Peter Downey

Speaking as someone who is a new dad (nine days as of writing), there is much to learn about being a dad in a finite period and so self-help and advice books can be more than useful, particularly if they include lots of dad jokes.

"So you're going to be a dad" provides advice and dad jokes aplenty, although my (used) copy has plenty of handwritten, almost angry, comments in the margins. Indeed, in response to the author's remarks about fatherhood being wonderful, someone has written "wrong!" So, obviously not everyone found this book as useful as me.… (mehr)

Ben Shaw and Peter Downey are two authors from the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia who have written "Inspired Stuff" a great handbook about the Bible. The book attempts to: a) tell people about the Bible b) give some helpful background to the Bible c) summarize what people will find between it's covers d) encourage people to read the Bible In doing so they've split the book into two parts.
Part 1 - The Great Journey
is made up of background information about the Bible. Where did it come from, who wrote it, when was it written, what's it about.
Part 2 - The Big Picture
delves into the content of the Bible itself. The aim is to give readers a quick understanding of the big picture of the Bible, it's stories and people. The aim of this section is to encourage readers to dive into the Bible for themselves and to equip them to do so. This book is, first of all, a map of the bible. It's a guide, a non-academic map for people who are wanting a simple, easy way to explore the themes, people and places of the bible. Don't come to this book expecting a discussion of controversial issues, the authors have decided that the need to keep this book simple and, more importantly smaller than the encyclopedia Britannica that they'd concentrate on scratching the surface of the Bible, it's geography, where it fits into the history of the land and the people. This book is an introduction to the bible for people who think that they know a little and want to know more, for people who know nothing and more importantly this is a great book for young people who want to begin exploring the bible. This is about the big picture, it talks about where in the bible the books fit, about where the books fit in our history, about who can be found in the books and then provides you with a few miscellaneous facts like: "Ben Shaw wanted to name his cat Habakkuk but his wife wouldn't let him"This is an easy to read book, both of the author's humour and style of writing turns what could have been a boring encyclopedia into a good, bite-sized, inspirational conversation about the Bible.… (mehr)