Punch-buggy, working with Mennonites, and my book gets a jacket

A few quick notes:

Any football watchers catch the two Amishmen in the Volkswagen ad during the Super Bowl last night?  About midway through the spot, they came trundling by in an open carriage, playing that classic game of youth, “punch-buggy” where you give your partner a playful slug when you spot a VW bug.  No doubt the buggy-buggy connection was intentional by the producers, and a pretty clever one at that.

I recently received a pdf image of the full jacket for my book (showing the back cover, the inside flaps, the spine). Not to be prideful and saying this with the full intention of praising the people responsible at Jossey-Bass, but my impression is that it looks great.

I was really pleasantly surprised that it was even nicer than I expected it would be–can’t give a lot away as I’ve been informed it’s top secret and my editor will shun me harshly if I reveal too much, but just a really attractive balance of color and fonts, and they arranged the endorsement quotes on the back I thought in a nice way.  I know it might seem mundane, but it’s really a good feeling when you start to see the tangible ‘thing’ come into being, and getting to see the full cover was a big step.

I’ve been told it’s now at the printer’s. Incidentally, the “Look Inside” feature on the book has been activated on Amazon, and if you go here you can even read the first few pages of Chapter 1 (and check out the table of contents and index as well, if you’re interested).

Finally, how about an article on Amish-Mennonite relations?  In this brief piece in the Reading Eagle, a Mennonite bishop shares some comments on how the spiritual cousins work together, especially worth noting after the Haiti disaster.