I have been a Christian for over fifty years. I did not come from a Christian home, but was converted quite suddenly when I was seventeen. From the beginning I read widely from all sorts of church backgrounds and I have greatly profited by what I read. I tried to get away from all sorts of narrow sectarianism. No tradition has all the truth. Many of the books I read were picked up second-hand from bookshops or market stalls. Of course, in this electronic age the internet enables a searcher to ferret out sources that are otherwise unobtainable.

I intend in this blog to quote and comment on some of the treasures I have unearthed. Many of the books have been out of print for many years. This is a pity because some of them are truly inspiring. At present there are fashions in publishing, which vary from year to year. What I want to do is to go beyond the ephemeral and to find those nuggets of unchanging truth that have sustained so many Christians in the past. Some of my blogs will contain familiar items, at least to some; others will be dredged up from obscure sources. My only desire in all this is to instruct and to edify my fellow be livers