Review Roundup: Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung


9_crazy-busy-product-shot-horizon_mediumI (Dan) recently had the opportunity to read Kevin DeYoung's latest book
Crazy Busy (A (Mercifully) Short Book about a Really Big Problem). It's a short and practical read for busy people. Overall I believe it's a good read, however you will be left hanging if you expect any quick solutions or "how to's" to clean up your busy schedule. I liked the book for personal reflection, but it is definitely not prescriptive or a "way out". I also took the opportunity to search the blogosphere to find other reviews to give you a balanced response to the book and I trust they will help you get a good understanding of the book and decide for yourself.

Here is the review roundup:

Tim Challies - http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/crazy-busy

Key Quotes:

"While Crazy Busy is very useful in diagnostics, it is very light in practical application, presumably because he himself has not yet lived out such applications enough to speak with authority."

"Still, Crazy Busy is a good book for what it is. DeYoung is a talented writer and his books are always a joy to read. In this one he gives us words for what we already know—that we are busier than we ought to be and want to be. He gives us tools for diagnosing the specific heart issues that have led us here. And he gives us encouragement to begin to make the changes necessary to live a life focused on the highest and best priorities."

Pastors.com - http://pastors.com/books-crazy-busy-by-kevin-deyoung/

Key Quote:

"With his trademark humor and winsome candor, Kevin helps readers find a better way forward in his newest book, Crazy Busy. Offering ways to tackle your schedule, several suggestions to reclaim your sanity, and a lot of encouragement to remember your soul, Crazy Busy strikes the desperately needed balance between doing nothing and doing it all."

Eric Landry via Out of the Horse's Mouth: The White Horse Inn Blog - http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2013/06/28/review-of-crazy-busy-by-kevin-deyoung/

Key Quotes:

"DeYoung begins by summarizing a number of helpful books and studies to give us a “state of the union” address (i.e., we’re all crazy busy!). Then, he turns to a series of diagnostic statements to prove that we are too busy. These chapters, which make up the bulk of the book, are uneven. Some of them contain real gems of insight, especially #4 (“Stop Freaking Out About Your Kids”) and #5 (“You are Letting the Screen Strangle Your Soul”), but as a whole I think these chapters miss the real problem that a book like Crazy Busy should address. "

"As wonderful and important as daily reading and prayer are, the author’s advice sounds dangerously close to the stereotypical “take two verses and call me in the morning” pietism that, in our circles, is a carrier of the kind of hyper-individualism that leads to the very real problems that Crazy Busy identifies. "

"DeYoung’s book is helpful in many ways, but his proscription falls short. He returns to old tropes that I fear are part and parcel of the mess we’re in. Watching my own life get crazier and busier and watching the lives of family, friends, and congregants follow the same trajectory, I am afraid that what is needed is a much crazier book than DeYoung has given us—a book that calls on God’s people to make counter-cultural decisions to live their lives in ways that are distinctively different than their neighbors. "

Amazon.com Editorial Review - http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Busy-Mercifully-Really-Problem/dp/1610457161

Originally published: Here. Used with permission.

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