A $0.99 Spending Splurge (Join me!)

I like to read. I also like to collect books. Sometimes, though, my collecting gets ahead of my reading by… oh… twenty books or so. It’s not that I don’t intend to read the books that I buy, it’s just that I find other things come up and my rate of book accrual outpaces my rate of book reading.

Normally my wife isn’t too bothered by this. In fact, she’s pretty accommodating of my penchant for purchasing books. However, we’re entering into a season where money is going to be tight because my employer is furloughing employees for a little over two weeks over the course of the summer and early fall. This means that I need to rein in my spending and get to work reading the books I already have. But what if I want to splurge, just a little?

Well, I’ve found the solution, at least for today: The Kindle version of Through the Eyes of Spurgeon is on sale for $0.99 on Amazon! I’ve already picked up my copy and it’s been downloaded to my reading device. At such a low price, you can get one too. The book (252 pages in print) is divided up into topics, so finding a specific quote is easy to do.

Take a chance and buy it for $0.99, or if you are hesitant, click the link above and check out the table of contents. There’s something for everybody. Besides, it’s summer. Splurge a little!

Free Kindle & Cheap Audiobook Deal: Jesus in the Present Tense

I've found another cheap audiobook deal. I know next to nothing about Warren Wiersbe, but after reading a few reviews of his book Jesus in the Present Tense, I think he's worth checking out. His book is about the seven "I AM" statements of Christ in the Gospel of John. It sounds like a good read. And now the Kindle version is free through March 1. And since this book has an audio version as well, you can get the audiobook for $3.99 if you "buy" the free Kindle version. Even if you're not sure that you want to buy the audio version, you should still snatch up the Kindle version before this deal goes away.

Note: The audiobook will work with your Kindle device, but can also be downloaded to your computer and added to your mp3 player.

Cheap Audiobook (Limited time)

Did you enjoy the movie Courageous? Did you know that Randy Alcorn wrote a novelization of the movie? For a limited time the Kindle version is free on Amazon.com, and when you buy the Kindle version of select titles, you can get the audiobook at a discounted rate. In this case, if you buy the FREE Kindle version of Courageous, you can get the audiobook for $3.95. The audiobook will work with your Kindle device, but can also be downloaded to your computer and added to your mp3 player.

These kinds of deals don't come around often, and this one definitely won't be around for long.

Free eBook in Time for Reformation Day!

Today, October 31, is best known as Halloween. Yet on this very day in 1517, an Augustinian monk nailed a document to the church door in Wittenberg calling for public debate of 95 issues of doctrine and church practice. At the time Martin Luther did not know that he would be excommunicated from the church or that his act would be the starting point of a great reformation of the Christian faith.

John Piper’s ministry, Desiring God, has just released a short biography (41 pages) of Luther that could easily be read in one sitting. Given that today, October 31, 2012, marks the 495^th anniversary of Luther’s nailing the 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg cathedral, this book is very timely. I highly recommend learning about Luther and the Protestant Reformation since we have benefitted from and built on so much of what they discovered and taught from the Bible.

Here’s a selection from the original blog post on Desiring God:

Originally delivered as the biographical message at the 1995 Conference for Pastors, this new ebook features five chapters that present a sketch of Luther's life and distill relevant lessons for not only pastors and leaders, but all Christians.
 To download Martin Luther: Lessons from His Life and Labor, click on the following format options:Download ebook as a PDF file.Download ebook as an EPUB file formatted for readers like the Nook, Sony Reader, and Apple iBooks (iPad, iPhone, iPod).Download ebook as a MOBI file formatted for Kindle applications (this option works well on some mobile devices, and not so well on others).

eBook deal: Feed my Sheep for 99¢

I'm a big fan of ebooks. Ever since I got my Kindle Touch for Christmas, I've been using it almost daily for reading my Bible, required texts for my classes, and even listening to audio books. I subscribe to a number of blogs that point out deals and freebies for the Kindle, which is how I got our current small group book, Crazy Love, for free.

I've enjoyed some titles from Reformation Trust publishing, and right now they are having an ebook deal (available for both Kindle and ePub readers) on the book Feed my Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching. I've written a review of it before, and at 99¢ it is a steal. Since I already have it, I won't be jumping on this offer myself, but I will wait in eager anticipation for the next deal from Reformation Trust.

The Kindle Touch and a Taste of Fiction

My wife did the unthinkable and got me a Kindle Touch for Christmas. Everyone in my family knows that I like to have my laptop with me wherever I go. In fact, I made a point of not touching my laptop over Christmas vacation, which they all noticed and commented on. I need a few more fences in place before I ever get a smart phone or tablet.

My wife caved in and got me a Kindle Touch because it is a lot cheaper than a tablet, has limited use as an internet device, and is primarily dedicated to reading. I now use it for my daily Bible reading, reading books for review, and studying the Gospel of Mark for an upcoming class I’m teaching.

Fortunately, my wife doesn’t believe I’m spending too much time on the device. I’ve been reading more, that’s true, but she doesn’t find that to be a problem, and I’ve actually been doing more with her like playing card games and making her a fan of the show M.A.S.H.

If you don’t own an ereader, I think it’s a worthwhile investment. Although you can find a lot of cheap ones out there, I couldn’t recommend anything but a Kindle or Nook device. The Kindle and Nook stores are the ones with content, and that’s what you want with an ereader.

Crossway currently has a deal (but not for much longer) on all their ebooks in formats that work on both the Kindle and Nook devices. I highly recommend the fiction book The Sword, and its sequel, The Gift. They form part of the Chiveis trilogy (the third book, The Kingdom, comes out June 30). In the story Europe has reverted to a somewhat medieval existence hundreds of years after wars and disasters reduced humanity to almost nothing and most of our advanced technologies have been forgotten. The kingdom of Chiveis, rising from the ashes of a lost civilization, has become closed off from the outside world and is ruled by a king under the strong-armed influence of a pagan priestess. It is in this environment that a young soldier discovers a long-forgotten book about a long-forgotten God. If you liked the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, you’ll probably like the Chiveis trilogy at a teenager/adult.

New Kindle is Here!

Today is the day it pays off to be a late adopter of technology. Wait no more. Amazon has just released their new Kindle Fire tablet for $199. That is insane. Additionally, they’ve got out a new $79 Kindle, a Kindle Touch for $99, and a Kindle Touch with Free 3G for $149.

I am definitely getting one of the above, I’m thinking either the Kindle Touch with 3G or the Kindle Fire tablet. I’m pretty sure these puppies are going to go into a backorder status quick, so make your decision fast!

Do I Have Too Many Books?

I have too many books. That’s what I was told when Hannah and I moved at the beginning of July 2011. Too many books.

I didn’t count them, but I know I only have two bookcases worth. Only. Okay, two bookcases is a lot, but I don’t compare myself to the average “lite” reader. I compare myself to the average pastor, and I know he’s got a bunch of books. Were he to look at my bookcases, he would scoff and say, “You want to see a real bookcase? Come check out my book lair.”

Pastors have book lairs. Unless the church provides him with an office roughly the size of half the auditorium (sanctuary for you older folks), your pastor has a book lair. It’s a secret location in his house, usually the basement, where he keeps his treasures.

I’m not a pastor. I don’t have a book lair. But since I’d like to be a missionary someday overseas, the thought of spending hundreds of dollars to ship and or store all my books seems like a waste, especially the books that end up in storage. Inaccessible.

Because of this I’ve decided to implement a new policy for myself (Hannah is as-of-yet exempt from this policy). I’m going to get rid of one more book than I buy. So if I pick up one, say goodbye to two. If I pick up two, say goodbye to three.

I haven’t been under this new policy for long, but I’ve already noticed how easy it is to put books back on the shelf, even at Goodwill, where all books are under $1.99. So far I’ve said farewell to a couple Bibles (technically, I only need two—Spanish and English). A business book was on the last stack, along with one called Shields of Brass or Shields of Gold?, which has been out forever yet doesn’t have a single review on Amazon.

I have one exception to this rule. I can get all the digital books I want. A missionary friend of mine wrote a blog article about how much he loves his Kindle, so I have first-hand witness to the usefulness of not having to ship your books overseas or leave them in storage.

Even though I don’t have a Kindle yet (I’m waiting for the next generation, rumored to be touch screen and possibly color), I do have the app on my PC, which I’ve been using to enjoy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (a trick to get me to read the original), and I will be using it for a couple books for my Hermeneutics class.

As I say farewell to more and more books, I’m saying hello to the digital world.