30 books a year
X 10 hours to read = 300 hours a year  Glean more wisdom with Solomon Summaries!
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Home  FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions. Click on a question that interests you to see the answer, or scroll down to read all the questions and answers.
What is a book summary or a Solomon Summary? Solomon Summaries is a service that provides 5,000-word, eight- to ten-page distillations of key Christian books. A summary covers the book's key thoughts and concepts and gives you a working knowledge of its contents. This enables you to quickly learn the "wisdom nuggets" the author shares in the book.
A summary isn't merely a digest or book excerpts strung together. It's more like a magazine article or executive briefing that might be compiled by a research assistant. It condenses the core chunks of wisdom into bite-sized chunks. This allows you to quickly read and retain the key points the author makes throughout the book.
Solomon Summaries not only saves you time and money, it keeps you abreast of key concepts and issues to help you grow in Christian wisdom and helps you decide how to prioritize your limited reading time for maximum impact.
Back to Top Who reads Solomon Summaries and why? Solomon Summaries screens and evaluates important Christian books for church leaders, business executives and busy Christians around the worldwide.
Solomon Summaries is of great benefit to paid and unpaid church staff, elders, deacons and small group leaders by helping them stay current on the best Christian books and know which books to recommend to staff, congregation members and friends.
Christian business men and women from CEO's to students to entrepreneaurs to consultants appreciate the fast executive-style access to key thoughts to help shape their personal walk, daily decision making, families and service.
Busy moms and dads benefit from the quick access to key "wisdom nuggets" from some of the most compelling Christian thinkers to help them in their family, their community and especailly in their personal walk with the Lord.
To stop learning is to stagnate and fall behind. Whatever their motivation, Solomon Summaries' readers find themselves more committed Christians who in turn become more effective in their family, business and church.
Back to Top How can I use Solomon Summaries to benefit my family, my church and my career? Solomon Summaries is a great resource to help Christians discuss and dialog about life, family and spiritual issues with others like a spouse, friends or people at the office. And Solomon Summaries makes a great gift for family and church friends--Father's Day, Mother's Day, Pastor's Week, Christmas, Easter, you name it. They also make great gifts for church and small group leaders.
5 application ideas:
1. Ask God to reveal an area He wants to work on in your life. Use the summaries to help you decide which book would be the most helpful.
2. Print the marriage and family summaries then get away with your spouse for a weekend. Read the summaries and use the discussion questions to talk about your lives, direction, marriage and parenting.
3. Use the summaries to help find a book for your small group to study.
4. Use the summaries to suggest books for your book club.
5. Choose a book for elder, deacon or volunteer leadership training in your church or Christian organization.
Back to Top Do I need to read the book after reading the summary? Yes, that's the point of the service. Many Solomon Summaries subscribers want to read the books that concern them directly. Solomon Summaries acts as a personal assistant, pointing you in the direction of worthy books. We give you a taste of the book--and many ideas and techniques you can put to use immediately--so you can decide if you want the whole thing. We also provide Discussion Questions at the end of each summary to help you unpack the book with others in reading clubs, small groups and discipleship situations. And subscribers can purchase recently covered books at ChristianBook.com's great prices in our Solomon Summaries Bookstore.
Back to Top What kinds of topics do the summaries cover? Solomon Summaries covers key topics of interest to committed Christians, including Christian living, church issues, discipleship, ethics, evangelism, faith, finances, leadership, marriage, parenting, prayer, spiritual formation, theology, worldview, worship and much more. We serve our subscribers by focusing on the topics that are important to Christians who desire to grow and draw others to Christ.
Back to Top In what formats is Solomon Summaries available? Solomon Summaries is available in the following formats: - read online in standard html, just like this page
- download as a beautiful color .pdf file
- listen online as a streaming .mp3 file
- and you can download the audio as an .mp3 file for your iPod or other portable media device (not included).
Back to Top Do I need any special software to enjoy the summaries?No, Solomon Summaries does not require proprietary software. We use the easily usable formats below: - HTML - For viewing online in a Web browser - Solomon Summaries uses standard HTML which can be viewed by most standard Web browsers such as Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The summaries can be viewed right in your browser window, and can be saved and printed just like a web page. One advantage of this format is that iPhones and many PDAs also have Web browsers and can view this same format.
- PDF - For printing or viewing on your Mac, Windows, Linux and Unix Computers - this is the format of choice for most people because of the ease of use and ability to see beautiful full color summaries. This is a PDF document for using with a PDF reader like Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can print it right from your Online Library or save it to your computer.
- MP3 - For listening to on your Computers, iPod or other portable media device - this is the most common digital audio format, and it is easily usable. MP3 files can also be burned onto a CD, if you have a recordable CD-ROM in your computer. This format is great for listening to summaries in your car, while exercising, or while traveling by train, taxi or airplane.
Back to Top How does Solomon Summaries choose the books to summarize and review? We primarily choose books that are of value to our audience--books they would like to know more about, books they are considering buying or books they've heard in a conversation and about which they'd like to converse. We look at new releases, bestsellers, and we listen to our subscribers--we have a poll on our website to find out what books our readers would like us to summarize.
Back to Top How do authors feel about having their books summarized? They love it. For one thing, there are tens of thousands of Christian books that have been published. Unless you're a popular writer, it can be difficult to get publicity for your book. Solomon Summaries provides unbeatable exposure for a book and its author--and to a list of people perfectly matched to a book's message. Solomon Summaries also can generate word of mouth buzz or viral marketing. Take Chris, for example. When he gets excited about something, he tells everyone he meets. He may even buy someone a copy of the book. And he may not have finished the book himself! By including group discussion questions with our summaries, we encourage members to examine each book as a possibility for ministry--would it work with their small group, Sunday school class, elder or deacon training, MOMS group or discipleship relationships? Solomon Summaries helps put important books in front of pastors, ministry and lay leaders, and church librarians and bookstore managers who make decisions about resources, curriculum, and recommended books. Also, imagine how an author feels knowing his or her book has been chosen out of thousands for special attention. It's an honor.
Back to Top Can I buy Solomon Summaries in the bookstore or on the newsstand? Not at this time. Since Solomon Summaries are primarily digital, you can purchase them only online.
Back to Top What is the goal of Solomon Summaries? We’d love to see Solomon Summaries grow and become a platform for engaging wider audiences (translations to other languages, broader topics etc.). Our heart is to encourage people to read more and see books as ways to stand on the shoulders of giants. We hope these books will spark discussions that will help Christians peer further into their own lives and gain opportunities for Christian impact in a hurting, lonely world. Depending on the initial reaction and how passionately people share the idea with their friends (and we’re hoping people will be very excited and share it with lots of friends), we are in discussion about a number of additional pieces of the puzzle (what Chris calls the blueprint) to offer value to book readers and small group book discussions. We’d also like to get the authors of the books more involved in the discussion. We’ll be paying close attention to subscribers and their interests. Ultimately it will grow into what people want and need to help them in their lives.
Back to Top What exactly do I get in an annual subscription? - If you subscribe today, you will have access to 52 weekly issues of Solomon Summaries, covering 52 key Christian books.
- We then send you a weekly email notice when each new book summary is available.
- Then when it's most convenient for you, you can login and read the summary, download and print it, or download the audio version to your iPod (coming soon).
- There are also convenient links directly to the book at christianbook.com available on the website and in each text summary.
Back to Top Can I get a free summary to review? Yes, in fact during this special Beta Launch FREE trial, all summaries are free untill 12/1/08. You can also tell church friends and family members and they can get the summaries free as well.
Back to Top How can I subscribe? Click this link to subscribe now, then follow the check out process. You will begin receiving great Christian book summaries from Solomon Summaries.
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Claim Your FREE summary of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis:
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It's like CliffsNotes for Christian books:
