Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl is an unusual book that explores the nature of the universe from a poetic/artistic standpoint. N.D. Wilson examines topics such as the origins of the universe, the issue of good and evil, death, after death, life and beauty. His viewpoint is inspired by philosophers, poets, preachers and his own observations of the natural world. Underpinning it all is his belief in God as an artistic creator. Wilson's philosophy is presented to the reader in the form of metaphors, stories, questioning, observations and meditations. It is a quirky book that is both serious and humorous, insightful and simple.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing style is my favorite kind: it has a distinct rhythm to it. It would be perfect for reading aloud. Whether or not you believe in divine creation, this book engages your mind to think about the world from a different perspective. It is clear that N.D. Wilson is very engaged and in love with life. His observations of the natural world; the seasons and the insects were really intriguing. It took me a long time to read the book, because it is one that needs to be read slowly in order to take it all in. Wilson writes in his introduction, "This book attempts to find unity in cacophony. The barrage of elements (philosophy, poetry, theology, narrative, ad nauseam) may at times feel random." Personally I liked the way everything swirled together, but it may be irritating to some people who like a clear cut structure. ( )

A refreshing christian perspective on our physical ‘world’ in all its magnificence.

Just as some carnival rides are not recommended for those with weak hearts, this book should also carry a disclaimer. The pace is quick, the references wide reaching and very well researched but there may be some who cannot bear the jolts and jerks. As for me, I loved it.

Preparing for this review, I rediscovered the definitions in the title of N. D. Wilson’s “Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World“.

* Wide-Eyed: meaning with the eyes open wide, as in amazement, innocence, or sleeplessness

* Wonder: the emotion excited by what is strange and surprising; a feeling of surprised or puzzled interest, sometimes tinged with admiration

There are times when one needs to search out something one has know or grown accustomed to just to rediscover it. This book is quite appropriately named.

In short, I would tag this book as C. S. Lewis on steroids. Written in bursts that provoke deep thoughts, each chapter is filled with short takes of the writers life with scientific observations on the world that may have stopping to catch your breathe. Be prepared to reread sections, first perhaps for clarity and at times to soak in the doctrine that lies beneath.

If you are a careful reader (meaning you must research statements before taking them as your own), you will find yourself searching out many of the statements made. This added to my enjoyment of a book in that it sparked my interests on other topics beside the main theme of the book itself.

From a span of the ‘philosophers’ to the magic of ‘quantum physics’, you will certainly not be bored and you just might view this ‘world’ in a very different way. I will accept the idea that N. D. Wilson suggests .. that this life and this world is God’s novel and I have been written in. ( )

The subtitle to Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl, “Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World,” is a very apt description of this book written by N.D. Wilson. Although the analogy of the common fairground ride is the starting point for describing the world around us, more analogies, metaphors and colorful descriptions fill the book in Wilson’s feeble attempt to describe both the wonder of creation and the glory of the Creator. I say “feeble” because that is exactly how Wilson would describe it. Take the following excerpt for example:

“Ants are easy to describe. They have six legs. But what words do I have to capture the transcendent? The truest description I conceive is sure to have a false side. Which of these twenty-six letters should I use to try and shape you a bust of the Infinite?

Shall I tell you a poem about footprints in the sand?

Should we talk about spheres, about spinning, about war, about philosophy, about children and insects and soil and tombstones and stars and antimatter? It is not enough. [this is about as succinct a description of what he includes in this book as you can get.]

When the Artist set Himself to this same task, naked mole rats happened. So did haiku, Saturn’s rings, the three forms of water, fire, Greek people, and the occasional egg-laying mammal.

This is a task that God Himself cannot complete. He is infinite…and so His canvas is forever expanding….This is the only true challenge for the Infinite. Anything else is as easy as speaking. This is the only struggle for the Infinite, the only resistance He will ever meet.

The best of all possible tasks for the best of all possible Beings.”

The book is unlike any other book I’ve read. Imagine if you will John Piper, Willy Wonka and Billy from Family Circus all thrown together into one person and you’ll come close to N.D. Wilson. His writing style seems very “stream-of-consciousness” and while he has a point, it’s easy to lose him every now and then. Like Billy, he eventually gets to his destination but not without being easily distracted. Throughout the book though, he is awestruck by the glory of God and wants to pull everyone aside in his unorthodox, sometimes irreverent manner to join him in his reverie. But it is this constant “wide-eyed wonder” that will leave you breathless, laughing, and dumbfounded at the sheer amazement of the world and the God whose glory is only dimly reflected in it. ( )

Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson explores our Universe, from snowflakes to weather to ants, with wonder and awe at their creation and their purposes. But he doesn't stop at the awe and creation of our Earth's plants and animals, but goes on to seriously explore poetry, physics, gravity, good and evil, sunsets and darkness, and so much more through a stream of consciousness style. At times the author lost me on the point he was trying to make, but that did not derail my ride at all. I couldn't choose a favorite excerpt from the book, but to give you an idea of N.D. Wilsons' wide-eyed wonder at our world, I chose this excerpt:

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"Snow is so overused. One sentimental, overly structured ice flake might have some value. But God never seems capable of moderation or of understanding the basic concepts behind supply and demand. He constantly devalues His own products. Give me one flake, a cool room, and a magnifying glass and I will admire its artistry. But right now, I'm sitting by my window on a Christmas night, staring out at winter wastefulness in the extreme. Miles of clouds, clouds larger than states, have turned into crystal stars and now streak silently past my window to their deaths. Well, not quite silently. The stars are falling fast enough that if you step outside, like I just did, you can hear the whisper of collisions and delicate frozen impacts, each six-pointed perfection complaining as it arrives-

"They told me I was special. There's two and a half bazillion of us in this hedge and more falling. Does anyone here care about overpopulation? A market crash? Close the sky. Lobby for a moratorium."

But the storm-whispers sound more pleased to me. Excited even-

"I knew I was different from the rest of you plebes. Look how silly and gothic you all look with your skinny, knobbed arms. I'm unique. Neoclassical."

Try counting the flakes. Really count them. I'll step back outside for a quick estimate. Let's be conservative. Assuming that we're in the middle of this storm and it only stretches ten miles in each direction (Ha, says the weather man), and assuming that the storm is a tiny one hundred feet tall, and skipping the preexisting ground accumulation, and eyeball estimating the frenzied blizzard's air content at a meager ten flakes per cubic foot, then we are looking at about ... 11,151,360,000,000 flakes in the air above a small patch in Idaho at one particular moment on Christmas night at the end of the year 2007. Just this storm, this tiny little slice of winter could divvy out seventeen hundred flakes to every person on this planet. More impressively, that number has the US national debt beat by trillions."
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And this one...
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"I have an olive on my desk. It is a product of Spain. It was grown on a tree. Which means that the chlorophyll in the olive leaves absorbed energy from the sunlight and used that energy to attack the air. Carbon was harvested from the carbon dioxide, the oxygen was released back into the lungs of Spanish children, and the carbon was shaped into leaves and bark and this olive. Like me, the olive is carbon based. It is made of cells, which are made of molecules, which are made of atoms, which are (as we all now know) made of quarks and leptons, which are...

Here is the moment of my amaze. The olive that I hold in my hand along with its friendly minced pimento, this olive that I now taste and eat, that former olive was, on some level, made out of something that was... not made from anything.

There is another word for not anything. The word is nothing. At some point, that is the answer to the question. What is it? What is it made of?

Nothing. And yet... it is."
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Not since Darwins' Origin of Species has a book so captured my imagination and wonder. Even as a Christian, I find Charles Darwin's work is thought provoking and worthwhile to read. On the other hand, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl go in a different direction and paint God as the artist of our world in a believable way. This should be just an enjoyable for non-believers as it is for believers. This book might just adjust your focus on the world, it's purpose, and it's possibilities. This is a book that I will be talking about for a long time and plan on gifting to many people.

A 35-page preview can be found at:

http://thomasnelson.insidethecover.co... ( )

Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl focuses one’s attention on the important questions of creation as the snapshot impressions taken during a year on the vast cosmic tilt-a-whirl are recorded. The amusement park ride is the metaphor for the globe spinning in multiple circles as it races through the universe. The various pictures are melded together and form a larger composition that distinctly shows the hand of a designer. Some of these observations are quick, drive by snapshots; others are examined in greater depth.
As I read the book there were times that I felt as if I were on an amusement park ride. The pictures flew by so fast that I had a hard time focusing. Then there are the times when Wilson stops the ride and lets us take a few deep breaths and examine a particular picture. His descriptions are thorough and he writes with good clarity. You truly are given a fresh glimpse of "wide eyed wonder" as you consider the intricacies of even the most mundane of things. I appreciated the book as a good introduction to building a worldview. Nate Wilson does more than make observations; he draws lines to help us connect the dots so that the larger picture begins to emerge.
I recommend this book for any that are willing to look at the world with that "wide-eyed wonder" and then draw honest conclusions. ( )