Leading up to Valentine’s Day we posted 1 Biblical Valentine a day to social media. People seemed to enjoy them and we thought it might be fun to let people vote on their favorite.

Do you want free books? I mean a lot of free books. Around $1,000 worth of free books?

Of course you do.

You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and gosh darned it - people like you.

I don’t have a top ten favorite books of all-time list (this might be shocking to those who know me), but if I did I’m fairly certain that Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant would already be there.

I think choosing this book really boiled down to something I am always telling my kids. With four kids I spend an awful lot of time refereeing, and trying to help small humans negotiate their way through growing up surrounded by other small humans trying to grow up. I find myself constantly urging my kids to think about what their words or actions sound like to other people, specifically their parents and their siblings. There are a lot of days that it doesn’t feel like my urging is having a lot of effect, but I am hopeful that hearing their dad repeatedly pleading with them to be empathetic will one day kick in.

Since childhood I have been fascinated by the Jackie Robinson story. What he endured, and the sheer weight of the hatred and animosity that was heaped on him, is all but indescribable to me.

You would think a guy who grew up in church and went to seminary would have already formed opinions of church polity, but you’d be wrong. I grew up in an Independent Fundamental Baptist church where the pastor essentially functioned as the Pope, but without a cool hat.

Some people love Gladwell, and some people hate him. He's traveled the path that many a person with a public persona has traveled in this country. At first the cool kids loved him, then everyone loved him, and then the cool kids decided it was cool to dislike him. By and large Gladwell does something in his books that I really appreciate - he makes me think. I don't agree with all of his conclusions, but along the way I always find myself examining what he is saying and the world around me.

The Korean conflict is criminally neglected. There are reasons for that, but I don’t think we as a culture do a particularly good job of self reflection, so I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

If any educational institution I attended before grad school still existed I’m pretty sure they’d be revoking my diplomas, so yeah, let’s move along.

I recently reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy and here are three thoughts I have after turning the last page, at least one of which will likely get me some hate email from other Tolkien fans.

One of the fun parts of parenting is introducing our kids to the things that we enjoyed when we were growing up. Both the Wonder Woman and I really helping the kids get to know the books, movies, and music that were part of our formative years.

There are two things that are true of me as a reader.

1. I read a lot of books.

2. I read a lot of books about World War Two.

Books are one of the most important things that we have in common, and we went to a bookstore on our first date. Of course, at the end of the night I got turned down for date #2, but that isn't what this blog post is about.

The Sharps are a bookish family. The lovely Wonder Woman and I are both avid readers, and this really shouldn't come as a surprise since we coauthored a book together.

Now that we are less than a day away from the book becoming available I thought it would be funny to conduct a wide-ranging interview with my lovely coauthor, who happened to be dead-tired when we did this. Yes, in case someone asks, she knew I was posting this online.