Jonathan Brooker (Author of It All Starts Here)

Jonathan Brooker rated a book liked it The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood by Susan Engel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I happened unto reading this book because I was on a trip with my wife, had finished all of the books I brought on the trip, and reading one of the books she'd brought would spare us from the apparently undesirable solution I'd had of just buying a n ...more
Aug 13, 2026 03:27PM · like · see review
Jonathan Brooker rated a book liked it High-Impact Teams: Where Healthy Meets High Performance by Lance Witt	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I liked it. I just didn't find it to be all that novel. As someone who's been to quite a number of leadership conferences and read plenty of both Christian and secular leadership books, this didn't offer much that was new or particularly insightful. ...more
Jul 03, 2026 10:58AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of High-Impact Teams by Lance Witt. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — High-Impact Teams by Lance Witt <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker rated a book really liked it The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Having read a couple of Chip and Dan Heath's books now, I found this one's content and delivery fit in seamlessly with their previous works. You get a well-developed and smartly laid out flow for developing an over-arching idea. This book's: that the ...more
Jul 03, 2026 10:27AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Power of Moments by Chip Heath. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Power of Moments by Chip Heath <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker wants to read Living Trusts for Everyone: Why a Will Is Not the Way to Avoid Probate, Protect Heirs, and Settle Estates by Ronald Farrington Sharp (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 03, 2026 10:23AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Living Trusts for Everyone by Ronald Farrington Sharp. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Living Trusts for Everyone by Ronald Farrington Sharp <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker rated a book it was ok Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business (Made Simple Series) by Donald Miller	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2.5 stars With how highly acclaimed this book came from my wife, I suppose my standards of expectation were very high to begin with. But that's not all, I still remember Donald Miller as the deep thinking writer who many years ago stirred my wonder at ...more
Feb 17, 2026 05:20AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker rated a book liked it The Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions about God by Dan Allender	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This one's a particularly challenging book to rate and review. In all reality, I think it would get a 3.5 star rating. My reason for bumping this book up to the top of my reading list was a hope to use it in study for a new sermon series we're doing a ...more
Feb 03, 2026 05:17PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Cry of the Soul by Dan Allender. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Cry of the Soul by Dan Allender <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker liked Shay Olson's review of The Heart of Jesus: How He Really Feels about You:
Jan 19, 2026 08:26AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Heart of Jesus by Dane C. Ortlund. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Heart of Jesus by Dane C. Ortlund <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker rated a book it was ok The Stranger by Albert Camus	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Technically a reread from many years ago, I was surprised to have remembered it more fondly than I found it this time around. I had remembered the story as one characterized by existentialistic thought and delivery, but found it instead to be a lot m ...more
Jan 19, 2026 07:56AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Stranger by Albert Camus. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Stranger by Albert Camus <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker rated a book really liked it So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
While the story that Enger told through the pages was compelling in its own right, what struck me about this book was how often I found myself reacting out loud to what I was reading or simply taking a moment to savor some of his sentences. I'm grate ...more
Jan 12, 2026 05:09PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Brooker is now following Matt House's reviews
Jan 01, 2026 05:08PM · like

Jonathan Brooker rated a book liked it

The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood
by Susan Engel

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I happened unto reading this book because I was on a trip with my wife, had finished all of the books I brought on the trip, and reading one of the books she'd brought would spare us from the apparently undesirable solution I'd had of just buying a n ...more

Jonathan Brooker rated a book liked it

High-Impact Teams: Where Healthy Meets High Performance
by Lance Witt

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I liked it. I just didn't find it to be all that novel. As someone who's been to quite a number of leadership conferences and read plenty of both Christian and secular leadership books, this didn't offer much that was new or particularly insightful. ...more

Jonathan Brooker rated a book really liked it

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
by Chip Heath

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Having read a couple of Chip and Dan Heath's books now, I found this one's content and delivery fit in seamlessly with their previous works. You get a well-developed and smartly laid out flow for developing an over-arching idea. This book's: that the ...more

Jonathan Brooker wants to read

Living Trusts for Everyone by Ronald Farrington Sharp

Living Trusts for Everyone: Why a Will Is Not the Way to Avoid Probate, Protect Heirs, and Settle Estates
by Ronald Farrington Sharp (Goodreads Author)

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Jonathan Brooker rated a book it was ok

Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business (Made Simple Series)
by Donald Miller

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2.5 stars

With how highly acclaimed this book came from my wife, I suppose my standards of expectation were very high to begin with. But that's not all, I still remember Donald Miller as the deep thinking writer who many years ago stirred my wonder at 2.5 stars

With how highly acclaimed this book came from my wife, I suppose my standards of expectation were very high to begin with. But that's not all, I still remember Donald Miller as the deep thinking writer who many years ago stirred my wonder at God in all new ways through his seminal work "Blue Like Jazz." So this rather sterile book ended up really feeling like reconnecting with an old buddy from college who I used to enjoy late night theological talks with, who was now pitching me his multilevel marketing opportunity.

That said, don't get me wrong, there were some positives. I really appreciate and admire the StoryBrand framework that Miller has worked hard to flesh out in other books and materials and how it wove effortlessly in this book into the specifics of marketing your services or products. Towards the beginning of the book there was also a very insightful part explaining how marketing is similar to romantic relationships and that missing this reality is why so many folks either move too fast or move too slow--they don't understand that you're not just pitching a product but building rapport. Lastly, I loved "the journey every customer takes" section and found that to be an insight that really could've been more developed in the book and used as a framework for the content of the rest of the book.

But at the end of the day this book really felt like a collection of lead-generating emails that were somewhat sloppily stitched together. That feeling became solidified for me when you get to the "Lead Generator" chapter and they walk you through the framework and structure for a lead generator PDF and then literally say "Here is the actual text from a lead-generating PDF we created for a fake e-bike company. We used this very template." And then they proceed to show you the small visual with the headline and a button for downloading the PDF...but they forgot to actually show you the PDF so you can see how they, in fact, used this template for this fake e-bike company! Whoops?

I'm glad that Miller and Peterson believe in their products and services the way they do. That said, it was a bit laughable when they claimed the book would teach more marketing than some huge percentage of other resources. Instead, what I experienced was a book where high claims were made, repeated somewhat vague mentions were given about how much this material they're offering has helped so many businesses, and then every few pages yet another mention about their products or services that they offer.

This was a lead-generating book. It was very obviously a part of their sales approach for their other services. So yes, it offered some "value added" to the reader, but at the expense of drawing them into a pitch disguised as a stand-alone guide. ...more

Jonathan Brooker rated a book liked it

The Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions about God
by Dan Allender

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This one's a particularly challenging book to rate and review. In all reality, I think it would get a 3.5 star rating.

My reason for bumping this book up to the top of my reading list was a hope to use it in study for a new sermon series we're doing a This one's a particularly challenging book to rate and review. In all reality, I think it would get a 3.5 star rating.

My reason for bumping this book up to the top of my reading list was a hope to use it in study for a new sermon series we're doing at my church on how emotional realities impact spiritual realities. This book seemed like it would be absolutely perfect. But I was about 3 chapters in when I nearly shelved it. Not because it was awful per se, but because there seemed to be a rather unexpected turn right away in finding out that the book was going to be a focus on the Psalms. But also because the first 3 chapters just did not seem to say a whole lot of anything and took a while to say it. Frankly, it all felt like an overly lengthy introduction, because it was in chapter 4 that the book took its turn into the actual list of emotions the authors set out to study.

And then I felt like the last 2 chapters similarly felt like peculiar tag-ons to the main meat of the book. If anything, there were parts of those chapters that I felt would've been more compelling and better suited to have been written into the first chapter before delving into the study of the specific emotions. All in all, I felt like the book needed a better editor to have at the very least crafted the table of contents to clarify the 3-movement nature of this book more clearly, or perhaps have really cut it up to piece it back together in a tighter, more compelling, and more logical order.

That said, the majority of the middle 12 chapters, which delved into the various emotions, was really really quality stuff! It seemed like once I got to chapter 4 I had struck the oasis that had been on the map but gone unseen until that moment. There was a lot that I gained from those chapters, and in exclusion of the 3 first chapters and 2 last chapters they may have warranted a 4.5 to 5 star rating.

That is, except for a pretty major issue I took with the chapters on shame towards the very end. And they make me wonder whether the 3.5 is far too generous.

When you get to the chapter on shame, in order to speak of someone who experienced shame, the authors tell the story of a young man who as a minor suffered SA within his family. I read in shock as the authors went into far more grotesque detail than would ever be necessary for making their point. It felt salacious. But to make matters worse, after the reader has been made to read a heinous account of SA, the authors go on to teach that shame is the result of an absorption with the self. I really think I was doing a fair reading of what they were saying to come away with the understanding that they believe that the shame we experience--including this abused young man--is actually because we're too focused on what we would like life to be like and are creating an idol out of it.

I could hardly believe what I read. For one, it seemed incredibly cruel and damning both to this particular person but also to any other person who has found themselves experiencing shame as a result of being the victim of terrible evils unwillingly done to them. Secondly, I decided to suspend immediate judgment to see if it would be at all possible for them to make a case for this view from Scripture. Since this is most certainly a book aimed to use Scriptures to argue their points, I felt I owed the authors that. But the arguments were easily the least logical in this chapter.

The logic seemed to basically be that the authors posited their claim that shame was (always) the result of idolatrous self-absorption. Then from there they cherry picked multiple verses that talked about shame and built them around this premise that was fabricated before going to the Scriptures rather than extrapolated from them. In fact, so many of their chosen verses argue against the points that they used them to make. It was just unbelievably sloppy and irresponsible exegesis. The most significant sign of which being that they failed to distinguish between shame that is the result of our own evil and shame that naturally comes from being the unfair victim of someone else's. The Scriptures touch on both, and they're not the same in origin, experience, or resolution.

Furthermore, it's in those chapters that they say the Scriptures have the Psalmist mocking God and calling Him a fool. Again, I felt like a dog who cocks their head to the side and raises their one ear up high in the air upon hearing some particularly strange sound. This was a particularly strange case to make, but I read on to see if I'd somehow missed something in reading the familiar Psalms. I don't think I did. They would say that the Psalmist was mocking, but then you'd read the passage and it sure seemed like it's more like sharp questioning. They'd say the author called God a fool. But it certainly wasn't said, and it felt hard to really even argue it was implied.

It just felt like for some reason the 2 shame chapters had the authors more interested in keeping consistent with their approach to the other chapters and sloppily making it work, as though it were a threaded bolt that's not seeming to fit exactly where they're trying to put it, but if you just push hard enough "it'll probably work." It doesn't. For me, it makes this a book that I can both appreciate but I am not sure that I can recommend. ...more

Jonathan Brooker liked Shay Olson's review of The Heart of Jesus: How He Really Feels about You:

Jonathan Brooker rated a book it was ok

The Stranger
by Albert Camus

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Technically a reread from many years ago, I was surprised to have remembered it more fondly than I found it this time around. I had remembered the story as one characterized by existentialistic thought and delivery, but found it instead to be a lot m ...more

Jonathan Brooker rated a book really liked it

So Brave, Young, and Handsome
by Leif Enger

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While the story that Enger told through the pages was compelling in its own right, what struck me about this book was how often I found myself reacting out loud to what I was reading or simply taking a moment to savor some of his sentences. I'm grate ...more

Jonathan Brooker is now following Matt House's reviews

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