Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Dream House: Blueprints to a healthy and happy home

Book review: Interesting, Informative, and Applicable!


When a friend recommended this book, I was intrigued by the sub-title: Blueprints to a healthy and happy home. When I think of blueprints, I think of step-by-step guidelines for building something. Blueprints are precise, concise, and sequential. That's exactly what I discovered in this book, Dream House. The ideas presented by the author are genuine and intertwined with personal stories and application, rather than a punch list of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots." His ideas are clearly laid out, to the point, and he drills down to the core of the issues. He discusses raising children at different stages of life as the chapters unfold.



Many, if not most, Christian self-help books are overly "preachy" and tell you what to think. What I appreciated most about Dream House is that the author doesn't TELL YOU what to think; he shares his heart about what HE thinks on the issues and how he has applied them in his own life. There are several stories he shares where he made mistakes with his kids and had to seek their forgiveness. This brings realism to the book that readers can relate to. On many pages I found myself thinking back to events in my own life with my wife or kids and thinking, "Yep, been there. Made that mistake too" or "Oh yeah, that does work well!"



I have many half-read self-help books gathering dust on my bookshelf because I couldn't get through the overbearing tone of the author. Not this one. I finished it and I've already suggested it to several others I know. There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter which makes for a good small group study too. I understand that many people are apprehensive about new authors, but this new author's debut is well written and enjoyable! A 5-star recommendation!
http://www.amazon.com/Dream-House-Blueprints-healthy-happy/dp/098345681X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322720592&sr=1-1

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