Jungle Warfare - Christopher Cunningham

Subtitle - A basic field manual for Christians in sales, A 22 day power packed battle plan. This book is based on the author's grandfather's basic field manual dated Dec. 15, 1941 from WWII. He relates the world of sales with jungle warfare, using quotes from the manual at the beginning of every chapter. There are also Bible verses relating to each subject, a battle plan, a daily prayer, and a place to record personal thoughts and prayer requests.
The first part of the book is divided into 22 chapters, called battle plans, to be read one daily. The second part is titled jungle field support, and the author answers questions salespeople ask. Although primarily written for the salesperson on the road, a Christian in any type of sales can relate to most of these subjects.
One of my favorite quotes from the book involves your outward attitude:
"Your smile is an outward and visible sign of God's incredible power that is alive inside of you. Don't hide that light under a bushel."
This is advise that every Christian can relate to, not just salespeople.
As a Christian in sales myself, I found this book particularly interesting. I would recommend this book for a Christian in any type of sales position.

Good Choices Good Life - Michael Nelson

The main point of this book is if you make the right choices, ethical and honest choices, you will have a good life.The subtitle is Becoming the person you were intended to be. Included are real life stories of people, everyone from Randy Pausch and Michael Oher, who have made good choices and had a good life. Inspiring quotes are included from a variety of individuals such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Blake, and Carl Jung.  The author mentions writing this book for his grandchildren. This could have easily been a shorter book, many readers may be overwhelmed at the book's 331 pages.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The author appears to be active in a church, yet God is not mentioned until page 15. The more I read the book , the more impression I got that this was a how to live a moral life book, rather than a help for a stronger spiritual journey.
Among the sources listed in the back of this book I discovered several Stephen Covey books, and several others, while maybe morally correct, are not based on scripture. This was a cause of concern for me. 
 Making right choices is a good thing, however there is more to the Christian life than this.Subjects such as being honest, giving to others, and making the effort are included.  I could only recommend this book for those with a strong Christian background, who would not think just making good choices is enough. It should be made clear that " Becoming the person you were intended to be"  is only possible through accepting God's gift of salvation. The BEST choice anyone can make is to accept Jesus and make choices to live a life pleasing to God. That will lead to a good life, if not now, for all of eternity.

Rules To Live By - Jerry White

Subtitle - 52 Principles for a better life. The forward to this book is by Ken Blanchard who many will know as the author of The One Minute Manager. This book is a collection of 52 very short chapters, some only 2 pages long, on important principles that can be applied by a person of any age. The writing is to the point and brief.
The author is international president emeritus of The Navigators, was a mission controller, and taught at the the US Air Force academy. He brings all of these experiences together to write about what is really important in life. The book is divided into three sections, A Better You, Relationship Rules, and Enchancing Your Work and Effectiveness. These all cover many different aspects of living a better life such as, learn to relax, be real, give yourself, and work hard.
I enjoyed this book, but wanted the chapters to be longer, wishing to dig deeper into some of the subjects. It is already at 170 pages, but it is a quick read. Many good suggestions are given and some down right common sense reminders, which are never bad. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially to give as a gift. This is another great book from Navpress.

Halftime - Bob Buford

Moving from success to significance. Originally published in 1994, this is a updated and expanded version that was published in 2008, and includes study questions, a interview with the author and FAQs.
This book is about one man's journey through the first half of his life, through halftime, then on the second half.
It describes how he used asking himself questions, evaluation and reflection to find how he could use his God-given talents in the second half of his life. One of his goals is to help others in the same way to find a life of significance. He is using his websites www.activeenergy.net and halftime.org as a big part of that. Both websites contain a wealth of information and resources.
This is a challenging book that I can personally relate to, just turning 50 myself. I would recommend this book especially to men 30-50 years old.

The author relates his personal and honest journey through building a successful cable tv business, the death of his son, and what he calls a "success crisis" where he began to ask "Is this all there is to life?" He encourages what he calls seismic testing and low-cost probes to find out how to use your talents.
This is not just another how to get through a mid-life crisis book, but a challenge to truly use our God given talents even more in our second half of life.