NKOTB and More

Carl, it's good to have you back. A bit like a few years ago when the New Kids on the Block and the Spice Girls decided to reunite. It just feels right.

On a completely unrelated matter, I was recently sent Wired for Intimacy: How pornography hijacks the male brain by William M. Struthers (IVP). It's a quick read (though technical at some points), and while I may quibble with some of the theological assertions in the second half of the book (biblical masculinity and sexuality), the insights provided in the first half are a welcome addition into the literature on the dangerous affects of pornography. 

Roughly stated, Struthers argues that pornography has a devastating impact on the brain's internal systems, creating new and unhealthy connections that retrain the brain and its responses. Instead of viewing the matter simply through the lens of ethics (as important as that is), Struthers instead traces the bio-chemistry and internal processesing that goes on within the brain in attempt to understand why pornography can have a strong appeal and how it wrecks havoc on the brain. Along the way, Struthers debunks some of the common misconceptions about porn (that it is private and benign). All in all, worth reading.