
The Shack
The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here for?
The Prayer of Jabez:  Breaking Through to the Blessed Life
My Utmost for His Highest: Traditional Updated Edition
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate
90 Minutes in Heaven
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
A Wrinkle in Time
The Six Sigma Way
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us?  The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World
The Hunger Games
Mere Christianity
Cash: The Autobiography
Catching Fire


Steveo's favorite books »
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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Then Sings My Soul Special Edition Review

The book, Then Sings My Soul Special Edition, is a great book to remember hymns from for the past. There are 150 hymns in this book with each one having a story behind it. It is amazing how each one comes alive after reading the history of the hymns. This will help give you a new meaning for of some of the hymns. It will also give you a new perspective for your favorite ones. This book is a must have for everyone that has heard hymns in their life.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Caffeine in milligrams

I am not missing soft drinks as much as I thought I would. Here is the amount of caffeine in milligrams.

Dr Pepper 42-44 (i guess it depend on the person/machine making the drinks that day)

Regular Tea 40

So I guess no withdrawals from caffeine. It is still early. Next time I will look up the sugar amount in the drinks.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

POP or COKE no more

Back in April of this year I decided to give up diet drinks. So I switched to the regular stuff. Little did I know that there would be withdrawals from not drinking diet drinks. I now had the regular stuff in my system. But 13 days into no diet drinks came restless nights, pains throughout my body and the worse poop I have every had. I finally figured out the reason for the withdrawals --- aspartame.

So now it will be Tea and/or Water for all meals. I guess will find out in the coming days if there will be any withdrawals.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Awesome Book - The Heavens Proclaim His Glory

The Heavens Proclaim His Glory will make the perfect coffee table book. With this book we get a glimpse of just have big our universe is. The pictures are very amazing. I am glad the Hubble Telescope was invented because we would not experience stars, planets and other objects billions and billions and billions of light years away without it. We have such a creative God that our minds cannot fathom. Along with the pictures are inspirational messages that add to the beauty of the pictures. This is a great book just to sit back enjoy the splendor of the Creator.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Outlive Your Life You Were Made to Make a Difference - Review

Outlive Your Life You Were Made to Make a Difference, by Max Lucado is a great book about how to make an impact now and in the future. This book will give you, ideas of ways to outlive your life. One of the examples that I remember the most is the small business loans to owners of less fortune countries. The idea is not to just give them money but to have them pay the loan back. Plus it is not just one owner but several owners in that community so there is good peer pressure for each one to succeed. There are many more ideas in this book so that maybe one or two will agree with you and you can give them a try. This is an easy read and a book that will get you to think.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Get the Truth

Here is a book that will shed light on how statistics can be misrepresented on Christians; Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...and Other Lies You've Been Told by Bradley R.E. Wright. This book is very informative on not just current trends but trends from the past. The author compares the current graphs to past graphs and the right conclusion can be made. It is nice to know that Christians are not as bad as the press would like you to know. Also, just because one source says something bad about Christianity does not mean it is true. We need more people like Bradley Wright to speak up so that right information is giving. This is a great read and great information on the truth.

I received this book from Bethany House.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Great Gift Book

The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews would make an awesome gift book for anyone. You will be motivated by this book to be a person to change your world. We never know how we can effect this world and this book will show you how. Each of us counts and can make a difference. Our role can be minor or major but it still will count.

By reading this book you will also learn some history on the civil war, George Washington Carver and more. Overall this book is a well written and will inspire you.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Great Book for Children

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrew is an excellent story about George Washington Carver. The book is well written for children with great illustrations. This book will inspire young readers to be the one to change their world. Also, they will not only be inspired but will learn about one of the greatest inventors of all times. Plus they will have an understanding of how people played a role in the life and can affect the course of history.
This is an easy to understand book for children. The illustrations will help keep their attentions. They will not only learn a valuable life lesson but will also learn a little bit about history. This is a great book for a child’s library collection.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Prophecy Answer Book by Dr. David Jeremiah

If you want answers for the future of mankind, The Prophecy Answer Book by Dr. David Jeremiah is the book for you. This book is nicely divided into different categories ranging from the present day events, antichrist, rapture and more. Revelation along with other books of the bible that has prophecy about the coming of Christ and events can be hard and confusing, but this book breaks down these areas in simple form to understand.

This book will inspire you to talk with other people about prophecies in the bible. I think that one of the most fascinating topics of the book was the Garden of Eden and the oil today. This book will help you think of how events in the past affect the events of today. This is a great book to read and it does not talk over your head.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Review of the The Selfless Gene

The Selfless Gene Living with God and Darwin by Charles Foster is a very thought provoking book for God and Science. I am glad that he has tackled a subject like this because sometimes deep topics need to be broken down into smaller ones to understand them. He does a great job in balancing both sides in this book. I have always believed that the bible proves science and science proves the bible. Most of the time I feel that our brains cannot handle or figure just how it all was works.

This is a great book to read. Do not go into this book expecting a fight with it if you do you will miss out on some great points. Books like these will stretch us in our beliefs and help us to understand God more.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Anatomy of the Soul review

Anatomy of the Soul is a great read for anyone trying to figure out life. This book really had a great impact on me because it confirmed and continued a subject matter that our small group had been talking about. Reading this book can set you free from what I believe to be a huge barrier in a person life, which is shame. We are not the first generation to experience this emotion. It started with Adam and Eve and continues through out the bible and life today. An additional topic that I really liked was about being known. This one is big and there is a whole chapter about it. This book is for anyone wanting to understand themselves and others better. Dr Curt Thompson has written a well-rounded book that blends science and religion together.

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Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or ARC.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Review - Searching For God Knows What

Searching for God Knows What expanded edition is the first book I have ever read by Donald Miller and it will not be my last. The book is very thought provoking. Now I did not think so at first because the first chapter was really different from most books. I had know idea where and what this book was about just from the first chapter but I was determine to find out. I kept on reading it and I am glad I did. The material in this book will get you thinking and see things from a different perspective. I really like how an idea was kept in play from chapter to chapter. This connection led to a deeper understanding of these ideas.

This book is an easy read. Do not be too quick to put down this book after the first chapter. Books like these help a person from getting in a mind set that they have all the answers or there way is always right. There appears to be an online game to play with prizes in the book so that should be an added bonus for any reader.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255



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Thursday, April 29, 2010

After reading the first chapter of Radical Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt, you start thinking how have I missed it and how has our churches missed it. It seems like everyone is caught up in the American Dream including the church. From just the first chapter it will make you step back and think hard about your life and what is important. I cannot wait to read the rest of this book.

Title Radical Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
Author David Platt
ISBN: 9781601422217
Categories: Religion - Christian Life


For more information visit:
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/2010/04/20/sneak-peek-radical-by-david-platt/
http://www.radicalthebook.com/

Plan B - Review

This book, Plan B, by Pete Wilson is a must have for anyone with these types questions: why did my life not turn out the way I thought it would, what is the next step since I am not where I want to be or this was not suppose to happen so now what. This book has met me in a place of me searching for answers in my life. Some of the information is new and some of the information is confirming the words that have been spoken to me in the past few days, weeks and months.

This book is very well written and down to earth read. The first part of the book is gentle in nature. This helps the reader to get to know the heart of the author. Then towards the end of the book some not so gentle advice is giving but it is done in love, mercy and grace. And knowing the author has your best interest at heart it is painless to take. So be prepared for this and your life will be change forever.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255


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Thursday, April 22, 2010

You Can Be Everything God Wants You To Be - Review

This gift book, You Can Be Everything God Wants You To Be by Max Lucado, would be an excellent gift for a graduate. I wish I had it when I had graduated from high school or even college. Looking back it would have been nice to have some none bias opinions for the direction of your life. This book would serve well in this role. Parents, teachers and guidance counselors have great ideas and want you to be successful in life but they may not pull the true desires of your heart out. This book can get you to think and reflect on what motivations you which could lead you in the right path for your life.

This book has great illustrations on life. The one I remember most out of the book is S.T.O.R.Y. I will not tell you what it means but this will help keep things in perspective. Overall this is a good book for anyone to read to bring you back into balance. I like the cover of the book and the book is an easy read. Life can be difficult but this book just might help with making it a bit easier.

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YOU CAN BE EVERYTHING GOD WANTS YOU TO BE (Hardcover)
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN-10: 0849946654


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Review of Different Eyes the Art of Living Beautifully

As for the outside of the book, I like the look of the cover for Different Eyes the Art of Living Beautifully by Steve Chalke. As for the inside of the book, it is clean looking, written very well and laid out very nicely which makes it very easy to read.

This book is very thought-provoking. It allows the reader to think differently about several subjects. At the end of each section are letters addressing tough issues. Along with these letters are questions to help engage your mind into looking at these issues in another way.

This book is very well written and at times very deep. But do not let that scare you away from reading it. There are several quotes that I will use from this book. There is a great story about comparing a police recruit and Christian living. If you want to challenge your view, this book is for you.

This book was provided to me by Zondervan Publishers for review purposes.


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Different Eyes: The Art of Living Beautifully
by Steve Chalke
ISBN-10: 031032680X

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Review of The Red Letters Project

The Red Letter Project is well worth listening to. My favorite band growing up would always have scriptures associated with their songs so this music was easy for me to enjoy. With all the words straight from the Bible it will without a doubt become one of my favorites to listen to. Also, this will help you memorize scriptures. The music style is mostly rock and roll but do not let that become a stumbling block to not trying it out.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided you with a complimentary copy of this product.


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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Breakthrough to Clarity Bible Contest and Giveaway

The New Living Translation Break Through to Clarity Bible Contest and Giveaway
Visit www.facebook.com/NewLivingTranslation and click on the tab that says “Sweepstakes”
Fill out a simple form, take a quick Bible clarity survey, invite your friends to join and you’ll be entered to win one of our exciting prizes.
With each fan number milestone a new prize will be given away.
Grand Prize
Apple iPad 64G and a Life Application Study Bible
Awarded when the NLT Fan Page hits the fifth milestone
Retail Value: $829.00
2nd Prize - Already awarded
32G iPod Touch and a Life Application Study Bible
Awarded when the NLT Fan Page hits the fourth milestone
Retail Value: $300.00
3rd Prize – Will be awarded when fan count hits: 3500
Kindle DX and a Life Application Study Bible
Awarded when the NLT Fan Page hits the third milestone
Retail Value: $489.00
4th Prize Will be awarded when fan count hits: TBD
Apple iPad 16G and a Life Application Study Bible
Awarded when the New Living Translation Fan Page hits the second milestone
Retail Value: $499.00
5th Prize Will be awarded when fan count hits: TBD
Apple iPad 32G and a Life Application Study Bible
Awarded when the NLT Fan Page hits the first milestone
Retail Value: $599.00

Prize Eligibility – Recently updated to include more countries
Sweepstakes participants and winner(s) can be U.S. residents of the 50 United States, or residents of any country that is NOT embargoed by the United States, but cannot be residents of Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India. In addition, participants and winner(s) must be at least 18 years old, as determined by the Company.

Sweepstakes Starts
March 17, 2010 @ 10:24 am (PDT)

Sweepstakes Ends
April 30, 2010 @ 10:24 am (PDT)


Wait, there’s more!
Visit http://biblecontest.newlivingtranslation.com/index.php for a chance to win a trip for two to Hawaii!
Here are the details:
Choose one of six passages of Scripture from the New Living Translation and consider:
How do these verses encourage you to know God better?
What is God teaching you in this passage?
How does this passage apply to your life?
Submit your answer and you’ll be entered to win.
Just for signing up: Everybody Wins! Win a Free .mp3 download from the NLT’s new Red Letters Project. It’s the dynamic, new presentation of the sung and narrated words of the Gospel of Matthew. You win the download just for entering! Or choose to download the NLT Philippians Bible Study, complete with the Book of Philippians in the NLT.
Every day, one person will win the best-selling Life Application Study Bible!
The grand prize: One person will win a fantastic trip for two to the crystal clear waters of the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu’s North Shore in beautiful
Hawaii.

How to Build a Life-Changing Men's Ministry: Practical Ideas and Insights for Your Church Review

This book is absolute must for any church starting, redoing or jump starting their men’s ministry. The author, Steve Sonderman, has taken the successes and failures of men’s ministry from his experiences as well as others to help create building blocks for churches to follow. It is great to have a book where you do not have to reinvent the wheel for a men’s ministry. This is a great tool for creating a successful men’s ministry.

There is a lot of information so to read it one time would be a disservice for you and your church. I will be reading this over and over again to soak up as much of the information I can.

I received this complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers

How to Build a Life-Changing Men's Ministry: Practical Ideas and Insights for Your Church
Steve Sonderman
ISBN: 0764207482


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Monday, March 22, 2010

The Map: The Way of All Great Men review

I normally do not read fiction so I knew going into reading The Map that I would need to prepare myself for a little fiction. It was well worth the preparation. The first half of the book is fiction and the second half is not. I really enjoyed the adventure of the first half of the book in finding “the map”. This helped set the stage for the second half of the book which shows us three journeys in a man’s life.
This is a must read for any man wanting to understand his role in life. Understanding the three journeys will help any man bring balance to his life and deeper understanding of himself. While reading about the journeys and related stories for each one, gave me some much needed insight about events that happened in my life. It helped to look back on these events and realize what I could have done differently or the person going through that event could have done differently.
This book will definitely help me in the future. I plan on reading it over again every six months so I can stay on track and find new ideas that I might have missed from the previous reads.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

The Map: The Way of All Great Men
by David Murrow
ISBN: 0785227628

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns - book review

This is a must read for everyone that follows Christ. This book brings the reader back to reality of this world. The reality of this world is many people are living in poverty, many people are living with diseases without cures, many people are living with unclean water and many people are living without food. The Bible makes it very clear what we should do. This book makes it very clear how we missed it but gives us direction on how to help. The need is great but there is a solution. The commission of helping the poor, orphans and widows can be overwhelming for a person but with organizations like World Vision makes it a doable mission.

This book does not get bogged down with a bunch of statistics on the world’s condition. It gives real life stories to illustrate just how lives are changed by doing something.

Also, Mr. Stearns personal journey to Word Vision is very captivating. His life journey not only inspires but motivates the reader.

While reading this book the Haiti earthquake happened. The devastation to that country was unbelievable. Thank God that World Vision was there so people could have away to send their support.



Title: The Hole in Our Gospel
Author:Richard Stearns
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN 0785229183




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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Next Book Review

The Hole in Our Gospel:
What does God expect of Us?
The Answer that Changed
my Life and Might Just Change the World

By:Richard Stearns
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN 0785229183

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Book Review - This Is Your Brain in Love

This book is an easy and fun read. The tests for each type of love are short and easy. You get great information along with great practical application. The applications are not a quick fix but it appears using them over time will greatly help any marriage. One of the best things I learned from this book is how the Jewish culture views marriage and sex. It will open your eyes up to the fact that sometimes your culture does not have it right.

There are many stories of marriage life from his counseling sessions. These real life examples help you recognize the love type of you and your spouse. From just reading the stories, I could almost pinpoint what love type I was and my wife was.

The one negative thing about the book was a feeling of it being an advertisement. This is scattered throughout the book so it became a bit of a distraction. I am all for giving credit where credit is due for an idea or concept but I feel it was a little too much. If you can get by this one distraction the book has great potential to change your marriage for the better.

This Is Your Brain in Love
Dr Earl Heslin
Thomas Nelson Publishers
ISBN 780785228752



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Friday, January 8, 2010

Who Knew I Like History - (my wife did)

A friend of mine lent me a book about the 12 day chase of John Wilkes Booth. So a few chapters into the book I realized that I like history. While I am reading some other books right now, I figure I would do a book review of Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson.

This book not only goes into great length about the chase of Lincoln’s killer, it gives the reader insight of other key people during this time frame. Mr. Swanson has done some amazing research into Lincoln, Booth and the rest of the key people.

If I had read this in history class, I would have a whole new approach to learning history. Do not miss out on one of the most well written books on Lincoln’s killer. This book has launched me in reading other books about history.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Next Book Review

Watch in the coming weeks for my next book review.

This is Your Brain in Love
by Dr Earl Henslin
ISBN 978-0-7852-2875-2