The Four Tendencies - Gretchen Rubin

The author’s analysis of people finds that they tend toward one of four groups in their approaches to expectations, both outer and inner: the Upholder meets both outer and inner expectations; the Questioner resists outer expectations and meets inner expectations; the Obliger meets outer expectations and resists inner expectations, and the Rebel resists both outer and inner expectations. I love analyses that break people into four main groups, being most familiar with approaches regarding temperament. Rubin’s grid is, in my opinion, a stroke of genius. This well-written book applies Rubin’s understanding to coworkers, spouses, children, and health providers, helping each of those groups understand and accommodate the various groups and subgroups (e.g., Questioner-Upholders, Rebel-Obligers, etc.) Rubin’s grid is easy to grasp and helpful to understand, both with regard to oneself and others. I think everyone would profit from reading this book, and I highly recommend it. I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Jesus Always - Sarah Young

This book of 365 devotionals is “written from the perspective of Jesus speaking to you,” and it is written in Jesus’ voice--first person--rather than third person as we are used to reading. I found this unnerving and not something with which I became more comfortable the more I read. At times, I had a hard time imagining some of these words coming out of Jesus’ mouth on any occasion, such as (from July 17), “I am infinitely more brilliant than the greatest genius imaginable.” That just isn’t the Jesus I know, and it exemplifies what I found distasteful about the writing: there were often what I consider to be overstatements, as God doesn’t talk that way about Himself. He is gentleman enough to allow us to come to those conclusions, such as when He asked Job the “where were you?” questions that made Job face his limitations without being bashed on the head with God’s immensity. Many of the devotionals seemed repetitive, aimed at themes of comfort, trust, and righteousness, and the tone of the book is reassuring and encouraging; almost never does it exhort or correct. The author includes three or four verses with each devotional, but often they are quite unrelated and can feel jarring in their juxtaposition. Perhaps if listening to Jesus’ voice is a new skill, this book might be helpful, but to one who has listened to Jesus for many decades, I actually found it limiting as the readings often felt stilted. I received this book for free in exchange for my unbiased review through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze Program.