Flashbang: How I Got Over Myself

by Mark Steele

Mark Steele found himself trying to be a good Christian, but felt he wasn’t making any permanent difference. His life was turning into a flashbang — something that makes a lot of noise but leaves no... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976035723
• ISBN13: 9780976035725
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Relevant Books
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Been waiting for a book like this

When I first read the opening chapter online prior to the release, I stayed up late reading it to my wife as she tried to sleep. We both laughed until we cried and couldn't wait until the real copy came out. It was definitely worth it. Very few times do you find a book like this!! 1. It is funny. - I laughed out loud numerous times and depending on the place... oh the looks I got. 2. It is poignant. It has opened deep discussions on what it means to be a believer in this generation and how to be a greater pseron. 3. It is real. It addresses real issues with deliberate candor. I appreciate the way Mark takes long hard looks at himself and encourages us to do the same. That's rare in this world, but so is the author. 4. It's an enjoyable read. His writing style is easy and enjoyable to follow. It's like he is just sitting around telling stories. It's like a conversation with good friends. It makes you think and question what you do and why you do it, but always with a smile on your face because you know they love you.

So personal - it's almost like I wrote it myself.

Flashbang is that rare narrative that seems to be plucked directly from our own experiences. As I read of Mark Steele's facial paralysis, his Mexican hospital diatribe, his Presidential Inauguration fiasco -- it was almost as if those things had happened to me. The pain was my pain, voice was my voice, adverbs were my adverbs, fingers-holding-the-book my fingers. Flashbang is a deeply vicarious experience. Especially if you are the author. The downside: I already knew all the jokes.

Laughing out loud!

It's been a long time since I read something that made me laugh out loud like this book did. The word choices, writing style and phrases just cracked me up....hilarious. The stories Mark Steele writes just pull you in to these funny experiences he's had. He then amidst these random, wild events creates such meaning and honest points about growing in the Christian life. His style paves the way for insights and truths that make an authentic impact. I read it in just two days, with a very busy schedule of work and family because I couldn't wait to read the next story he would tell and could never quite put it down in the middle of one. I am sharing it with my two sons and a bunch of friends. As a marriage and family therapist I highly recommend this book for the sheer fun of reading it as well as the impact it makes. Looking forward to the next book Mark Steele writes. Joan Buzzard (California)

Hilarity, Substance, and Bodily Fluids

The first thing you need to realize about this book is that it is completely different from anything you've read before. Mark Steele is flat-out funny. Guy can tell a story -- most of which involve personal humiliation (in the first chapter, he hilariously discovers he is a "vomit savant," puking with remarkable distance and accuracy) -- with the same self-deprecation and easy humor as any of today's great comic memoirists, including Eggers, Sedaris, and the like. This isn't the kind of book you want to read in public, simply because its unintentional laugh/snort/cringe potential is so high. I don't know anyone who has had so many weird, painful, debasing things happen to him. (Other than the cast of Jackass, but that was by choice.) But unlike other members of the pomo memoir brat pack, Steele uses these crazy stories as fodder for bigger spiritual truths, like how the flashy stuff we try to be on the outside (the "flashbang") is usually just a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. It gets in the way of real, authentic faith -- the kind of spiritual life that actually DOES make a mark on the world around us. Flashbang, as a memoir, is immensely entertaining, but there's a point to the entertainment. There's a spine to the humor, and what you take away from it is infinitely more meaningful than the few enjoyable hours you'll spend reading it. And I'd much rather learn these truths vicariously through Mark Steele, because experiencing this stuff myself? Sheesh. I'd never leave the house again.

Flashbang leaves an impact!

This book offers such a fresh perspective. I so appreciated Mark's willingness to tell his story, and in telling that story, to tell the truth -- that life is more than achievments, popularity and success. Life is even more than being a Christian. Life is all about being honest and real before God, and allowing Him to work in and through us. I'd recomend this book to anybody!