Searching For God Knows What, a Review

Searching For God Knows What, by Donald Miller, is a powerful, thought-provoking book.  Miller writes as he did in the wonderful Blue Like Jazz, conversational and easy to understand.  His theology is strong and his convictions are sincere and honest.  Searching For God Knows What is a smooth blend of memoir and theology, and the result is excellent.

The book reads as if Miller is telling you a bunch of stories.  He talks about his friends, sometimes even naming them, and some of the things they've done.  He tells about how the circus terrified him as a kid and only found solace in the elephants.  He tells about some of his struggles and some of his worries, all the while sucking you into his life.  Truly, the book feels almost as if you're sitting down and talking over a cup of coffee, not reading.  After I finished I felt as if I knew Miller, like he was one of my friends and that I could just call him up and talk on the phone, and that easy-to-read style is part of what makes Searching For God Knows What a good read.

But the book is more than just well written.  Miller is looking for something, as the title suggests.  He's actively searching, but what for is anybody's guess.  Not only is Donald Miller looking, but you and I are too.  Miller tells of how we're all just fallen people and that our lives are a result of the events that happened back in the Garden of Eden.  I won't expound on his theology and on his theory of life, but for the most part, I agreed with everything he said.

Overall I really enjoyed Searching For God Knows What.  At times I was laughing because of how funny and witty some of the stories are.  Other times are almost enough to break your heart, realizing how messed up the church (and the rest of the world) is.  And still yet I was learning, or thinking, perhaps, that maybe Miller is onto something here.  If you've never read anything by Donald Miller, and you'd like to read something fresh and eye-opening, I can easily recommend Searching For God Knows What, or his ubiquitous Blue Like Jazz.  The book spoke to me, and I think it would do the same to anyone that were to sit down with it with an open-mind and a hungry-heart.

(This version of Searching For God Knows What is a revised and updated version from his previous release in 2004.  The updated version includes and in-book game, where clues are hidden throughout the text.  I started out following the game, but after a few chapters I got tired of this.  Still, some may find this type of thing fun, it just wasn’t for me.)

This book was provided for free by the publishers in exchange for an honest review.