It’s definitely not as enjoyable as Dot.Bomb, and it shared some of the flaws of the earlier book; it includes only sketchy portions of many events (this time, including events where Kuo was present).

This book is about (and isn’t about) the Bush White House, faith-based charities, and (I think) Kuo’s own conclusion that his noble efforts were not just unsuccessful, but were co-opted for pure political benefits. Arguably, the book is about the frustration of politics, or about “the gridlock in Washington” (a timely topic, with today’s announcement of yet another Senator choosing not to seek re-election because of the animosity and gridlock). In the end, I just have to say that it’s a book about David Kuo’s journey.

In certain ways, I found this book less similar to Dot.Bomb than to “the other book about Value America” (In the Company of Good and Evil, the hate-filled book written by Craig Winn and Rex Scatena). No, Kuo’s book isn’t hateful or angry — but it contains admissions that reflect quite poorly on the author’s own character (at the time).

Unlike Winn, Kuo is acutely aware of the contradiction, and plainly shows his struggle with the “right thing to do.” I didn’t find his “solution” (a “fast” from political involvement) very satisfying, and in many ways it’s just confusing.

In my Dot.Bomb review, I described the book as “a fascinating tale of [a person] whose greatest strengths are also his greatest weaknesses. It’s an insightful tale of human relationships in which people can’t tell ugly truths to their friends.”

Ironically, Kuo’s second book is about exactly the same thing — except that now he is the person “whose greatest strengths are also his greatest weaknesses,” and now he is the person “who can’t tell ugly truths” to a friend (here, the President of the United States).

I don’t particularly recommend Tempting Faith — I didn’t find it very enjoyable, entertaining, educational, or useful. But I did finish reading the entire book because I respected the author’s intent to share his experience — not just the facts and events, but his emotional turmoil — and he admits to behavior that I consider quite sad, even pathetic. (We’ve all been sad and pathetic, at times, but most of us try to hide it.)

As I wrote in my earlier of Dot.Bomb, there are many reasons I “should have expected” to dislike Kuo’s writing: his conservative Christian perspective seems completely at odds with my views as an atheist and a liberal democrat. In the first book, this was just a “sideshow,” but Tempting Faith is all about Kuo’s Christian faith (and the ways he seeks to act on his personal Christian values, through conservative political efforts and later as a White House aide).

If I’d read Kuo’s book before the 2008 election, I’d probably have been much more hostile and angry.

But somehow I finished this book feeling that Kuo and I probably share most of the same core values. (That shouldn’t be a surprise, because nearly everyone on the planet probably shares most of the same core values — though it’s often hard to recognize this because political strategists [including Kuo] seek to emphasize, exaggerate, or misrepresent our differences in order to exploit them.)

I took a few minutes today to search out “what Kuo’s been doing” since 2008, when he wrote the “Afterword for the Paperback edition.” It appears that in 2008 he did choose to “fast from politics” — he ceased posting to his BeliefNet blog, and the business he worked for shut its doors.

I hope David Kuo is still striving to find a satisfying way to act on his values. I hope I am, too.