2011 Reading Challenge~Book #15

At the end of Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World, N.D. Wilson calls his book "abnormal." Abnormal may be a bit too strong, but Notes is certainly an odd book. And that's why I liked it. Wilson covers everything from insects to death to Nietzsche to the Resurrection to death to sand castles to Plato to the Incarnation to kittens to death to heaven and hell. There were places I found myself nodding in agreement and thinking, "Ah, so someone else does see it the way I do!" and there were places that are still big question marks, sections in which I didn't quite get what he was driving at.

Wilson uses the earth's rotation around the sun as it also spins on its axis (hence the titular tilt-a-whirl) to frame his musings on life and death, heaven and hell, salvation and damnation. Part philosophy, part theology, part apolgetics, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl reveals Wilson as a well-educated, thoughtful man who has eyes and heart opened to God's revelation of Himself in the world He has made. He helps us to have the same.

N.D. Wilson is the son of the well-known and oft controversial leaders of the modern classical Christian education movement and revitalized Reformed wing of Christianity, Douglas and Nancy Wilson. His writing style and presumably his thinking have obviously been influenced by his parents, or at least the same authors that influenced them, which is not at all a bad thing. :-) Wilson's writing is witty and insightful. I enjoyed this book a great deal.

You may recognize Wilson's name from his children's books, all of which Girl of the House has read (and loved, I might add) and none of which I have read: Leepike Ridge, 100 Cupboards, Dandelion Fire, and The Chestnut King. They sound like perfect summer reading and will probably make it on my list for this summer.