Do Fish Know They're Wet?: Living in Your World--Without Getting Hooked

by Tom Neven

Book Overview

Just as fish in the ocean don't know they're wet, Christians usually don't realize they're being influenced by postmodern worldview that dominates culture. This book helps students and adults realize that everyone has a worldview and shows them how to compare the Christian worldview to prevalent modern and postmodern philosophies and arguments.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801065186
• ISBN13: 9780801065187
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 173 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.4" x 9.6"
• Age Range: 15 to 18 years

Customer Reviews

Readable Presentation

Found this book to be very informative on the importance of a Christian Worldview. Tom Neven does an excellent job presenting his arguments in a very readable manner. This book does a good job of sparking the reader's interest in defining your own worldview and comparing it to a Christian Worldview. Excellent book.

Excellent resource - middle and upper school aged students!

Neven is the senior editor for Plugged In magazine and the former editor of Focus on the Family magazine, so as he writes primarily to a teen or young adult audience, he is very familiar with them and their mind set. The book is a wonderful and easy-to-read examination of the concept of a Christian worldview and exactly how that affects a person's daily interaction with a postmodern and relativistic culture. Neven starts by laying down a few basic rules, as he calls them: Rule No. 1: God is. Rule No. 2: God is the God of truth. All truth is God's truth. Rule No. 3: Because we are created in God's image, we have the ability to recognize truth, although that ability is tainted by sin. Rule No. 4: The ability of a person to recognize truth diminishes the closer that truth is to his or her own heart, to the very nature of being a person. Neven then does an excellent job of giving a history of some of influential thinkers and their contribution to cultural transformation over the years. After that he turns from principles to practical and begins to examine modern culture exploring how a Christian worldview interacts with and runs counter to much of modern thinking in areas such as public policy/government, family, art, music, literature, science and history. Neven concludes by reminding the reader that all worldviews are religious in nature and that the reader must not back down when engaging the culture because of attack or perceived prejudice or bias. Do Fish Know They're Wet is a pretty good read, especially for someone new to the worldview concept. Neven is an excellent writer and communicator and gives the reader just enough without complicating the issues beyond his intended audience's appetite.

Discover the truth about worldview

I just finished reading "Do Fish Know They're Wet" and I was impressed not only by the information presented, but also with the readable explanation of some pretty difficult subjects. I am sending my copy to my younger sister so she can read it before she heads off to college, because I think that it will give her a clear picture of different worldviews, many of which she will encounter in college, and how they relate to truth. There were several topics in the book, including logical fallacies, which had never before been explained to me in such a clear, understandable way. After finishing the book, I feel equipped to give a reasonable, logical answer to the challenges I face on nearly a daily basis on my college campus. Neven's book is an invaluable resource for teens and adults alike, particularly in a world where we are constantly combatting worldviews and ideals which are in direct opposition to Christianity.

The Importance of Your Worldview

In "Do Fish Know They're Wet?" author Tom Neven explains the importance of your worldview and how it shapes your opinions and decisions. He shows the difference between worldviews like nihilism, existentialism, and postmodernism, and how they compare to a Biblical worldview. He also gives lots of practical examples of the way your worldview affects how you see everything from education, philosophy, government, art, music and pop culture. Very interesting read. Check it out.

I'm not all wet!

I thought I had a healthy worldview when it came to separating fact from fiction and truth from trends. But after reading Tom Neven's book, I found that I was---dare I say it? I was WRONG! In his journalistic way, the author took a fairly common subject (Christian worldviews)and analytically broke down misplaced arguments that we make to ourselves. But his style isn't so heady that a teen has trouble with the material. In fact, my fourteen year old daughter promptly conviscated the book and is using it in her teen accountability group. I would recommend this book as one that parents and teens could read together. But be prepared to have a few old myths shattered.