Free To Live by Guy Brandon - A Review

This book with the subtitle “Expressing the love of Christ in an age of debt” is about sustainable living (not only) for Christians. The topics are time and money, the impacts of our private sexual behaviour on society and our personal environment – and, yes, there are impacts -, the complexities of “fair” and “local” shopping, how we treat our natural environment, what to do with our money and how to keep our spiritual health. There are two appendices, one about how the current financial crisis started and the other one about the pros and cons of “Fairtrade”.

The book is not a classic guidebook which tells the reader what to do and what to avoid, but rather food for thought. This is why at the end of each chapter there are a few “discussion questions” which the reader can also discuss with him- or herself, of course ;) Even though the author’s statements are based on the Bible and he thus mentions several Bible passages, most of the book is worth reading for people with a different – or no – faith background as well. After all, living a sustainable lifestyle is something worth thinking about for everyone. There are a few passages in the book, particularly towards the end of it, which non-Christians or nominal Christians will most likely not identify with, but this is not something which should prevent you from reading the book. If these passages do not apply to you, at least they will help you to understand something of true Christian faith - which is most likely not the kind of “Christianity” which you usually come across in any country with a nominal Christian majority.

The book has been published by the Jubilee Centre, a Christian organisation in the UK. They are also offering many resources for free download on their website, addressing society issues from a Christian perspective.

Not a Book and Not Just for Playing

For a while I wondered whether it would be worthwhile at all to buy a tablet pc. I had a laptop and a smart phone already and didn’t really know what I could need “something in between” for. Also what I saw as a problem in tablets was the touch screen and all the fingerprints which would appear while using it. That was one reason why I decided for a BlackBerry Curve 9300 as smart phone. Choosing one with just a touch screen was out of the question.

It was really my curiosity and also the price and size of the BlackBerry PlayBook (much less than certain other well-known tablets) which made me try it. I got it not even a week ago and don’t want to give it up any more. It is ideal for someone like me who because of chronic health problems cannot spend a lot of time at a desk or with a heavy laptop on the knees. The tablet I can use while sitting on the sofa in a position which is the least painful for me.

I can browse the net via wifi, work on my novels and very much more (still have to explore). I was very sceptical with regard to the virtual keypad of the touch screen. However, typing works very well with two fingers, and the more used to it I get the faster I can type. It even makes a typing sound which I find very convenient. The PlayBook comes with two cameras (3MP and 5MP). I tried the 5MP camera and was very surprised at the quality of the pictures it takes. What astonished me most, however, was the sound quality of the PlayBook. I must admit I didn’t expect very much from a tablet with regard to that – the last thing I expected was that the sound was so much better than the one of my new and by no means cheap laptop! As a Christian I like to listen to online sermons and as a London fan my favourite radio station is LBC 97.3 – where many people are calling in by phone which is not always the best sound quality, of course. For the laptop I need additional loudspeakers to understand everything. For the PlayBook I need no such devices. So I carry it all around the house as my little radio while I’m doing housework ;) A little “Pling” sound still tells me when I received an email and thanks to BlackBerry Bridge it even shows me when I get a phone call :)

Of course it can also be used as an e-reader and for video chats. With regard to that I’m waiting for Amazon (Kindle) Germany and Skype to get their stuff together and provide apps for BlackBerry PlayBook and smart phones, too – please!