The IBIC Guide to Books About Self-Help
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I found FIRST THINGS FIRST by Stephen Covey et al. to be a
valuable and thought-provoking book. As with Covey's previous
bestseller, THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE, I turned to
it at a moment in my life when I was feeling stressed by many
competing demands upon my time; and, as was the case with 7
HABITS, this book helped. It is a useful pedagogical device.
That, in fact, is an excellent way to characterize FIRST THINGS FIRST.
It is more a device than a book. Do not expect to read it in the same
"fun" sense that you would read a novel or a learned essay, where you can
read for several hours, absorb insights, think "gee, that was good," and
move on. In order to benefit from this book, you have to take it on its
own terms. You have to engage yourself with it just as you would with a
chemistry textbook or the documentation manual for a new piece of
computer software.
Indeed, the experience of reading FIRST THINGS FIRST is quite a bit like
reading an introductory textbook for a good seven-week summer course.
Covey makes a handful of very intriguing citations in each chapter. But
I would have liked more footnotes, a deeper bibliography, and a more
sustained analysis. (A caveat about "prerequisites": this book
presupposes a fairly high level of mental health in the reader. It is
aimed more towards the reader who is able to consciously direct his
energies towards improving his quality of life.)
While there are a number of well written vignettes and interesting
insights, there is also a somewhat numbing repetition of specialized
Coveyese jargon. That, I am sure, is the authors' deliberate choice,
based on their years of experience in teaching (and marketing) these
techniques. Their objective is to get their system of thought across to
a diverse audience in a way that communicates their message with maximum
clarity and coherence. Unfortunately, to do this, they pay a price in
the aesthetic quality of the book's composition; but they succeed in
making the book--what else--"effective" in achieving its own purposes.
The three elements of this book that I found most valuable were:
- First, its emphasis on time management as a consequence of reflective
thinking about quality of life, and, in Covey's words, "living, loving,
learning, and leaving a legacy". One nice quote: "When we talk about
time management, it seems ridiculous to worry about speed before
direction, about saving minutes when we may be wasting years."
- Second, Covey's belief in the importance of one's vision of the future.
Chapter Five, "The Passion of Vision", and Appendix A, "The Mission
Statement Workshop," are worth the price of the book by themselves.
- Third, Chapter 9's discussion of "Integrity in the Moment of Choice", and
Covey's suggestion that we formulate a question to ask ourselves in that
moment of choice. "Who am I?" "What is the right thing to do here?"
"What is life asking of me right now?" Covey wisely suggests that each
of us must formulate this question in our own language.
Overall assessment: this book is a good starting point for tackling
middle-of-the-road quality of life problems. It will be a permanent and
valued part of my personal library.
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Editor's Recommendations, Summer 1996
In this inaugural edition of IBIC's Featured Books, I'd like to
draw your attention to several titles which have helped to shape my life
and thinking.
- When I was around fifteen, I came across Larry Niven and
Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novel, INFERNO. This '70s remake of Dante's
classic describes science fiction writer Allen Carpentier's
descent into Hell. It's still a very fresh, accessible take on
the classic. What a great movie it would make!
- The Niven/Pournelle INFERNO
immediately inspired me to read the original Divine Comedy.
I've read a number of translations over the years, but my
favorite is the one by Dorothy Sayers (INFERNO;
PURGATORY;
PARADISE). The notes
are excellent, and Sayers had such a knowledgeable and witty mind that reading
her prose is a pleasure in itself. (For those interested in a more contemporary translation, I should mention that Robert Pinsky received excellent notices for his 1995 THE
INFERNO OF DANTE : A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION; it's a very handsome book.)
- I also want to tell you about the late Henry Fairlie's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS TODAY,
which probably did more than any other single book to galvanize me into a lifetime interest
in Christianity that led me, eventually, to faith. Ironic, because Fairlie was a self-proclaimed agnostic socialist! But
reading between the lines of this insightful and deeply feeling book, one realizes
that the love of God cannot have been far from Fairlie's heart.
- Finally, I should draw to your attention a more recent
acquisition, the very handsome NIV
STUDY BIBLE (10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) from Zondervan, indexed and bonded in leather in
IBIC's theme color, burgundy (black
and brown
are also available). The notes to this Bible are amazing. They
appear to provide you with a very substantial portion of what you need to
know to have an intelligent layman's appreciation of the
linguistic and historical issues involved in understanding
Scripture.
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