Tim Challies, one of the best Christian bloggers out there, has decided to take on a monumental task in the coming year: Read all of the non-fiction books on The New York Times bestseller list and blog about the lessons he discovers within the covers on culture and worldview. You can follow his progress at his new blog, 10 Million Words, hosted at the Gospel Coalition site. Tim, fortunately, will continue to blog at Challies.com as well.

Walmart, Target, and Amazon.com are in the midst of a price war over books, creating happy shoppers  and nervous publishing-industry analysts. Time reports:

On Oct. 15, Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, announced it was lowering its online preorder price for 10 new book releases. The new cost: a measly $10. The titles include the Sarah Palin memoir Going Rogue, John Grisham’s Ford Country and Michael Crichton’s Pirate Latitudes. Not to be outdone, Amazon.com matched Walmart’s price on the same books. Walmart then lowered its offer to $9; by the next morning, Amazon was down to $9 too. Believe it or not, that afternoon Walmart lowered the price by a penny, to $8.99.

Then last week Target saddled up to the poker table. On Oct. 19 the retailer announced it would also sell preorders on seven of these books for $8.99. (Target.com has since matched Walmart.com and Amazon on all 10.) Walmart responded by dropping its price by another penny, to $8.98. There’s no word whether Walmart then stuck out its tongue and yelled “Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah” to its rivals.

As the story indicates, these discounts only apply to a small number of bestsellers and the cheap prices are only available online. But who would spend twice as much (or more) for an in-store purchase?

I don’t think this below-wholesale pricing of a few books spells doom for the publishing industry. It seems to be little more than a standard “loss leader” promotion. A retailer makes little or no profit on one item to get you in the store or online, in order to also have the opportunity to sell you other goods with a genuine profit.

With his latest book project, Richard Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion, plans to target teenagers with his anti-Christian message. According to a report, What Is a Rainbow Really? will be “an illustrated book which will take a myth-busting approach to questions about the natural world. The scientific reasoning behind topics such as: who the first man and woman were, why there are seasons, what the sun is and how old the world is, will be presented with perspectives from opposing camps—myth and legend, and ‘lucid scientific explanation.’”

The book is scheduled for release next fall.

As Tim Challies points out on his blog this morning, “Dawkins ought to read Mark 9:42 before sending the book to his publisher.”

Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has just written a new book, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters. It’s an insightful book about the idols we worship in lieu of God, how to discern them, and how to get rid of them.

One of my favorite passages is about the story of Jonah. “The word of the Lord came to Jonah” telling him to “go to Nineveh . . . and proclaim against her, for their evil has come up before my face.” (Jonah 1:1-2)

Keller writes that Nineveh was the seat of the Assyrian Empire, a powerful threat to Israel. To do anything that could potentially benefit Assyria would have been anathema to Jonah. So he doesn’t go. Instead he hops a ship headed in the opposite direction, bound for the town of Tarshish.

Now here’s the part of the story we all know best. A storm arises so powerful that it threatens to sink the ship. Lots are cast to see who’s at fault, and Jonah’s number comes up, so to speak. He admits that he’s fleeing from God, realizes that the storm is because of him, and instructs his shipmates to fling him overboard. And they do. Jonah is swallowed by a fish and later thrown up onto the shore.

When God instructs Jonah a second time to go to Ninevah and preach, he obeys. “And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth. . . . When God examined their deeds . . . he renounced the disaster he had said he would do to them.” And, as Keller writes, “Now comes the part of the story that is almost universally ignored.”

Jonah’s mission was a success, but he “burned with anger,” and pleaded with God to take his life. Keller writes, “Finally Jonah’s idol was laid bare, revealing his abhorrence of this race and nation. He so loathed the Assyrian race he saw God’s forgiveness of them to be the worst thing that could have happened. . . . He didn’t want them saved.”

The story ends with God asking Jonah why he shouldn’t have spared Ninevah; there is no recorded response from Jonah. But Keller believes it’s safe to assume he came around. He must have told the story to someone who then wrote it down. “And,” Keller writes, “who would ever tell a story in which on every page he is seen as an evil fool, except a man in whom God’s grace had reached the center of his heart?”

Generally, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in this case, there’s another agenda afoot. On the same day Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue: An America Life goes on sale, the editors of the left-leaning The Nation are releasing Going Rouge: An American Nightmare. But this book with a similar cover and name to Palin’s already-bestseller isn’t a parody; it’s a collection of essays designed to provide an alternate telling of Palin’s life story.

The publisher of the anti-Palin book points out on its website: “Palin has become one thing: an American obsession that just won’t go away.” And thanks to overreactions like this from the left, she’s likely to remain in the spotlight for a long, long time. (Sort of like Obama and his obsessing over Fox News.)

And speaking of “Going Rouge,” another book with that title is coming out Nov. 17, and in this case it is a parody of sorts: a “Coloring & Activity Book,” complete with, you guessed it, a page where you can color in lipstick on pigs. OK, now, try to stay within the lines!

Whatever active duty Navy SEALs get paid it’s not enough. I arrived at this conclusion after reading the story of Marcus Luttrell in the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. It is the most moving and personally transforming story I’ve ever read about someone in my generation.

In early July 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALS departed for the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission. Their mission was to document the activity of an al-Qaeda leader believed to be very close to Bin Laden with a small army in a Taliban stronghold. Five days later, after heavy fighting, only Marcus Luttrell made it out alive. (Luttrell is pictured above with the parents of one of his late teammates, Lt. Michael Murphy, a recipient of the Medal of Honor.) After being wounded and presumed dead in a firefight that took the lives of his teammates, Luttrell crawled for miles through the mountains and was taken in by sympathetic villagers who risked their lives to keep him safe from surrounding Taliban warriors.

Luttrell’s story recounts not only the events surrounding the dreadful days before and after losing his teammates, but it also invites readers to understand the years of training and preparation necessary to produce warriors like Luttrell. It’s a story about discipleship, camaraderie, courage, commitment, wisdom, and mercy.

Readers will be challenged by Luttrell’s brutal honesty describing how the “liberal media” and “rules of engagement” put soldiers’ lives at risk because terrorists have figured out how to disguise themselves as civilians and how to contact the media to give the appearance that U.S. soldiers have murdered “innocent” people. War is ugly and has costly spillover effects. According to Luttrell, terrorists use politician-drafted rules of engagement to exploit soldiers’ lack of freedom to protect themselves and prevent murderous situations from occurring in the first place. Luttrell writes:

“The truth is, any government that thinks war is somehow fair and subject to rules like a baseball game probably should not get into one. Because nothing’s fair in war, and occasionally the wrong people do get killed. . . . Faced with the murderous cutthroats of the Taliban, we are not fighting under the rules of Geneva IV Article 4. We are fighting under the rules of Article 223.556mm—that’s the caliber and gauge of our M4 rifle. And if those numbers don’t look good, try Article .762mm, that’s what the stolen Russian Kalashnikos fire at us, usually in deadly, heavy volleys.”

Overall, not only was I brought to tears in some parts, and aroused to anger at terrorism in others, a few moments after closing the book, I seriously thought through what it would look like for me to drop what I’m doing and join the Navy. I was previously unaware of the specialized training as well as the nature of SEAL teams. These men are simply amazing. If I ever meet a SEAL in person I’ll consider it a real honor. Because I am constantly thinking about applications for the church I couldn’t help but imagine what a formidable force of good the church in America could be if we raised boys to be men with Navy SEAL levels of camaraderie, courage, and wisdom. What if we really understood what it meant to train others to “take up their cross.” Read the book. You’ll be inspired.

Speaking of creative Bible translations, here’s a new one–The Bible in Rhyme. The rhymer, Kyle Holt, has taken the entire Bible and translated it into rhyming verse. He explains on his blog, “My hope with The Bible in Rhyme is that it will open up the scriptures to someone who needed it, who would not have otherwise read the Bible, and to people who were looking for another way to worship God.”

He also has excerpts on his blog. Here’s Psalm 68:

May God arise and scatter his foes.
The wicked will perish as everyone knows.
Sing to the Lord who rides on a cloud.
Extol your praises, crying aloud.
A father to orphans, the widow’s defender;
He honors believers and cuts down pretenders.
We marched through the desert with You as our guide
and gained our inheritance, though we were tried.
Great was the glory of those who announced
God and His name, but those who denounced
His honor were struck down, peasant and king.
But all who have seen His power now sing.

(Original Psalm 68 here.)

Catherine Zoller apparently had the same idea, which she describes as “Dr. Seuss meets the Bible.” She says, “”This can be a good tool for new Christians because it helps familiarize them with the Bible and takes away the intimidation factor.”

However, I think I’m with David Gibson on this one: “Well, the King James Version is pretty good poetry, too–that is, if you’re into Shakespearean-type stuff. If not then ignore this, cause I’ve said ’nuff.”

The October 2009 Christian bestsellers list is out, distributed by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).

Here are the top ten titles, along with the publisher and release date:

1. Fearless, Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson) 09/09
2. Crazy Love, Francis Chan (David C. Cook) 05/08
3. The Missing, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House/Baker) 09/09
4. The Love Dare, Stephen & Alex Kendrick (B&H) 09/08
5. The Shack, William P. Young (Windblown Media) 07/08
6. Jesus Calling, Sarah Young (Thomas Nelson) 10/04
7. Green, Ted Dekker (Thomas Nelson) 09/08
8. Forgotten God, Francis Chan (David C. Cook) 09/09
9. What in the World Is Going On?, David Jeremiah (Thomas Nelson) 09/08
10. Take Two, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan) 07/2009

Note: Thomas Nelson has four of the top 10 titles, and 16 of the top 50. Zondervan and Waterbrook also post many titles on the list.

The Lucado (#1), Lewis (#3), and Chan (#8) titles are brand new to the list. Has anyone here read them yet?

On Monday night, Harper announced that Sarah Palin’s memoir would be hitting the stores early, arriving just in time for Christmas.

By yesterday, the book, which was written with the help of WORLD senior writer Lynn Vincent, had already risen to the top of the bestseller lists at the two major online retailers, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, with sales that skyrocketed so quickly, it led one publishing industry source to call it “truly unprecedented.”

And today, all those book buyers and book-buyers-to-be can now get a glimpse of what the cover of Going Rogue: An American Life is going to look like.

So here it is, coming to a bookstore near you on Nov. 17.

If you love good baseball stories told by a master craftsman, then grab a copy of The Machine, a new book by Joe Posnanski (twice named the best sports columnist in America by his peers, the Associated Press Sports Editors).

The book focuses on the 1975 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds and the colorful personalities of guys like Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Sparky Anderson.

More than just baseball though, Posnanski weaves U.S. cultural history from 1975 — movies, music, politics — right into the story, giving the reader a vivid picture of the times.

The players cussed like sailors, chased skirts, and hit the cover off the ball on their way to 108 wins and a twenty game lead over the second place Dodgers. Posnanski covers it all.