Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Fearful to Fearless, a Review

Fearful to Fearless is a book with a simple premise: stop being afraid in life, stop being anxious or nervous, and instead be bold and fearless. 

The book is divided into three sections: "Fear Not", "Don't Worry", and "Fear God".  Each one begins with a brief introduction and then proceeds into the familiar devotional format.  The book at first seems unusual, as it essentially is an exhaustive collection of bible verses that relate to fear, worry, doubts, and the like.  Yet, its simplicity is great, for whatever page you open to you are guaranteed to read a verse that directly relates to fear.  Also, after each verse, Kusner gives a brief sentence or two to think and meditate on.

This book basically is like running a query on the word "fear" and the bible and then putting the results into book format.  While the idea is not original, it definitely shows the author's concern for his subject.  However, be advised that any extra stuff is relegated primarily to the introductions, and this book lacks bells & whistles.  (Yet, who needs bells & whistles when you've got God's Word?) 

Fearful to Fearless is a standard Christian book that offers encouragement, this one chiefly for those that struggle with fear and apprehension.  Some extra verses or commentary would've been nice, but then again, if one was looking only for a collection of verses on fear, this book would fit perfectly.  For anyone that faces these problems, fear and worrying, and would like a devotion-type book, I can easily recommend Jeff Kusner's Fearful to Fearless.  If you're wanting a more in-depth look and commentary on fear, this may not be the book for you.  

*FTC Thingy: I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

sounds interesting..

and for someone who deals with fear, commentary sometimes comes off as trite or alienating. forsaking anecdote or aphorism for a sense of purity from the text sounds refreshing.

a good review.

~L

oh, so what do you think of the cover?

logankstewart said...

Good point, L. Commentary very well may be alienating, or even condescending, to someone dealing with this matter.

As for the cover, I like it. The book is a very nice looking object, shiny and glossy, and the allusion to Jesus calming the sea comes off quite well from the cover.

Thanks for commenting.

Koozzz said...

appreciate the review, and for the cover comments, i took that myself a few years back. its looking out at monterey bay during an approaching storm... 15-20 foot waves crashing, pretty intense.

logankstewart said...

Jeff, thanks for the opportunity to review it. That's awesome that you took the photo yourself; it looks great!