Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine

Your mind is your best friend but it can also be your worst enemy. “High Positive Intelligence means your mind acts as your friend far more that your enemy. Low Positive Intelligence is the reverse.” Positive Intelligence is an indications of the control you have over your own mind. Your level of Positive Intelligence determines how much of your true potential you actually achieve.

PQ stands for Positive Intelligence Quotient. Ranging from 0 to 100, it identifies the percentage of time your mind is your friend. A PQ score of 75 is usually a critical tipping point. Above it you are generally uplifted by the internal dynamics of your mind while below it you are generally being dragged down by those dynamics.

Eighty percent of people and teams score below this critical point. That means 80 percent of people and teams fall short of achieving their potential for success and happiness.

Shirzad has focused on giving specific tools to sharpen your Positive Intelligence and raise your PQ score. He developed these techniques to build new neural pathways in your brain, strengthening your brain “muscles.”

He has divided the book into six parts. After a general overview, the next three parts are three different strategies for increasing your PQ, weakening your Saboteurs, strengthening your Sage, and strengthening your brain muscles. These strategies take ten seconds or less.

The next part is on measuring your PQ, measuring your progress, how the scores relate to happiness and performance, and why the tipping point is where it is.

The last part of the book reveals the many applications of the three PQ strategies, using actual case studies.

Shirzad writes that he has “attempted in this book to show that increasing your Positive Intelligence is the most efficient and sustainable way to increase both your effectiveness and your happiness, and that the same holds true for any team you might belong to.” Practice is the key, he reminds us.

He includes an informative Appendix for those interested in the physiological aspects of the brain and its functions.

I think this book has great potential. His strategies remind me a bit of mindfulness as we become aware of what our brain is doing as it hinders or helps us. I found the strategies to be simple and done easily in ten seconds. As with most book on increasing your productivity and happiness, the strategy just needs to be followed.

Find out more, take an assessment, and watch Shirzad at Stanford, go to http://positiveintelligence.com/

Greenleaf Book Group, 224 pages.

I received an egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Be the One! by Charles Ambroselli

Ambroselli wrote this book “to give you the knowledge, wisdom, and inspiration you need to conquer life's problems and turn your future around. Not only change your future, but also change the nation's future, the world's future, and the future of many generations to come.” (1)

Each of us has a share in the responsibility for the condition of the nation. “And it is up to each one of us to change our ways, confront our problems, and turn our nation around.” (2) The time is now to start making the right decisions. God has given you everything you need to be successful. You must make the decisions, one at a time. “The goal of this book is to give you God's timeless truth so that you will be empowered to take control of your life and your future, and achieve all the great things God has destined for you.” (4)

He addresses those things that might hinder us, such as what you believe about yourself. He speaks to the importance of right knowledge and its right application. “Seek after God's knowledge and a relationship with Him.” (18) He reminds us of the necessity of loving God with all of our being, and loving others. He touches on communication and the power of words.

About money he says, “...it is God's will for you to work and to be productive.” (69) Seeking God and His will is necessary for God's financial blessing. He includes some very sensible ideas about money management.

Regarding health, “Divine health manifests itself in your life because your body is submitted to divine order and Biblical principles.” (86) He states that it is not God's will for you to be sick. (87) “We must believe, know, confess, and apply the truth that it is God's will for us to be healthy and to live in victory.” (88) He notes the possible relation of health to spirituality: “A lack of spiritual reverence and submission can lead to bad health both in the short-term and in the long-term.” (92)

He has strong words for fathers and emphasizes their responsibilities. “If there is anyone to blame for our economic status, spiritual status, financial status, it is the fathers.” (97) For mothers, “The primary role and responsibility of a mother is submission to God and proper relationship with Him. He must come first. Not your husband. Not your career.” (105) Yet, “...the second major responsibility and role of a mother is fulfilling the needs of her husband.” (105) “The Bible specifically directs women to be homemakers and to take care of your children. This is part of the requirement of being in right relationship with God.” (106)

He notes that young adults will have to face the consequences of the actions of this generation. The youth, he writes, “must rise up to be better leaders, stewards, and harder workers than the previous generations.” (110)

The biggest problem in government is not the president nor the political party. “The biggest problem is that each member of society does not understand that they are part of the government and do not fulfill their responsibilities.” (115) If individuals were in submission to God, the size of government would slowly but surely decrease. “The lack of self-government has led to the economic difficulties that we currently face.” (116) He has some words for government too. “God and Biblical principles need to be involved in every area of government...” (118) “We must be one nation under God. If we submit to His authority and to His direction, we will be blessed with His protection and His provision.” (120)

The church, he writes, has dropped the ball. The church's disobedience is destroying the nation. (129) He outlines right action for the church.

He ends with a challenge to the nation – What will be the response to the information presented in this book? (132)

The emphasis in this book is achieving great things. It leans heavily toward the “positive confession” idea. For example, “To achieve the great things God has prepared for us, we must believe and confess God's Word over our bodies, our lives, our finances, our future, and our nation.” (41) Yet he is quick to point out individual responsibilities, such as right eating, right financial habits, etc.

I think this book would be best read in a discipleship group. Ambroselli has lots of encouragement but little in practical technique, or “how to.” A group could generate ideas and hold each other accountable.

He has included questions at the end of each chapter for further reflection and discussion.

Charles R. Ambroselli is the founder and pastor of Kingdom at Mount Zion Family Church in Marietta, Georgia, and is the proud father of three beautiful girls. He is a Certified Financial Planner™, a Certified Public Accountant, and a Qualified Kingdom Advisor™. Charles earned a Bachelors and a Masters of Business Administration from Saint Bonaventure University. Both degrees are concentrated in accounting and finance. Currently, Charles is a doctoral student at Christian Leadership University. He also has completed academic programs at College for Financial Planning and at the Christian Living Bible Institute.

You can find out more at www.ubetheone.com. 

CrossBooks Publishers (a division of Lifeway), 140 pages.

I received an egalley of this book from TB&B Media for the purpose of this review.

Baroness by Susan May Warren

The time is the “Roaring Twenties.” Lilly and Rosie, cousins and young daughters of wealthy American families, are in Paris, seeing a bit of the world before marriage. Their lives have been planned for them – an arranged marriage then carrying on the family fortune and responsibility.

But that is not what the women want. Lilly wants to go back to the family ranch in Montana, not run the newspaper empire her mother runs. And Rosie pines for the lights of the increasingly popular silver screen.

The novel follows the decisions they make, often desperate to get away from their family and preplanned lives. Most of their decisions are poorly made, heartache and anguish following.

I have read several of Warren's novels and of them all, I liked this one the least. There is nothing lighthearted here. The decisions Rosie makes are heartbreaking. The trouble she gets herself into is deadly. Lilly likewise makes decisions that feed her sense of adventure but nearly get her killed. All the while, the families are in the background, ready to rescue the women from their erring ways.

There is a little bit of Christianity in the novel (a tent revival scene), but none of the characters came across as Christians nor did they find support for their troubles in their faith. I am assuming there will be a sequel as Lilly seems to be making a little progress toward a fruitful life but Rosie is as troubled and mixed up as she was at the beginning.

I did not find this a rewarding novel on its own. There is no uplifting aspect of faith. There is no “recognizing the error of my ways” followed by right decisions. It seems like the cousins fight against the best actions right to the end. I hope a sequel does redeem this book.

Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning novelist of over thirty novels.  She is also a five time Christy award finalist, a multi-winner of the Inspirational Reader's Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award.  You can find out more about her and her books at www.susanmaywarren.com.  


I am taking part in a blog tour.  You can find out what others are saying about the book here.

Summerside Press, 367 pages.  To buy the book, visit your local Christian bookstore.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Coming Apart by Charles Murray

If you think the rich are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poorer, according to Murray, you're right. His thesis: “Our nation is coming apart at the seams – not ethnic seams, but the seams of class.” (269)

Murray identifies November 21, 1963 as a turning point in American history. This book is about the evolution of American society since that date, “leading to the formation of classes that are different in kind and in their degree of separation from anything that the nation has ever known.” (11) He is convinced that if this divergence into separate classes continues, it will end what has made America America. His primary goal is to recognize the ways in which America is coming apart at the seams. He focuses on white America so this coming apart will be understood as not an issue of race or immigration.

There is a new upper class that is different from anything the country has seen. They are the people who run the nation's economic, political, and cultural institutions. Murray designates the top 5 percent working in managerial positions, in the professions, and in content-production jobs in the media as the “new upper class.” (20) They have become increasingly isolated and that has been accompanied by a growing ignorance about the country over which they have great power.

Murray looks at the millionaires in 1963 and notes that there was not that much difference in their clothing, cars, houses, etc. from the middle class. Now the wealthy lifestyle is quite different from the middle class. He looks at the role of education in the emergence of the new upper class.

He notes that the new upper class consists of people born into upper-middle-class families and have never lived outside that experience. (100-1) The danger is that the people who have so much influence in the course of the nation have little experience with ordinary Americans. They make decisions based on their own lives, so much unlike that of the vast majority of Americans.

And everybody else? “In the years after 1960, America developed something new: a white lower class that did not consist of a fringe, but of a substantial part of what was formally the working class population.” (125) The size of this new lower class is increasing.

He investigates what he calls the “founding virtues.” He covers the changes in marriage and the breakdown of the family in the (white) working class. He notes the weakening of the work ethic. He reports on the changes in honesty, integrity, and increasing crime. He looks at the role of religion in society and the increase of nonbelievers.

In the final part of the book, Murray tells us why all this matters, reporting on the case for the ongoing collapse of American community, particularly in lower class white America. He relates this to deep satisfaction in life. (He is quick to point out the complexity of this issue.)

Murray also relates that adding in nonwhite information does not change the result. White America is not heading in one direction and nonwhite America in another. “The coming apart at the seams has not been confined to whites, not will its evil effects been confined to whites.” (277) He ends by pondering the future of America, looking at the current state of Europe along the way.

He includes many charts and statistical results, as well as several appendices with supplemental material on several of his conclusions.

Being in my mid-sixties, I've lived through this period Murray has investigated. I knew that America today was not the America of my teens. Murray has helped me understand the change and what it might mean for the future. If you are at all interested in the current state of America, how we got here, and what it might mean for the future, you need to read this book.

Charles Murray is the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.  He is the author of several books.  He and his wife live in Burkittsville, Maryland.  Read more about Murray here.

Crown Forum, 407 pages.  Publisher information.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Named by God by Kasey Van Norman

It took Kasey a long time to get it. She splashed in the shallows of Christianity for decades. She became plagued with questions and doubts. “How is it,” she writes, “that this devoted Christian girl from East Texas who sang in the church choir and led small-group Bible study suddenly found herself tossing back a bottleful of Xanax to end it all?” (ix)

Kasey has written this book so we may no longer just talk about a life filled with hope and peace, but actually live it. That we might live not as victim but as victor. That we would strip away our masks. That a passion deep within our soul would be ignited. That we would no longer wade in the shallows but plunge into the deep end with the Lord.

She takes us through the journey, down the winding road of our past, seeing its potential to make us stronger people of God. We hit the rest stop of the present, keeping our focus on God. We feel the brisk wind of the future, God inviting us into his plans.

She shares her own story – raped as a teen, promiscuity following, hospitalized for an eating disorder, cutting herself, living a life of hypocrisy. She realized that it was not what was done to her but her reactions to them that were important. Her mistakes in the past did not have to determine her legacy. As with David, “God can give you a new legacy and allow you to pass on a blessing, not a curse, to the next generation.” (39)

She helps us understand the pain from our past and why God allows it. “What I have learned along the way … is that it is better to know God than to know the answers!” (55) She takes us through the steps of letting God heal our hurts. Then she works on the present and how God will still love us in the midst of our failures. She pays particular attention to how Satan can deceive us and what to do when we sin.

The last section of her book is on the future. We can look to the future with hope. She reminds us that the path to maturity is not an easy one. She encourages us to not be complacent, remembering, “there is nothing sweeter in this world than an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.” (219)

Kasey Van Norman is the founder and president of Kasey Van Norman Ministries in College Station, Texas. She and her husband with in Texas with their two children.

Read the first chapter here.  

Find out more about her ministry here.

Visit her blog, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
Tyndale House Publishers, 223 pages.

watch on tyndale.com

watch on tyndale.com

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers for the purpose of this review.

Darkroom by Joshua Graham

Graham has crafted a novel with intense action from start to finish.

Xandra Carrick is following in her father's footsteps. He was a photographer embedded with the army in Viet Nam. What he saw there he has kept hidden for 35 years. Xandra is a well known photojournalist for a national newspaper. She has traveled the world, photographing the anguish of humanity in turmoil.

The novel opens as Xandra and her father go back to Viet Nam to spread the ashes of her mother. She has taken with her the old film camera her father used all those years ago. Back in New York, she begins to develop the film. As each print of the Viet Nam landscape emerges, she sees momentary images. Death.

She is stunned, overwhelmed by what she is sure her father saw and photographed. She experiments with the camera, taking photos of the park near her apartment. When she develops the photos of the park pond, she momentarily sees a body.

Then the nightmare begins. When she attempts to anonymously report the possibility of a body in the pond, the police come to her and shortly arrest her for the murder.

The situation only gets worse. A senator, running as an independent, will stop at nothing to assure he is elected president. That includes keeping hidden the slaughter he condoned in Viet Nam. Xandra quickly rises to the top of his list of those needing to be silenced – permanently.

This novel has intense action, nearly continuous. At times I had to tell my self to breath – it's only a novel. This fast paced novel has political intrigue, strained family dynamics, and romance. It explores the horrors of war along side that of a warped man bent on political power. It touches on the supernatural, the move of the Spirit revealing truth through visions. Will the truth somehow be brought out to the open before evil quenches it entirely?

If you like political intrigue and high suspense, this novel is for you. It will capture you early on and not let you go until the last page.

There is a discussion guide included.

Joshua Graham has written other novels, some under a pseudonym. He was winner of the 2011 International Book Awards. Read more about him and his works at http://joshua-graham.com/. I will certainly be watching for his next one.

Howard Books (a division of Simon & Schuster), 368 pages.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

40 Questions About The End Times by Eckhard Schnabel

Schnabel lays some ground wok for his book in the Introduction. (The two pages of term definitions are great.) First, the primary text is the New Testament. “In other words, the prophecies of the Old Testament must be integrated into the framework of New Testament prophecy.” (11) Second, Jesus said no one knows the day or hour of his return. Third, early Christians believed the “end times” began with Jesus' coming, death, and resurrection. Fourth, early Christians believed Jesus might return during their lifetime. “This means that the apostles interpreted biblical prophecy … concerning the end times as either fulfilled or as about to be fulfilled in the near future.” (12) Fifth, the same principles of interpretation we apply when we study the other parts of Scripture must be followed when we study prophecy.

With this informative Introduction, Schnabel addresses the 40 questions. The first ones are general.

The next section of questions deal with the future of the church. He shows that the period of the “great tribulation” belongs to the period between Jesus' first and second comings. Therefore, “Christians do live through the period of great distress or tribulation.” (77) (He dismantles the “pre-trib” view.)

Next he covers the future of Israel. Schnabel systematically goes through all of the Old and New Testament Scriptures on the subject. His conclusion regarding Rom. 11:26 may surprise some. “What is clear … is the fact that Paul does not speak of a future of Israel in nationalistic or territorial terms.” (126)

He next covers the return of Jesus, first noting the events before his return. He investigates the Antichrist, 666, the beast, the harlot, Gog and Magog, Armageddon, etc.

He ends with why we should care about the end times.

Schnabel is careful to cover every Scripture on each subject, at times looking at the original language. He reviews the possible answers to each question, evaluates them and then gives his own conclusion. He ends each section with a summary and reflective questions.

Schnabel has done excellent research, presenting all sides of an issue with clarity. The writing is such that general readers will have no difficulty with this often confusing subject. This is a great book for anyone who has been asking questions about the end times and is looking for answers.

Eckhard Schnabel is professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Kregel Publications, 352 pages. Publisher product page.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Off Target by John Noe

Noe believes that Christianity has been tamed, that culture has triumphed. “The vast majority of we Christians today have been led astray, dumbed down, and pulled off target by our own leaders.” (238) Our current form of Christianity is far from that of the early church. He addresses 18 areas he believes the church is “off target.”

In a blog of this length, I'll only go through a few of the 18 issues, noting Noe's position as well as some of my own thoughts.

He notes that the kingdom of God is no longer taught when it should be central in our worldview. It follows that the gospel preached today is just partial. What should be preached is a “kingdom-oriented-salvation-coupled gospel such as Jesus was presenting...” (59)

Next, Noe reports what the Bible really says about hell: nothing. (66) Gehenna is not hell, he claims. (68) He writes, “Given the paucity, if not total non-existence, of scriptural support for the orthodox, traditional, and modern-day doctrine and understanding of 'hell,' we must reconsider this mainstay of Christianity as not being part of God's plan of afterlife punishment and/or redemption.” (75) He does note that God's justice and wrath are real but questions if they are retributive or restorative. While he does not make a final conclusion on hell, elsewhere he says of heaven, “...a hierarchical heaven is where some, many, most, or all will spend eternity.” (206)

He tackles the “last days.” “These 'last days' and end times, “ he writes, “were not a 19-centuries-and-counting extended period. Without exception, they literally refer to that 1st-century time frame in which the New Testament writers were living, there and then.” (78) “According to the Bible itself and prior to A. D. 70, the gospel was preached to all nations and to the world.” (85) The “last days” were not the last days of earth or human history. They were the last days of biblical Judaism and the first days of the church.

Parallel to this, Noe advocates a worldview of a world that never ends. He says there are three different entities in the Bible called “heaven and earth.” “One 'heaven and earth' would never pass away. Another had already passed away. A third would soon pass away and be made new.” (26) “The 'heaven and earth' that would never pass away is the physical creation (Gen. 1:1). The one that had already passed away was Babylon in the 6^th century B. C. (Isa. 13:1,13; Hag. 2:6-7). The third one that would soon pass away and be made new was Old Covenant biblical Judaism (Deut. 32:1; Isa. 1:2-3; 51:13-16; Heb. 12:26-27).” (26)

I have to admit, that is where Noe lost me. And this was only page 26 of a 239 page book! I looked up those verses and, yes, heaven or heavens and earth are mentioned in those verses. Other than the Genesis passage, to say these references indicate Babylon and Judaism are called “heaven and earth” are such a stretch, even I cannot reach that far!

About the “second coming”: “The Bible says nothing about a 'second coming' or a 'return' of Jesus Christ. Nor do the historic creeds of the church.” (91)

Interestingly enough, I am also reading a book I'll blog a review of tomorrow. In it the author writes, “Jesus will return because the Bible says so.” (40 Questions About the End Times, p. 247) Reference is made to Acts 1:11 (“This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”). Doesn't “come back” have the same meaning as “return”? There is also reference to John 21:22,23 where Jesus Himself says he will “come back,” twice. Noe does not address these two passages in his book. And the historic creeds? Noe says they say nothing about the “return” of Jesus. Yet the Apostles Creed (referenced to in a letter dated A.D. 390), the Nicene Creed (A. D. 325), and the Athanasian Creed (used by churches since the sixth century), all speak of Jesus ascending to heaven and affirm that He will come again.

Noe says Jesus came in judgment, “on the clouds,” around A. D. 70. But that wasn't the so called “second coming.” Noe writes, “The biblical and historical facts are, Jesus is not coming back ever because He never left – as He said (Matt. 28:20b).” (93) Jesus is now present, Noe claims. There have been and will be many “comings” of Jesus – the manifestation of Jesus into the life of an individual, group, or nation. (95)

Jesus never left earth? Noe does not address Scripture that says Jesus is in heaven, such as 1 Thess. 4:16 (“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven...”). Noe himself writes elsewhere, “...we must also recognize that the divinely determined mission of Jesus – his leaving heaven, coming to earth, and going back to heaven - ...” (122) But he also writes, “Yet Scripture declares He never left, is here with us right now in our midst...” (126)

On evil: “Shockingly for some, Scripture, clearly and plainly, presents evil as part of God's plan for this world. Moreover, it also teaches that God is the origin of evil.” (206) “But evil and sin are two different things. And God is not the origin of sin. Big Difference.” (207)

On heaven: Heaven is a gift. “But how we spend eternity there will be determined by our good works on this earth during this life. … Hence, how we live this life determines our next life – our status, privileges, provisions, levels of reward...” (226,7)

Noe writes, “My primary goals in this book is to encourage both believers and nonbelievers, alike, to take a serious new look at Jesus Christ in his unveiled and revealed contemporary form. I believe this higher and greater perspective will ring true and stir you on to higher and greater heights of faith, worship, and obedience.” (120)

That was not the case with me. I found Noe's book very confusing. I didn't like the format of the book, with bullets and so many very short sections. I didn't think he did a good job proving his points. He conveniently left out Scripture passages that opposed his views. If one is going to write a work that goes against orthodox, evangelical Christianity, then one's scholarship must be impeccable. That is certainly not true of this book.

I do enjoy reading books that challenge my thinking. But I like a well presented argument, well supported by Scripture. I don't enjoy reading books that leave me unsure of what the author was trying to communicate, as was frequently the case in this book.

You can find out more about John and his ministry: www.prophecyrefi.org and www.east2westpress.org.

You can buy this book through Amazon. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for the purpose of this review.